Aristide loyalists vow to attack rebels

CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti -- Armed loyalists of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide set up barricades on Tuesday, vowing to attack rebels leading a bloody uprising that has spread to several small towns and killed at least 42 people.

Brandishing pistols, bands of drunken pro-Aristide youths threw rocks at passing cars in the northern port city of Cap-Haitien. They said they were protecting the half-million residents of Haiti's second-largest city, a former Aristide stronghold where his support has dwindled.

"The opposition doesn't want to deal with Aristide, so we know we are going to have to fight them," said Jesner Jean, 28, pacing along a barricade of boulders and garbage.

Roadblocks prevented food deliveries to tens of thousands, the U.N. World Food Program warned from Geneva, and fuel tankers also were blocked. Some gas stations ran out of fuel.

While most of the country was calm, the U.S. State Department on Tuesday authorized the departure of family members and non-emergency employees of the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. government also issued a travel warning to private citizens, although few tourists ever visit Haiti.

Police regained control in three of the 11 towns. In some areas where gunbattles had died down, neither police nor rebels were seen on the streets.

In the northern town of Ennery, young men played soccer in front of its charred police station, abandoned days earlier and torched by rebels. Most businesses and schools were closed in the tiny town of about 2,000. Farmers said roadblocks had kept customers at bay.

"Everbody's complaining about this," said Blanfort Mentor, a 23- year-old farmer who says barricades are making it harder to sell bananas and potatoes and support his family.

Others agreed, reticient about politics and focused on how they would survive.

"We've just been having to go without food," said David Metelus, a 22-year-old mechanic.

In Gonaives, a city of 200,000, rebels continued patrolling the streets, but there was relative calm and no reports of injuries or bloodshed.

Remy Charlot, 44, said Aristide militants gutted his Cap-Haitien restaurant Monday night. "Because I criticize the government, that's why they burned my restaurant," he told The Associated Press. "They came inside. They poured gasoline on all my stuff, and they burned it."

After sporadic gunbattles Monday, police regained control of the port city of St. Marc, 45 miles west of Port-au-Prince, and nearby Grand-Goave. At least two men were shot in St. Marc, and another was allegedly shot and killed by Aristide supporters.

At Dondon, 12 miles outside Cap-Haitien, police helped by a pro- Aristide militia managed to fight off rebels Monday and regain control of the town. Aristide supporters then torched houses of nine anti-government activists there, Radio Vision 2000 reported.

The uprising began Thursday in Gonaives, presenting a dangerous turning point in Haiti's three-year political crisis. A similar revolt in 1985 also started in Gonaives and led to the downfall of the 29-year Duvalier family dictatorship.

Opposition politicians and civilians distanced themselves from the revolt, denying government contentions they were uniting with the rebels to stage a coup. "Our means are peaceful," opposition leader Evans Paul said after a meeting Monday of the Democratic Platform, made up of political groups, civic leaders, clergy and students.

The United States was "pushing very hard for an end to violence," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday.

Tolls put together from witnesses, Red Cross officials, rebel leaders and radio reports indicate at least 42 people, including policemen, have been killed in the uprising.

Haiti has suffered more than 30 coups in 200 years, the last in 1991 when Aristide was ousted after becoming the Caribbean nation's first freely elected leader. U.S. President Bill Clinton sent 20,000 U.S. troops in 1994 to restore Aristide, who then abolished the army.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the U.S. military has "no plans to do anything" in Haiti.

With fewer than 5,000 poorly armed police, the government force has been outgunned and outnumbered. Numerous police stations have been torched because officers are accused of siding with Aristide supporters in protests that began in mid-September. Dozens have been killed since then in clashes with police and Aristide partisans.

Tension has mounted since Aristide's party won flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors blocked millions of dollars in aid. Misery has deepened, with most of the nation's 8 million people unemployed and living on less than $1 a day despite election promises from Aristide, a former priest who had vowed to bring dignity to the poor.

In Cap-Haitien, Phaniel Toussaint, 24, vowed to fight for Aristide and said, clutching a pistol in his trouser pocket, "We're not going to be afraid."

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