Rebels who overran Haiti's second-largest city began detaining people identified as supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide yesterday, and said they soon will attack Haiti's capital.
There were two attacks on Sunday on police stations outside Port-au-Prince, independent Radio Kiskeya reported from the capital, and supporters of Haiti's president began building barricades to protect the city from the rebels.
In Cap-Haitien, where rebels celebrated their biggest victory of a bloody uprising, a rampage of looting continued yesterday as rebels detained supposed Aristide militants.
"I am a brick mason, I didn't do anything wrong," Jean-Bernard Prevalis, 33, pleaded as he was dragged away, head bleeding.
Residents, however, charged he was an Aristide activist and a drug trafficker.
"We're going to clean the city of all chimere," said rebel Dieusauver Magustin, 26, using the Creole word "ghost" to describe pro-government militants.
It was not clear what would happen to those detained. One rebel said they were saving them from lynching.
Another, Claudy Philippe, said "The people show us the [chimere] houses. If they are there we execute them."
Thousands of people were in the streets to continue a looting rampage that began on Sunday, when rebel leader Guy Philippe predicted a quick victory over Aristide's partisan.
"I think that in less than 15 days we will control all of Haiti," Philippe said in Cap-Haitien, a city of 500,000 on Haiti's north coast.
Sunday's victory means more than half of Haiti now is beyond the control of the central government. Sources close to the government said several Cabinet ministers in Port-au-Prince were asking friends for places to hide in case the capital is attacked.
France yesterday urged its citizens to leave Haiti. There are about 30,000 foreigners in Haiti, including about 20,000 Americans, 2,000 French and 1,000 Canadians.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin reiterated that France was ready to help end the chaos by contributing to a multinational intervention force.
"We are ready to give our assistance as long as the international community is mobilized and in agreement, as long as the United Nations gives a mandate," he said, adding: "We are unfortunately not yet at this stage."
The takeover of Cap-Haitien by only some 200 fighters was the most significant victory since the popular uprising began on Feb. 5. At least 15 were killed in Sunday's fighting. In a two-pronged rebel assault, rebels quickly engulfed key points in Cap-Haitien, leaving many in ashes.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique