Rebel Says He's New Haiti Military Chief
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Rebel leader Guy Philippe declared Tuesday he is Haiti's new military chief.
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Flanked by other rebel leaders and senior officers of Haiti's police force, Philippe told a news conference: "I am the chief."
Asked what he meant, he clarified, "the military chief."
He reiterated he had no political aspirations, saying "I am not interested in politics."
"The president is the legal president, so we follow his orders," he said.
Asked if that meant the rebels would disarm if asked, he said "We will."
Haiti's Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre was installed as interim leader Sunday, in the hours after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled a bloody uprising and under pressure from the United States and France.
Philippe, a former provincial police chief of Aristide, has said he wants to reconstitute the army that ousted Aristide in 1991 and that Aristide disbanded in 1995.
Philippe was a cadet in the Haitian army, undergoing officer training at a military academy in Ecuador when the country suffered under brutal military dictatorships.