US troops fail to halt Haiti violence

ANARCHY, violence and desperation swept the Haitian capital yesterday, with at least five people shot dead and widespread looting despite a massive US presence including tanks.

While the Americans appeared intent on protecting the rich, right-wing gunmen opened fire on unarmed supporters of the exiled President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and fought pitched battles with them in the centre of the capital. The gunmen shot at least two of their victims at close range as they tried to hide, and fatally wounded a Haitian driver for the American CNN television network.

With Haiti's own troops and police inoperative, and the role of US troops increasingly unclear, supporters and opponents of Fr Aristide battled each other for control of the streets while hungry people looted food warehouses and shops.

Snipers fired close to US troops around the renowned Oloffson Hotel but there were no reports of Americans hurt. The mayhem, the most widespread and anarchic since the 19 September US occupation, came on the third anniversary of the coup that overthrew Fr Aristide.

Haitians awoke to a dramatic display of previously-unseen US military power. Dozens of Sheridan tanks sat on street corners in middle-class areas, although they stayed away from the volatile centre of the city. Four tanks partially blocked the main road leading to the wealthy hillside suburb of Petionville, clearly aimed at protecting the suburb and keeping any anti-coup demonstrators from moving up the hill. Blackhawk helicopters clattered overhead non-stop from 6am and spotter planes observed the day's rioting but, on the ground, the Americans stayed away from the trouble spots.

A colourful mass to the victims of the coup in the city's cathedral, in which worshippers waved portraits of Fr Aristide and chanted his name, was supposed to be the starting point for a pro-Aristide demonstration to the main cemetery. But hundreds of youths broke off and made for a headquarters of the pro-military Front for the Progress and Advancement of Haiti (Fraph). When they arrived at the Rue Champ de Mars, the pro-Aristide youths hurled rocks at the Fraph supporters, heavily- set men and plump women, who appeared at first to be armed only with clubs.

The Fraph supporters, who back the de facto military regime that ousted Fr Aristide but is supposed to step down in two weeks, at first responded by hurling the rocks back. Then the first shots rang out, apparently from a single-shot rifle, and the pro- Aristide group scattered. The pro- Aristide youths then continuously tried to move back but the Fraph supporters responded with a barrage of shots.

Earlier, there were astonishing scenes of anarchy and desperation as hundreds of hungry people battered their way through a 1ft-thick cement wall to loot a cash-and- carry supermarket. They pounded with steel bars at a spot just above the sign above the door, until they broke a small hole. Then a big gap appeared. Within minutes, the building, said by locals to be owned by hated police chief and coup leader Lieutenant-Colonel Michel Francois, was swarming with hundreds of men, women and children. They began tossing food from the building.

At 10.15am, a platoon of US military police in combat gear arrived and tried to get the looters out. But there were simply too many of them and the soldiers gave up within 10 minutes. When they left, the looting and fighting got worse. The US soldiers appeared to be rattled and confused about what to do. Their main concern was clearly to defend themselves.

Many Haitians asked why, with so many tanks elsewhere around the city, the Americans were unable to stop the looting or the street violence between pro- and anti-Aristide groups.

As I drove up the Rue Capois to the Hotel Oloffson, where Graham Greene dreamed up the novel The Comedians, half a dozen gunshots came cracking down the hill. My driver threw the car into reverse and back into a side street as US military policemen turned their rifles and jeep-mounted machine- guns towards the source of fire, which seemed to be somewhere above the hotel.

'Six shots, from up in those hills,' shouted a gunner. I abandoned the car and walked up to the hotel to find the manager, Richard Morse, peering over its garden wall to see what was going on.

(Photograph omitted)