January 12, 2004 - 9:15 AM

Haiti plunges towards disarray

By Amy Bracken

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - The terms of most members of the Haitian parliament expire today with no plan in sight to
hold elections to replace them, threatening to plunge the country further into disarray.

On Sunday, thousands of Haitians staged a protest march against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the capital Port-au-Prince.

Aristide, a former priest once widely hailed as a hero of democracy but now accused by his critics of trampling on civil rights,
became Haiti's first democratically elected leader in 1991.

Since his reelection in 2000, he has been at odds with opponents over the tainted results of parliamentary elections that year. The
dispute has prevented new elections taking place as required by the constitution.

The march on Sunday, the latest in a series of mounting protests in recent months, began after a mass by Roman Catholic Bishop
Pierre-Andre Dumas who criticised the corruption, repression and anarchy that he said Aristide's government had created.

"We must regain our strength and take back the country," Monsignor Dumas told a crowd of several hundred at Saint Pierre
Church in the capital.

The group swelled to a crowd of at least 10,000, witnesses said, as it marched through the streets in one of the few anti-Aristide
demonstrations in recent months to end peacefully.

Many of the demonstrators said they were protesting at political violence. "I'm here because the gangsters are the law now," said
university student Cadet Moise, who said he went to every anti-Aristide demonstration.

Similar rallies in the towns of Petit Goave and Miragoane, however, turned violent, according to Radio Megastar reporters. One
armed Aristide supporter was shot dead by a police officer in Miragoane, they said.