20269: (Chamberlain) AP: Haiti (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By IAN JAMES and PETER PRENGAMAN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 11 (AP) -- A shootout between police and
protesters killed two men and injured seven during a demonstration in
support of Jean-Bertrand Aristide Thursday as the exiled Haitian president
planned a return to the Caribbean.
   The violence erupted as hundreds of protesters marched through the
Belair neighborhood of Port-au-Prince yelling "Aristide has to come back!
We don't want Bush as president!"
   Shots were fired and some protesters pulled out pistols. Police fired
tear gas, and a shootout between protesters and police ensued, witnesses
said.
   Two young men were killed, and seven others were being treated for
shotgun wounds, hospital officials said.
   U.S. Marines, who are in Haiti to try to restore order, said they were
patrolling near the protest but had nothing to do with the shootout.
   Marines raided a house near the presidential palace before dawn Thursday
in their first action of a new mission to disarm Haiti's many factions.
   The search produced no weapons, but "The message out of this is, we are
looking, and we will continue to do so," Col. Charles Gurganus said.
   Aristide is in the Central African Republic, but he and his wife will
fly to Jamaica, just 130 miles from Haiti, for a temporary stay early next
week, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said Thursday. There they will
be reunited with their two young daughters, who were sent to New York
before Aristide left Haiti on Feb. 29.
   Aristide has said the United States forced him out of office and claims
he is still Haiti's democratically elected leader.
   Last week, a summit of the 15-nation Caribbean Community in Jamaica
called for a U.N. investigation into Aristide's departure. That call was
echoed Wednesday by the 53-nation African Union, which said his removal was
"unconstitutional." The two blocs comprise nearly one-third of U.N. member
states.
   Patterson said Aristide would stay only eight to 10 weeks while he
finalized plans for "permanent residence outside of the region." Another
Jamaican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said South Africa
was Aristide's final destination.
   In Port-au-Prince, opposition politician Paul Denis said Jamaica was
"making matters worse" for Haiti.
   "If Aristide intends to come back to Haiti, we'll be glad to receive
him, so we can arrest him," he said.
   The opposition wants Aristide to stand trial for alleged corruption and
the killings of opponents by armed gangs.
   Aristide's lawyer in Paris said Wednesday he was considering bringing
charges against the U.S. and French ambassadors to Haiti. Aristide says
they told him there would be a bloodbath if he did not leave.
   U.S. Ambassador James Foley told the British Broadcasting Corp. Thursday
that Aristide "never once said that he didn't want to go."
   "He never said: 'I think you are wrong. I think your assessment is
wrong. I'm going to stay. I'm going to ride it out,'" Foley said. "It was
all about his departure."
   In the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Ambassador Roy
Austin told Radio I95 that "America was not going in to prop up someone
like Mr. Aristide," charging he abused his power.
   Austin said the Caribbean Community should send "at least a symbolic
force" to Haiti. But the Caribbean bloc, angry that the United States sent
troops the day Aristide left and not before, said last week it would not
join the U.S.-led force.
   Trying to bring stability, Haiti's new Prime Minister Gerard Latortue
began choosing a Cabinet on Thursday.
   Latortue, 69, a U.N. career officer and business consultant, said
disarmament, reconciliation and eventually elections are his priorities.
   He has said he wants his Cabinet to include retired army Chief of Staff
Herard Abraham, in charge of security, and businessman and former Aristide
Prime Minister Smarck Michel as planning minister.
   Abraham supports recreating Haiti's disgraced and disbanded army, a key
demand of rebels. Latortue said Aristide's disbanding of the army in 1995
may have been unconstitutional.
   Disarmament will be the biggest challenge, and Latortue stressed the
need for cooperation from international peacekeepers -- led by 1,600
Marines and including nearly 1,000 French troops and police and soldiers
from Chile. Canada plans to send an advance group of 85 soldiers to Haiti
on Friday to be part of a larger contingent of 450.
   ------
   Associated Press Writer Paisley Dodds contributed to this story from
Port-au-Prince.