20342: (Chamberlain) AP: Haiti (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 13 (AP) -- With anger growing over a U.S.-led
peacekeeping operation, relatives of two people slain by American troops
wailed in grief Saturday while other Haitians demanded the United States
return ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the country.
   Aristide, in exile in the Central African Republic since Feb. 29, was
planning fly to Jamaica in the next few days to visit his family. He has
claimed he was forced out by the U.S. government.
   A delegation of American and Jamaican officials -- including Rep. Maxine
Waters, D-Calif., and a representative of Jamaican Prime Minister P.J.
Patterson -- was scheduled to leave Miami later Saturday on a charter plane
for Central African Republic to bring Aristide to Jamaica, activist Randall
Robinson told The Associated Press. Robinson said he also would be on the
plane.
   Haiti's new prime minister, Gerard Latortue, has warned that Aristide's
return to the region would only increase tension in Haiti, and said he
would not meet with the ousted leader. Aristide, who left Haiti on amid a
bloody rebellion, planned to stay several weeks in Jamaica visiting with
his family.
   U.S. Marine Maj. Richard Crusan said the two men killed late Friday
during a Marine patrol were gunmen who had previously fired on the
soldiers, although their weapons were never recovered. Witnesses said the
dead were bystanders.
   "The Marines have very strict engagements of a target," Crusan said.
"Did they hit other people? I doubt it."
   However, at the tin shack home of 18-year-old Frantzy Louis, in Belair,
relatives wailed and hugged each other, looking at pictures of the dead boy
and saying he wouldn't have been holding a gun.
   "He was playing basketball when the Americans and the French began
firing," said Louis' brother, 24-year-old Rudy. "He wasn't political. All
he did was study and play basketball. He dreamed of becoming a professional
player."
   Residents identified the other victim as Dread Pasteur, 29, and said it
was possible more than two people were killed in the gunbattle.
   Several people also were injured in Friday's gunbattle. One was Evans
Dubuisson, 17, who said he was shot in the side after crossing the street
to buy candles for his family.
   Residents said it was the first time they had seen the U.S. troops enter
the gritty neighborhood, blocks away from the National Palace, at night.
Since Aristide left the country, residents here haven't had electricity or
water, and the piles of trash have reached heights of more than 10 feet.
   Gunbattles erupted, meanwhile, in the seaside slum of Cite Soleil on
Saturday. The shantytown is also a pro-Aristide stronghold, but the gunfire
was allegedly coming from gangs and not between peacekeepers and bandits.
At least one person was wounded, and residents in the poor neighborhood
said the fight began over a shipment of donated rice and flour.
   Initially the U.S. Marines and French peacekeepers were sent to secure
key sites and provide security. Their mission has changed, however, and now
they are working with Haitian police to disarm the general population. U.S.
troops have shot and killed at least six Haitians in the past week.
   The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers,
arrived Saturday to check on the peacekeeping mission.
   The violence is the biggest challenge facing Latortue, who was sworn in
Friday and who has said bringing stability and peace to Haiti is his top
priority.
   Aristide has claimed he is still the legitimate leader of Haiti.
   "Since the Americans kidnapped Aristide and made him leave the country,
they should arrange for him to come back," said Daniel Charles, 33, a
resident of Belair. "Aristide is Haitian. He's our leader, and we want him
back in his country."
   Patterson, chairman of the 15-nation Caribbean Community, has invited
Latortue to visit Jamaica this weekend for talks on Haiti. It didn't appear
he would go.
   U.S. officials say Aristide asked for help and that they saved his life
by arranging his departure aboard a U.S.-chartered aircraft during a bloody
rebellion.
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   Associated Press reporters Ian James and Peter Prengaman contributed to
this story.