#338: US says it is committed to Haiti despite pullout (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

US says it is committed to Haiti despite pullout 
06:37 p.m Aug 26, 1999 Eastern 

WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The United States said  on Thursday that
it remained committed to military help for Haiti  despite its decision
to end the permanent stationing of U.S.forces in the troubled,
impoverished Caribbean nation. U.S. officials said two days ago that the
force, now numbering  about 400 and based in the capital,
Port-au-Prince, would be withdrawn in the coming months and replaced by
a rotation of  troops sent in on specific humanitarian missions.     
The State Department sought to counter suggestions that this    
reflected fading U.S. interest in supporting Haiti's efforts to build
democracy and a viable economy. ``The message is that we remain
committed to assisting Haiti  stabilise itself politically,
economically, and that we remain  present in Haiti and committed to the
policy,'' State Department spokesman James Foley told reporters.     
``The U.S. military is not withdrawing from Haiti. We are enhancing our
military engagement with Haiti to provide a  stronger presence through
better assistance and training  throughout the island and beyond the
capital,'' he said.  A force of some 20,000 American troops was sent to
Haiti in  September 1994 to end a dictatorship and restore Haiti's first
freely elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Five years later the
force has dwindled, as has world interest in their mission. The U.S.
Support Group-Haiti remains in the country, providing a U.S. presence
and carrying out tasks such  as school-building, road repair and medical
care.  The decision to change the military approach followed pressure
from the Pentagon to end a mission that cost about $22 million         
last year.  In February, Gen. Charles Wilhelm, commander in chief of the
U.S. Southern Command (SouthCom), told Congress: ``As our continuous
military presence in Haiti moves into its fifth year, we  see little
progress toward creation of a permanently stable internal security
environment.'' Foley said: ``We will move the focus of our assistance
now to outlying regions of Haiti where assistance is now needed most, 
and ensure our military assistance teams are more mobile, more
responsive to the current needs of the greater Haitian population...'' 
He insisted: ``The U.S. military presence is not going to cease in
Haiti. The permanent stationing will transition to a rotational     
approach in which, I think, you will virtually all the time have    
some U.S. military presence in Haiti next year.''