20428: (Chamberlain) Aristide arrives in Jamaica, Haiti incensed (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Ibon Villelabeitia and Horace Helps

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti/KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 15 (Reuters) -
Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to the Caribbean on Monday for the first
time since his ouster as Haiti's president, enraging the new Haitian
government with a visit to neighboring Jamaica that fanned fears of more
bloodshed.
     "It's very unfriendly on the part of Jamaica. We cannot accept this,"
new Prime Minister Gerard Latortue told Reuters Television.
     He said he would recall Haiti's ambassador to Kingston.
     It was unclear, however, whether the diplomatic stab at Jamaica would
have any practical implications. All Haitian ambassadors were told last
week they were being recalled after Aristide's departure on Feb. 29 for
exile in Africa.
     U.S. troops leading a 2,650-strong peace force in Haiti suffered their
first casualty when a Marine was shot on Sunday night in the Port-au-Prince
shantytown of Belair, where Aristide still enjoys fervent support.
     Aristide, a former slum priest driven out by a monthlong rebellion and
U.S. pressure, landed in Jamaica with his Haitian-American wife Mildred
after flying halfway around the world from Africa in a jet chartered by
supporters.
     Aristide then left by helicopter for an undisclosed location. A source
in the village of Lydford in northeast Jamaica, about 70 miles (110 km)
from the capital, told Reuters two helicopters landed near a
government-owned guest house there.
     Amy Goodman, a radio show presenter for the "Democracy Now!" program,
who traveled with the delegation, told CNN that Haiti's first
democratically elected leader again insisted he had been ousted in a U.S.
"coup."
     Washington has dismissed the claim as "nonsense," but in the slums of
the Haitian capital, where street gangs are heavily armed, residents seem
to have little doubt their president was persuaded to resign against his
will.
     The U.S. Marines have fought half a dozen battles with Aristide
loyalists since they landed hours after Aristide went into exile. The
Marines have killed six people.
     In the latest incident, Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said a Marine was hit when
several gunmen attacked a patrol, on foot and in Humvees, in Belair.
     "One Marine was wounded in the left arm. He was evacuated to Miami.
His condition is not life-threatening," Lapan said. "This is our first
casualty. We believe it was an ambush."
     Marines fired back but it was unknown whether any attackers were hit.
     In a ceremony at the international force's new headquarters, U.S.
Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Ronald Coleman formally took over the
U.N.-sanctioned deployment.
     Coleman will be in charge of not just U.S. Marines, the bulk of the
force, but also of French gendarmes and legionnaires, and Canadian and
Chilean troops.
     "This is not an occupation force," Coleman said.
     He told reporters later that Sunday night's shooting "will only
increase our resolve to do what needs to be done."
     The troops were sent to restore order after more than 200 people were
killed in the revolt that broke out on Feb. 5, and after Aristide's flight
triggered looting and reprisal killings.
     Many slum dwellers, who see Aristide as a champion of the poor and
reject accusations he became a corrupt despot, hope his proximity in
Jamaica, just 115 miles (185 km) from Haiti's shores, will herald his
eventual return.
     Aristide left the Central African Republic, where he and his wife have
been since he was ousted, early on Monday.
     His plane made at least two refueling stops -- once in the western
African nation of Senegal and then in the Caribbean island state of
Barbados.
     Jamaica's prime minister has said Aristide would spend up to 10 weeks
there. He has not been granted asylum in Jamaica.
     While attention was focused on Aristide's return to the Caribbean,
Latortue continued to put together a cabinet he hopes will unite the
divided country and end bloodshed.
     His goal of reconciliation may be undermined by weekend arrests that
seemed to target members of Aristide's Lavalas Family political movement.
     The United Nations on Monday also began its first food distribution
operation in the northern city of Cap Haitien -- Haiti's second-largest
with 500,000 people -- since the revolt began more than a month ago.