18168: (Chamberlain) US-Haiti Travel (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (AP) -- Political demonstrations and civil unrest in
Haiti prompted the State Department to authorize the departure of
nonessential U.S. diplomats and family members, the department said Friday.
   At the same time, the department cautioned U.S. citizens against going
to Haiti, where embattled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been the
target of protests.
   The Caribbean nation has been in turmoil since Aristide's party swept
legislative elections in 2000 that ballot observers said were flawed. In
the past four months of protest, at least 50 people have been killed.
   The State Department said the potential exists for spontaneous
demonstrations and for violent confrontations between government supporters
and students and other opponents of the Aristide government.
   Security experts have advised Americans and others who work at the U.S.
Embassy in Port-au-Prince not to remain in the capital's downtown area
after sunset and to stay home if violence should erupt.
   "The government of Haiti has not been able to maintain order in
Port-au-Prince or in other cities, and in some instances has assisted in
violently repressing the demonstrations," the department said.
   U.S. officials and family members who take advantage of the State
Department's advice to quit Haiti will be reimbursed for travel and other
expenses to return to their homes in the United States.