Haitian Leader Namphy Ousted in Military Coup

Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, Haiti’s top leader, was ousted in a military coup Saturday night and escorted under guard to the international airport, a government spokesman said. Several soldiers were reported killed in the takeover.

“Namphy was arrested and escorted to the airport” at about 8:15 p.m. local time in a convoy of military vehicles, said Frantz Lubin, the government’s director of information.

Gen. Prosper Avril, the commander of the presidential guard, is believed to be the new head of state, Lubin said. He said that Col. Jean-Claude Paul is the new commander in chief of the army.

Mayor Also Deposed

The Dominican Republic announced late Saturday that Namphy and Port-au-Prince Mayor Franck Romain had requested and been granted political asylum and would be flown on a military plane to Santo Domingo, the capital, today.

Lubin said that Namphy’s wife, Gabrielle, and his daughter, Melissa, were with him at the airport.

The government reported Namphy’s ouster several hours after shooting broke out at the main plaza in front of the presidential palace. The gunshots sent dozens of people fleeing for cover in what appeared to be fighting between military factions, witnesses said. Other sources said members of the Tontons Macoutes, the feared secret police of the Duvalier family dynasty, were involved in the fighting.

A French diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and Radio Metropole, a private station, said the shooting, including automatic weapons fire, was centered in the Champ de Mars Plaza, in front of the Presidential Palace and near the army general headquarters and the Dessalines Barracks, which house the country’s best-trained unit.

A usually reliable source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an army major told him that a group of officers detained Namphy after preventing him from entering the palace at 4:30 p.m.

Reports of fighting were sketchy, but Lubin said he heard that Mayor Romain had found out in advance about the coup and sent some of his men to the palace to help Namphy. Members of the presidential guard reportedly found these soldiers hiding in the palace and killed them.

A source close to the military, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said top army officers had been meeting in the Presidential Palace since noon Saturday, apparently planning the coup.

Took Power After Duvalier

Namphy took power and ruled for two years after President Jean-Claude Duvalier fled to exile in France in February, 1986. He returned to power last June 19 after ousting the four-month-old elected government of civilian President Leslie Manigat.

Avril, who had been a military adviser to Duvalier, was a key figure in the June coup. He was head of the presidential guard when Manigat tried to relegate him to an administrative post before the coup.

Paul, the reported new army commander in chief, was considered the second-most-powerful figure in Namphy’s military regime. He commands the 700 soldiers of the Dessalines Barracks, the 7,000-man military’s largest unit.

In March, Paul was indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami for allegedly conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. Paul denied any involvement, and because the United States and Haiti have no extradition treaty, he remained in office.

After the June coup, Namphy said he had removed Manigat and his government because the president illegally ordered the transfers of several officers, including Paul.

Since that coup, the level of violence has risen in Haiti. Last Sunday, about 20 thugs invaded the St. Jean Bosco Roman Catholic Church during a Mass being said by Father Jean Bertrand Aristide, an outspoken critic of the military government.

The thugs, armed with guns, machetes and knifes, killed 13 people and wounded 77 and then set fire to the church as soldiers watched from across the street.

That night, five men and a woman boasted on government television that they took part in the massacre, and on Monday, thugs burned down a second Catholic church.

Some people in the St. Jean Bosco Church during the attack said they recognized several city hall employees among the assailants.

Romain, who was mayor of Port-au-Prince until Duvalier fled the country, was returned to that office in army-run elections in January and remained after Namphy ousted Manigat. In commenting on the church massacre at the Aristide-led church, Romain said Aristide was “justly punished” by the incident. However, he denied that city hall had been involved in the killings.