Mission aims to curb violence

Scott Olson / Getty Images
A U.S. Marine guards the front gate of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Wednesday.
NBC News and news services
Updated: 8:23 a.m. ET March 11, 2004There are approximately 1,600 U.S. forces in Haiti as part of a multinational peacekeeping force, but a Bush administration official testified Wednesday that their numbers would be increasing.

advertisement

Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.S. military presence in Haiti would be expanded to about 3,450 U.S. troops.

Noriega said the "vast majority" of U.S. forces are in and will be in the vicinity of Port-au-Prince, the capital. Plans are for the troops from other nations to be primarily spreading out into other areas of the country.

Noriega said that while the current mission for U.S. forces is mainly around the capital, there is a lawlessness elsewhere in the country that must be addressed.

The U.S. Marines now lead a force that also includes about 500 French, 330 Chilean and 50 Canadian personnel. Another 400 Canadians were expected soon, said Gen. James T. Hill, the general in charge of U.S. operations in Haiti.

Hedge against violence
Hill said Wednesday that U.S. forces will intervene to stop Haitian-against-Haitian violence, there said Wednesday, marking an escalation of the American mission in the troubled Caribbean nation.

‘We will simply not tolerate acts of violence against our multinational forces or innocent Haitians.’

— GEN. JAMES T. HILL
U.S. Southern Command

“When multinational armed forces personnel encounter any acts of violence, they will intervene to protect life,” Hill, commander of U.S. Southern Command, told reporters at the Pentagon. “We will simply not tolerate acts of violence against our multinational forces or innocent Haitians,” Hill said. His Miami-based command oversees the Haiti operation.

He portrayed the change as a natural evolution of the U.S. peacekeeping mission there, saying it required only a clarification of the rules that govern when troops can use force. Those rules cover troops from France, Canada and Chile who are in Haiti, as well.

The expanded mission follows Tuesday’s announcement that U.S. forces will join Haitian police in disarming militants.

Weapons confiscation a top priority
Hill told a Pentagon briefing that Marines now will confiscate weapons from any Haitian they encounter in the capital Port-au-Prince "unless he has a valid permit by Haitian law and is in the process of conducting some valid security job -- anybody."

"In addition to that, as we develop intelligence and can find weapons caches, we are going to go after those," Hill said. "This is to do two things. First, it's a force-protection issue for my forces. And, secondly, it is to help develop a more secure and stable environment inside Haiti," Hill said.

In addition to taking weapons from people encountered on patrols, Hill said, U.S. troops will also develop intelligence and conduct missions aimed specifically at weapons caches owned by any of the violent factions inside the country.

Marines kill 2 more Haitians
The policy shift was announced shortly after Marines shot and killed two gunmen who opened fire on them in Port-au-Prince, a spokesman said Wednesday, bringing to four the number of Haitians to die this week at the hands of the peacekeepers.

The Marines were patrolling Tuesday evening near the private residence of the outgoing prime minister, Yvon Neptune, when they came under “hostile fire,” Marine Staff Sgt. Timothy Edwards told The Associated Press.

Four Haitians have so far died at the hands of peacekeepers.

He said they shot and killed at least two gunmen. No peacekeepers were wounded.

Raul Duany, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command, said the gunmen were shooting from a rooftop near Neptune’s residence.

In a separate incident, Marine Maj. Richard Crusan said several people got out of a car Tuesday night and fired on Marines, who shot back. Three people fled on foot, he said.

A body was still on the sidewalk Wednesday morning near where the shooting occurred, but Crusan and others would not say whether that person was involved.

On Sunday, Marines killed a man who allegedly opened fire on a demonstration, and on Monday they killed a driver speeding toward a checkpoint. The Defense Department has said the Marines acted within their orders to fire when they felt threatened.

FACT FILE Key figures in Haiti

• Jean-Bertrand Aristide
• Andy Apaid Jr.
• Evans Paul
• Guy Philippe
• Butteur Metayer
• Louis-Jodel Chamblain
• Boniface Alexandre

AP
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
A former slum priest, Aristide was extremely popular when he became Haiti’s first freely elected leader in 1990. The army ousted him in 1991, brutalizing and murdering his supporters until the United States intervened in 1994. Aristide was re-elected president in 2000 but gradually lost support due to allegations of fraud. He was forced out of office under international pressure on Feb. 29, 2004, as rebels gained control of most of the country.

AP
Andy Apaid Jr.
The most outspoken leader of the opposition coalition, Apaid is a factory owner born in the United States. His family fled Haiti under Francois Duvalier, or “Papa Doc,” who ruled from 1957 to 1971.
Favoring pressed pastel shirts and gold-rimmed glasses, Apaid looks like a Miami businessman but says he is totally Haitian at heart.

