Information collated by the Haiti Support Group, 12 February 2004.

The Forces Armées d’Haïti (FAD’H) was demobilised by Aristide in early 1995.

“Haitian Uprising Unites Onetime Enemies” by Michael Norton, Associated Press, February 10, 2004 – …Wilfort Ferdinand, 27, is the rebel-appointed police chief of Gonaives, where his militia on Thursday led an uprising that has spread to nearly a dozen cities and towns and threatens Aristide’s presidency…His ragtag militia is getting some unexpected help from former soldiers of an army that Aristide disbanded in 1995, four years after soldiers ousted him and he was restored to power. At least 50 of the ex-soldiers, heavily armed and dressed in old fatigues, have been operating for a year outside Gonaives in what the government calls an “armed wing of the opposition.” They have killed at least 30 people in attacks on government officials and towns. It is unclear how many are in Gonaives and what role they play in the insurrection, but a rebel leader told The Associated Press “they have come to lend us a helping hand.” The military, which has staged some 30 coups, traditionally supported an elite that for decades subjugated the poor majority among Haiti’s 8 million people.

– “Two Haitian Towns Retaken” by Michael Christie, February 10, 2004 (Reuters) …As the revolt spread through several other towns, leaving dozens dead, the rebellion was joined by other anti-Aristide gangs, and former supporters tired of endless poverty and what they see as the government’s broken promises. Former soldiers from the disbanded army are also thought to be involved.

– “Rebels attack cops sent to Gonaives” by Michael Ottey, The Miami Herald, 9 February 2004 – …Rebel forces in Gonaïves are preparing for new attempts to re-take the town on the part of police forces. “We are willing to fight and die if necessary,” said Ralph D’Aout, a 32-year-old tailor from the Raboteau slum in Gonaïves. “It’s a battle that we’re up against, but it’s one we will win.” During the fighting, D’Aout crouched, surrounded by other men equipped with two-way radios and assault rifles. D’Aout was clearly in charge, as he called over armed men and boys and whispered orders. As his men exchanged fire with Aristide’s police force (on Saturday), D’Aout told The Miami Herald he was commanding Force 86, led by Jean Tatoune. Tatoune was convicted of involvement in the 1994 slayings of Aristide supporters in what became known as the Raboteau massacre and was one of more than 150 inmates who escaped from the Gonaives prison in 2002. (Miami Herald)

– “At Least 42 Killed in Haitian Uprising” by Ian James, St Marc, Feb 9 2004 (AP) …The rebels are led by several factions, including former Aristide supporters, former soldiers who helped oust Aristide in a 1991 coup and civilians frustrated by deepening poverty.

– Radio Metropole report (translated from French), 9 February 2004- Ex-army colonel, Himmler Rébu, has told Radio Metropole that Aristide has no choice but to resign after losing control of towns in different parts of the country. Rébu said the police had received insufficient training to deal with the situation they face in Gonaïves. He called on police officers to defect rather than take actions to the detriment of the wider population. (Metropole)

– Extract from a Reuters report, 17 August, 2001: “In all countries, the military has a role – ensuring stability in the country,” said Himmler Rebu, former commander of a special unit that tried in 1989 to overthrow President Prosper Avril…”Haiti needs a military. The real security of the country is the army”, Rebu said in a recent interview with Reuters at the children’s sports camp he runs….]

– “Police move to retake Haitian city from rebels” by Michael Norton, Gonaives, Feb 7 2004 (AP) …Some gunmen wore the camouflage pants of Haiti’s disbanded army, which Aristide eliminated in 1995….The army ousted Aristide in 1991 during his first term. He was restored in a 1994 U.S. invasion and then disbanded the army. Former soldiers have been blamed for a series of attacks in the past year that killed at least 25 people in the Central Plateau, east of Gonaives.

– “Haiti in turmoil” by Jane Regan, Sun Sentinel, February 7, 2004, Gonaives – …Among the dead was a police officer who killed himself, said an emergency room doctor at the city’s La Providence Hospital. At least two other men were lynched at the police station. Members of the front said former Haitian soldiers helped them carry out their Thursday assault. After attackers pounded the police headquarters with automatic weapons fire, police ran away, witnesses said.

– “Nation on the Brink of Civil War – Haiti’s Virtual Government” by Jean Jean-Pierre, The Village Voice, March 28, 2001 – …The (Democratic) Convergence, an incongruous bevy of some 15 parties whose paltry membership is largely composed of the upper middle class, chose Gérard Gourgue, an educator and jurist, as its president. In November 1987, Gourgue, now 75, ran for president in elections that were aborted by the military when they and their paramilitary gangs murdered dozens of people at a polling place in Port-au-Prince. Strangely, one of the first promises made by Gourgue was to restore the army, which was disbanded by Aristide in 1995, one year after he was returned to power by U.S. troops. So it is no coincidence that hundreds of former army officers took to the streets three weeks ago to demand the reinstatement of that dreaded institution.

– Finally, the following section is from an article that appeared in The Washington Post on 2nd February 2001:

The (Democratic) Convergence was formed as a broad group with help from the International Republican Institute, an organization that promotes democracy that is closely identified with the U.S. Republican Party. It includes former Aristide allies — people who helped him fight Haiti’s dictators, then soured as they watched him at work. But it also includes former backers of the hated Duvalier family dictatorship and of the military officers who overthrew Aristide in 1991 and terrorized the country for three years.

The most determined of these men, with a promise of anonymity, freely express their desire to see the U.S. military intervene once again, this time to get rid of Aristide and rebuild the disbanded Haitian army. “That would be the cleanest solution,” said one opposition party leader. Failing that, they say, the CIA should train and equip Haitian officers exiled in the neighboring Dominican Republic so they could stage a comeback themselves.

For more see: Feature – Destabilisation plots and plans to overthrow the government by use of armed force: www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org/whats_new_index.html

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Solidarity with the Haitian people’s struggle for justice, participatory democracy and equitable development, since 1992.