File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/aut-op-sy.9707, message 150


From: Curtis Price <cansv-AT-igc.apc.org>
Date:          Tue, 29 Jul 1997 18:32:51 +0000
Subject: AUT: (Fwd) General strike paralyzes Haiti's second largest city


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Mon, 28 Jul 1997 18:18:47 -0700
From:          NewsHound <NewsHound-AT-hound.com>

Reply-to:      NewsHound-AT-hound.com
Subject:       General strike paralyzes Haiti's second largest city



NewsHound article from "STRIKES" hound, score "77."



General >>strike<< paralyzes Haiti's second largest city

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- A >>strike<< protesting a proposed extension
of the U.N. peacekeeping mandate paralyzed business in Haiti's second
largest city and in parts of the capital Monday.

Grass-roots groups had called for a nationwide work stoppage to block the
United Nations from keeping its 1,600-member force in Haiti past the July
31 pullout date.

The >>strike<< was confined to downtown Port-au-Prince, the capital, and
north coast Cap Haitian. Police and U.N. troops patrolled slums in both
cities to prevent militants from setting up flaming tire barricades.

Police arrested >>strike<< leader Rene Civil, of the grass-roots What Will
Happen Will Happen group, after he was reportedly found carrying a can of
gasoline in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

No violence was reported in either city.

The U.N. Security Council this week is expected to approve a four-month
extension of a scaled-down force to help professionalize Haiti's police
force before Friday's deadline.

China and Russia have agreed to support the extension proposed by
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson said Monday.

``We need four more months of an international presence, of a U.N.
presence, mainly to train local police there,'' Richardson told The
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

The U.N. force took over in March 1995, six months after U.S. troops
intervened, toppling the army-backed dictatorship and returning former
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.

In February, Rene Preval succeeded Aristide, who was barred under the
constitution from seeking a second straight term in office.

Aristide's supporters have expressed opposition to the U.N. force, which
they claim is being used to force acceptance of an internationally-backed
plan to modernize Haiti's economy.

Aristide has come out against the measures, which would include laying off
thousands of state >>workers<<.



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