NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, April 29, 1994
13
Aristide supporters slain; military is responsible
The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — It's
body-counting time again in Haiti.
Every morning for two weeks, at least one or two bodies have appeared on the streets around the capital, some hog-tied, others decapitated. Many of the victims were supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
But the killings in Port-au-Prince pale beside the growing number of military-backed slayings in the countryside, U.N. and human rights officials sav.
As many as 3,000 people have been killed in political violence in the desperately poor Caribbean nation since Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president, was overthrown by the army in September 1991.
Haiti's military rulers say the slayings are in response to armed attacks by Aristide supporters, but diplomats and U.N. and human rights officials say at least four reported "attacks" were little more than excuses for arsenal raids.
The reports of new killings come as Washington struggles to come up with a new policy toward Haiti. U.S. envoy Lawrence Pezzullo was sent
packing Tuesday after the failure of efforts to restore Aristide to power.
Pezzullo had been at odds with Aristide over his urging of the exiled president to work with opposition forces in Haiti.
Witnesses say at least 28 people were killed last week in a bloody army sweep through the Raboteau slum, a pro-Aristide stronghold in the west coast city of Gonaives. Thousands of others fed their shacks in the slum.
The newspaper Le Nouvelleillere reported Wednesday that 12 people were slain off Raboteau while heading down the coast in a sailboat. It was not clear if their bodies were among those counted by witnesses.
A source close to the military said the figure of 28 was too high, but he said more than 70 people were killed in two other recent army attacks.
Army officers claimed the Raboteau raid followed an hour-long attack on a military outpost there. But not a single bullet hole could be seen on the one-story concrete building.
"I don't believe there was an attack on the outpost. That's just totally a lie," said Anne Fuller, head of the Haiti office for the New York-based National Coalition of Haitian Refugees.
In an interview yesterday, Fuller said the only possible sign of dissent before the army raid was a burning tire, which she said might have been set on fire by an army supporter.
The Clinton administration, which has been widely criticized for its policy of returning Haitian boat people to their homeland, is proposing tighter international sanctions against Haiti to force its military leaders to step down and allow the restoration of democracy.
But several Haitian businessmen said Wednesday that U.S. military intervention is the only way to keep soldiers from destroying what remains of the nation's legitimate business.
A seven-month U.N. embargo on fuel, intended to pressure the military to cede power, has, instead, been a source of riches for army officials, who control the black market in gas and diesel oil.
The businessmen, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the soldiers would expand their black-market operations if the U.N. Security Council approved the U.S. proposal to broaden the embargo to include all trade except food and humanitarian aid.
Peace talks delayed by Muslims
The Associated Press
Government leaders unsure of Serbs' weapon positions
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — American and Russian envoys trying to resume Bosnian peace talks faced opposition yesterday from Muslim leaders who refused to negotiate until they were assured Gorazde was free of Serb forces.
But the Muslim-led government is not convinced all the guns are gone from the enclave, a U.N.-designated "safe area" 35 miles southeast of Sarajevo.
U. N. and NATO officials say Bosnian Serbs have sufficiently met the terms of an ultimatum threatening to bomb any big guns not removed from a 12 1/2-mile exclusion zone around Gorazde.
"Our people spotted some 11 positions with heavy weaponry," said Prime Minister Haris Silajdac. "As soon as the ultimatum is complied with fully, we are ready to talk."
President Allja Izetbegovic complained that Serbs could simply move the weapons to other fronts. "We are afraid of some new Gorazde," he said.
Such skepticism complicated matters for U.S. envoy Charles Redman and his Russian counterpart, Alexei Nikidorov, who arrived yesterday in Sarajevo.
They are part of a group formed by Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev to restart the talks in Bosnia.
U. N. officials conceded they could not be certain all Serb guns were from the rugged terrain around Gorzade, but they said progress was encouraging.
home to 65,000 refugees and residents, will bring the warring parties back to the negotiating table.
"It's difficult to be an optimist, but that's what we and the contact group and diplomats are paid to be," Redman said.
The envoys hope the return of quiet to the enclave,
Redman and Nikoforov were to meet with Bosnian Serb leaders today at their Pale headquarters east of Saralevo.
But there were signs the Muslim-led government was hardening its stance on issues other than Gorazde.
Izetbegovic said talks would hinge on a commitment to "respect the sovereignty and integrity" of Bosnia — a shot at Serbs who intend to merge their holdings with Serbia.
In addition, he said, the issue of Muslims in the troubled Sandzak region within Serbia must also be addressed. Serbia's powerful president, Slobodan Milosevic, has said repeatedly that Sandzak is an internal matter that cannot be linked to a Bosnia peace settlement.
Bosnia's Croats and Muslims recently ended their hostilities and agreed to form a loose federation in a deal brokered by Redman.
But talks involving Serbs, who control most of the country, have been largely stalled since February, when NATO warned them to withdraw their heavy weapons ringing Sarajevo or be bombed.
That reinforced a cease-fire that has mostly held in Sarajevo for more than two months. But Serbstook it as a sign that NATO and the United Nations were taking sides in the 2-year-old war.
Bosnia's minority Serbs, armed by the federal Yugoslav army, launched the war two years ago when they rebelled against a Croat-Muslim vote to secede from Yugoslavia. More than 200,000 people are dead or missing.
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