20530: (Chamberlain) AP: Haitian government takes office (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 17 (AP) -- Haiti's new U.S.-backed Cabinet took
office Wednesday without a single member of ousted President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide's party or the former opposition, setting the stage for a showdown
before the government even gets to work.
   Several Haitian politicians complained the new government unfairly
excluded Aristide's Lavalas Family party, the country's largest, and the
opposition Convergence coalition. They said Prime Minister Gerard Latortue
had promised Lavalas would be represented.
   U.S. Ambassador James Foley said "Latortue chose wisely" and that Haiti
could expect significant U.S. and international aid.
   "I do think that the situation will stabilize, which is remarkable given
the complete breakdown ... a virtual state of anarchy," he told The
Associated Press.
   At the National Palace, Latortue handed the Cabinet letters of
appointment and then apologized to Haitians for past governments.
   "I feel obliged to ask you for forgiveness for all that the other
governments have done," he said.
   The installation ceremony came as French peacekeepers began the
dangerous task of disarming slum strongholds of the ousted Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
   "We're giving our guns up right now but if Aristide doesn't come back
we'll fight with machetes," said one armed militant, Robert Mackinson.
   Defense Minister Gen. Herard Abraham told the AP in an interview that a
Haitian army could help with the disarming. He said a commission will study
how to recreate the army -- which had been widely viewed as a corrupt,
coup-prone force before being disbanded by Aristide in 1995.
   "With the instability and the amount of guns that are spread around the
country, we need a force that can proceed with disarmament," Abraham said.
   The interim government is supposed to steer this Caribbean nation,
divided between enemies and supporters of Aristide, to legislative
elections within eight months. Haiti has been in crisis since flawed 2000
legislative elections swept by Lavalas.
   Aristide fled on Feb. 29 as a three-week rebellion threatened
Port-au-Prince.
   Aristide's return Monday from exile in the Central African Republic to
temporary asylum in Jamaica is souring relations between Haiti and the rest
of the Caribbean even as it gives Aristide's followers hope.
   Aristide claims he was forced out under U.S. and French pressure.
Washington insists he resigned before the bloody insurrection led by a
street gang and former army officers could engulf the capital.
   Under a U.S.-backed plan, Latortue was chosen to return home from
decades in exile in Florida, and came to Haiti last week promising to bring
Lavalas into his government and to help reconcile the country.
   At the ceremony, Latortue defended his choice of Cabinet members.
   "This is a government of transition. It is a way of showing that it is
possible to govern this country differently and to create a new
relationship between the state and its people ... This is a government that
is nonpartisan, and I invite everyone to judge it by its results."
   His Cabinet included lawyer Bernard Gousse as justice minister, business
leader Henri Bazan as finance minister and former general Herard Abraham as
interior minister. While the 13 Cabinet members don't belong to any
political party, the majority have been critical of Aristide and are
considered allied with his opposition.
   Politicians from both sides criticized the process, saying their
candidates were rejected without explanation.
   Opposition leader Evans Paul, a former Port-au-Prince mayor, said that
while "the people chosen are good ... the process is not transparent."
   "It's more of a personal government of Latortue than a real government
of consensus," Paul said.
   "You cannot call this a government of national unity," Mischa Gaillard,
of the opposition Convergence coalition, said on Radio Vision 2000.
   Aristide and party leaders have lost support as corruption flourished
alongside poverty and they reacted to opposition by using police and
militants to attack opponents.
   Canada sent 170 more soldiers to Haiti on Wednesday, joining more than
2,600 U.S., French and Chilean troops.
   The peacekeepers launched a nationwide disarmament campaign with a small
ceremony in the vast harbor-side slum of Cite Soleil -- an event marked by
residents' demands that Aristide return.
   Still, they handed over more than 50 assault rifles, pistols and
shotguns to a small convoy of French troops accompanied by Haitian police.
Two French helicopters circled overhead.
   "This is the people's initiative," said Col. Daniel LePlatois. "We're
hoping that all the slums will adopt the same position."
   "The incentive for us is that we're hoping Jean-Bertrand Aristide will
return," said 25-year-old Jondek Chery as he surrendered a submachine gun.
"But if not, we'd rather have (foreign troops) here than the former army."
   The French presence Wednesday -- open-top jeeps, no helmets -- was in
marked contrast to heavily armed U.S. patrols in downtown Belair, where
Marines have traded fire with gunmen. Six Haitians have been killed and one
Marine wounded in Belair.
   A U.N. peacekeeping force is to take over in three months, and Brazil
has offered its leadership and 1,100 troops.
   A decade ago, disarmament under 20,000 American troops included
roadblocks, seizing armories, and buying arms. New Police Chief Leon
Charles said that wouldn't work this time.
   "If we did that again, the money we would give people for their weapons
they would just use to go out and buy another weapon," Charles said.
"Expectations have to be met this time. I don't think they'll cooperate
with disarmament until they feel safe."