19908: (Chamberlain) US to pay Haitian Coast Guard to curb refugees (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Adam Entous

    CRAWFORD, Texas, March 5 (Reuters) - The Bush administration plans to
pay the salaries of the Haitian Coast Guard to help prevent a massive
outflow of refugees that could pose political problems for U.S. President
George W. Bush in an election year, people familiar with the plan said on
Friday.
     The Bush administration informed key congressional committees that it
will pay salaries for up to 500 Haitians for up to three months. U.S.
taxpayers will also pay to refurbish Haitian Coast Guard facilities damaged
by mobs.
     U.S. President George W. Bush has bluntly told Haitians not to flee to
the United States. A major refugee outflow, such as one that occurred in
the early 1990s, could place Bush in a difficult position in an election
year.
     Bush's brother, Jeb, is governor of Florida, the closest state to the
turbulent island. In the early 1990s, well over 50,000 Haitians took to the
sea in rickety boats trying to reach Florida. Virtually all were returned
to Haiti.
     Florida is considered an important state in the president's
re-election. And Bush is aware that a few hundred votes in that swing state
could decide the 2004 election, as happened in 2000.
     The Bush administration will divert -- from a State Department fund
for peacekeeping operations -- up to $20,000 a month to pay Haitian Coast
Guard salaries, according to people briefed on the plan.
    Approximately $100,000 more would pay for fuel and spare parts and to
repair damaged guard facilities.
    "The idea is to keep them (the Haitian Coast Guard) functioning. Nobody
there is paying the salaries and we don't want them to desert their posts,"
one source said.
    Lawmakers could raise objections to the funding, but congressional
aides said that was not expected.
    Bush has been criticized for doing too little to staunch the chaos in
the poorest nation in the Americas.
    He ordered U.S. Marines to the island on Sunday after pushing Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resign.
    At the time, Bush the United States was prepared to help start "a new
chapter in the country's history."
    But congressional aides said the administration has yet to come forward
with new aid -- beyond the funds for the Haitian Coast Guard.
    The military also is preparing a camp capable of housing tens of
thousands of migrants at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, near the prison where it
is holding hundreds of captives in the war on terrorism.
    Congressional aides said payments to the Haitian Coast Guard are
unusual but not unprecedented.
    Last year, the Bush administration paid up to $1,500 a month to Iraqi
exiles being trained by the U.S. military to help in the invasion of Iraq.

    (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed)