42 killed in Haitian uprising

After sporadic gunbattles Monday, police regained control of the important port city of St. Marc, 45 miles west of Port-au-Prince. At least two men were shot and another was allegedly shot and killed by Aristide supporters. His body was left on a roadside.

"The national police force alone cannot re-establish order," Prime Minister Yvon Neptune told The Associated Press in St. Marc on the first visit to any of the affected towns by a senior government official.

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"The violence is tied to a coup d'etat," he said the day before.

In Port-au-Prince, the capital, a coalition opposition political parties met to discuss whether they should join the rebels. By late Monday, they had distanced themselves from the uprising.

"We do not recognize ourselves in the armed insurrection but in the peaceful struggle of the people for democracy," said Mischa Gaillard, an opposition politician who met with others in the Democratic Platform late Monday. "We deplore violence."

The uprising, which began Thursday in Haiti's fourth-largest city of Gonaives, signals a dangerous turning point in Haiti's three-year political crisis. A similar revolt in 1985 also began in Gonaives and led to the ouster to following year of the 29-year Duvalier family dictatorship.