19790: (Chamberlain) AP: Haiti (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MARK STEVENSON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 4 (AP) -- Haitians stayed off the streets
Thursday, as many doubted that rebel forces would disarm as promised
despite a temporary show of U.S. military and diplomatic muscle.
   The disarmament pledge Wednesday by rebel leader Guy Philippe signaled
the end of a monthlong rebellion that killed at least 130 people.
   At least three people were killed Wednesday when rebels and militants
loyal to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fought an hourlong
gunbattle in a slum near the looted seaport.
   Aristide supporters demonstrating in front of the National Palace
scattered Wednesday, saying they feared they would be shot.
   The United States sent Marines into the capital, Philippe visited the
residence of the U.S. ambassador and declared his fighters would lay down
their arms.
   Many Haitians remained doubtful.
   "The rebels want to take over the country," said Gracious Laguenne, a
54-year-old tailor. "As soon as the Americans leave, they're going to come
back and it will be the same thing all over again."
   The Bush administration sent the Marines in Sunday after Aristide fled
the country with the rebels nearing Port-au-Prince and U.S. and French
officials pressing him to resign.
   The United States, with its military already overextended in Iraq and
Afghanistan, has indicated it wants its troops in Haiti for as short a time
as possible.
   Caribbean leaders called for an independent international inquiry into
the departure of Aristide, who claims he was abducted at gunpoint by U.S.
Marines -- a charge Washington strongly denies. The leaders signaled their
anger by saying they would not provide troops for the U.N. peacekeeping
force.
   At an emergency summit in Jamaica of the 15-nation Caribbean Community,
Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson called it a "very dangerous
precedent" for all democratically elected leaders.
   Aristide remained in the Central African Republic, where officials said
Wednesday they still were hunting for a third country to take him in
permanently.
   Port-au-Prince's streets were nearly empty. Shoeshine boys and banana
vendors looked in vain for customers. The few gas stations open had long
lines.
   Daphnee Saintilima, trying to sell a pile of papayas, voiced the
preoccupation of most people in this country, where two-thirds of the 8
million people go hungry every day.
   "The most important thing for me is to feed my family. I'm tired of
politics. Politics doesn't feed me," she said.
   On Wednesday, U.S. Marines warily fanned out from the presidential
palace in their first reconnaissance in force.
   Amid the occasional pop of a distant gunshot, a convoy of 10
machine-gun-mounted Humvees and armored vehicles rumbled onto trash-strewn
streets and patrolled about 30 blocks. As burned-out cars were pushed from
roads, Marine riflemen watched from behind the sights of their weapons.
   Residents peered warily from balconies. Some showed open hostility.
   It was a far cry from the tumultuous welcome Haitians accorded the
20,000 U.S. troops who invaded in 1994 to chase out brutal military
dictators and restore the ousted Aristide.
   In downtown Bel Air, a stronghold of Aristide loyalists, one man waved
angrily at the Marines' light-armored vehicles and tried to shove a wrecked
car they had removed back into the street.
   For some, the foreign peacekeepers are an occupying force cementing
Aristide's removal.
   "People are still angry (at Aristide's departure). Just because we have
tanks patrolling, it doesn't make things better," said Marie-Claude
Augustine, 46. "The rebels need to just go, and so do the Americans."
   Col. Mark Gurganis, commander of the U.S. troops in Haiti, said he and
some other U.S. officials asked Philippe at a meeting Wednesday to honor
his words to lay down arms if Aristide resigned.
   The day after he had declared himself Haiti's "military chief," Philippe
declared, "Now that there are foreign troops promising to protect the
Haitian people ... we will lay down our arms."
   His fighters looked glum, but one said they would obey.
   "Sure, some of us may not be happy about the decision to lay down arms,
but we are army," said Francois Ferdinand, 44, a 12-year veteran of the
army Aristide disbanded in 1995. "We have a hierarchy, commanding officers
and we'll always obey orders."
   The rebels then abandoned the former army headquarters they had occupied
since Monday, disappearing with their guns.
   Rebel leaders have said they wanted to rebuild the army, which has a
murderous history in Haiti and fomented 32 coups in its 200 years of
independence from France.
   Aristide, Haiti's first freely elected president, was wildly popular
when voters chose him in 1990. But he is accused of condoning corruption,
with aides leading lavish lifestyles fueled by drug-trafficking, while the
poor got poorer. As opposition mounted, he is accused of using the police,
armed gangs and militant loyalists to crush his opponents.
   Interim President Boniface Alexandre, making his first address to the
nation since the former Supreme Court chief justice was sworn in Sunday,
replaced national Police Chief Joceline Pierre with Leon Charles, a
U.S.-trained former head of the Haitian coast guard.
   Alexandre called the rebels "patriotic men of honor" -- indicating there
were no plans to arrest two rebel leaders who are convicted assassins --
and asked them to disarm and help rebuild Haiti.
   He also asked Aristide loyalists to disarm, assuring them Aristide's
Lavalas party will "play a role in the democratic process that we are
starting."
   Prime Minister Yvon Neptune estimated damage from looting at $300
million.
   He also said he had frozen all government bank accounts except those
controlled by the president. It was unclear if that was to stop illegal
withdrawals or indicated a future investigation into corruption.
   Marine commanders said they had 1,000 troops on the ground, with a
mission that included protecting Haitian civilians from reprisals.
Previously, they said they were there only to protect U.S. citizens and
interests.
   Chile said it was sending 120 special forces to Haiti, the first of
about 300. France said it would have 420 soldiers and police in place by
week's end. They are the vanguard of a peacekeeping force expected to
number about 5,000.
   ------
   Associated Press writers Paisley Dodds and Ian James in Port-au-Prince
contributed to this report.