Smoldering human remains littered the city streets as Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide vowed to serve out the rest of his term and condemned an armed uprising that has left at least 47 dead and weakened his hold on the presidency.
Wearing stolen police helmets and carrying looted weapons, rebels patrolled the streets of Gonaives on Wednesday in a search for detractors and government supporters. One accused government hitman was doused with gasoline and set ablaze while another was shot to death.
"I will leave the palace Feb. 7, 2006," Aristide told reporters Wednesday in the first news conference since the uprising began a week ago, skirting the issue of how he planned to put down the insurrection. His officials have said to prevent civilian casualties, any counterattacks must be part of a strategy that could take time to plan.
PHOTO: AFP
In the port city of St. Marc, south of Gonaives, police on Wednesday attacked rebels holed up while gunmen loyal to Aristide torched homes. Photographers saw three dead bodies with bullet wounds to their heads. Witnesses said were anti-Aristide activists.
Aristide's government was due to be tested yesterday when the Democratic Platform, a broad coalition that has distanced itself from the bloody revolt, has called for a massive demonstration for Haitians to show Aristide they no longer want his leadership.
"They suffer from a small group of thugs linked to the opposition ... acting on behalf of the opposition," Aristide said in the capital of Port-au-Prince on Wednesday.
The same rebels who began the uprising say they were once armed by Aristide's government.
The uprising exploded in Gonaives when rebels attacked the police station, torching it and the mayor's house. Winter Etienne, one of several leaders of the rebel Gonaives Resistance Front, said the police station was attacked in response to the killing of five government opponents that day by Aristide loyalists.
"We already have a force hiding in St. Marc, and we also have one hiding in Cap-Haitien. They are awaiting the orders to attack," Etienne said.
In northern Cap-Haitien, attackers looted a food warehouse and pro-Aristide militants set up blazing barricades to protect Haiti's second-largest city. He said the city's residents had backed him to be the new mayor, with other rebel leaders filling in top positions.
The World Food Program reported a looming humanitarian crisis in the north with food delivery trucks unable to make stops because of the barricades. Sporadic electric outages were also reported in Cap-Haitien, which relies on fuel deliveries to power electric generators.
The Gonaives courthouse stood deserted in Gonaives on Wednesday. Government offices were closed. Hospitals were understaffed. Supplies were running low and food prices have risen in Haiti's fourth-largest city because barricades have blocked deliveries.
At a gas station where a scuffle broke out over the last dregs of gasoline, rebels thrust their rifles high in the air and shouted "Get in line! Don't push!"
People with sledgehammers smashed the charred remains of the police station.
Haiti has suffered more than 30 coups in 200 years, the last in 1991 when Aristide was ousted just months after becoming the Caribbean nation's first freely elected leader. Then-US president Bill Clinton sent 20,000 US troops in 1994 to end a military dictatorship, restore Aristide and halt an exodus of Haitian boat people.
US officials say they now are on alert against any new exodus set off by the uprising.
"We are extremely concerned about the wave of violence spreading through Haiti," Scott McClellan, press secretary to US President George W. Bush, said in Washington "We call on the government to respect the rights, especially human rights, of the citizens."
Such comments have angered Haitian officials who note that Washington has not denounced the rebels.
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