- HAITI's second-largest city
remained without power Wednesday after a food depot was looted and torched
in the latest troubles to hit the stricken Caribbean republic, reporters
said.
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- Tensions spilled over in several towns as the government
of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide struggled to win back control of towns
taken over by armed rebels.
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- Two more killings were reported in Saint Marc, raising
the death toll since last Thursday to at least 44.
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- The population of the northern city of Cap-Haitien, the
country's second biggest, was without power amid increasing fears that
groups who support the president would retaliate if rebels tried to take
over the city.
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- The United States said Wednesday it was "extremely
concerned" about Haiti's mounting troubles.
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- "We are extremely concerned about the wave of violence
sweeping through Haiti, and we certainly deeply regret the loss of life,"
White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
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- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday said the
United States had no plans to send US troops to restore order in the troubled
country.
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- A food storage depot in Cap-Haitien was looted and burned
down during the night and businesses were badly hit by the tense atmosphere
on Wednesday, a local journalist told AFP.
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- Many lottery stands and restaurants owned by people believed
to oppose Aristide have been burned down in recent days.
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- "We call on the government to respect the rights,
especially human rights, of the citizens and residents of Haiti,"
McClellan said.
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- Two people accused of being members of the opposition
were burned alive in their homes Wednesday night in Saint Marc, according
to a local journalist. The killings were apparently in retaliation for
the torching of a clinic run by a doctor whose brother is in the pro-Aristide
camp, according to the journalist.
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- Saint Marc is one of three cities police took back on
Monday from rebels who have claimed control of a dozen towns since last
Thursday.
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- Shots were heard in a Saint Marc neighborhood controlled
by Ramicos, an armed opposition group.
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- Several police stations have been destroyed since opponents
of Aristide stepped up their protests.
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- The main police station in Limbe, just south of Cap-Haitien,
was abandoned on Monday night before it was burned down by an armed group,
a journalist said.
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- Rebels calling themselves the National Reconstruction
and Liberation Front said they were determined to fight to "liberate"
the whole country.
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- "The Haitian revolution is on the march," rebel
spokesman Winter Etienne said in a statement. "We have decided to
no longer live in despair. We will regain our hope for the future."
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- Aristide, who has vowed to stay in office until his term
ends in 2006, has been ruling by decree after failed elections last year
left Haiti without a functioning legislature.
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- The populist priest turned president has promised polls
within six months but has not set a date.
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- Aristide has accused the opposition political groups
of favoring a coup d'etat against him, but opposition parties distanced
themselves from the armed opposition.
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- "We distinguish the popular movement we support
demanding the departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from armed rebels with
whom we do not identify ourselves," socialist Micha Gaillard, a prominent
opposition political figure, told AFP.
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- International calls for peace continued as France called
for an "immediate end to violence."
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- The United Nations warned that Haiti faced a "major
humanitarian crisis," as the United States and Canada told their citizens
to leave the country.
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- The Organization of American States and the 15-nation
Caribbean Community have been trying to find a peaceful solution to the
crisis.
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