Uprising spreads to 11 towns in Haiti; death toll rises to at least

ST. MARC, Haiti -- U.N. aid officials warned of a looming humanitarian crisis Tuesday, and violence spread to Haiti's second- largest city in a rebel uprising that has taken at least 42 lives.

It was the strongest challenge yet to embattled President Jean- Bertrand Aristide. Rebels have rampaged through 11 towns, taking control of some.

Early Tuesday, government supporters in Cap-Haitien, the second largest city, built flaming barricades to keep rebels out, radio stations reported. There were also reports of gunbattles overnight in the city on Haiti's north coast, but it was unclear if there were casualties.

United Nations aid officials in Geneva said the violence was shutting off deliveries of necessities to thousands of needy Haitians, threatening a broad humanitarian crisis.

Bertrand Ramcharan, the acting U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, urged "all concerned to stop the violence and resolve the political crisis in a peaceful and constitutional manner."

Tolls put together from witnesses, Red Cross officials, rebel leaders and radio reports indicate at least 42 have died, including several policemen.

After sporadic gunbattles Monday, police regained control of the important port city of St. Marc, 45 miles west of Port-au-Prince, capital. At least two men were shot and another was allegedly shot and killed by Aristide supporters. His body was left on a roadside.

"The national police force alone cannot re-establish order," Prime Minister Yvon Neptune told The Associated Press in St. Marc on the first visit to any of the affected towns by a senior government official.

"The violence is tied to a coup d'etat," he said the day before.

In Port-au-Prince, the capital, a coalition of opposition political parties met to discuss whether they should join the rebels. But by late Monday, they had distanced themselves from the uprising.

"We do not recognize ourselves in the armed insurrection but in the peaceful struggle of the people for democracy," said Mischa Gaillard, an opposition politician who met with others in the Democratic Platform late Monday. "We deplore violence."

The uprising, which began Thursday in Haiti's fourth-largest city of Gonaives, signals a dangerous turning point in Haiti's three-year political crisis. A similar revolt in 1985 also began in Gonaives and led to the ouster to following year of the 29-year Duvalier 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.

Tension has mounted since Aristide's party won flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors blocked millions of dollars in aid. Misery has also deepened with most of the nation's 8 million people living without jobs and on less than $1 day despite election promises from Aristide, a former priest who had vowed to bring dignity to the poor.

With no army and fewer than 5,000 poorly armed police, the government is ill-equipped to halt the revolt. Police stations have been a major target because they symbolize Aristide's authority and officers are accused of siding with government supporters.

Since capturing Gonaives, a city of 200,000 people, the rebels have spread to towns to the west and north. They have clashed with police in at least 11 towns, and in three towns they said they appointed their own mayors and police chiefs.

Some residents fled western Grand-Goave with belongings perched on their heads Monday, the day after rebels torched the police station. Insurgents also set ablaze stations in the northern towns of St. Raphael and Dondon, where police launched counterattacks and wounded two rebels, according to Radio Vision 2000.

It reported that police in Dondon put the rebels to flight, and that afterward government supporters torched houses of nine anti- Aristide leaders.

The United States condemned the violence and called on Aristide's government to respect human rights. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Haiti's problems will not be solved by violence and retribution.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the United Nations "will be stepping up our own involvement fairly soon" but did not elaborate.

The rebels include former Aristide supporters, former soldiers who helped oust Aristide in a 1991 coup and civilians frustrated by deepening poverty.

Aristide won Haiti's first democratic election in 1990 and was then ousted months later by the army. He was restored to power in a 1994 U.S. invasion, and disbanded the army three months later.

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