20549: (Chamberlain) French troops move to rebel-held north (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Ibon Villelabeitia and Michael Christie

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 18 (Reuters) - International troops in
Haiti made their presence felt on Thursday in areas of the country that
have been strongholds of rebels behind the revolt that helped oust
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
     With security improved in the capital Port-au-Prince, 150 French
Marines from a 3,000-member U.N.-sanctioned force sent to Haiti after
Aristide was ousted on Feb. 29 were deployed in the northern city of Cap
Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city, and had secured the airport, said Lt.
Col. Louis Acacio.
     Acacio, an aide to French Col. Daniel Leplatois, the deputy commander
of the international force, said the troops began arriving on Tuesday and
might number 300 within days.
     Acacio said the French troops were patrolling Cap Haitien's streets,
where armed rebels are still in control and there is no Haitian police
presence.
     "The situation is very difficult. There is no police and all the
institutions that represented the government have been destroyed. So far,
the rebels have not been hostile. We are observing them," Acacio said.
     Acacio said 130 French legionnaires were to arrive on Friday in the
northwestern city of Gonaives, where rebels and ex-soldiers launched the
revolt against Aristide on Feb. 5 in which more than 200 people were
killed.
     "Our main goal is to secure the road from Port-au-Prince to Gonaives
and Cap Haitien to provide security for a humanitarian corridor to the
north," he said.
     A third of Haiti's population suffers from chronic malnutrition and
the United Nations has urgently appealed for humanitarian aid.
     Human rights groups have reported reprisal killings of Aristide
supporters by rebels in the north.
     U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, spokesman for the international
force, said U.S. Marines and Canadian troops would be sent in coming weeks
to the southern part of the country as more international forces arrive in
Port-au-Prince.
     Also on Thursday, Chilean forces took over from U.S. Marines control
of Port-au-Prince's international airport to allow U.S. troops to spread
outside the capital, Lapan said.
     U.S. Special Forces have carried out reconnaissance operations in Cap
Haitien and Gonaives.
     With no army and only 4,000 poorly-equipped police in the country of 8
million, the new government installed only on Wednesday has yet to
establish control over rebel-held areas in the provinces, where gunmen
strut the streets.
     International forces do not have a mandate to confiscate weapons. The
new government will run the poorest country in the Americas until elections
can be held.
     U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said Haiti had received $2 million in
cash and $6.2 million in pledges since the United Nations launched an
urgent appeal for $35 million last week to help more than 3 million people.
     "It is absolutely necessary that the pledges turn into cash now," Byrs
said.
     Alejandro Chicheri, spokesman for the World Food Program, said there
were 200 tons of food at Port-au-Prince ready to be delivered.
     Aristide, whose visit to neighboring Jamaica raised alarm in the new
Haitian government about dissent among his supporters, promised his
Jamaican host he would not engage in political activity.
     "I want peace for Haiti, I want peace for Jamaica, for the Caribbean
and all people everywhere. I want to be part of the process of promoting
peace," Aristide told Jamaica Prime Minister P.J. Patterson in a statement
released on Thursday.
     Aristide has said he was kidnapped by U.S. soldiers and forced to
resign, which Washington denies.