21558: (Chamberlain) U.S. Marines arrest armed rebels in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, April 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines on Monday
arrested five Haitian rebels for carrying weapons, their first direct
action in a two-month peace mission against the gunmen who helped overthrow
President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
     Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said the men were carrying
automatic weapons in a vehicle stopped near the Port-au-Prince airport.
     "Those individuals had no right to carry those weapons, so we took
them," said Lapan. "We will hand them over to the police." He said it was
the first time the 3,600-strong U.S.-led multinational force had
confiscated automatic weapons in Port-au-Prince.
     A commander of the arrested former soldiers, ex-army Col. Remissainthe
Ravix, protested angrily.
     The U.N.-sanctioned peacekeeping force has seized shotguns and pistols
since arriving in Haiti on Feb. 29, hours after Aristide was driven into
exile by a popular revolt.
     Former members of the Haitian military, who joined the revolt and have
been hailed as "freedom fighters" by interim Prime Minister Gerard
Latortue, have demanded that the army Aristide disbanded in 1995 be
re-established.
     Ravix said his men were on their way to the central town of Hinche to
"restore order."
     "We are the Haitian army. U.S. Marines have no right to confiscate our
weapons," he told local radio.
     The Marines are due to hand over command of the peacekeeping force to
the United Nations on June 1.
     But Haiti's progress toward stability has been slow.
     In the northwestern town of Gonaives, where the rebellion against
Aristide began, gunmen drove police from their headquarters on Saturday in
a dispute over a government-owned car confiscated by police. French troops
in Gonaives had to intervene to regain control of the police precinct.
     The rebels beat up two policemen, freed a detainee, and took a
revolver, said police spokesman Jean Yonel Trecile.
     "We do recognize the contribution brought by the ex-rebels to the
current change in the country, but that's not a good way to behave,"
Inspector General Trecile told Reuters.