20593: (Chamberlain) French troops deploy in north (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 19 (AP) -- French troops on Friday began deploying
to northern Haiti as U.S. troops fanned out to the east and the south,
pledging to provide security to deliver food, medicine and other essential
supplies disrupted during last month's rebellion.
   About 200 French soldiers arrived Friday in Cap-Haitien, the northern
port of 500,000 people that is Haiti's second-largest city. Some 140 French
Foreign Legionnaires reached Gonaives, the city north of Port-au-Prince,
where a street gang began the armed rebellion that helped oust President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Rebels in both cities have said they will disarm only after their
enemies in the Aristide camp lay down their weapons, and it was not
immediately clear how troops hoped to deal with the impasse.
   U.S. forces, meanwhile, continued to patrol the capital of
Port-au-Prince and said they were planning to deploy to the south and east.
Chilean troops replaced a U.S. Marine security detail at the international
airport.
   More than 700 Canadian troops were to be in Haiti by next week, said
Marine Col. David Lapan.
   Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue planned to visit Gonaives, his
hometown, on Saturday -- his first official trip outside the capital since
he was named prime minister after Aristide fled Feb. 29.
   Latortue's visit was being coordinated with French and American troops,
said Xavier Pons, spokesman for the French troops.
   U.S. Ambassador James Foley confirmed Friday that the United States has
asked Canada for the extradition of Aristide's top security chief, Oriel
Jean, 39, for alleged drug trafficking.
   The move underscored Washington's claims that Aristide's administration
was corrupted by drug smuggling.
   Jean, who denies the charges, had his U.S. visa revoked last year. He
appeared in a Canadian court after being arrested in Toronto this week. The
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says he could face drug charges in
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
   Two weeks ago, White House press secretary Scott McClellan accused
Aristide of leading "a failed government that condoned official corruption,
including drug trafficking," but he refused to say what evidence there was
to support that claim.
   Roger F. Noriega, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western
Hemisphere affairs, testified March 10 that "Aristide turned a blind eye to
the rampant corruption and drug trafficking of those within his circle of
power."
   In February, drug lord Beaudoin "Jacques" Ketant was sentenced to 27
years for money laundering and moving 41 tons of Colombian cocaine through
Haiti to the United States. He told a Miami court that Aristide "turned the
country into a narco-country."
   Ira Kurzban, then a Miami attorney for the Haitian government, dismissed
the allegations, calling Ketant "a lying, convicted drug dealer."
   Aristide had accused the rebels of funding their uprising with money
from the sale of illegal drugs.
   One of the key French missions in the north is providing security so
relief organizations can help the needy, Pons said. During the
insurrection, rebels isolated much of the region with roadblocks, blocking
supplies of food, fuel and water.
   Troops say they're also helping a government with scant resources to
disarm gangs, including armed Aristide loyalists. But rebels have been seen
in the capital and other towns patrolling with assault weapons.
   Since Aristide fled and peacekeepers arrived, at least six Haitians have
been killed in clashes and one Marine was shot in the arm.
   Aristide said he was forced out by the United States, which denies it
did anything but help save the embattled leader's life by arranging a
flight to the Central African Republic. He has since flown to the nearby
island of Jamaica to be with his wife and children.
   It will take months to rebuild a shattered police force and disarm the
groups who began the insurgency and loyalists who vow to keep fighting
until Aristide returns.
   The new interior minister, Gen. Herard Abraham, has proposed
re-establishing a Haitian army to disarm the population. In 1995, Aristide
disbanded the army that ousted him in 1991 and had for decades committed
numerous human rights abuses.
   A U.N. force is to take over by May but it is still unclear whether it
will have any part in disarmament, said U.N. spokesman Frederick Schottler.