21559: (Chamberlain) Attackers burn police stations (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHELLE FAUL

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 26 (AP) -- Attackers set ablaze two police
stations hours before Chilean troops began patrolling the city of Hinche,
in the first deployment of the U.S.-led multinational force in Haiti's
rebel-held Central Plateau, military sources said.
   U.S. Marines said they arrested five heavily armed men in fatigues in
Port-au-Prince on Monday, and a rebel leader said they were on they way to
the site of the attacks in the strategically placed city.
   In other incidents, French troops in northern Gonaives seized two
government vehicles from rebels and a street gang in Petit-Goave made a
symbolic surrender of a half dozen weapons to police in the first
disarmament exercise in the south.
   The events in the past three days mark the expansion of the presence of
the U.S.-led multinational force in Haiti and indicate the possible
resistance that could confront the 3,600 troops from four nations as they
move into areas controlled for nearly two months by former Haitian army
soldiers and street gangs.
   Despite the intervention, hundreds of Haitians are risking their lives
at sea in search of a better life abroad.
   The U.S. Coast Guard is to repatriate 686 boat people intercepted on
three boats Friday, Sunday and Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy said Monday.
   In neighboring Jamaica, police detained 128 Haitians who arrived in two
boats Monday, bringing to 429 the number of Haitians to land there since
the rebellion. It was the largest group to arrive there this year, and the
overall figure represents the largest influx to Jamaica since thousands of
Haitians fled during a 1991-1994 military regime that had ousted Aristide.
   The United States sent 20,000 troops to put an end to brutal military
rule, restore Aristide and halt a flood of tens of thousands of Haitian
boat people to Florida in 1994.
   Amid similar fears, Washington sent a much smaller force within hours of
Aristide's departure Feb. 29, as rebels neared Port-au-Prince and the
United States and France called for his resignation.
   Hundreds of police officers and government officials fled, fearing
reprisals. The resulting vacuum of leadership has forced peacekeepers to
negotiate with rebels, including former soldiers accused of brutalizing
civilians.
   The U.S.-backed interim government announced Monday that it was firing
or transferring nearly 800 people who used to work for Aristide in the
presidential palace.
   Only 125 of 620 security officers at the palace would be retained, and
another 272 administrative employees would be fired, Cabinet director
Michel Brunache said Monday, giving no reasons for the dismissals and
transfers that he called a "cleanup."
   Former palace security chief Oriel Jean, 39, was extradited from Canada
to the United States last month on drug trafficking charges. Palace
security officers also are accused of directing street gangs to attack
Aristide's opponents.
   Last week the government fired 150 mainly high-ranking police officials.
On Monday, the government continued its campaign for new police recruits.
   Thousands of job applicants formed a line more than two miles long. A
similar drive was suspended last week after several people were injured and
one applicant suffocated to death in a stampede by people eager for work in
this poorest country of the Western Hemisphere.
   Less than half of Haiti's 5,000 police have returned to their posts
since Aristide fled, posing challenges for a government that says he wants
to reconcile Haiti's divided population of 8.2 million, but also insists
that those who helped rid the country of Aristide -- including former
soldiers accused of human rights violations -- deserve some recognition.
   That policy leaves peacekeepers in a difficult position.
   In Hinche, Chilean troops arrived Monday after an agreement with former
Army Master Sgt. Joseph Jean-Baptiste, who nine weeks ago seized the town
70 miles northeast of Port-au-Prince.
   Thirty Chilean soldiers began foot and vehicle patrols that will
continue daily while they return to Port-au-Prince at nightfall, said
spokesman Gonzalo Vega.
   Sunday night, men believed to be under Jean-Baptiste's command set
ablaze two police stations, said military sources who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
   On Monday, U.S. Marines arrested five heavily armed men in camouflage,
spokesman Lt. Col. David Lapan said. Rebel leader Ravix Ravissainthe said
he told the men to go to Hinche to resolve problems where "people were
burning houses."