19829: (Chamberlain) AP: Haiti (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

By  MARK STEVENSON
 and
 PAISLEY DODDS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 4 (AP) -- U.S. Marines trained their rifles down
gritty streets and into a teeming market as they patrolled the Haitian
capital with other peacekeepers Thursday, drawing smiles and a few angry
words, but no resistance.
   Hatred is still simmering among various factions nearly a week after
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a rebellion that left at
least 130 people dead, with new killings discovered outside Port-au-Prince.
   As the Marines rolled into the looted port area in eight Light Armored
Vehicles and ventured into the crowds, onlookers gathered around in
curiosity but showed no fear.
   At one point, a Marine poured a canteen of water over his head to cool
off in the sweltering heat, drawing chuckles from passers-by.
   "I feel much safer now the Marines are here," said Frantz Labissiere,
44. "I wouldn't be here if the Marines weren't here."
   But not everyone shared his view. As the convoy passed an angry knot of
people, one youth shouted: "You took our president -- now you're taking our
country!"
   Others held up photographs of Aristide, who fled the country Sunday as
rebels neared the outskirts of the capital and the United States and former
colonial ruler France pressed him to resign.
   Haiti's first freely elected leader lost a lot of popularity in Haiti --
and in Washington, which restored him to power in 1994 after he was ousted
in a 1991 military coup -- because he allegedly used militant loyalists to
attack and intimidate his opponents, failed to help the poor and condoned
corruption. Aristide, in exile in the Central African Republic, has denied
the accusations.
   The Central African Republic will offer him permanent asylum if he asks
but would find it difficult to pay for his upkeep, the government said
Thursday.
   "I can't say definitively if Mr. Aristide will stay here or if he'll go,
but if he asks us, we won't refuse him," Communications Minister Parfait
Mbaye told The Associated Press in Bangui.
   The Organization of American States announced the establishment Thursday
of a tripartite council that is the first step to forming a government of
national unity in Haiti. The members are Leslie Voltaire, who was
Aristide's Minister for Haitians Abroad; former opposition Sen. Paul Denis,
a member of the Democratic Platform coalition; and Adama Guindo, the U.N.
resident representative in Haiti.
   The three are to choose, by consensus within one week, seven members for
a Council of Sages which in turn will propose a new prime minister.
   The killing of Haitians continued, despite the arrival of the U.S.
Marines and French troops as the vanguard of a U.N. peacekeeping mission,
as well as a pledge by rebel leader Guy Philippe that his men would disarm.
   On Thursday, Philippe traded his military clothes for a blue polo shirt
and jeans, and was unarmed. He told The Associated Press he wants go to
"many cities, to see how people are living and how I can help." He said he
has given the order to his forces to disarm, and said their weapons were
"in the bases" around Haiti.
   In Gressier, six miles west of Port-au-Prince, the bodies of four men
were seen in the street Thursday. All were shot in the head and three had
their hands tied behind their backs -- two with rope, one with a shirt. The
fourth man's hands weren't tied and it appeared he may have been trying to
flee when he was shot.
   Some Haitians doubted Philippe's pledge and the arrival of peacekeepers
would end revenge killings.
   "The rebels want to take over the country," said Gracious Laguenne, a
tailor. "As soon as the Americans leave, they're going to come back and it
will be the same thing all over again."
   The St. Petersburg Times, meanwhile, reported Thursday that looters
found stacks of $100 bills -- possibly as much as $350,000 -- in a hidden
safe at Aristide's mansion in suburban Tabarre. The bills were either
crumbling into dust or stuck together so tightly that they couldn't be
pulled apart, the newspaper said.
   As the Marines expanded their control over the capital, merchants began
cleaning off pro-Aristide graffiti. A worker wiped "Viv Aristide" off the
metal gates of an auto dealership.
   The Marines cleared debris from barricades that had been built by
Aristide militants to protect the city from the rebels. Others used
mechanical hooks atop Humvees to lift concrete barriers.
   A few gas stations opened and long lines grew. The colorfully painted
tap-tap pickups that are the most popular form of transport took to the
road. Charcoal vendors set up shop on the sidewalks, as did shoeshine boys
and women selling fruit and vegetables.
   Daphnee Saintilima, trying to sell papayas, voiced the concern 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.
   But for some, the foreign peacekeepers are an occupying force cementing
Aristide's removal.
   "People are still angry" at Aristide's departure, said Marie-Claude
Augustine, 46. "Just because we have tanks patrolling, it doesn't make
things better. The rebels need to just go and so do the Americans."
   South Africa added its voice Thursday to calls for an independent
international investigation into the circumstances of Aristide's departure
from Haiti.
   Aristide flew to exile in Africa aboard a U.S-provided jet as rebels
closed in on the capital Sunday. When he arrived in Central African
Republic, he claimed U.S. troops forced him to leave.
   "The suggestion that President Aristide may have been forced out of
office, if true, will have serious consequences and ramifications for the
respect of the rule of law and democracy the world over," South African
Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement.
   The Bush administration denies Aristide's accusations. But the 15-nation
Caribbean Community said Wednesday that the circumstances of his departure
were suspicious and should be investigated by an independent international
investigation.
   Chilean troops joined the force, with 120 arriving at the Port-au-Prince
airport. Another 220 were expected in the next two days, said Chilean
Ambassador Marcel Young.
   ------
   Associated Press writer Ian James in Port-au-Prince contributed to this
report.