“I am just as much a part of this country as anyone,” Apaid, in his early 50s, said recently. “That’s why I am saying we must choose another path for the country.”

But without a constitutional amendment, he will never become president because of his dual nationality.

AP
Evans Paul
Another top figure in the opposition coalition, Paul is a former mayor of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, who was in hiding from the brutal military regime during much of his term until U.S. troops arrived in 1994.
Paul, who is in his late 40s, was head of a center-left coalition that nominated Aristide for president in 1990. Paul managed Aristide’s successful election campaign but broke ranks after Aristide left him out of his inner circle.

A playwright and journalist when dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier ruled Haiti, Paul was jailed for opposing him.

AP
Guy Philippe
The 36-year-old leader of a motley band of rebels that sparked the latest turmoil, Philippe joined the revolt a week after it was started in Gonaives by a street gang that used to terrorize Aristide’s opponents and turned on Haiti’s president after its leader was assassinated.
Philippe came from neighboring Dominican Republic, where he fled in 2000 amid charges he was plotting a coup.

Philippe was born to peasants near the provincial town of Jeremie and is a former army officer who training at a military academy in Ecuador when Aristide disbanded the army. He returned to Haiti and was named by Aristide as former assistant police chief for northern Haiti.

Haiti’s military has a history of ruling with brutality, but Philippe says soldiers should stay in the barracks and insists that, under his command, things would change.

AP
Butteur Metayer
The street gang leader who started Haiti’s rebellion freely admits that he used to go around terrorizing Aristide’s opponents. Metayer says Aristide armed his Cannibal Army gang for that purpose. The gang turned on Aristide after gang leader Amiot Metayer, Butteur’s brother, was assassinated last year, accusing the government of silencing him to prevent him giving damaging information about Aristide. Aristide denied any involvement with the gang. Butteur, who wears bands of bullets across his chest, has small ambitions: In mid-February, he declared himself president of Haiti’s central Artibonite district.

AP
Louis-Jodel Chamblain
This sergeant in the now-disbanded Haitian army headed death squads in 1987 that intimidated voters before the army aborted November elections in a bloodbath of voters. After the army ousted Aristide in 1991, he became co-leader of the feared FRAPH death squad that is blamed for the murder, torture and maiming of hundreds of Haitians, particularly Aristide’s slum supporters. He fled to the Dominican Republic when U.S. troops intervened in 1994, and returned to the country in mid-February to join the rebellion. Chamblain has been convicted, in absentia, and received two sentences of life imprisonment for his role in a 1994 raid on Gonaives’ Raboteau slum — where Metayer holds sway today — and the 1993 assassination of Aristide financier Antoine Izmery.

AP
Boniface Alexandre
Haiti’s Supreme Court chief justice, who said he was taking charge of the government until a new one is set up. Rebels say they have accepted the move. In his 60s, Alexandre has a reputation for honesty but could face a legal obstacle: The Haitian constitution calls for parliament to approve him as leader, and the legislature has not met since early this year when lawmakers’ terms expired. He was appointed chief justice 10 years after becoming a member of the Supreme Court in 1990, and once represented the French embassy in 25 years as a lawyer. "The task will not be an easy one," said Alexandre. "Haiti is in crisis. ... It needs all its sons and daughters. No one should take justice into their own hands."

Source: The Associated Press • Print this

‘Reconciliation’ paramount, Latortue says
The shooting occurred shortly before Gerard Latortue, the man chosen to lead Haiti out of political and social turmoil, arrived in Port-au-Prince to begin the work of building a transitional government and eventually organizing elections.

Gerard Latortue, the man chosen prime minister, arrived in Port-au-Prince to begin the work of building a transitional government and organizing elections.

Latortue’s plane was greeted Wednesday by a group of friends, relatives, business leaders, journalists and members of the council who chose him to be prime minister.

Latortue, a prominent critic of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has said his first priority will be to unite a population divided between those who oppose the former leader and supporters who want to see him returned to power.

Aristide, a once-popular slum priest elected on promises to champion the poor, fled Feb. 29 amid international pressure to step down and a bloody rebellion that left more than 300 people dead. He lost support as Haitians accused his government of corruption and attacks against his political opponents.

'He doesn't understand'
Many supporters of Aristide were angry over the selection of Latortue, who lives in Miami.

“He doesn’t understand the reality of the country,” said Jacques Pierre, a supporter of Aristide. “He doesn’t understand our hunger.”

“I can facilitate the national reconciliation,” Latortue, a former U.N. official and foreign minister, told The Miami Herald. “It is the most important thing today in Haiti after all the divisions we had in Aristide.”

After five days of private meetings, a seven-member council settled on Latortue, who also served as an international business consultant in Miami.

