Haiti rebels vow to lay down arms

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 04, 2004

Haiti rebels vow to lay down arms

Haiti's rebel leader said on Wednesday he was disarming his forces and retreating from the streets of Port-au-Prince, where gunfights erupted three days after the president was driven into exile.

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Haiti's rebel leader said on Wednesday he was disarming his forces and retreating from the streets of Port-au-Prince, where gunfights erupted three days after the president was driven into exile.

Hours later, Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune declared a state of emergency, allowing the government to suspend certain constitutional rights such as press freedoms and the right to demonstrate.

For the first time since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into exile, U.S. forces rolled into the tumultuous streets of the capital in force, patrolling in Humvees equipped with machine guns and rocket launchers. They met no resistance and helped clear the streets of charred vehicle and other debris.

In Petit Goave, southwest of the capital, residents detained a militant Aristide supporter accused of murder, threw him to the ground and smashed heavy stones into his head. They then macheted him before burning him alive by putting flaming tires around his body.

The decision by rebel leader Guy Philippe, whose month-long revolt led to Aristide's downfall, came after a brief meeting with the top U.S. military official in Haiti. He was told the United States expected him to honor his word and disarm.

"We have decided to lay down our arms," said Philippe a day after announcing that he was chief of the military and police in defiance of the United States, which is heading a U.N.-authorized mission to restore order.

"The Front from now on has no men patrolling the streets," Philippe told reporters, referring to the rebel forces.

Over a thousand people marched by the U.S. Marine-guarded National Palace in support of Aristide, who was forced from office on Sunday by the armed revolt and by international pressure.

Philippe, a former police chief, said he had made the decision because international security forces were moving to disarm Aristide supporters. But the U.S. military commander in Haiti said the multinational force, which now numbers more than 1,700 American, French and Canadian troops, was not taking sides.

"I'm not interested in who's got the weapons," said Marine Col. Mark Gurganus. "What I'm interested in is everyone who has the weapons."

Source: Agencies

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