Manigat Urges Rejection of Namphy Regime; New Coup Details Emerge

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —  Behind-the-scenes details of Haiti’s military takeover emerged Tuesday as strongman Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy formally installed an all-army government with himself as president and rewarded some of his most loyal officers with promotions.

At the same time, at least three officials of the government of deposed President Leslie F. Manigat reportedly were imprisoned and undergoing interrogation at the army’s Ft. Dimanche prison, where the late dictator Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier once tortured and killed political foes.

In the Dominican Republic, where he was sent into exile, Manigat urged all supporters of democracy in the world to condemn Namphy’s coup. Speaking at a news conference, he declared: “I have absolute faith in the future of democracy in my country. The seeds that I have planted during my 130 days in power will grow.”

Cabinet Takes Office

On Tuesday, Namphy’s 12-man Cabinet of army officers went to work. Some, including Brig. Gen. Herard Abraham, the new foreign minister, held stepped-up rank as a reward for loyalty to Namphy, whom Manigat had tried to fire last week. Two other officers fired by Manigat, Maj. Gens. Carl Michel Nicolas and Wilthan Lherisson, also were promoted along with 41 lower-ranking officers and sergeants.

The story of Namphy’s rescue from his home late Sunday, where he had been confined since Manigat moved against him, and Manigat’s hapless downfall in the overnight coup that followed emerged in corresponding accounts from several sources.

Among the sources was Joe Namphy, a Port-au-Prince businessman who joined his strongman brother shortly after the presidential palace was seized. This recapitulation of events is based on accounts by Joe Namphy and two former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity:

The inspiration to free Henri Namphy from Bon Repos, his walled and guarded home, came almost on the spur of the moment to three separate elements of the Haitian army, each unaware of what the other planned.

First to move was a still-unnamed master sergeant in the Presidential Guards, the 1,000-man army unit that protects the palace, president and government in Haiti. The sergeant became incensed when Col. Charles Louis, promoted as guards commander by Manigat in a sweeping reorganization Saturday night, ordered his men to bar Namphy from the palace and, if necessary, to shoot him if he escaped.

The sergeant apparently rallied a group of men, jumped into an artillery-mounted armored vehicle and raced toward Bon Repos, 10 miles north of the capital, Port-au-Prince, to liberate their general.

Unbeknownst to the sergeant, three officers at armed forces headquarters were simultaneously beginning another plan to free Namphy, which they dubbed “Operation Cobra.” The code name apparently was meant to symbolize their intention to strike back at Manigat, who had transferred or demoted all three, the powerful Col. Prosper Avril and Majs. Henry Robert Marc-Charles and Henry Robert Augustin.

Augustin, who personally escorted Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier from Haiti when the dictator fell in 1986, was Namphy’s private secretary when the general was head of a provisional government that took over after Duvalier and ruled until elections were held last February. And he was particularly incensed when Manigat reassigned him to the army laundry--a move that most officers viewed as an insult to the entire armed forces.

He, Avril and Marc-Charles rallied a force of loyalists from the combat-ready Leopards Battalion east of the capital and raced in convoy toward Bon Repos.

Meanwhile, literally back at the long-abandoned ranch of the departed Duvalier--where the Presidential Guards had secreted men and equipment in case of emergency--Col. Franz Adam independently mounted an armed convoy and headed for Bon Repos.

The anonymous sergeant arrived first at Bon Repos and drove his armored cars into the courtyard, winning over Namphy’s jailers without firing a shot.

According to one of the former officials, Namphy, who has been ill, was not enthusiastic about the prospect of a coup, but he put on his uniform and steel helmet and climbed into an armored vehicle with his wife and 9-year-old daughter to be escorted to the presidential palace.

As they were leaving Bon Repos about 8 p.m. Sunday, the sergeant’s rescue group encountered the other two rescue convoys, joined forces with them and trundled into Port-au-Prince and onto the palace grounds without resistance.

Although a reluctant rebel at the start, Namphy took charge of the coup forces as soon as they installed him in the presidential palace and urged that bloodshed be avoided, according to his brother.

Namphy appeared to be in no hurry to send a planned platoon under Lherisson to “get the package”--namely, Manigat--at the presidential residence, Villa Accueil. Nor was he concerned about the suspect Dessalines Battalion in its barracks just behind the palace, because its well-armed troops had offered no resistance to the coup.

Sometime around midnight, Lherisson and his troops went to Villa Accueil, where Manigat’s guards not only let them in without resistance but joined them.

Joe Namphy said Manigat then went into shock, although both other sources described him as acting with dignity throughout the ordeal. In either case, an ambulance was called and, after some delay, it was used to ferry the deposed president and his family to a military building at Port-au-Prince airport.

But a final hitch delayed their departure into forced exile in the Dominican Republic: None of the Manigats had passports. It took more than 10 hours to rouse immigration and Foreign Ministry bureaucrats and get them to make new passports so Manigat, his wife, Mirlande, a member of the now-dissolved Haitian Senate, and his 18-year-old daughter Beatrice could leave for the Dominican Republic.

At the palace, meanwhile, Namphy decided at about 7 a.m. Monday that it was time to move against Paul, who is under indictment in the United States for drug trafficking. At Namphy’s order, Avril telephoned Paul, telling him that he would come unarmed to Paul’s barracks to take his surrender and escort the colonel and his officers to the palace, where they must apologize to the strongman.

“Either you do it, or this is last time you will hear my voice,” Avril reportedly warned.

After assurances from Namphy that his family and loyal troops would suffer no harm, Paul assented. Minutes later, he and his officers arrived at the palace and apologized emotionally to Namphy.

Nevertheless, according to Joe Namphy, Paul almost certainly will be moved out of his powerful command. Col. Louis, who followed presidential orders in telling his men to bar Namphy from the palace, was unceremoniously retired from the army Tuesday.

Meanwhile, relatives and other sources confirmed that Manigat’s information minister, Roger Savain, 66, and two presidential aides, former chief of staff Lionel Desgranges and adviser Pierre Rigaud, were jailed early Monday along with Savain’s oldest son, Roger Jr.