20568: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-Troops fan out to rebel territory (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Fri, Mar. 19, 2004

Troops fan out to rebel territory

A U.S.-led multinational peacekeeping force in Haiti begins deploying to a
countryside still ruled by armed gangs.

BY MICHAEL OTTEY

mottey@herald.com


CRISIS IN HAITI | QUASHING THE VIOLENCE

AND NANCY SAN MARTIN

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- French troops have begun moving into rebel-controlled
parts of northern Haiti while U.S. Special Forces expand their presence in
the center and south, the head of the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command said
Thursday.

The deployment of international forces outside the capital represents a
significant shift in the campaign to quash weeks of widespread political
violence that led to the Feb. 29 departure of former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.

Armed pro- and anti-Aristide gangs still control most of the countryside,
with a U.S.-led multinational peacekeeping force that began arriving the
same day so far deployed only in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

''The fact that we got in very quickly . . . prevented a tremendous amount
of chaos,'' Southcom's Gen. James Hill said at a hemispheric security
conference in Miami. ``Now we need to continue to help provide stability.''

Hill said French troops are soon expected to take control of the northern
sector, including the cities of Cap Haitien, which served as a rebel
headquarters, and Gonaives, the birthplace of a bloody insurgency that began
Feb. 5 and claimed more than 130 lives across the country.

`PRESENCE ACTIVITY'

U.S. Special Forces teams meanwhile will also carry out ''presence
activity'' in both of those cities, as well as in the central city of Hinche
and Jacmel and Jeremie in the south, Hill said.

Maj. Xavier Pons, a spokesman for the French troops in Port-au-Prince, said
one marine company was set to enter Cap Haitien, Haiti's second-largest
city, on Thursday and that another was scheduled to go to Gonaives today.

The headquarters of a French battalion also will move to Cap Haitien today,
and French troop presence in northern Haiti will grow to about 400 by
Saturday, Pons said.

The mission in the north, as in the capital, is ''to help the local police
and to provide them support,'' Pons said.

Asked if the French troops would attempt to disarm rebels, who still walk
around bearing weapons, Pons said it's the role of Haitian police, supported
by the multinational forces.

MAYBE 5,000 TROOPS

The multinational force -- made up of troops from the United States, France,
Canada and Chile -- has swelled to more than 2,800 and could grow to nearly
5,000 before the peacekeeping operation is taken over by the United Nations
within two months.

Hill said the U.S. forces in Haiti, which make up the largest contingency
with some 1,700 troops, are not likely to grow.

''We're at about the size we'll be,'' he said. ``We will really welcome some
greater international help.''

Lt. Col. David Lapan, the Port-au-Prince spokesman for the multinational
force, said U.S. forces will soon take control of the southern portion of
the country.

The Canadians will share duties with U.S. forces in the southern region but
will largely be concentrated in the capital along with Chilean and American
forces.

The Chileans will secure the international airport in the capital, a task
now performed by U.S. Marines. And in days ahead, French forces will
continue to flow north until the bulk of French troops are concentrated
there, Lapan added.

''It's our intent to not only reach outside the capital, but also the forces
you do see will be more mobile rather than static,'' he said.

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