The former interior minister in the government of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been detained on suspicion of involvement in the killing of opposition members in February, police said.
Jocelerme Privert was detained at his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, after first resisting arrest and was now in prison, police spokesman Commissioner Max Isaac said yesterday.
Privert is wanted in connection with a series of killings of Aristide opponents in the town of Saint Marc in February.
Gangs loyal to Aristide, who fled the country on Feb. 29 amid a mounting rebellion, are accused of carrying out the Saint Marc killings as part of a campaign of intimidation.
The spokesman said police staged a raid on Privert's home just after midnight.
"Mr Privert first tried to escape, but he cooperated and his arrest was completed at 2:00am," added Isaac.
A large amount of evidence was seized at the home, Isaac said.
A pro-Aristide gang known as "Balai Rouze" is said to have carried out the killings. Some police were said to be in the gang.
According to the National Coalition for Haitians' Human Rights, about 50 people were killed in Saint Marc between Feb. 11 and Feb. 13.
Privert is the first member of the Aristide administration to be arrested, though about 30 other ministers and senior officials, including former prime minister Yvon Neptune, have been banned from leaving the impoverished Caribbean republic.
An interim government led by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has accused the Aristide regime of plundering the country's treasury before he fled on Feb. 29. It has said it will seek the extradition of Aristide, who is currently in Jamaica.
During a visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday, Latortue said that, "The country is in a state of total bankruptcy.
"Those who were here before left absolutely nothing in the country. They took everything they could and they emptied the coffers, including the central bank's vault, before leaving," he said.
Amid lingering fears of violence, an international stabilization force of 3,600 troops is in Haiti and a UN peacekeeping force could follow. About 2,000 troops are American while France is also a major contributor.
Aristide has said he was forced to leave Haiti by the US and France and has started legal action against US and French government officials.
Powell insisted again on Monday that Aristide left voluntarily and that international action had avoided a "bloodbath" in Haiti.
During his joint press conference with Powell, Latortue confirmed that he and opposition groups had signed an agreement on Sunday that would pave the way for general elections next year and a new government by February the following year.
Officials here said tough conditions would be placed on candidates hoping to take part in the presidential, legislative and municipal elections in an effort to avoid intimidation and violence.
Powell said Washington would allocate US$9 million to the Organization of American States to help support political reform in Haiti, in addition to US$55 million that is being granted to Haiti for humanitarian work.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
RSS