‘Govt, backed terror campaign’

Press, 3 December 1987, Page 10

‘Govt, backed terror campaign’

NZPA-Reuter Port-au-Prince Haitians said former secret police from the ousted Duvalier dictatorship claimed Government backing yesterday for a terror campaign that caused the collapse of the country’s elections. Witnesses said remnants of the disbanded Tonton Macoutes accompanied soldiers who arrested dozens of young men in two slum neighbourhoods of the capital yesterday. No reasons for

the arrests were given. A Reuters correspondent heard the Macoutes tell Haitians: “The army is protecting us now. Macoutes don’t have to hide any more.” The streets of the capital were completely deserted on Tuesday night except for occasional bands of Macoutes, whose attacks on Sunday left scores dead and led the nine-member civilian electoral council to cancel the first free elections in 30 years. The ruling military

council headed by General Henri Namphy dismissed the council after the vote was cancelled. He pledged a new demo-cratically-elected President by next February 7.

All nine electoral council members were still in hiding on Tuesday. Jean-Claude Bajeux, a’ leader of the leftist umbrella group which orchestrated last summer’s general anti-Govemment strikes, said on Tuesday, “We warned the United States not to let this (the elections) happen. Nam-

phy is a Duvalierist Macoute.” “We’ll have half a million new boat people now,” the United Front leader told reporters, referring to the thousands of Haitians who have fled by boat and tried to enter the United States illegally. “I’ll die. You’ll die. They’ll kill everybody.” “They’ll put in their own Duvalierist candidate and have a puppet president, puppet senators and puppet deputies.”