19835: (Chamberlain) Government, foreign troops get grip on Haiti (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Alistair Scrutton and Jim Loney

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 4 (Reuters) - The government and foreign
military forces gained a grip on chaotic Haiti on Thursday as U.S. and
French troops stepped up patrols and armed rebels who helped oust the
president prepared to leave the capital.
     U.S. troop carriers and Humvees mounted with machine guns and missile
launchers rumbled through the streets and stood watch at government
ministries. French troops patrolled in jeeps.
     The international force fanned out from the capital for the first
time, to assess security and meet with local government officials,
including going to Cap Haitien and to Gonaives, the northwestern city where
the rebellion erupted on Feb. 5.
     American Airlines said it had decided to hold off resuming its service
to Haiti for a few more days, to March 9, instead of the planned March 5.
The U.S. carrier suspended service on Feb. 26 because of the unrest in the
country.
     Banks reopened after two weeks of gunbattles, looting and barricades
forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile. The government says a
month-long rebel uprising cost Haiti about $300 million, roughly equivalent
to its yearly budget.
     But many city slums, strongholds of feared pro-Aristide supporters
known as chimeres who are armed with automatic weapons and machetes, were
still too dangerous to enter. Many feared reprisals and there were reports
of some lynchings of Aristide supporters.
     Local radio reported at least three people were killed in one
shantytown, La Saline, in a gunfight as police and rebels searched for
Aristide supporters.
     The rebels that helped oust Aristide appeared to have withdrawn from
the capital's streets, replaced by police.
     "We could have taken power. We had the people and the force. We
haven't done it," said rebel leader Guy Philippe, who, under U.S. pressure,
announced he would disarm his army.
     Dressed in civilian clothes rather than his customary military
fatigues, Philippe raised up his empty arms when asked if he had any
weapons. "God is my protection," he said.
     For some Haitians, the foreign intervention came too late.
     "People are still killing each other," said Jacques Monbrun, 64, as he
waited outside the closed Justice Ministry where he works as a bookkeeper.
     More than 100 people were killed in the rebel uprising.
     Prime Minister Yvon Neptune has declared a state of emergency,
allowing the government to suspend some constitutional rights such as press
freedoms and the right to demonstrate.
     Aristide left the country on Sunday and turned up in the Central
African Republic, where he claimed he was kidnapped by U.S. forces. The
U.S. government has denied the allegation.
     South Africa said on Thursday it backed a call by Caribbean states on
Wednesday for an international probe into the circumstances surrounding
Aristide's exile.
     Philippe said he would return by Friday to Cap Haitien, his rebel
stronghold.
     Chile sent 130 troops to Haiti overnight, joining more than 1,700
American, French and Canadians troops.
     "They should have sent the (foreign) military before Aristide fled.
Now (looters) have burned everything," said Walter St. Fort, a 31-year-old
auto parts dealer, standing by the smoking ruins of a government building.
     French military jeeps mounted with machine guns patrolled downtown,
where some streets were ankle deep in places in sewage and garbage. U.S.
light-armored vehicles guarded the National Palace, once the symbol of
Aristide's power.
     People tossed buckets of water on smoldering piles of debris and swept
up garbage in some streets. Ice cream sellers trundled coolers along the
sidewalks and men pushed carts bearing huge blocks of ice.
     The World Food Program loaded a truck with food for an orphanage as
part of a plan to distribute badly needed goods to 105,000 people at health
centers and schools in the next two weeks. "But security will have to
improve to reach everybody," WFP official Alejandro Chicheri cautioned.
     Further strengthening security, the interim president, Supreme Court
Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre, named a new police chief, Leonce Charles,
a U.S.-trained former coast guard chief. The restructuring of Haitian
National Police command was a key demand of Aristide's political foes. The
force numbers about 4,000 poorly trained officers.