Video Top rebel figures detained

Gonaives - February 11, 2004

1. Rebels in former police cars

2. Various of rebels showing police identification cards

3. Alleged policeman in rebel custody

4. Wilford Ferdinand (wearing hat), leader of the Resistance Front of Gonaives, and Buter Meteyer, leader of the political wing of the Resistance Front of Gonaives.

5. Armed members of Resistance Front of Gonaives.

6. SOUNDBITE: (Creole) Wilford Ferdinand, also known as "Ti-Will", leader of the Resistance Front of Gonaives:

"It will never be easy for them to enter the city because we will be always ready to fight"


Gonaives - February 7, 2004

7. Ti-Will walking through crowd

8. SOUNDBITE: (Creole) Wilford Ferdinand, also known as "Ti-Will", Leader of the Resistance Front of Gonaives:

"I am just holding this gun, I am not a terrorist , you must see that I am fighting for the people of Haiti because we voted for Aristide and he is the same one that is killing us one by one. When Aristide gives you money, the next day, he kills you. Since the day we started fighting, the whole of Gonaives has supported us. The people are with me and we will fight the police forces until we get rid of Aristide."


Port-au-Prince - February 7, 2004

9. Police officer directing traffic

10. Various presidential palace


STORYLINE:


A US-led multinational force trying to bring stability to Haiti say they have helped detain two top rebel figures - the first time peacekeepers have moved against leaders of the rebellion which drove Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power.


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 Major Xavier Pons said. Ferdinand, who is also known as Ti-Will, is the leader of the Resistance Front of Gonaives.


On April 3 US and French forces helped Haitian police arrest Jean Robert, a rebel sympathiser and gang leader accused of terrorising supporters of then-president Aristide in northeast Haiti.


Ferdinand 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.


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 February 29.


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


The detentions marked an increased involvement by some 3,600 troops under the US-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 party had accused the US-backed interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue of targeting them and ignoring rebels with criminal records or human rights violations.


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




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