Calm returns to Haiti capital
2004-10-03 10:53
- Calm settled over the Haitian capital early on Sunday after two days of political unrest left 10 dead, as aid continued to arrive in flood-ravaged areas in the north.
Saturday, armoured vehicles of UN peacekeepers were no longer parked in front of the presidential palace or the offices of the prime minister.
In Delmas, in the north of the city, a dozen soldiers from the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (Minustah) operated a checkpoint for vehicles coming from the airport.
Downtown, only vendors selling fruit and household items from sidewalk stalls hawked their wares, while stores remained shuttered for fear of fresh violence.
Eyewitnesses said vehicles were burned and shots were heard late on Friday in impoverished Cite Soleil north of the capital, a stronghold of supporters of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide.
Haitians heard followers of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue in an animated debate with former parliamentary members close to Aristide on Saturday over the airwaves of Radio-Caribbean.
Aristide is now living in exile in South Africa after stepping down February 29 amid international pressure and the threat of an armed insurrection.
Each side accused the other of arming the bands of thugs who killed 10 people, including nine police officers, in the capital on Thursday and Friday. All the speakers deplored the police's lack of personnel and resources.
Police encircled the radio station for six hours, then arrested and questioned four former parliamentarians close to Aristide, including three who had participated in the debate.
A police officer on the scene who requested anonymity said the leaders of Aristide's Lavalas party were suspected of fomenting the violence.
The unrest broke out in the Haitian capital Thursday during a demonstration staged by Aristide supporters to mark the thirteenth anniversary of a military coup that ousted him in 1991.
Despite the presence of 3 000 UN police and peacekeepers, militant Aristide supporters and opponents have yet to be disarmed. The political situation in the poorest country in the Americas remains fragile ahead of general elections scheduled for 2005.