Haitian rebels prepare for attack

By Claire Marshall BBC, Gonaives, Haiti

Rebels travel in vehicles looted from police

The rebel forces in Gonaives are expecting a counter-attack from government forces any day.

They have prepared their defences.

The main route into the town is strewn with obstacles.

A bus has been overturned and dragged into place to block off most of the road.

Jagged boulders have been scattered across the tarmac, and there are makeshift barricades of bits of wood and even an old speed boat.

Changing allegiance

The forces in control here call themselves the Resistance Front.

They drive through the city in new 4X4 vehicles - proud trophies looted from the police force as they fled Gonaives last week.

If Aristide hasn't left by the end of February, then we are going to march on Port-au-Prince Rebel leader Butteur Metayer

They look out at their newly conquered territory through black sunglasses, guns pointing out through the windows and loud reggae music playing on the stereo.

One young rebel wears the oversized cap of a police officer and has a pistol tucked in to his sagging jeans.

Many of these rebels used to be members of the so-called "Cannibal Army", a militia group linked to and formerly loyal to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Now, they have switched sides. A dilapidated wooden shack in a slum area of Gonaives is their headquarters.

In it sits Butteur Metayer, swigging from a bottle of Barbancourt rum.

He is their leader - the one who says he is currently in control of the town.

He is 33 and is surrounded by around a dozen of his deputies - all wearing sunglasses with their weapons lying in their laps.

He has a slightly nervous twitch around his mouth and looks for reassurance from the men around him.

"If Aristide hasn't left by the end of February, then we are going to march on Port-au-Prince."

Hunger

He seems unconcerned by the primitive nature of his small force.

Many of them carry vintage bolt-action rifles, and some don't look over 18.

"The guns which Aristide gave us, we are now using against him," he says.

The rebels say that they have "liberated" the town.

And many people do seem to prefer life here without the presence of the police.

One man, his hands blackened and cracked from a life of manual labour, says "It's much better now. We have security.

"We can sleep in our homes. Before we were afraid of the police."

Another man in broken English smiles as he says "All I can say is that I am very happy".

But Gonaives is a town which has ground to a halt.

Petrol stations, banks and schools are closed. A trickle of food is only just starting to enter the city.

A thin elderly lady squats in a doorstep cradling a small child in her arms, and cries out "We are dying! We are dying! We can't take it any more. We want to eat. Jean-Bertrand Aristide must leave the country - take him away".

At the end of the dust track which the woman sits beside, the blue of the Caribbean sea can be seen glinting between the crooked houses.

A man strums his guitar, singing, "Aristide wants to eat us. Aristide wants to kill us. He is a president without shame".