Haiti at ‘Edge of Anarchy,’ Ruling Council Chief Says

A wave of anti-government protests this week, resulting in at least two deaths, has brought Haiti to “the edge of anarchy,” the president of the ruling council said Thursday.

The military-led government warned that it would act sternly to repress any further “wild demonstrations,” but public protests continued for the fourth straight day.

An army sergeant and a 21-year-old woman were killed in shootings Wednesday night and Thursday morning, and a dozen others were wounded.

Gen. Henri Namphy, president of the National Government Council, blamed the unrest on “proponents of a negative ideology”--an apparent allusion to leftists.

Terrorism Deplored

Namphy spoke on national television and radio shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday. He deplored “acts of terrorism, including arson, the isolation of our provincial cities by stupid roadblocks, killings which are like the prelude to a civil war.

“In conclusion, under the incitement of groups trained in the game of destabilization, the country finds itself on the edge of anarchy,” he said.

“Haitian people,” he added, “it was not to create such a situation that you broke the yoke of a long and cruel dictatorship.”

Namphy assumed leadership of the government Feb. 7 after a series of anti-government protests forced Jean-Claude Duvalier to resign as “president for life” and flee to exile in France.

Protesters this week have demanded the removal of several unpopular government officials, but they also have called for progress toward democracy and relief from this Caribbean country’s profound poverty.

Criticized Official Resigns

One official whose removal had been demanded, Aubelin Jolicoeur, resigned Thursday. The No. 2 official in the Information Ministry, Jolicoeur had been criticized for his role in a dispute with the government’s national television channel.

Another official whose removal has been called for is Col. Williams Regala, a member of the three-man government council and minister of the interior and defense. After Namphy spoke early Thursday, Regala used the same broadcast to announce a crackdown on disruptive demonstrations.

“The armed forces of Haiti, which up to now have shown the utmost restraint, have received instructions to react sternly against these serious breaches against the security of the Haitian nation,” Regala declared.

He said that peaceful demonstrations are still authorized but that “wild demonstrations that disturb public life will be repressed with the appropriate strictness.”

‘Declaration of War’

Some politicians criticized the tough tone of Regala’s announcement. Sylvio Claude, leader of the Christian Democratic Party, called it a “declaration of war.”

Regala said a shot from a crowd of demonstrators killed an army sergeant Wednesday in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Carrefour.

Nelson Frantz, a youth leader in Carrefour, said the sergeant was not shot by a demonstrator but was hit by crossfire from security forces. Frantz said that a pregnant woman was shot to death by police earlier in the same demonstration.

There was no official confirmation of Frantz’s report, but the Port-au-Prince morgue said that a 21-year-old woman named Dani Depestre was shot and killed Thursday.

Hospital officials said that eight civilians from Carrefour suffered bullet wounds Wednesday and that four more were wounded Thursday.

Burning Barricades

Army troops swept into the suburb after demonstrators barricaded the main boulevard with burning tires. Radio Antilles Internationale, a Port-au-Prince station, said the troops shot into a crowd and killed a 14-year-old girl, but that report could not be confirmed.

Other demonstrations, in which protesting crowds barricaded streets, were reported Thursday in the provincial cities of Gonaives, Jeremie and Petit Goave. The reports were sketchy, and there was no word of casualties.

In Port-au-Prince, most merchants in the center of the downtown area closed their stores Thursday afternoon, apparently fearing violence. Many factories also closed. Except for Carrefour, however, the capital’s streets were calm during the day.