Renamed rebels make new threat
2004-02-19 10:40
Port-Au-Prince - Armed rebels opposed to the government of President Jean Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday renamed their movement the National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Haiti and named former police chief Guy Philippe as its commander.
"We are not indifferent to the massacres committed by Aristide's people, and if he does not resign we will liberate Cap-Haitien, then the West," Philippe said, referring Haiti's fourth largest city, and to the western department containing the capital Port-au-Prince.
"The international community must tell him to resign quickly, or else we will take the palace," Philippe said in a reference to the National Palace and presidential seat.
Haitian radio journalists in the rebel-held northern city of Gonaive, where the announcement was made, said some 300 heavily armed rebels in military battle gear, claiming to be former Haitian soldiers, were in attendance for the presentation.
Aristide reiterated he had no intention of resigning and would serve out his term of office which runs to 2006. He called the insurgents terrorists and drug and arms traffickers.
Two weeks of political violence between Aristide opponents and supporters have left 55 people dead.