19483: Reuters: Aristide Quits Haiti, Bush Orders Marines In (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Aristide Quits Haiti, Bush Orders Marines In
Sun Feb 29, 2004 03:42 PM ET


By Jim Loney and Alistair Scrutton
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled his chaotic Caribbean country
on Sunday in the face of a bloody armed revolt, and
President Bush ordered in U.S. Marines to restore order.

Aristide said he resigned to avert "a bloodbath" but
turmoil persisted in Port-au-Prince where shooting rang out
as armed Aristide supporters roamed the streets, a big
prison was emptied of criminals and looters ransacked a
police station.

Bush ordered the immediate deployment of U.S. Marines to
Haiti to arrive on Sunday to serve as the vanguard of an
international security force that will help head off a
power struggle and restore stability.

Aristide, 50, whose role in a popular uprising that ended
decades of dictatorship in the 1980s once made him a hero
of Haitian democracy, left early on Sunday morning, 24 days
after the uprising began in the poorest country in the
Americas.

The United States, which along with former colonial power
France had called on Aristide to quit to help bring an end
to the crisis, urged the rebels to lay down their arms.

One of the rebel leaders said after Aristide left that "we
don't intend to fight anymore."

"If we move in Port-au-Prince it will be to put (impose)
security but we don't intend to fight anymore. Time is up
for fighting anymore," Guy Philippe, a former police chief
who joined the rebels soon after the uprising erupted, told
CNN's "Late Edition" program.

The revolt, which capped months of simmering political
tensions, had spread over much of the country since it
erupted on Feb. 5 and killed nearly 70 people.

ARISTIDE'S DESTINATION UNCLEAR

The departure of Aristide, a former parish priest who had
been ousted in a military coup soon after first taking
office in 1991 and then reinstated by a U.S.-led invasion
in 1994, was arranged by U.S. officials.

"At his request, we facilitated his safe departure," a
State Department official, who asked not to be named, said
in Washington.

Within hours, Haitian Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre was
named to replace Aristide as laid out in the constitution.

Aristide's destination was unclear. Haiti's consul in the
capital of the neighboring Dominican Republic said that he
traveled to the eastern Caribbean nation of Antigua and
Barbuda to refuel and then was planning to travel to
Morocco. But Morocco said it would not grant Aristide
asylum.

Several of Aristide's supporters escaped to the Dominican
Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

Prime Minister Yvon Neptune read a statement by Aristide in
which he said, "today is a very difficult day ... I am
determined to respect the constitution."

Aristide, elected for a second term in 2000, had insisted
until late this week, that he would serve out the term to
2006 but he clearly lacked international support.

"The constitution is the guarantee for life and peace. The
constitution should not sink in the blood of the Haitian
people," Aristide said in the statement, evidently written
late on Saturday night.

"That's why, if tonight my resignation is the decision that
can avoid a bloodbath, I consent to leave with hope there
will be life, not death."

With the rebels closing in on Port-au-Prince, many had
feared a bloody battle for control with Aristide's militant
supporters. Hundreds of foreigners had fled.

Speaking at a ceremony at Neptune's home, U.S. Ambassador
James Foley urged the rebels to lay down their arms.

CHIMERES ROAM THE CITY

Rebel soldiers in Cap Haitien, the rebel stronghold in the
north overrun last weekend, celebrated in the streets. The
rebels, led by Philippe and a former death squad leader,
had said they were advancing on the capital.

Philippe said he welcomed Bush's decision to send in U.S.
Marines. "We are waiting for them. We need them," Philippe
said. "They will have full cooperation."

But reaction to news of Aristide's departure in the streets
of Port-au-Prince was swift and angry.

Armed bands of "chimeres," the most militant and ruthless
of Aristide's supporters from the slums, roamed the city in
pickup trucks, armed with shotguns and other weapons.

Police guarding Haiti's main prison near the National
Palace ran away, some changing out of their uniforms to
avoid detection, witnesses said. The jail emptied. An
estimated 2,000 inmates including murderers and other
hard-core criminals melted into the streets.

Looters hit a police station in Petionville, an upscale
suburb in the hills above the capital, carting away police
hats, t-shirts, helmets and other pieces of police
uniforms.

On a major thoroughfare, a barricade constructed of burning
tires sent a wall of thick, black smoke along the street.

Business owners took to the streets to protect their
factories and property in the downtown area.

"I don't care who is president. All we want is to work,"
said Didier Fils Aime, holding a rifle as he guarded his
downtown property.

Aristide's departure was welcomed by his political foes,
who accused him of human rights violations and corruption
and turned down a U.S.-led international peace proposal
last week that would have left Aristide in office but given
them a role in a power-sharing arrangement.

(Additional reporting by Saul Hudson, Adam Entous, Glenn
Somerville and Charles Aldinger in Washington, Joseph
Guyler Delva and Amy Bracken in Port-au-Prince, Laurent
Hamida in Cap Haitien, David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Manuel
Jimenez in Santo Domingo)


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