PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — U.S. Marines blocked rebels from chasing officials of exiled leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide as they fled to the airport Wednesday, apparently the first action of American forces in Haiti to prevent further bloodshed.
With rebels patrolling the streets of
There was no sign of American or French forces, however, as a gunbattle erupted Wednesday between rebels and militant loyalists in the Aristide stronghold of La Salines, a seaside slum of the capital.
A day after declaring himself
At the airport, Marines stood holding their weapons outside the main terminal when rebels arrived, preventing them from reaching dozens of officials Aristide’s Lavalas party who had just gone inside, witnesses said.
Marking a shift in
Also, U.S. Marine Col. Dave Berger told a news conference that the Marines _ who began arriving Sunday night hours after Aristide fled to
“The country is in my hands!” Philippe announced Tuesday on the radio in between touring the capital in the back of a pickup truck and greeting throngs of admiring Haitians.
Two U.S. Chinook helicopters slowly circled Tuesday over Philippe’s base, the rebel-held northern port of Cap-Haitien, on an apparent reconnaissance mission, said a resident reached by telephone. Some U.S. Marines patrolled Port-au-Prince’s seaport, which was being looted, in a Humvee.
American and French troops in Haiti _ the vanguard of an international peacekeeping force authorized by the U.N. Security Council _ have no orders to disarm Haiti’s factions, said Berger and the commander of the French forces. “We are not a police force,” said Berger.
The Pentagon said there would be some 400 Marines in
Speaking in
“He is not in control of anything but a ragtag band of people,” Noriega told lawmakers Tuesday.
The buildup of the U.N.-authorized international peacekeeping presence in
“We have sent that message to him. He obviously hasn’t received it,” he said.
Philippe, who arrived in
The rebel leader has said he was ready to follow the orders of interim President Boniface Alexandre, installed Sunday. But on Tuesday, he incited followers to rally against Prime Minister Yvon Neptune demanding his arrest.
“The head is gone, but the tail remains!” the crowd of 300 chanted outside
The whereabouts of Neptune, a top member of Aristide’s Lavalas party and his former presidential spokesman, were unknown. Radio reports said he had been evacuated by helicopter.
Inside the seaside capital, patrolling rebels pointed guns at pedestrians who raised their arms or lifted their shirts to show they were unarmed.
Killings continued, with two more bodies on the streets of
By Wednesday, no permanent home had been found for Aristide. The ex-leader was staying in the presidential palace in the
“Aristide really likes to read” and has slept a lot, said Wenezoui. “We’re about to give him a television and satellite dish so that he can monitor news around the world.”