20157: radtimes: Haiti's interim leader begs for calm (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

Haiti's interim leader begs for calm

[URL at end]

`We are all brothers, sisters,' he says

Aristide threatens to sue U.S., France

Mar. 9, 2004
by PAISLEY DODDS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORT-AU-PRINCE—Haiti's interim president Boniface Alexandre took the reins
of his country's shattered government yesterday as supporters of
Jean-Bertrand Aristide shouted demands for the ousted leader's return.

Military helicopters circled overhead and U.S. Marines in armoured cars
patrolled the streets outside the National Palace as Alexandre was formally
installed.

"Aristide or death!" Aristide supporters yelled at the gates of the palace
during the ceremony, their shouts carrying into the room where Alexandre
urged his countrymen to remain calm.

"We are all brothers and sisters," said Alexandre, who has served as
president for a week and was officially sworn in Feb. 29.

"We are all in the same boat, and if it sinks, it sinks with all of us."

Yesterday, one of Aristide's lawyers said the exiled president plans to sue
the United States and France for allegedly kidnapping him.

Lawyer Gilbert Collard said he and a U.S. colleague would file identical
suits in France and the United States in the next few days once they
receive final authorization from Aristide.

"If we get support from some African states, we will also appeal to the
relevant commission of the United Nations," Collard said.

Aristide, who arrived in the Central African Republic a week ago, has
repeatedly accused the United States of forcing him into exile.

He said he was removed from Haiti "not only by force, but they used lies,
also."

The United States denies Aristide's charge that Aristide was forced to step
down.

In Bangui yesterday, Aristide declared he was still president of Haiti and
urged "peaceful resistance" in his homeland.

He called on supporters to wage a peaceful resistance against rebels he
derided as "drug dealers" and "terrorists."

In Washington, State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said, "If Mr.
Aristide really wants to serve his country, he really has to, we think, let
his nation get on with the future and not try to stir up the past again."

The 15-nation Caribbean Community has called for an international
investigation before they will consider helping Haiti rebuild, Grenadian
Prime Minister Keith Mitchell said yesterday.

"We ought to find out what really occurred before we can give an
endorsement," Mitchell said.

U.S. Marines and French Legionnaires have been in Haiti since Aristide's
departure Feb. 29, the vanguard of a U.N. force to restore peace to the
country, where a month-long rebellion left more than 130 dead.

Yesterday, there were about 1,600 Marines, 800 French soldiers and police
and 130 Chilean troops in Haiti.

An advance team of Canadian Forces military planners arrived in
Port-au-Prince over the weekend for a reconnaissance, joining about 60
Canadian troops already on the ground.

About 450 soldiers are scheduled to arrive next week.

A U.N. team is due to arrive today to plan for a multinational force. One
of its first tasks will be to help Secretary-General Kofi Annan make
recommendations by the end of the month on the size of the mission.
Yesterday, hundreds of people ransacked Port-au-Prince's industrial park
less thana kilometre from the international airport where U.S. Marines have
set up base.

Alexandre urged people "to keep calm. No one has the right to do justice by
themselves.''

Yesterday's pro-Aristide demonstration was mostly peaceful, a sharp
contrast to the massive anti-Aristide protest Sunday in which seven people
were slain, including a foreign journalist and a man the U.S. Marines
acknowledged they killed.

"He had a gun and he was shooting at Marines," Col. Charles Gurganus told
reporters yesterday.

The violence led both opponents and supporters of Aristide to threaten
armed action.

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