Haiti

Marines met with stares, and a few words, in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - U.S. Marines trained their rifles down gritty streets and into a teeming market as they patrolled the Haitian capital with other peacekeepers Thursday, drawing smiles and a few angry words, but no resistance.

Hatred is simmering among various factions nearly a week after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a rebellion that left at least 130 people dead, with new killings discovered outside Port-au-Prince.

As the Marines rolled into the looted port area in eight Light Armored Vehicles and ventured into the crowds, onlookers gathered around in curiosity but showed no fear.

At one point, a Marine poured a canteen of water over his head to cool off in the sweltering heat, drawing chuckles from passers-by.

"I feel much safer now the Marines are here," said Frantz Labissiere, 44. "I wouldn't be here if the Marines weren't here."

But not everyone shared his view. As the convoy passed an angry knot of people, one youth shouted: "You took our president - now you're taking our country!"

Others held up photographs of Aristide, who fled the country Sunday as rebels neared the outskirts of the capital and the United States and former colonial ruler France pressed him to resign.

The Central African Republic will offer Aristide permanent asylum if he asks but would find it difficult to pay for his upkeep, the government said Thursday.

"I can't say definitively if Mr. Aristide will stay here or if he'll go, but if he asks us, we won't refuse him," Communications Minister Parfait Mbaye said.

The Organization of American States on Thursday created a tripartite council that is the first step to forming a unified government in Haiti. The members are Leslie Voltaire, who was Aristide's Minister for Haitians Abroad; former opposition Sen. Paul Denis, a member of the Democratic Platform coalition; and Adama Guindo, the U.N. resident representative in Haiti.

The three are to choose, by consensus within one week, seven members for a Council of Sages which in turn will propose a new prime minister.

The killing of Haitians continued, despite the arrival of the U.S. Marines and French troops as the vanguard of a U.N. peacekeeping mission, as well as a pledge by rebel leader Guy Philippe that his men would disarm.

On Thursday, Philippe traded his military clothes for a blue polo shirt and jeans, and was unarmed. He told the Associated Press he wants go to "many cities, to see how people are living and how I can help." He said he has given the order to his forces to disarm, and said their weapons were "in the bases" around Haiti.

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