20429: (Chamberlain) Aristide arrives in Jamaica (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PETER PRENGAMAN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 15 (AP) -- Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, defying the United States and Haiti's new leaders, returned to
the Caribbean Monday, arriving in Jamaica where he had been given temporary
asylum.
   Aristide's return to the Western Hemisphere, two weeks after he was
exiled to the Central African Republic to end a rebel uprising, prompted
Haiti's interim prime minister to recall his ambassador to Jamaica and
suspend relations.
   A U.S. Marine, meanwhile, was shot in the arm while patrolling a
pro-Aristide neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. military announced
Monday, the first American peacekeeping casualty in the current operation.
His wound was not life-threatening. U.S. troops have been attacked several
times and have shot and killed at least six Haitians in the past week.
   Aristide's arrival in Jamaica has increased tensions in Haiti, where his
followers plan more protests to demand the return of the country's first
democratically elected leader.
   Aristide arrived with his wife, Mildred, at Norman Manley International
Airport in Kingston, the Jamaican capital, 130 miles from Haiti. He
immediately boarded a helicopter, refusing to make any comment. A Jamaican
protocol officer said he was being taken to a residence of Jamaican Prime
Minister P.J. Patterson.
   Haiti's new U.S.-backed leader, interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue,
said he was recalling the ambassador in Kingston, putting diplomatic
relations with Jamaica on hold, and reconsidering Haiti's position with the
15-member Caribbean Community, which currently is chaired by Patterson.
   Jamaican officials have said Aristide will visit for only eight to 10
weeks to be reunited with his two young daughters, who had been sent for
safety to New York City, and while he makes plans for a permanent home in
exile in a third country.
   But the Haitian leader indicated he has not abandoned his desire to
return to govern Haiti. "For the time being, I'm listening to my people,"
Aristide said before boarding a plane in the Central African Republic,
where he was flown to exile in a U.S.-supplied plane two weeks ago.
   "The more we listen to them, the more we serve them, the more we will
know what to do at the right time. We all have to do what we can to promote
peace," Aristide said.
   Aristide arrived the day after the U.S. Marine was shot and wounded in
one of the ousted leader's Port-au-Prince strongholds, in an ambush on a
foot patrol apparently meant as revenge for the shooting of two men killed
by Marines when they came under fire on Friday.
   The wounded Marine was identified as Pvt. 1st Class Howard W. Hamilton,
20, of Murfeesboro, Tenn.
   Hamilton was in a group ambushed by several gunmen as they patrolled
Sunday night in the Belair neighborhood, an Aristide stronghold, Lt. Col.
David Lapan said.
   Staff. Sgt. Timothy Edwards said the Marine was shot in the left arm by
what was believed to be a small-caliber pistol and was evacuated to a
hospital in Miami.
   Latortue has warned Aristide's return to the region could threaten a
fragile stability. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told CNN television
"the hope is that he will not come back into the hemisphere and complicate
the situation."
   Since his ouster, pro-Aristide militants have clashed with U.S. Marines
who form the vanguard of a growing peacekeeping operation, furious at what
they consider a foreign "occupation."
   At his last African refueling stop, on the island of Cape Verde,
Aristide and his wife discussed concerns about events in Haiti in an
interview with Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now!" program.
   Aristide complained his private foundation's University of Peace had
been made into a U.S. military base in Port-au-Prince, and that teachers at
the state hospital's medical school had been threatened and were afraid to
go to work. During the monthlong rebellion that led to Aristide's flight,
hospitals in Haiti have been violated by gunmen, including rebels and
militant civilians both for and against Aristide.
   The rebellion was started Feb. 5 by a street gang that used to terrorize
Aristide opponents and was spread by former Haitian soldiers who seek to
reinstate the country's disgraced and disbanded army. More than 300 people
died before Aristide fled, according to estimates by The Associated Press
and the Pan American Health Organization.
   Aristide's departure was delayed for several hours Sunday while Central
African President Francois Bozize said he would decide whether to allow him
to leave. Aristide said he believed Bozize had to consult with the three
countries that had organized his exile in Bangui -- the United States,
France and Gabon.
   Latortue, meanwhile, was finalizing his Cabinet and should name some
members on Monday, said aide Robert Ulysse.
   ------
   Associated Press reporter Ian James contributed to this story.