20591: (Chamberlain) Multinational forces enter cradle of Haiti's revolt (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Christie

     GONAIVES, Haiti, March 19 (Reuters) - The first major contingent of
multinational forces rumbled into the gritty Haitian city where an armed
revolt erupted more than a month ago that led to the ousting of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide on a mission to restore order to the still-restive
town.
     A column of more than 140 French Legionnaires in armored personnel
carriers, trucks and jeeps pulled into a university compound in Gonaives,
watched by an excited gaggle of children and a few wary adults, some
warning the "war" was not over.
     It was the first major move by multinational forces into the seaside
town where the latest bout of violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation
began. A small detachment of French troops scouted the area on Thursday.
     The 3,000-member force sent by the United Nations to restore order
after Aristide's departure on Feb. 29 had been concentrating its efforts in
Port-au-Prince, the capital.
     "We have won the first part of the battle but at heart our aim went
beyond fighting a dictator," said Wynter Etienne, a spokesman for the
Gonaives rebels who helped chase Aristide into exile. "Our aim was equally
to achieve durable development for this country."
     Rebel leaders in charge of Gonaives since they kicked out a contingent
of Haitian National Police on Feb. 5 said they expected Haiti's new prime
minister, Gerard Latortue, to visit on Saturday and address the city's
200,000 mostly dirt-poor inhabitants.
     Etienne said the so-called Front for the Liberation of Haiti would lay
down their arms in front of Latortue, who is a native of Gonaives, Haiti's
fourth-largest city.
     "It is now up to police and the international force to guarantee
security. But if needed, the Front is willing to help." Etienne told
Reuters.
     Buter Metayer, leader of the street gang that led the Gonaives
uprising, drove around town on Friday in a smart four-wheel drive seized
from police, reassuring residents over the arrival of French troops.
     Despite these assurances, occasional pockets of tension were seen. One
young man waving a pistol in one hand and a semi-automatic rifle shouted:
"No one is taking my guns."
     Some residents warned the "war" was not over and expressed caution
about the new government headed by Latortue.
     "We can't trust him yet," said Fritz Desir, self-appointed spokesman
for the people of Raboteau, a Gonaives slum that was the site of a massacre
in 1994.
     "We the Haitian people created the monster Aristide. We need to watch
what this man does. After all, it's been 200 years of the same thing," he
said, referring to the succession of despots since Haiti's independence
from France in 1804.
     Gonaives, ruled by street gangs and rebels since the revolt began,
seemed cleaner than in past weeks. A water truck sprayed water on the
roadway near a market to clear away some of the street sludge.
     Barricades of rusty car chassis, shipping containers and scrap metal
had been pushed to the side and life had returned to its chaotic norm.
Bicycles and cars clogged the streets.
     Guns, once widespread throughout the city, were rarely seen and
Metayer's foot soldiers had discarded uniforms and flak jackets stolen from
police.
     Capt. George Tourmente, commander of the French deployment, said the
main mission for the Legionnaires was to allow police to take up their
posts in Gonaives again and help the city return to a normal life.
     "We have no mission of disarming the people," he said.