20204: (Chamberlain) U.S. Marines kill two gunmen in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Ibon Villelabeitia and Michael Christie

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines shot and
killed two more Haitian gunmen, a spokesman said on Wednesday, the third
and fourth Haitians slain by U.S. forces trying to restore order in the
impoverished Caribbean nation.
     The Marines are heading an international mission quelling chaos and
looting after a month-long rebellion and international pressure drove
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile on Feb. 29, angering
his many supporters.
     The latest shootings took place on Tuesday night near the prime
minister's residence, hours after a U.S.-backed council selected a
replacement for Yvon Neptune, the Aristide ally now holding the office.
     "They received hostile fire from multiple gunmen. The Marines returned
fire and secured the building from which they believed the shooting had
originated and reported to command that they had two gunman dead," said
Staff Sgt. Tim Edwards, a spokesman for the U.S. Marines.
     The Marines came under fire again when they returned to the scene with
Haitian police to remove the bodies. They found blood, shell casings and
impact marks, but no bodies, Edwards said.
     Several gunmen opened fire on the prime minister's residence again a
few hours later. The Marines were dispatched again but it was unclear
whether they opened fire.
     The U.S.-led peacekeepers stepped up their efforts to disarm Haiti,
launching a joint disarmament program with Haitian police, including a
public relations campaign on local radio to encourage rival gangs to turn
in their weapons.
     There are 2,300 troops and gendarmes in the force, from the United
States, France, Canada and Chile.
     The U.S.-backed "wise men" picked Gerard Latortue, a business
consultant and former Haitian foreign minister on Tuesday, to serve as
prime minister until elections can be held. Latortue, an Aristide critic
now living in Florida, replaces Yvon Neptune, a close ally of the former
slum priest.
     Latortue was expected to return to Haiti on Wednesday.
     Crowds of Aristide loyalists danced and sang in some of
Port-au-Prince's sprawling slums, demanding the return of the ex-priest
they view as the liberator of Haiti's poor after decades of dictatorship
and maltreatment by wealthy elites.
     "Our blood is Aristide's blood," one crowd chanted.
     "Aristide in the only one who looked after us. He is our president for
five years and we are going to continue to protest peacefully, without
weapons," a local, Jackson Francois, said.
     Told of the appointment of Latortue, a member of Haiti's traditional
political class, residents of another slum were dismissive.
     "They got to get rid of these old guys. Bring in someone new. Old
system, old traditions, it doesn't work," said one resident, Clifford
Pierre.
     In one slum, a man's body lay in the middle of a road, his head either
smashed by bullets or chopped by a machete. Traffic slowed but did not
stop.
     More than 200 people have been killed since the anti-Aristide revolt
erupted on Feb. 5, started by a street gang and joined by former soldiers
and paramilitaries.
     Aristide -- a hero of democracy when he helped oust the Duvalier
dictatorship in the 1980s but who was later accused of corruption and
political violence -- is in the Central African Republic and has urged
supporters to "peacefully" resist what he calls a U.S. "occupation."
     Latortue, a native of the northwest port city of Gonaives was expected
to pick a cabinet this week. Members of Aristide's ousted government
cautioned him against excluding members of Aristide's Lavalas Family party.