19451: (Craig) CNN: Aristide leaves Haiti, U.S. administration official says (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <hoosier@att.net>

Aristide leaves Haiti, U.S. administration official says
Multi-national force likely to be sent, State Department official says
Sunday, February 29, 2004 Posted: 8:17 AM EST (1317 GMT)


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Under intense pressure from the United States and
France, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has left the country, a
senior U.S. administration official said Sunday.

U.S. State Department officials told CNN that Secretary of State Colin
Powell, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, Caribbean leaders
and U.N. leaders worked overnight to find a solution to a standoff
between Aristide and opposition forces demanding his ouster.

Addressing questions about Haiti's immediate future, a U.S. State
Department source told CNN Sunday that "it is safe to say a
multi-national force" will be sent there soon.

Militant rebels intent on removing Aristide from power had taken over
most of the northern part of impoverished and embattled Caribbean
country, and leaders of the movement said they had advanced to within 30
miles of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Chaos erupted at the end of the week in Port-au-Prince, where looting
and more violence was largely blamed on supporters of the president.

In 1990, Aristide became Haiti's first democratically elected president.
He was overthrown in a 1991 coup, restored to power after intense
pressure by U.S. officials in 1994 and won a new term in 2000 -- in
elections his political opponents claim were fraudulent.

Word of Aristide's departure comes a day after the White House accused
him of orchestrating the violence that has gripped the capital,
Port-au-Prince.

"We condemn the violence in Haiti," a White House statement said. "Many
are engaged in it. All should end their senseless looting and killing.
... This long-simmering crisis is largely of Mr. Aristide."

Aristide had vowed Saturday not to leave office before his term expires
in 2006, even as the rebels seeking to drive him out of power advanced
on the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Earlier in the week, the State Department had supported an arrangement
under which Aristide would share power with his political opposition,
but privately the United States had continued to distance itself from
Aristide.

In Port-au-Prince, roadblocks were dismantled overnight and the streets
Saturday morning appeared calmer than they had been Friday. But by
Saturday afternoon, the looting and general disorder intensified.

Representatives of the U.S. and French embassies said they had no
immediate plans to evacuate personnel. They urged embassy employees to
remain in their homes until the situation eased.

"It's not an issue of safety," a senior State Department official said.
"We're not going to shut down our mission because that's inconsistent
with our desire to help Haitians solve this."

Rebels said they had advanced to within 30 miles of the capital,
surrounding it with the aim of choking off supplies and ousting
Aristide, whose election in 2000 they say was rigged.

A high-ranking police officer said Saturday that the police had been
outnumbered Friday. It was not clear how much control they had regained
Saturday.

Opportunities to flee the country were few. Two C-130 military aircraft
landed at the capital's airport to evacuate foreign nationals.

Military helicopters from the Dominican Republic have been ferrying
foreign nationals from the embassy to the neighboring country.

But the border with the Dominican Republic was sealed, and all
commercial flights were suspended from the capital's sole airport.

The rebels -- and separately, Aristide's political opposition -- had
accused his administration of corruption.

Last week, the Coast Guard said it intercepted 531 Haitians as they
tried to escape the chaos. Most were sent back to Port-au-Prince, but a
few dozen who asked for asylum were kept aboard Coast Guard ships, where
their claims will be investigated.

The repatriation incensed Democratic Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, who
joined a number of his colleagues in signing a letter urging that
protective status be made available to Haitians picked up fleeing the
country.

"The idea of sending people back to the killing fields of Haiti is
violative of all our values," he said.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, Lucia Newman, Jeanne Meserve, Kevin Bohn and
Elise Labott contributed to this report.