Haiti-Cedras
10-5-1994
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras buried his head in his hands today at a funeral attended by hundreds of wailing Haitians to honor 10 people killed by U.S. Marines in a firefight.
Army commander Cedras and Brig. Gen. Philippe Biamby, two coup leaders in their final days of power, stood near the flag-draped coffins in the courtyard of a military hospital as relatives of the dead collapsed in grief. Several had to be carried away on the shoulders of some of the 300 attending the service.
About one-third of the people at the 90-minute service were uniformed Haitian soldiers or police.
Cedras grew teary-eyed and at one point buried his head in his hands in grief. He was seated next to provisional President Emile Jonassaint. Several times during the ceremony the wailing grew so loud it was impossible to hear anything but cries.
The simple coffins of the 10, killed in a Sept. 24 shootout with U.S. Marines in Cap-Haitien, were lined in a row, draped by the Haitian flag. A black-and-white photo was laid on top of every coffin showing the victim.
The third of the coup leaders who ousted elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in September 1991, Port-au-Prince police chief Michel Francois, fled before daybreak Tuesday to the neighboring Dominican Republic.
No Americans soldiers were at today's funeral. U.S. troops were busy patrolling the streets of the Haitian capital in search of "attaches," civilian auxiliary gunmen linked to Haiti's army.
As American helicopter gunships circled overhead, U.S. Special Forces troops raided the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville, looking for weapons and an attache who residents said was responsible for several murders.
The latest U.S. military figures say 95 people, many of them attaches, have been detained and more than 4,000 weapons seized, a military spokesman, Air Force Sgt. David Smith, said today.
Soldiers have worked with Haitians in recent days to identify the homes of suspected army auxiliaries who instilled fear with their harsh crackdown against Aristide supporters.
The hasty departure of Francois, whose attaches were responsible for most of the human rights abuses here, eliminates one of the leaders who might have been an obstacle to the return of Aristide.
Francois, Cedras and Biamby were to leave power by Oct. 15 under a last- minute agreement negotiated with former President Carter. Cedras, the most visible of the Haitian military leaders, has vowed not to leave the country.
Aristide supporters applauded Francois' departure, and urged the other coup leaders to do the same.
"It is an important step toward the re-establishment of democracy and peace. ... The others (Cedras and Biamby) should follow his example," Port- au-Prince Mayor Evans Paul, an Aristide supporter, said Tuesday.
The U.S. agreement with the Haitian military averted an invasion but paved the way for the arrival of 20,000 U.S. troops to ensure the return of Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president.
Aristide told the U.N. General Assembly in a speech Tuesday that he would return home within 10 days.
The Roman Catholic priest, who has been living in exile in Washington, said he hoped to bring peace to the nation.
"We say yes to reconciliation, no to violence, no to vengeance ... yes to justice," Aristide said.
In what could be another promising sign for Haiti, a feared paramilitary leader Tuesday claimed a conversion to pacifism.
Emmanuel Constant, leader of the paramilitary group the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, which has tortured and killed pro-democracy activists, urged Haitians "on every side" to put down their weapons and renounce violence. But Constant's sincerity was in doubt: FRAPH is considered responsible for much of the terror waged in Haiti over the past year. And violence on Tuesday showed Aristide's peaceful resumption of power is far from assured.
U.S. troops found themselves in the delicate position of protecting Constant, one of Haiti's most notorious figures, as he addressed reporters outside the presidential palace.
Constant just days ago was one of Aristide's - and Washington's - most despised enemies.
"No more violence," Constant said. "The future of our beloved republic is at stake."
It was more than Ira Kurzban, Aristide's Washington-based lawyer, could stand.
"Constant led and directed murder and terrorism in this country," Kurzban said disgustedly. "He should be arrested and tried."
The 2,000 Haitian onlookers occasionally drowned out Constant's words with cries of "Murderer 3/8 Murderer 3/8" and shouts to American troops protecting him to throw him in jail.
On Monday, U.S. troops stormed the FRAPH headquarters in downtown Port-au- Prince and detained more than two dozen members.
But with thousands of weapons still reportedly in the hands of FRAPH members and other extremists and some Haitians thirsting for revenge, the potential for violence remains high.
Francois left after his brother Evans, already living in the Dominican Republic, wrote an open letter urging him to join his family in Santo Domingo.
