US: The United States has stepped up its criticism of the government of President Jean Bertrand Aristide in Haiti, following attacks on anti-Aristide demonstrators in which the US says local police took part.
Tens of thousands of Haitians marched in the largest such demonstration on Sunday, which began after a mass by Roman Catholic Bishop Pierre-Andre Dumas, a critic of President Aristide's government. One pro-Aristide demonstrator was reported to have been shot dead in a separate march.
In the past four months, at least 46 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in the growing violence, with most of the casualties occurring among anti-government protesters.
A district police commander, Jeanty Edner, was found shot dead on Sunday in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second largest city. The clashes intensified during a partially successful two-day strike last week called by the opposition Democratic Platform to protest against corruption and mismanagement.
"We're condemning the actions of the Haitian government in response to the political demonstrations that occurred January 7th in Port-au-Prince," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"Some police officers at these demonstrations collaborated with heavily armed hired gangs to attack the demonstrators."
He warned US citizens that the Haiti government had not been able to maintain order in Port au Prince, "and in some instances has assisted in violently repressing demonstrations." The State Department called on the Haiti government "to end immediately its efforts to suppress peaceful dissent."
Amnesty International has expressed concern about "the nearly incessant clashes between pro-and anti-government activists in Haiti in which several people have lost their lives already this year."
Haiti has been plagued by political violence since it became the world's first black republic in 1804 after a rebellion by nearly half a million African slaves.
President Aristide, a former priest, became Haiti's first democratically elected leader in 1991 but was ousted by a military dictatorship.
Then hailed as a champion of freedom, he was restored to power in 1994 by President Bill Clinton, who sent troops to Haiti in Operation Uphold Democracy.
After Mr Aristide was restored to power, he oversaw the installation of a close associate as president in 1996 and then won a second term as president in 2000. Legislative elections that year that returned his party to power were criticised by observers as fraudulent.
The opposition has refused to participate in new elections unless President Aristide steps down rather than serve his full term to 2006. The terms of most members of the Haitian parliament expired yesterday with no date for a new poll.
President Aristide has been accused by critics of clinging to power by trampling on civil rights.
Under his rule, the per capita income of Haiti's 7.5 million population has declined to less than one-tenth the Latin American average. Some 12 per cent of the population of Haiti is estimated to be HIV positive.