19182: (Chamberlain) US-Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By DEB RIECHMANN

   WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (AP) -- President Bush said Wednesday that the United
States is encouraging the international community to provide a "security
presence" in Haiti if needed to back up any political solution to the
island nation's escalating violence.
   Bush said the United States was discussing such a security presence at
the moment, but he provided no details.
   The president said he has been closely consulting with Secretary of
State Colin Powell in an effort to reach an accord between Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and rebels who have seized control of
large parts of Haiti.
   "We still hope to be able to achieve a political settlement," Bush told
reporters following an Oval Office meeting with the president of Georgia.
   In conjunction with the diplomatic solution being sought, the president
indicated that the international force may be needed to provide security in
Haiti, possibly as a way to enforce a diplomatic and political solution.
   "Incident to a political settlement, we will encourage the international
community to provide a security presence, and that is also being discussed
right now," he said.
   White House press secretary Scott McClellan said various nations are
prepared to "police" a political solution to the violence. "We're working
with the international community on these efforts and the international
community has made it clear that there would be a police force that could
assist or that would help with a political solution, and our commitment is
to assist in those efforts," McClellan said.
   Bush repeated the United States' often-stated policy in recent days that
it will turn back any Haitian refugees trying to reach American shores.
   Bush said Powell has been in touch with French, Canadian and Caribbean
officials to try to get all parties to negotiate a settlement. "We are
watching the situation very carefully," he said.
   Aristide has accepted a settlement plan supported by the United States,
other Western Hemisphere countries and the European Union. But the
opposition in Haiti rejected the plan Tuesday.
   Hours later, a State Department official said the United States was
continuing to work with the parties to win acceptance of the plan.
   The official, asking not to be identified, said Powell talked with
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and expressed support for a
French effort to convene separate meetings in Paris with Aristide and
opposition leaders later in the week.
   On Capitol Hill, the State Department's top official for Latin America,
Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, told House members behind
closed doors Wednesday that the United States is continuing to work closely
with multinational bodies, such as the Organization of American States and
Caribbean Community, to find a peaceful, democratic solution for Haiti,
said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.
   If a political solution cannot be reached, "he (Noriega) said they'll
consider many things, they'll consider a whole gamut of options, but they
do not want to go in and simply prop up Aristide," Diaz-Balart said.
   Meantime, Bush said he has directed the Coast Guard to turn back any
refugee who attempts to reach American shores.
   "We encourage, strongly encourage, the Haitian people to stay home,"
Bush said.
   Earlier, McClellan emphasized that the United States was going to
continue to focus on diplomacy, and that sending American forces there was
"not something that has been in our plans."