20346: Esser: Myers vows crackdown as Haiti tensions rise (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Reuters

March 14, 2004

Myers vows crackdown as Haiti tensions rise

The United States' top soldier has vowed that foreign peacekeepers
would take tough action against trouble-makers in Haiti, hours after
Marines killed two more gunmen in a firefight in the tense Caribbean
nation.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of
Staff, flew into Port-au-Prince at the end of a Latin American trip.

He is visiting US Marines, who are leading a force sent to restore
order after deposed president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was exiled last
month.

"The multilateral force will not tolerate violence against [itself]
... nor violence against Haitian civilians," General Myers said.

"Those who take up arms and those who take up violence will be dealt
with properly."

The capital is agitated by the looming return of Mr Aristide to the
Caribbean, in a planned visit to neighbouring Jamaica that Haiti's
new government and US officials say will feed the fury of his
loyalists.

General Myers was taken by helicopter from the heavily guarded
airport to the Marines' base in another part of the sprawling
capital, avoiding roads that pass through some of the slums that are
a stronghold of support for the ousted president.

The latest shooting took place on Friday night after Aristide
supporters opened fire on Marines patrolling a slum near the National
Palace in Port-au-Prince.

Residents say up to 11 people died or were injured as bullets flew,
but the Marines say they could confirm only two deaths.

Leading a United Nation-sanctioned 2,550-member international force,
the Marines have fought more than half a dozen battles since landing
on February 29, hours after Mr Aristide was pushed out by a
month-long revolt and US pressure.
.