19722: (Chamberlain) Haiti rebels, foreign troops in tense standoff (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Jim Loney and Alistair Scrutton

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 3 (Reuters) - Armed rebels patrolled the
streets and foreign forces held the airport and National Palace on
Wednesday in an uneasy standoff over control of Haiti following a bloody
revolt that ousted the poor Caribbean country's elected president.
     U.S. Marines had not begun street patrols of the troubled Haitian
capital despite a pledge to increase their presence after rebel leader Guy
Philippe declared himself the military chief of Haiti and sent out
soldiers, who raced around the city and frisked people for weapons.
     "We have not been missioned to patrol as yet," Marine Staff Sgt.
Timothy Edwards said in a morning briefing at the airport, where Marines
slept in tents or on the tarmac.
     More than 1,000 U.S. troops were on the ground in Haiti as part of a
multinational force approved by the United Nations on Sunday after
President Jean-Betrand Aristide was driven from power. French and Canadian
troops were also in Haiti to join a force expected to grow to about 5,000.
     A Dutch Caribbean commercial airliner arrived at the airport on
Wednesday, a sign things were slowly returning to normal after weeks of
turmoil. U.S. officials had said they hoped to have the airport back to
relatively regular operations by week's end.
     A U.S. official said planning was under way for a formal ceremony at
the National Palace to inaugurate Haiti's new president, Supreme Court
President Boniface Alexandre, who was sworn in on Sunday.
     Alexandre has not made a public appearance since becoming Haiti's
leader. Questions have been raised about the legitimacy of his appointment
because there is no legislature in place to approve it as required by the
constitution.
     U.S. Marines secured key installations, stationing troops at the
airport, seaport and the National Palace, a symbol of Aristide's power.
     U.S. military officials said "friction points" had developed between
foreign forces and the rebels. In one encounter on Tuesday, a band of about
20 armed rebels roared up to the airport, searching for Aristide's
political allies.
     Marines chased them away with a show of force. "As soon as we rolled
up on them, they got the heck out," Sgt. Christopher Smith said.
     The U.S. State Department made clear on Tuesday it did not recognize
the rebels' claim to control of security in Haiti and told "all illegal and
armed groups" to lay down their weapons and go home.
     Although Port-au-Prince had returned to a semblance of normality,
there were clear signs security had not been sorted out following days of
burning and looting that surrounded Aristide's departure.
     When rebels announced on Tuesday they would arrest Prime Minister Yvon
Neptune, an Aristide ally, U.S. security forces surrounded his office and
the rebels drove right by, deterred by the show of force.
     Philippe declared himself "military chief" of Haiti's security forces,
including the rebel forces and the Haitian National Police. The rebels
forged a swift alliance with the police after routing them in a march
through cities and towns in the north that began on Feb. 5.
     The revolt and foreign pressure pushed Aristide from office on Sunday
and into exile in the Central African Republic. He claimed U.S. forces
kidnapped him and forced him to leave Haiti, a charge the U.S. government
denied.
     The presence of former death squad leaders among the rebels' command
structure has alarmed human rights activists, who were further dismayed at
news that deposed dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier wanted to return
to Haiti.
     With victory over Aristide behind them, the rebel's popularity in a
land frequently ruled by armed strongmen since independence from France 200
years ago was on display.
     One of their leaders, Louis Jodel Chamblain, whose right-wing militia
killed thousands during a military regime in the early 1990s, was mobbed on
Tuesday by people who clamored for his autograph.
     Philippe has said he wants to recreate Haiti's army, disbanded by
Aristide in the 1990s after leading a series of coups. The ex-president
left law and order to a poorly equipped police force numbering about 4,000
for a country of 8 million people and it collapsed quickly before the rebel
advance.
     The rebels continued to celebrate their victory over Aristide, who
they accused of human rights violations and corruption. Accompanied by
prostitutes, about 50 rebels drank heavily in a luxury hotel late on
Tuesday, slugging back beer as pistols and rifles lay casually on tables or
at their sides.
     Philippe's table ordered three bottles of $90-a-bottle champagne,
which hotel sources said they failed to pay for.
     Torn by 32 coups in the past two centuries, long-simmering political
tensions erupted into armed revolt a month ago.

  (Additional reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva and Amy Bracken in
Port-au-Prince)