20272: (Chamberlain) AP: Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By IAN JAMES and PETER PRENGAMAN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 11 (AP) -- U.S. Marines raided a house in search
of weapons Thursday, trying to shore up a fragile peace in Haiti as the
ousted president planned a return to the Caribbean from exile in Africa.
   With morgues full and government offices closed, bodies were piling up
in the capital, littering the streets and serving as bitter reminders of an
armed rebellion that has divided the country.
   Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who began choosing a Cabinet on
Thursday, has said ridding the population of weapons is a top priority.
Marines raided a home near the presidential palace before dawn Thursday,
hours after Latortue arrived in Haiti from Florida.
   U.S. Army Gen. James Hill said troops would work to collect weapons,
from "rusted M-1s to top-of-the-line Uzis."
   "The message out of this is, we are looking, and we will continue to do
so," Col. Charles Gurganus said.
   Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife will travel
to Jamaica early next week, returning to within 130 miles of Haiti less
than three weeks after fleeing into exile, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J.
Patterson said Thursday.
   Aristide, ousted Feb. 29 at the height of a popular rebellion, currently
is staying in the Central African Republic while seeking long-term asylum
somewhere. Patterson said Aristide was not seeking political asylum in
Jamaica, where he will stay for up to 10 weeks.
   He said Aristide wants to be reunited with his two young daughters, who
currently are in New York.
   On Thursday, shots were fired at a rally of hundreds of people carrying
parasols with Aristide's image through downtown Belair.
   "Aristide has to come back! We don't want Bush as president!" the
protesters yelled.
   They scattered when the shots were fired, some pulling out pistols and
looking for the gunman. No injuries were reported.
   Bodies were piling up in the capital's unrefrigerated morgue and on
streets, serving as bitter reminders of the monthlong rebellion.
   Health officials normally are charged with collecting bodies in
Port-au-Prince, but with no government, many corpses have been left to rot
on sidewalks.
   The toll from a monthlong rebellion and reprisal killings has risen to
more than 300, with the Pan-American Health Organization reporting an
estimated 200 corpses at the state morgue as being victims of the violence.
   At La Saline seaside slum, the body of a man shot on Tuesday remained in
the street Thursday. Adults averted their eyes, but children on bicycles
locked their gaze on the corpse.
   "If the body stays another day, the pigs will start to eat it," said
barber Remy Ileron, 40. "This month, that's been happening a lot."
   Haiti's new prime minister said his priorities are disarmament and
security, reconciliation, and organizing new elections -- though many
officials acknowledge holding a vote could take more than a year.
   Latortue went straight to work Thursday, meeting with interim President
Boniface Alexandre to discuss a Cabinet he wants 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 once-disgraced army, a key demand of
rebels who helped force Aristide from office. Latortue said Aristide's
disbanding of the army in 1995 may have been unconstitutional.
   Aristide militants refuse to recognize the new government, supporting
Aristide's claims he was forced from power by the United States and France.
His lawyer in Paris said Wednesday he was considering bringing charges
against ambassadors of both countries.
   U.S. Ambassador James Foley, speaking in a BBC interview broadcast
Thursday, said 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."
   The 53-nation African Union and the 15-member Caribbean Community --
which comprise nearly a third of U.N. member states -- have condemned the
circumstances of Aristide's flight and called for the United Nations to
investigate.
   A once-popular slum priest, Aristide was elected on promises to champion
the poor, but lost support as misery deepened and Haitians accused his
government of corruption and attacks against his political opponents.
   Latortue, 69, hasn't addressed Aristide's claims. Chosen by a
seven-member Council of Sages, he has stressed his neutrality.
   "I came here with my mind open to work with everyone in Haiti," he said.
"I'm not a member of any political party."
   Although Latortue has accepted the job of leading Haiti out of its
latest crisis, he hasn't been officially sworn in. Outgoing Prime Minister
Yvon Neptune, an Aristide appointee, has said he will ensure an orderly
transition, but it wasn't clear when that would take place.
   ------
   Associated Press Writer Paisley Dodds contributed to this report.