19910: (Chamberlain) Haiti (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

By
 MARK STEVENSON
 and
 IAN JAMES

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 5 (AP) -- Three thousand supporters of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide marched on the U.S. and French embassies on Friday,
shouting their anger at his ouster. A seven-member council met for the
first time to help form a transitional government.
   The protesters, a few with pistols tucked into their belts, charged past
embassies and the presidential National Palace, chanting "Long live
Aristide!" and "Down with George Bush!"
   U.S. troops watched impassively as the protesters passed.
   Outside the U.S. Embassy, one young man screamed epithets and then
mooned the Marines.
   "If it comes to that, we will confront the U.S. Marines," said
demonstrator Pierre Paul, 35. "We will do the same thing that they are
doing in Iraq."
   It was the first large protest in favor of Aristide since the ousted
president fled to Africa on Sunday as rebels prepared for a final push on
Port-au-Prince and the United States and France pressed the former priest
to bow out.
   Rebel leader Guy Philippe said he might meet with opposition leaders to
talk about re-establishing the army that was disbanded in 1995. Haitian
armies have fomented 32 coups in the country's 200 years of independence.
   U.S. Gen. James Hill of the Southern Command opposed the idea, saying
"there is no need for a Haitian army."
   He said earlier that U.S. Light Armored Vehicles were placed at the
presidential palace to stop looting that had erupted in recent days and
prevent opposition forces from taking over.
   The Marines arrived the day Aristide left, followed by French and
Chilean troops, forming the vanguard of a U.N.-sponsored peacekeeping force
expected to number about 5,000. Canada said it is sending 450 soldiers
within days.
   The Marines so far have met no resistance, though there has been none of
the jubilation that accompanied their last intervention in Haiti -- in
1994, when 20,000 troops ousted a brutal military dictatorship, halted an
exodus of boat people to Florida and restored Aristide to power.
   A spokesman said U.S. troops had expanded their presence in Haiti beyond
the capital and into rebel strongholds. Special teams from the U.S.
Southern Command in Florida arrived at rebel bases of Cap-Haitien, on
Haiti's north coast; the western city of Gonaives; and possibly other
locations across the country, said Army Maj. Richard Crusan, spokesman for
the interim international force.
   The teams are in addition to the 1,100 Marines in Port-au-Prince, Crusan
said.
   Witnesses in Cap-Haitien said police were disarming rebels who took that
city on Feb. 22.
   Radio Metropole said there has been some resistance to disarming,
particularly in Gonaives, but no fighting was reported.
   Paul Arcelin, an adviser to Philippe, told The Associated Press on
Friday the rebels would keep their weapons as long as Aristide militants
were armed because "tomorrow they'll come here and kill us."
   Asked where the rebel guns were, he said: "We hide them."
   Philippe, apparently under pressure from Washington, has promised that
his fighters would disarm. But no plan have been announced for the rebels
to hand in their weapons, which Philippe said were at their bases around
the country.
   Resistance to disarming is expected to be strongest in Gonaives, where a
rebel movement on Feb. 5 sparked the uprising that led to Aristide's
flight. Aristide claims he was abducted at gunpoint by U.S. Marines,
charges the Bush administration strongly denies.
   The ousted president's lawyer Gilbert Collard of Paris, meanwhile, said
Aristide "told me he did not resign."
   Collard told France-Soir newspaper that Aristide acknowledged writing "a
note indicating that if his departure prevented a bloodbath, he would
leave." But Collard said that the ex-leader also said that "if he had to
resign, he would have done it according to the constitution and not with
the push of a foreign power."
   On the political front, the seven-member Council of Sages is expected to
name a new prime minister within days, the Organization of American States
said. The council was chosen by members of Aristide's Lavalas Family party,
the broad-based opposition Democratic Platform coalition, and the
international community, said OAS spokesman Edward Alexander.
   Opposition leaders have been pressing for the replacement of Yvon
Neptune, Aristide's premier.
   One possible choice is Lt. Gen. Herard Abraham, who succeeded Gen.
Prosper Avril when he was ousted in a palace coup in 1990. Abraham
immediately surrendered power to Haiti's Supreme Court justice -- probably
the only Haitian army officer ever to voluntarily hand power to a civilian.
That allowed the transition that led to Haiti's first free elections in
December 1990, which Aristide won in a landslide.
   A semblance of normality returned Friday to Port-au-Prince's La Saline
neighborhood, a seaside slum and Aristide stronghold, after the Marines'
first tentative patrols there.
   "Today is the first time we have opened since the crisis began," auto
repair shop manager Loubens Seintil said.
   Aristide lost popularity in recent years as he failed to improve life
for Haiti's poor while his aides lived lavish lifestyles that some allege
were fueled by drug trafficking. As opposition grew, Aristide used police
and militant loyalists to attack his opponents.
   Aristide denies those charges and said the violence came from the
opposition.
   ------
   Associated Press writer Paisley Dodds in Port-au-Prince contributed to
this report.