Rebel uses Internet to check world pulse
CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (AP) --The rebel leader hunches over the computer
in the hotel
lobby, a fan whirring cool air over him as he plugs into the Internet
to check the world's
response to his threat of attacking Haiti's capital and chats online,
doing interviews with
reporters.
It's a daily ritual for Guy Philippe, who is paying close attention
to perceptions
of his rebel force at home and abroad as he plots a final drive to
oust President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
On Saturday he announced rebel troops would hold off attacking
Port-au-Prince for one or two days in response to a U.S. appeal for
the
insurgents to halt their advance.
Philippe said he was not contacted by the United States, but read about
the
plea on the Internet.
"We don't want to have any problem with the international community,"
he said.
"They have a good strategy to help Haitian people" -- namely a demand
for
Aristide to resign.
The rebels cut telephone communications, including cellular service,
when they
seized Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city, with little resistance
a week
ago, saying they want no communications with government-held
Port-au-Prince.
So the hotel's Internet connection is made through a high-tech satellite phone.
Philippe's other mode of communications is low-tech: he said he sends
messages to fighters scattered across northern Haiti by motorcycle
couriers,
fearing telephone messages could be intercepted.
Dozens of rebels clad in camouflage and toting rifles pass the time
waiting for
orders in the Hotel Mont Joli, many sipping Haiti's Barbancourt rum
or,
Philippe's preference, Prestige beer. Some wear black T-shirts printed
with
"Haiti Libere" -- "Free Haiti."
Truckloads of rebels come and go on patrols. Some residents freeze to
peer at
them.
Many others say they feel "the army" has made the city safe. Some rebels
are
ex-soldiers who say they hope to re-establish the army that Aristide
dissolved
after U.S. troops restored him to power in 1994, three years after
the soldiers
ousted him in a coup.
Rebels now stand guard at Cap-Haitien's port to prevent more looting
like the
chaos that erupted when they seized control. At least 18 were killed
in the
assault and ensuing violence, the Haitian Red Cross said. Many were
said to be
Aristide militants.
On patrol nearly a week later the rebels still were searching for Aristide
supporters accused of terrorizing people in the days before the rebels
arrived.
"I have the support of the people. That is all we need," Philippe said,
talking
with reporters on the hotel verandah overlooking a swimming pool, palms
and
the sea.
Off-duty rebel fighters sit in clusters chatting in the lounge, while
some listen to
portable radios.
Billy Augustine, a 23-year-old rebel, wears a bandanna printed with
the U.S.
flag around his neck. "I think the U.S. has enough proof to know that
Aristide
cannot run the country any longer," Augustine said, an assault rifle
on his lap.
"We've been wishing they could do more."
Hotel managers say Philippe has paid the tab for the dozens of rebels,
though
they won't give the amount.
Philippe, who celebrated his 36th birthday Sunday, has said the movement
is
funded by Haitians in the United States and Canada, who wire money
through
Western Union, and businessmen in Haiti.
Many of the city's authorities have recognized the rebels as the new
power in
town. Police chief Gabriel Hugues came to meet rebels Friday with about
a
dozen other officers in civilian clothes, some of whom turned over
their guns.
"I don't have any problem with those people," Hugues said of the rebels
who
burned the city's police station. "They came to defend Haiti."
A former assistant police chief for the northern region, Philippe fled
Haiti in
2000 amid accusations of plotting a coup and lived in exile in the
Dominican
Republic and Ecuador.
Often smiling, he plays dominoes with his troops and laughs with musicians
whose troubadour ballads resonate through the hotel some nights.
Other times he is strictly business, glued to the computer screen at
the
reception.
Philippe doesn't talk about who he is contacting by e-mail or instant
message,
but he says he is taking orders from no one. "I don't have a boss,"
he says.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.