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Thursday, February 26, 2004
Haiti rebei ieader leiecis
miiilarydiciaiDrship
Continued from page 1A
that his movement wants to
re-estahlish the army but is
not interested in installing
another dictatorship,
A military dictatorship is
“not good for the country,”
said Philippe, formerly
Aristide’s assistant police
chief for northern Haiti.
“The military should stay in
the barracks.”
Even if the opposition
coalition accepts the U.S.
peace plan, the rebels insist
they will lay down their
arms only when Aristide is
out of power. Asked if he was
in contact with opposition
politicians, Philippe smiled
and said “not officially.” He
refused to elaborate.
Opposition leaders disput
ed that.
“We refuse to have contacts
with the rebels, as well as
with Aristide,” said Mischa
Gaillard, a spokesman for
the opposition coalition. “We
don’t want to be tainted with
any suspicion of condoning
violence.”
The opposition has said
they are a nonviolent move
ment that supports the rebel
goal of getting Aristide to
step down. Aristide main
tains that opposition factions
are supporting the rebellion
and the rebels are an armed
wing of the political opposi
tion.
Premier Yvon Neptune
appealed to the political
opposition coalition to agree
to the peace plan, which
Aristide has accepted. The
plan would allow him to
remain president with
diminished powers, sharing
with political rivals a gov
ernment that would orga
nize elections.
Philippe said he was on his
way to a Western Union
office to pick up donations
being sent by Haitians in the
United States and Canada.
He said his rebellion also
was being funded by busi
nessmen in Haiti.
French President Jacques
Chirac said Tuesday his
countiy is ready to consider
contributing to any eventual
peacekeeping force approved
by the United Nations.
“France does not exclude
contributing to a civilian
force for peace,” he said,
adding however that such a
deployment “depends on a
decision of the Security
Council.”
In Port-au-Prince on
Monday, about 50 Marines
in full battle gear rushed off
a U.S. Air Force transport
plane and secured a perime
ter around the international
airport. The Marines then
drove to the U.S. Embassy in
a convoy of trucks and cars.
Western diplomats and a
Defense Department official
said their mission was to
protect the U.S. Embassy
and staff.
Tfen years ago, the U.S.
sent 20,000 troops to end a
military dictatorship that
ousted Aristide in 1991, a
year after he became Haiti’s
first freely elected leader.
But Washington has made
clear it won’t commit a large
number of troops this time.
Aristide, hugely popular
when he was elected leader
of the Western hemisphere’s
poorest countiy, has since
lost much of his support.
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