Aristide appeals for peace in Haiti
Plea comes after deadly protest
 | |
| RELATED |
• Haitian rebels say they won't disarm
• Audio Slide Show: Aristide talks to CNN's Judy Woodruff
• Interactive: Mounting crisis engulfs people of Haiti
• Gallery: Island struggles with upheaval
|
|
BANGUI, Central African Republic (CNN) -- Exiled Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed for peace in his strife ridden country, saying he remained its democratically elected president and was "politically abducted" from Haiti by "the U.S. military and other foreign military."
Aristide spoke a day after witnesses said at least four people were killed in protests against him in the streets of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
Two policemen, a civilian and a Spanish journalist were shot to death, according to the witnesses.
Spanish media identified the killed journalist as Richard Ortega, 37, a veteran war correspondent, who had covered conflicts in Chechnya, Iraq and Afghanistan. He suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.
At least three other journalists were wounded in the demonstration.
One hospital reported that it was treating 11 people for gunshot wounds.
The demonstration started about 9 a.m., when around 1,000 anti-Aristide protesters marched peacefully down a main avenue toward the nation's presidential palace escorted by U.S. and French military.
As they passed Aristide strongholds, they traded insults with onlookers, but no violence occurred until they reached the palace and the crowd began to thin.
By that time, the U.S. and French military presence was no longer visible.
Gunfire erupted about 2:30 p.m. in the capital's Bel-Air neighborhood -- home to a number of the armed chimere gangs that supported Aristide.
Aristide left Haiti last Sunday and was taken along with his American wife, Mildred Trouillot, his brother and two bodyguards to the Central African Republic by U.S. and French military.
Aristide later complained he had been a victim of a coup d'etat orchestrated by the United States.
U.S. officials dismissed Aristide's assertion, saying Aristide left after he was told thousands of Haitians would likely be killed by rebel opponents if he did not abandon the country.
Aristide fails to show
On Sunday in the Central African Republic, the government announced that Aristide and his wife would address the news media at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But, 30 minutes before it was to begin, the ministry said without explanation that only Mrs. Aristide would be available. Then, with about 30 journalists packed into a conference room in anticipation of the event, plainclothes security personnel burst through the doors brandishing Kalashnikov rifles and demanding the journalists switch off their cameras.
The news conference, they said, would be conducted without cameras or photographers. After those assembled complained, the authorities allowed RCA TV -- a local news organization -- to videotape the event.
When Mrs. Aristide arrived -- accompanied by a Haitian bodyguard and a local bodyguard -- she was waved to the back of the room and Minister of Foreign Affairs Herve Charles Wenezoui told the journalists that he would read a statement from the exiled Haitian president that his wife had brought with her.
Wenezoui held up a one-page, handwritten note to the journalists, but refused to allow them to inspect it. He then read, "We thank the people of the government of the Central African Republic for its hospitality in taking us in and making us feel at home. We are happy here and extend our thanks to all the people of this country."
Members of the international press then asked that Mrs. Aristide address them, but Wenezoui refused to let her speak.
CNN's Lucia Newman and Jeff Koinange contributed to this report.
