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French, U.S. troops detain Haitian rebels
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-10 09:46

A U.S.-led multinational force trying to bring stability to Haiti helped detain two top rebel figures, officials said Friday, the first time peacekeepers moved against leaders of the rebellion that drove Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power.

Canadian Minister of National Defense David Pratt visits Canadian troops at the Canadian Base in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, April 9, 2004. Pratt said he spoke with interim President Boniface Alexandre about the possibility of Canadians training the Haitian police force, which was disbanded for weeks in areas where rebels took control during the uprising that led to Aristide's ouster. [AP]

Wilford Ferdinand, a former rebel commander who had been accused of kidnapping a Haitian police officer, was detained briefly on Wednesday by French troops and Haitian police, French military spokesman Maj. Xavier Pons said.

Also, U.S. and French forces on April 3 helped Haitian police arrest Jean Robert, a rebel sympathizer and gang leader accused of terrorizing supporters of then-president Aristide in northeast Haiti.

The detentions marked an increased involvement by some 3,600 troops under the U.S.-led multinational force, which previously was limited to patrols and trying to disarm dozens of militias.

Former government leaders and members of Aristide's Lavalas Family party had accused the U.S.-backed interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue of targeting them and ignoring rebels with criminal records or human rights violations.

Robert was arrested April 3 in Fort Liberte, a remote northern town close to the Dominican border. He was placed on a U.S. military helicopter and flown to the Port-au-Prince penitentiary to await charges, Pons said.

Ferdinand, known as "Ti-Will," was detained at a hotel in the northern city of Gonaives, a rebel stronghold, Pons said. He didn't resist arrest and was released four hours later at the request of police in Port-au-Prince. No reason was given for his release.

Ferdinand, who had been accused of abducting a Haitian police officer, claimed he took the unidentified police officer into custody to prevent him from being lynched, Pons said.Troops and police seized 10 weapons during the raid.

Rebels hold sway in many areas outside Port-au-Prince despite the arrival of French peacekeepers in Gonaives and other northern towns. U.S. troops patrol the dangerous streets of the capital. Haiti's police force is outgunned, underfunded and demoralized.

During the February rebellion, Ferdinand became the rebel-appointed police chief of Gonaives, where his militia led the uprising that spread to nearly a dozen cities and towns before Aristide fled Haiti on Feb. 29.

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