Rebel Uprising Spreads in Haiti

Death Toll Rises to at Least 40

ST. MARC, Haiti -- An armed uprising spread to nearly a dozen towns in western and northern Haiti on Monday, the strongest challenge yet to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. At least 40 people have been killed in what the government says is an attempted coup.

Some residents fled the town of Grand-Goave with belongings perched on their heads Monday, a day after rebels evicted the police and torched the station.

Police struggled to regain control of the port city of St. Marc, 45 miles west of Port-au-Prince, clashing sporadically in gunbattles with rebels. On Sunday, hundreds of residents took advantage of the chaos, stealing TV sets, mattresses and sacks of flour from shipping containers.

Insurgents also torched police stations in the northern towns of St. Raphael and Dondon, radio stations reported.

The United States condemned the violence and called on Aristide's government to respect human rights. White House spokesman Richard Boucher said Haiti's problems will be solved by dialogue, negotiation and compromise, not violence and retribution.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said officials were watching developments "very closely." Without giving specifics, he said "we will be stepping up our own involvement fairly soon."

Tension has been mounting since Aristide's party won flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors blocked millions of dollars in aid.

But the uprising signals a dangerous turning point in Haiti's long-standing political crisis. A similar revolt in 1985 also began in Gonaives and led to the ouster a year later of dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and the end of a 29-year family dictatorship.

"We are in a situation of armed popular insurrection," said opposition politician Himler Rebu, who led a failed coup against Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril in 1989. He said Monday he had no part in the current uprising.

With no army and fewer than 5,000 poorly armed police -- and it's not known how many have fled the 11 towns -- the government is ill-equipped to halt the revolt spreading in the Caribbean nation of 8 million people. Police stations have been a major target because they symbolize Aristide's authority and officers are accused of siding with government supporters in a wave of protests that began in mid-September.

Premier Yvon Neptune vowed the government would regain control from "terrorists," telling state television Sunday night that "the violence is tied to a coup d'etat under way."

The rebels began their assault Thursday in Gonaives, Haiti's fourth-largest city with 200,000 people, setting the police station on fire and driving out police and government workers. Affected towns include Gonaives, St. Marc, L'Estere, Anse Rouge and Grand-Goave in the west and Petite Riviere de l'Artibonite, Gros Morne, Trou du Nord, St. Raphael, Ennery and Dondon in the north. The area includes the Artibonite valley that is the breadbasket of Haiti.

The rebels are led by a gang of former Aristide thugs who accuse the government of killing their leader. They are supported by members of the disbanded army that ousted Aristide in a 1991 coup and civilians frustrated by deepening poverty.

Rebels have clashed with police in at least 11 towns, stealing weapons from police stations before setting them ablaze. In three towns, rebel leaders said they appointed mayors and police chiefs.

Rebels and residents have set up barricades of flaming tires, wrecked cars, and felled trees on roads leading to Gonaives, St. Marc and the northern city of Cap-Haitien, preventing trucks from delivering fuel for electric generators. With no fuel, the towns could lose power by late Tuesday, said a power company official who declined to be named.

It was unclear how many people have been killed but tolls put together from witnesses, Red Cross officials, rebel leaders and radio reports indicate at least 40 have died.

Reporters watched as crowds mutilated the corpses of three policemen in Gonaives on Saturday. One body was dragged through the street as a man swung at it with a machete, and a woman cut off the officer's ear. Another policeman was lynched and stoned.

"Aristide can no longer save the situation for his regime. The end is looming," former President Leslie Manigat said by telephone Monday. The army ousted Manigat in June 1988, after five months in office.

Aristide was elected in Haiti's first democratic election in 1990 then ousted months later by the army. He was restored in a 1994 U.S. invasion, after which he disbanded the army.