20274: (Chamberlain) US officer to head Haiti force, with French deputy (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Will Dunham

     WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to create a formal
command structure for the multinational peacekeeping force in Haiti headed
by a U.S. Marine Corps brigadier general, with a Frenchman as
second-in-command, American and French officials said on Thursday.
     Putting aside their differences over the Iraq war and other issues,
France and the United States have worked together to bring stability to
Haiti after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left the impoverished
Caribbean nation on Feb. 29 in the face of an armed rebellion and
international pressure.
     The United States has about 1,600 Marines in Haiti, joined by about
500 French, 300 Chilean and 50 Canadian troops, to head a force deployed
after Aristide's departure. This Multinational Interim Force is due to be
in place for about 90 days until a longer-term U.N.-led force replaces it.
     Brig. Gen. Ronald Coleman, based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina,
will be named to head the force in the coming days, according to a U.S.
defense official in the United States, speaking on condition of anonymity.
     U.S. defense officials in Port-au-Prince and at U.S. Southern Command
headquarters in Miami declined to comment.
     Coleman currently is the Force Service Support Group Commander of the
Marines 2nd Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune.
     Catherine Bellis, a spokeswoman at French military headquarters, said
in Paris that a Frenchman would become second-in-command of the force. A
U.S. official confirmed that this was the plan but said the Pentagon was
not ready to announce the formal command structure.
     Bellis said French and U.S. troops were already coordinating
operations in Haiti, but as of next week they would be officially organized
under U.S. command, with different contingents taking charge of different
sectors.
     "The Americans will take command at the beginning of next week,"
Bellis said.
     "France is providing a very large footprint with the overall forces,"
said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chris Lounderman, a spokesman for Southern Command,
noting that the French have naval vessels in the Caribbean in addition to
forces on the ground.
     Lounderman said it was "premature" to announce the composition of
force's command structure.
     Ari Gaitanis, a spokesman at the United Nations, said roughly 16
members of a U.N. assessment team arrived in Haiti on Wednesday to study
what is needed for the U.N.-led force due to begin operations there around
June 1.
     The Pentagon initially described the mission of the Multinational
Interim Force as limited, including securing key sites and preparing the
way for the later U.N. force.
     But the Pentagon this week gave the U.S. Marines in Haiti new
instructions to disarm Haitians during patrols of the capital
Port-au-Prince, to search out caches of illegal weapons, and to intervene
to prevent Haitians attacking each other.
     Another U.S. defense official said the Pentagon did not plan to
increase the numbers of Marines in Haiti despite calls from some members of
Congress to do so.
     The official said in addition to the roughly 1,600 Marines serving in
the Multinational Interim Force, there were about 100 other U.S. troops in
Haiti performing roles such as protecting the U.S. Embassy.

     (Additional reporting by Paul Carrel in Paris and Charles Aldinger in
Washington)