19721: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Uprising (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MARK STEVENSON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 3 (AP) -- U.S. Marines blocked rebels from chasing
officials of exiled leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide as they fled to the
airport Wednesday, apparently the first action of American forces in Haiti
to prevent further bloodshed.
   With rebels patrolling the streets of Port-au-Prince and their leader
threatening to arrest the prime minister, U.S. forces said their mission in
Haiti had expanded beyond protecting U.S. citizens and interests to include
protection of Haitian civilians from reprisal attacks.
   At the airport, Marines stood holding their weapons outside the main
terminal when rebels arrived, preventing them from reaching dozens of
officials Aristide's Lavalas party who had just gone inside, witnesses
said.
   Marking a shift in U.S. policy, Staff Sgt. Timothy Edwards said at the
airport that the Marines' mission now also aimed "to protect Haitians from
reprisal attacks."
   Also, U.S. Marine Col. Dave Berger told a news conference that the
Marines -- who began arriving Sunday night hours after Aristide fled to
Africa -- will increase their presence throughout Haiti after rebel leader
Guy Philippe declared himself the new military chief and threatened the
prime minister.
   "The country is in my hands!" Philippe announced Tuesday on the radio in
between touring the capital in the back of a pickup truck and greeting
throngs of admiring Haitians.
   Two U.S. Chinook helicopters slowly circled Tuesday over Philippe's
base, the rebel-held northern port of Cap-Haitien, on an apparent
reconnaissance mission, said a resident reached by telephone. Some U.S.
Marines patrolled Port-au-Prince's seaport, which was being looted, in a
Humvee.
   American and French troops in Haiti -- the vanguard of an international
peacekeeping force authorized by the U.N. Security Council -- have no
orders to disarm Haiti's factions, said Berger and the commander of the
French forces.
   "We are not a police force," said Berger.
   The Pentagon said there would be some 400 Marines in Haiti by Tuesday.
Chile said it was sending 120 special forces to Haiti on Wednesday, the
first of about 300. France said it would have some 420 soldiers and police
in place by the end of the week.
   Speaking in Washington, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Roger Noriega
said Philippe had no real power even as his rebels sought to take advantage
of the political chaos.
   "He is not in control of anything but a ragtag band of people," Noriega
told lawmakers Tuesday.
   The buildup of the U.N.-authorized international peacekeeping presence
in Haiti will make Philippe's role "less and less central in Haitian life.
And I think he will probably want to make himself scarce," Noriega said.
   "We have sent that message to him. He obviously hasn't received it," he
said.
   Philippe, who arrived in Port-au-Prince in a rebel convoy on Monday,
apparently plans to transform his fighters into a reconstituted Haitian
army, which Aristide disbanded in 1995.
   The rebel leader has said he was ready to follow the orders of interim
President Boniface Alexandre, installed Sunday. But on Tuesday, he incited
followers to rally against Prime Minister Yvon Neptune demanding his
arrest.
   "The head is gone, but the tail remains!" the crowd of 300 chanted
outside Neptune's office, guarded by several U.S. Marines. The crowd again
demanded Neptune's arrest.
   The whereabouts of Neptune, a top member of Aristide's Lavalas party and
his former presidential spokesman, were unknown. Radio reports said he had
been evacuated by helicopter.
   Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected leader since independence
from France, resigned after an uprising that has killed more than 100
people since early February. Opponents accused Aristide of breaking
promises to help the poor and masterminding attacks on opponents by armed
gangs -- charges he denied.
   Inside the seaside capital, patrolling rebels pointed guns at
pedestrians who raised their arms or lifted their shirts to show they were
unarmed.
   Killings continued, with two more bodies on the streets of
Port-au-Prince Tuesday. Charred barricades remained, erected by militant
Aristide supporters who rioted and -- with many ordinary poor people --
looted food warehouses before the president fled.
   By Wednesday, no permanent home had been found for Aristide. The
ex-leader was staying in the presidential palace in the Central African
Republic, the African country's foreign minister, Charles Wenezoui said.
   "Aristide really likes to read" and has slept a lot, said Wenezoui.
"We're about to give him a television and satellite dish so that he can
monitor news around the world."
   Haiti's army ousted Aristide in 1991 and instituted a rule of terror
until he was returned to power in an intervention by 20,000 U.S. troops.
Washington strongly denies Aristide's claim that this time, the United
States forced him out of office. ------
   Associated Press writers Paisley Dodds and Ian James in Port-au-Prince
contributed to this report.