- Title: HAITI: REBEL LEADER DECLARES HIMSELF IN CHARGE OF SECURITY FORCES
- Date: 2nd March 2004
- Summary: (U7)PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (MARCH 02, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF PORT WITH SHIPS 0.04 2. VARIOUS OF U.S. MARINES ARRIVING IN VEHICLES AT PORT 0.13 3. VARIOUS OF MARINES STANDING BY MILITARY VEHICLES 0.25 4. SLV ARMED MARINE 0.27 5. VARIOUS OF REBELS ARRIVING AT PORT IN POLICE TRUCK, GETTING OUT OF VEHICLE WITH GUNS 0.37 6. SLV PEOPLE STANDING WITH THEIR ARMS RAISED 0.41 7. VARIOUS OF REBELS AT THE PORT AMONGST CROWD (AUDIO OF SHOTS BEING FIRED) 0.L57 8. VARIOUS OF REBELS MEETING 1.11 9. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GETTING INTO VEHICLES AND DRIVING AWAY 1.15 10. GENERAL VIEW OF REBELS AND REBEL LEADER GUY PHILIPPE MEETING POLICE OFFICERS IN PENTON VILLE 1.28 11. VARIOUS OF REBELS DRIVING THROUGH STREET IN CONVOY OF VEHICLES 1.42 12. VARIOUS OF REBEL SUPPORTERS CHEERING/ GREETNG EACH OTHER 1.51 13. WIDE OF SUPPORTERS CARRYING PHILIPPE ON THEIR SHOULDER 1.56 14. SLV SUPPORTERS OUTSIDE GATE OF MILITARY HEADQUARTERS LOOKING IN 1.58 15. VARIOUS OF PHILIPPE GREETING CHEERING SUPPORTERS THROUGH GATE 2.16 16. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (French) REBEL LEADER GUY PHILIPPE, SAYING: "(Referring to accusations against Louis Jodel Chamblain) That depends on the justice system and the Haitian people to know what Chamblain has been doing. I don't know anything about his activities. He's the kind of person who wants to help this country." 2.26 17. VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS WAVING AT GUY PHILIPPE 2.34 18. WIDE OF PHILIPPE WAVING AT SUPPORTERS AND STANDING ON BALCONY OF MUSEUM IN MILITARY COMPOUND 2.38 19. GENERAL VIEW OF REBELS ON BALCONY 2.41 20. WIDE OF SUPPORTERS CHEERING 2.45 21. VARIOUS OF REBELS AND SUPPORTERS RANSACKING ART MUSEUM AND THROWING EXHIBITS ON TO THE GROUND 2.52 22. VARIOUS OF MORE OF REBEL SUPPORTERS RANSACKING AND DESTROYING ARTWORK 3.08 23. SLV CHANTING SUPPORTERS JUMPING ON AND DESTROYING ARTWORKS 3.24 24. VARIOUS OF REBEL SUPPORTERS SET ARTWORK ON FIRE 3.25 25. VARIOUS OF GUY PHILIPPE ON TRUCK AMONG PEOPLE 3.32 26. VARIOUS OF ARTWORK ON FIRE 3.38 27. WIDE OF SMOKE RISING BY MUSEUM 3.42 28. VARIOUS OF U.S. MARINES PATROLLING STREETS 3.56 29. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL WITH RED CROSS TRUCK 4.00 30. PAN FROM SIGN TO HOSPITAL 4.09 31. VARIOUS OF PATIENTS IN HOSPITAL 4.32 32. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS DELEGATION FELIPE DONOSO, SAYING: "We don't know exactly what the situation is regarding food, water and sanitation. The staff that is present has some difficulties because there is no fuel so now what we need to deploy very quickly is logistical support to allow the people to accomplish their mission here." 4.54 33. SLV RED CROSS HEAD TALKING TO PATIENTS 5.00 34. VARIOUS OF WOMAN WITH GIRL PATIENT LYING IN BED 5.07 35. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF WAREHOUSE THAT WAS TURNED INTO MAKESHIFT HOSPITAL WHERE CUBAN DOCTORS ARE VOLUNTEERING THEIR SERVICES 5.13 36. VARIOUS OF CUBAN DOCTORS TENDING TO PATIENTS 5.31 37. SCU (Spanish) CUBAN DOCTOR JUAN CHAVEZ GODOY, SAYING: "At this moment, all of the House services facilities are closed and those international forces are doing everything possible to facilitate four hospital in the area." 5.42 38. SLV DOCTOR LOOKING AT MEDICINE 5.46 39. VARIOUS OF SHORT SUPPLY OF MEDICINE 5.53 40. GENERAL VIEW OF PATIENTS 5.58 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 17th March 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MARCH02,2004
- Country: Haiti
- Reuters ID: LVAABRTRCOEDZI8A3V6FXSPL256Y
- Story Text: With international forces organizing across Haiti's
capital, the rebel leader declares himself in charge of the
country's security forces and concern grows about dwindling
supplies.
