20853: (Chamberlain) Troops patrol rebel-run north Haiti, food aid docks (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Simon Gardner

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 26 (Reuters) - French paratroopers
cautiously moved out into rebel-held countryside in northern Haiti on
Friday as the first shipload of food aid for 180,000 of the impoverished
Caribbean country's poorest made port nearby.
     U.S. Marines stepped up patrols in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and
cleared away trashed cars used as street barricades during a bloody
rebellion last month that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
     French troops headed toward the small northeastern town of Fort
Liberte, which had been overrun by rapists, murderers and thieves, said
Commander Xavier Pons, spokesman for the 450-strong French contingent. The
criminals, like others in Haiti, were released from prison by rebels as
they took over a swath of the country.
     "The idea is to show armed people that French troops are there to
bring safety to the local population," Pons said, but added it was not yet
decided that the troops would eventually push into Fort Liberte itself.
     Since landing on Feb. 29 as Aristide fled into exile, a 3,500-strong
U.N.-sanctioned force has restored an edgy calm to the capital and several
northern cities.
     There is no local army and the police force is in disarray after many
officers fled as the rebels advanced. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has
forecast it could take 10 years or more to rebuild Haiti's police force and
judiciary.
     U.S. Marines, scouring for illegal weapons caches, said they were
still coming under sporadic sniper fire during night-time patrols near the
sprawling slums in Port-au-Prince, where a 10 p.m. curfew remained in
place.
     Experts estimate that there are tens of thousands of weapons in the
hands of gangs marauding across Haiti.
     Human rights groups have called on the foreign troops to move into
smaller provincial towns still controlled by armed rebels and former
soldiers, and into places such as Fort Liberte, where escaped convicts hold
sway.
     Aid workers began to offload 1,550 tons of emergency food shipped to
the northern port city of Cap-Haitien, destined for tens of thousands of
people who have gone without help for around five weeks.
     The food situation in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas and
an economic basket case, is desperate. A third of its 8 million people
suffer from malnutrition and 80 percent live in abject poverty.
     "The food has arrived and is being taken off the ship, but it could be
a week before it is delivered," Nelta Jean-Louis of the World Food Program
said from Cap-Haitien.
     The aid, including rice, corn, fish and vegetable oil, was shipped
from Port-au-Prince to replace stocks looted during the uprising against
Aristide, who was long championed by Haiti's poorest but accused of
corruption by opponents and mismanagement by Washington, which withdrew its
support.