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras buried his head in his hands today at a funeral attended by hundreds of wailing Haitians to honor 10 people killed by U.S. Marines in a firefight.
Army commander Cedras and Brig. Gen. Philippe Biamby, two coup leaders in their final days of power, stood near the flag-draped coffins in the courtyard of a military hospital as relatives of the dead collapsed in grief. Several had to be carried away on the shoulders of some of the 300 attending the service.
About one-third of the people at the 90-minute service were uniformed Haitian soldiers or police.
Cedras grew teary-eyed and at one point buried his head in his hands in grief. He was seated next to provisional President Emile Jonassaint. Several times during the ceremony the wailing grew so loud it was impossible to hear anything but cries.
The simple coffins of the 10, killed in a Sept. 24 shootout with U.S. Marines in Cap-Haitien, were lined in a row, draped by the Haitian flag. A black-and-white photo was laid on top of every coffin showing the victim.
The third of the coup leaders who ousted elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in September 1991, Port-au-Prince police chief Michel Francois, fled before daybreak Tuesday to the neighboring Dominican Republic.
No Americans soldiers were at today's funeral. U.S. troops were busy patrolling the streets of the Haitian capital in search of "attaches," civilian auxiliary gunmen linked to Haiti's army.
As American helicopter gunships circled overhead, U.S. Special Forces troops raided the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville, looking for weapons and an attache who residents said was responsible for several murders.
The latest U.S. military figures say 95 people, many of them attaches, have been detained and more than 4,000 weapons seized, a military spokesman, Air Force Sgt. David Smith, said today.
Soldiers have worked with Haitians in recent days to identify the homes of suspected army auxiliaries who instilled fear with their harsh crackdown against Aristide supporters.
The hasty departure of Francois, whose attaches were responsible for most of the human rights abuses here, eliminates one of the leaders who might have been an obstacle to the return of Aristide.
Francois, Cedras and Biamby were to leave power by Oct. 15 under a last- minute agreement negotiated with former President Carter. Cedras, the most visible of the Haitian military leaders, has vowed not to leave the country.
Aristide supporters applauded Francois' departure, and urged the other coup leaders to do the same.
"It is an important step toward the re-establishment of democracy and peace. ... The others (Cedras and Biamby) should follow his example," Port- au-Prince Mayor Evans Paul, an Aristide supporter, said Tuesday.
The U.S. agreement with the Haitian military averted an invasion but paved the way for the arrival of 20,000 U.S. troops to ensure the return of Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president.
Aristide told the U.N. General Assembly in a speech Tuesday that he would return home within 10 days.
The Roman Catholic priest, who has been living in exile in Washington, said he hoped to bring peace to the nation.
"We say yes to reconciliation, no to violence, no to vengeance ... yes to justice," Aristide said.
In what could be another promising sign for Haiti, a feared paramilitary leader Tuesday claimed a conversion to pacifism.
Emmanuel Constant, leader of the paramilitary group the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, which has tortured and killed pro-democracy activists, urged Haitians "on every side" to put down their weapons and renounce violence. But Constant's sincerity was in doubt: FRAPH is considered responsible for much of the terror waged in Haiti over the past year. And violence on Tuesday showed Aristide's peaceful resumption of power is far from assured.
U.S. troops found themselves in the delicate position of protecting Constant, one of Haiti's most notorious figures, as he addressed reporters outside the presidential palace.
Constant just days ago was one of Aristide's - and Washington's - most despised enemies.
"No more violence," Constant said. "The future of our beloved republic is at stake."
It was more than Ira Kurzban, Aristide's Washington-based lawyer, could stand.
"Constant led and directed murder and terrorism in this country," Kurzban said disgustedly. "He should be arrested and tried."
The 2,000 Haitian onlookers occasionally drowned out Constant's words with cries of "Murderer 3/8 Murderer 3/8" and shouts to American troops protecting him to throw him in jail.
On Monday, U.S. troops stormed the FRAPH headquarters in downtown Port-au- Prince and detained more than two dozen members.
But with thousands of weapons still reportedly in the hands of FRAPH members and other extremists and some Haitians thirsting for revenge, the potential for violence remains high.
Francois left after his brother Evans, already living in the Dominican Republic, wrote an open letter urging him to join his family in Santo Domingo.
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