Latortue and interim President Boniface Alexandre will work toward organizing elections and building a new government. Under Aristide, the prime minister’s position was largely ceremonial, but Latortue will be a power broker and has the potential to carry enough weight to smooth political divisions.

Disarmament stalls
Peacekeepers, meanwhile, were running into difficulty as they tried to begin disarming the general population, a potentially volatile move after weeks of bloodshed. There was little evidence of disarmament Wednesday morning.

Another spokesman for the Marines, Col. Charles Gurganus, said peacekeepers would work with Haitian police on the disarmament program. He urged Haitians to tell peacekeepers who had weapons and to turn in any arms, but he gave few details of how the program would work.

Rebel groups and supporters of Aristide have threatened violence if weapons are not taken from their enemies.

Since U.S. and French peacekeepers arrived a week ago, there has been confusion over who is in charge of disarming groups. Gurganus said Monday that disarming rebels was not part of the peacekeepers’ mission, but he indicated that that could change if police asked for help.

timeline History of Haiti

1492
Christopher Columbus lands on the island that became known as Hispaniola. It was originally inhabited by the Taino-Arawak Indians, who referred to their home as "Hayti" or mountainous land.
1697
Spanish control over the colony ends with the Treaty of Ryswick, which divides the island into French-controlled St. Domingue and Spanish Santo Domingo. The island is prized by the European powers for its natural resources, including cocoa, cotton and sugar cane and the French ship in thousands of slaves, mainly from West Africa, to harvest the crops.
1804
After a slave rebellion led by a Jamaican-born Boukman in 1791, Haiti becomes the first black independent state under General Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declares himself emperor.
1844
After three decades of strife and multiple rulers, the island splits into two nations, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

1862
After decades of delay, fearing that it would inspire its own slaves, the United States grants Haiti diplomatic recognition. In 1889, noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass becomes the U.S. Consul-General.
1915
U.S. Marines occupy Haiti to calm a state of anarchy. The Americans improve the infrastructure while helping to create the Haitian armed forces.
1934
The United States pulls out of Haiti. But the nation remains torn by tension between the wealthier French-speaking mulatto minority and the overwhelming majority of impoverished black Creole speakers.
1957
Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier becomes leader, declaring himself president for life in 1964 and ruling through terror perpetrated by his notorious street gangs known as the "Tontons Macoutes."

1971
Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as "Baby Doc" becomes president at the age of 19, succeeding his father who dies in office.
1986
As anti-government protests gather steam, the United States arranges exile in France for "Baby Doc" and his family. He is succeeded by General Henri Namphy.
1990
A charismatic priest from the slums, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, wins a U.N.-organized presidential election, gaining more than 67 percent of the vote.
1991
Aristide is ousted in a military coup and is forced to seek exile in the United States. The coup sparks a mass exodus with more than 40,000 Haitians rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard during a 12-month period.

1994
After several abortive efforts to restore democracy, the United States leads an international force into Haiti, forcing the military rulers to step down. A month later, Aristide returns as president to Port-au-Prince.
1996
Rene Preval becomes president as Aristide is precluded by the Constitution from succeeding himself.
2000
Municipal and legislative elections end in disarray because of a flawed vote count, alleged irregularities and fraud charges. The controversy triggers a boycott of the presidential elections later that year, won by Aristide.
2004
The crisis sparked by the allegedly fraudulent election deepens amid a failure of international mediation efforts, a foundering economy and growing political violence. A few weeks after the nation celebrates its 200th anniversary in January, a rebel movement seizes control of a number of towns in an uprising that leads to the resignation of Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004.

• Print this

Aristide may sue U.S.
Aristide insists that he is still president, having been forced out by the U.S. government. Washington denied the allegations.

His lawyers said they were preparing cases accusing authorities in the United States and France of abducting him and forcing him into exile.

‘A cycle of clashes and revenge killings could easily be set off, given the large number of angry, well-armed people on both sides.’

— GEORGE TENET
CIA director

One of the lawyers, Ira Kurzban, has asked Attorney General John Ashcroft for a Justice Department investigation into the circumstances of Aristide’s departure.

Aristide has been staying in the presidential palace in Bangui, Central African Republic, since March 1. A delegation of South African officials arrived Wednesday for talks about his long-term asylum plans, Central African Republic officials said.

CIA Director George Tenet warned Tuesday that “a humanitarian disaster or mass migration remains possible” in Haiti.

“A cycle of clashes and revenge killings could easily be set off, given the large number of angry, well-armed people on both sides,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Improving security will require the difficult task of disarming armed groups and augmenting and retraining a national security force.”

Aristide was elected on promises to champion the poor, who make up the vast majority of Haiti’s 8 million people. But he lost support, with Haitians saying he failed to improve their lives, condoned corruption and used police and armed supporters to attack political opponents.