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| Any Time Now |
| 2004-02-26 |
| Rebels began moving toward Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince on Thursday and are awaiting the order to attack, a guerrilla leader told The Associated Press. The leader, Guy Philippe, said their mission was to arrest President Jean-Bertrand Aristide if he did not resign, so he could be tried on charges ranging from corruption to murder. "We’ve decided to go toward Port-au-Prince. They’re on their way," Philippe said in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second-largest city in the north, which fell to the rebels Sunday. "They’re taking their places. They know what to do." Friday, Sunday at the latest. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 How much stolen loot can you pack on 3 choppers. Dumb move JB! should've rented a C130 |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-2-26 4:53:41 PM |
| #2 BREAKING: Just heard on radio, three helicopters seen taking off from near presidental palace in Haiti. Jean Aristide apparently only has three choppers. Speculation is that he may be bugging out. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-2-26 3:06:27 PM |
| #1 Update: Rebel leader Guy Philippe would not say if an attack was imminent: "It doesn't mean that we're going to attack today. We're just going to take our positions and wait for the right time. They're awaiting the order," he told The Associated Press in an interview in Cap-Haitien, the second-largest city that fell to the rebels with little resistance on Sunday. Philippe said fighters were converging on the capital from Ouanaminthe in the northeast, Saint-Michel de l'Attaye and Saint-Raphael in the north and Gonaives, a rebel base just (100 kilometers) 70 miles northwest of the capital. Police fled the last government bastion in central Haiti, the town of Mirebalais, Radio Metropole reported. It said the officers deserted Wednesday night. That left the main road from the Central Plateau town of Hinche open to rebels. There were no independent eyewitness reports of rebel movement, but there also appeared to be very few fighters in Cap-Haitien, where hundreds were seen Wednesday. Cap-Haitien is just 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Port-au-Prince, but it is a seven-hour drive over potholed roads sometimes reduced to bedrock. Haiti's police force, small at just 4,000 for a country 8 million, ill-equipped and trained to deal with rioters not the trained soldiers who are among the guerrillas, has been deserting in droves. Since more than 40 officers were killed in the first 10 days of the rebellion that erupted Feb. 5, police have been deserting posts without a rebel in sight. Dominican soldiers said they turned away 37 Haitian officers trying to flee the country this week.Aristide loyalists have taken to the streets with old rifles and pistols in recent days, and those in St. Marc, west of Port-au-Prince, have been killing supposed rebel sympathizers and torching houses. On Wednesday, Aristide sent his two daughters on a flight to New York City. "The day of deliverance has come. Aristide's departure is imminent," opposition politician Claire Lydie Parent said Thursday in a radio declaration. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-2-26 2:08:12 PM |