19137: Lemieux: Guardian Unlimited (UK): Foreign Office tells Britons to leave Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Foreign Office tells Britons to leave Haiti

Staff and agencies
Tuesday February 24, 2004

The Foreign Office today advised Britons to leave Haiti
because of the "highly volatile security situation" in the
Caribbean country.
In the travel advice section of its website, the FO says:
"We advise against all travel to Haiti, and all British
nationals in Haiti are advised to leave the country if they
can do so safely.

"A highly volatile security situation prevails throughout
the country, and rebels have taken up positions outside the
capital, Port-au-Prince." The advice, however, added that
"the threat from terrorism is low".

In other developments, Haiti's rebel leader, Guy Philippe,
told the Associated Press that he did not want to install a
military dictatorship, but said he was seeking to
re-establish the army disbanded after it ousted the
president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in 1991.

With rebels threatening to attack Port-au-Prince, the US
attempted to broker a last-ditch peace plan that did not
require Mr Aristide to resign.

Opposition politicians were considering the plan after
being persuaded by the US secretary of state, Colin Powell,
to delay their formal response until late today.

Mr Philippe, who is still in Haiti's second-largest city,
Cap-Haitien - which was seized on Sunday - said that
installing another dictatorship was "not good for the
country".

"The military should stay in the barracks," Mr Philippe,
formerly Mr Aristide's assistant police chief for northern
Haiti, said.

Even if the opposition coalition accepts the US peace plan,
the rebels insist that they only will lay down their arms
when Mr Aristide is out of power.

Asked if he was in contact with opposition politicians, Mr
Philippe smiled and said "not officially". He refused to
elaborate.

Opposition leaders disputed that comment. "We refuse to
have contacts with the rebels, as well as with Aristide,"
Mischa Gaillard said. "We don't want to be tainted with any
suspicion of condoning violence."

They have said that they are a non-violent movement
supporting the aim of removing Mr Aristide from power.

Mr Aristide maintains that opposition factions are
supporting the rebellion, and that the rebels are an armed
wing of the political opposition.

Haiti's premier, Yvon Neptune, today appealed to the
political opposition coalition to agree to the peace plan,
which Mr Aristide has accepted.

The plan would allow him to remain as president, but with
diminished powers, sharing, with political rivals, a
government that would organise elections.

An attack on Port-au-Prince seemed unlikely today, with Mr
Philippe saying that his fighters had spent the night
searching in vain for government forces.

The French president, Jacques Chirac, today said that his
country was ready to consider contributing to any eventual
peacekeeping force approved by the UN.

In Port-au-Prince yesterday, around 50 US marines, in full
battle gear, rushed off a US Air Force transport plane and
secured a perimeter around the international airport. Some
Haitians stood on cars or high walls to watch them.

The Marines then drove to the US embassy in a convoy of
trucks and cars. Western diplomats and a US defence
department official said that the marines' mission was to
protect the US embassy and staff.

Ten years ago, the US sent 20,000 troops to end a military
dictatorship that had ousted Mr Aristide in 1991, a year
after he had become Haiti's first freely-elected leader.
However, Washington has made it clear that it will not
commit a large number of troops this time.

Mr Aristide, hugely popular when he was elected -
especially among the destitute in the Western hemisphere's
poorest country - has since lost much support.

Opponents accuse the former priest of failing to help those
in need, condoning corruption and masterminding attacks on
opponents by armed gangs.

At least 17 people were killed in Sunday's fighting,
raising the death toll of the revolt to around 70, with
dozens wounded.



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