19184: (Chamberlain) Foreigners flee Haiti as capital awaits rebels (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Alistair Scrutton and Jim Loney

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Armed gangs built flaming
barricades in the Haitian capital on Wednesday as Port-au-Prince
deteriorated into chaos before an expected rebel advance that sent
foreigners fleeing the country.
     Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is trying to fend off a
bloody 3-week-old revolt against his presidency by insurgents including a
former death squad leader and a former senior police officer.
     Masked men loyal to Aristide cut off streets in Port-au-Prince with
piles of wrecked cars, rusted appliances, rocks and tires and questioned
motorists trying to pass as the capital readied for a rebel assault
promised within days.
     Opposition leaders said two car dealerships were ransacked and
restaurants were robbed. They blamed the violence on Aristide, renewing
their pledge they would not agree to any deal that did not include the
president's resignation.
     "People today in Port-au-Prince are being stopped by well-armed and
hooded civilians and are terrorized," opposition leader Charles Baker said.
"Money has to be given to go through checkpoints. And if they find any of
us, (referring to Aristide's political foes) God knows what would happen."
     With insurgents in control of Haiti's second-largest city, Cap
Haitien, and a series of towns across the north, Aristide has said
thousands could die if the rebels are allowed to reach teeming
Port-au-Prince.
     In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush said the deteriorating
situation in Haiti may require an international security presence, once a
political settlement is reached.
     Such a settlement did not look imminent.
     Aristide's political opponents -- who have distanced themselves from
the armed revolt but share its aim of getting the president out -- on
Tuesday rejected a U.S.-backed deal brokered by diplomats. Under the
proposal, Aristide would give up some of his powers and form a new
government.
     More than 60 people have died in the poor Caribbean country in clashes
that began on Feb. 5 when the rebels, a collection of gangs and former
soldiers, began the revolt by overrunning the western city of Gonaives.
     Sustained gunfire was heard in the suburbs of Petionville and Pacot
overnight. Concrete barriers were set in place on Wednesday outside the
National Palace and roads to the airport were littered with charred cars.
     Warned by their governments that the country of 8 million is no longer
safe, American, French, and other foreigners crammed the airport in
Port-au-Prince for flights out before any attack on the capital. Officials
say up to 20,000 Americans live in Haiti.
     People shoved two and three at a time through metal detectors at the
airport entrance early Wednesday and were pushed back by guards.
     "I don't want to go but I've been told to go," said Yolanda Murphy,
41, a missionary for the Indiana-based Church of God who has been in Haiti
for 17 years.
     "For those that stay here, it's scary. For those that leave, there's a
feeling of abandonment," said Murphy, who works at an orphanage on the
outskirts of the capital.
     Aristide warned on Tuesday that a rebel advance on the capital could
result in a bloodbath and cautioned that Haitians could take to the sea,
touching on U.S. concerns of a repeat of the 1990s, when tens of thousands
of Haitians fled political turmoil in boats and tried to reach Florida.
     Bush said that he had instructed the U.S. Coast Guard to turn back any
fleeing Haitians seeking to land on U.S. shores. The Coast Guard has not
reported unusual numbers of migrants setting out to sea since the revolt.
     U.S. officials said attempts were still being made to reach a
political compromise. France said it would play host to Haitian government
and opposition officials for mediation this week.
     Aristide, a former parish priest, became the country's first freely
elected president in 1991 and was re-elected to a second term in 2000. But
political opponents have accused him of human rights violations and
corruption.