20433: (Chamberlain) Aristide arrives in Jamaica, Haiti incensed (later story) (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 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, and boycott a
March 25-26 meeting of the Caribbean Community regional grouping if
Aristide had not left Jamaica by then.
     It was unclear whether the diplomatic stab would have practical
implications. All Haitian ambassadors were recalled last week after
Aristide's departure on Feb. 29 for exile in Africa, and sources at the
Haitian embassy in Jamaica said the ambassador had already left.
     Jamaica's prime minister has said Aristide would spend up to 10 weeks
there. He has not been granted asylum in Jamaica.
     U.S. troops leading a 2,650-strong peace force in Haiti suffered their
first casualty when a Marine was shot and wounded on Sunday night in the
Port-au-Prince shantytown of Belair, where Aristide still enjoys fervent
support.
     The next afternoon, a column of 120 Marines and four Light Armored
Vehicles entered Belair in an apparent show of force.
     As tensions continued, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recently
appointed special adviser on Haiti, Reginald Dumas, arrived on Monday to
begin work on longer-term plans for peacekeeping and nation-building, a
spokesman said.
     Aristide, a former slum priest driven out by a monthlong rebellion and
U.S. pressure, flew from Africa to Jamaica with his Haitian-American wife
Mildred in a jet chartered by supporters.
     He was taken by helicopter to an undisclosed location, but a source in
the village of Lydford in northeast Jamaica, 70 miles (110 km) from the
capital, told Reuters two helicopters landed near a government-owned guest
house there.
     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, will herald his eventual
return.
     "Aristide has invisible powers. He's going to come back to Haiti and
the Americans and the French will not be able to see him," said Jean
Bertrand, a young man playing basketball in the streets of Belair.
     Amy Goodman, a host for the U.S.-based "Democracy Now!" radio program,
who traveled with Aristide, 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 heavily
armed slums of the Haitian capital, residents seem to have little doubt
their president was forced to resign and his more military supporters say
they are ready to fight.
     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 in
the left arm when several gunmen attacked a patrol, on foot and in Humvees,
in Belair. He was evacuated to Miami.
     "This is our first casualty. We believe it was an ambush," Lapan said.
Marines fired back but it was unknown whether any attackers were hit.
     U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Ronald Coleman formally took over the
U.N.-sanctioned deployment. He will be in charge of U.S. Marines, the bulk
of the force, as well as French gendarmes and legionnaires, and Canadian
and Chilean troops.
     "This is not an occupation force," Coleman said.
     He told reporters 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.

    (Additional reporting by Marco Trujillo in Port-au-Prince)