Soldiers from Haiti’s disbanded army who helped oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February threatened Thursday to do the same to the new government unless it gave them 10 years of back pay.
“If ... the government does not pay us that money, we’ll launch against it the same movement we launched against Aristide,” said Rony Bernard, a spokesman for former soldiers in the southern city of Les Cayes.
Setting an Aug. 10 deadline for the payment, he said the interim government had assured the soldiers the army would be reinstituted but had not kept its word.
Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest who was a hero to Haiti’s poor masses, was sent into exile on Feb. 29 by a bloody rebellion in which more than 200 people were killed.
‘When we speak, we act’
Many of the rebels were former members of Haiti’s dreaded army, which Aristide disbanded in the mid-1990s. The soldiers demanded that a new Haitian government re-form the army, saying its dismantling violated the constitution.
“We want to send a clear message to the government that when we speak, we act,” Jean Francklin, a spokesman for former soldiers in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, told Radio Solidarity on Thursday.
Francklin said ex-soldiers throughout the country stood behind the demands.
Government officials were not available for comment Thursday.
Pledge to disarm gangs
Haiti’s interim government, led by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, has said measures will be taken after Sept. 15 to disarm gangs and other groups that possess illegal weapons. The rebels still control large areas of the poor Caribbean country.
Some former rebel leaders, including Remissainthe Ravix and Guy Philippe, have threatened recently to take up weapons again if the government tries to disarm them.
The ex-rebels contend Haitian authorities have no right to confiscate their weapons because the arms played a vital role in Aristide’s ouster and the formation of Latortue’s government.
“If our weapons are illegal, the government is also illegal,” said Joseph Jean-Baptiste, a spokesman for rebels in the Central Plateau.
The rebel leaders said they have more than 2,000 former soldiers under their control. Haiti’s army had about 7,000 troops when it was disbanded.