While U.S. Marines organized across Port-au-Prince
on Tuesday (March 2), a top rebel leader declared himself
in charge of the country's security forces and concern grew
over dwindling supplies.
U.S. troop reinforcements, expected to grow to 1,500 to
2,000 as part of an international force of some 5,000,
secured key areas of Port-au-Prince as they sought to
restore order to the city.
Even as U.S. Marines secured the port, the armed rebels
also arrived at the port. Despite their own vows to lay
down arms, the rebels raced into town, weapons in stride.
They are led by former police chief Guy Philippe and
Louis Jodel Chamblain, the former head of a death squad
blamed for thousands of killings, The two, accused of
fomenting coups during Aristide's first term, were sent
into exile when Aristide was re-installed as the Haitian
leader by U.S. military troops under former President Bill
Clinton.
Philippe led the rebellion of former Haitian Army
soldiers and gang members who overran towns in the north of
Haiti, killing police officers and setting prisoners free,
causing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to flee Sunday. As
the rebel leader travelled through Port-au-Prince, he was
cheered and carried on the shoulders of supporters.
While the Marines secured the national palace, the
rebels took possession of their former headquarters, which
had been the Prime Minister's Office during Aristide's
presidency.
Philippe declared himself in charge of the country's
security forces and defended charges against Louis Jodel
Chamblain who was convicted in absentia of death squad
mu
rders.
"That depends on the justice system and the Haitian
people to know what Chamblain has been doing," Philippe
said. "I don't know anything about his activities. He's the
kind of person who wants to help this country."
On the grounds of the former military headquarters, now
occupied by the rebels, looters and vandals destroyed the
artwork in the capital's museum, stomping on pieces.
The chaotic situation following the president's ouster
did not just create a political and security crisis, but a
humanitarian crisis, according to international aid
agencies.
Supplies of food, energy and medical supplies are
running low after weeks of political crisis and the
distribution of vital food and medical supplies has been
halted because of security concerns.
"We don't know exactly what the situation is regarding
food, water and sanitation," said the head of the
International Red Cross (IRC) delegation Felipe Donoso.
"The staff that is present has some difficulties because
there is no fuel so now what we need to deploy very quickly
is logistical support to allow the people to accomplish
their mission here."
The situation is particularly serious because Haiti is
the poorest country in the western hemisphere and the
country with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS outside Africa.
As patients lied in hospital beds, few doctors were
present, forced to evacuate by an armed group on Friday
according to the IRC.
The hospital, which can handle up to 125 patients,
received more wounded people at the weekend, including 17
people with bullet wounds on Saturday night.
Doctor Juan Chavez Godoy was one of a team of Cuban
doctors who did not evacuate the hospital despite security
concerns.
"At this moment all of the services facilities are
closed and those international forces are doing everything
possible to facilitate four hospitals in the area," Godoy
said.
The IRC also reported that it had had to divert a
Haiti-bound plane carrying 32 tons of surgical and medical
material in the Dominican Republic because of security
concern and was working to get the supplies to the
hospitals.
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country's
democratically-elected ruler, fled the country Sunday after
a 25-day revolt that left about 80 people dead. A former
Catholic priest, his presidency unravelled under months of
often violent protests by political foes who accused him of
becoming the kind of corrupt dictator he once railed
against, capped by an armed rebellion in which former
soldiers and gang members overran towns and cities to the
north of Port-au-Prince.
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