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## Rebels enter Haitian capital; U.S. troops on the move
Associated Press Mar. 1, 2004 08:20 AM PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Rebels rolled into the capital Monday and were met by hundreds of residents dancing in the streets and cheering the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. U.S. Marines and French troops moved to take control of the impoverished country. People clapped and waved as they yelled "Good job!" and the name of Guy Philippe, a key rebel leader. The convoy first rolled through Petionville, a wealthy suburb, before moving into the heart of Port-au-Prince. Rebels riding atop pickup trucks pumped their fists in the air as hundreds spilled into the streets to greet the insurgents as they rolled into downtown Port-au-Prince, shouting "Guy Philippe!" - the name of the rebel leader. The convoy then arrived at a large square outside the National Palace and some of the vehicles stopped at a police station nearby. Not everyone was joyful as the rebels drove past. Some watched indifferently, their arms folded. At one point, the convoy stopped and rebels jumped out, aiming their weapons from side to side, then moved on. | Related stories • Valley Haitians upset democracy thwarted • Joy, anger in Miami's Little Haiti • Crisis is now Bush's problem • Troop deployment to be limited, Powell says • Aristide heads to exile in Africa • Key figures in the crisis

\ Scores of U.S. Marines and French forces, meanwhile, prepared to fan out from Port-au-Prince's airport and protect key sites - the vanguard of a multinational force approved by the U.N. Security Council.
Aristide, who fled Haiti under pressure from the rebels, the political opposition, the United States and France, arrived Monday in the Central African Republic for "a few days," according to state radio.
Aristide said in a short broadcast on the African nation's state radio that those who overthrew him had "cut down the tree of peace," but "it will grow again."
An Associated Press correspondent traveling with more than 70 rebels under the command of Philippe, a former assistant police chief and military officer, set out before dawn from the western town of Gonaives, driving past scenes of death and destruction.
In the town of St. Marc, the convoy rolled past a roadblock where three charred bodies lay in the road. The rebels took the town early in the uprising, which began Feb. 5, but were forced to retreat as government forces counterattacked.
Philippe said he planned to make preparations for the new president, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre, to assume office.
"We're just going to make sure the palace is clean for the president to come ... that there is no threat there," he told AP.
On Sunday, Alexandre said he was taking control of the government as called for by the constitution.
It was unclear how the rebel force would be greeted by the U.S. and French troops, who were planning to establish security at diplomatic missions and other sites. Philippe earlier said he welcomed the peacekeepers.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said he did not want some of leaders of the rebel groups to try to take any role in a new government.
"Some of these individuals we would not want to see re-enter civil society in Haiti because of their past records and this is something we will have to work through," Powell said.
One of the rebel leaders headed government death squads that killed Aristide followers when the Haitian military ousted Aristide in 1991. Aristide was restored by U.S. troops in 1994.
Philippe was in the military in the period when it repressed dissident politicians.
Col. David Berger, head of U.S. Marine contingent, said 150 Marines from 8th Battalion, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., had arrived.
"The U.S. forces have been sent here to secure key sites in the capital to achieve more security and a stable environment," Berger told AP.
Asked how troops would interact with the rebels and remnants of armed Aristide supporters, he said: "I have no instructions to go about disarmament."
"We have a specific purpose," he said. "People who interfere with that mission, we will handle with appropriate force."
Powell said the U.S. forces "will have a lead role" initially in restoring order to Haiti following the three-week rebellion that swept Aristide from power.
"I think initially we will comprise the bulk of the effort," Powell told CBS on Monday. "But I think over time, those numbers will shift."
The contingent of French troops was to first secure French diplomatic sites.
"We will go to the French Embassy and the ambassador's residence and as events unfold we will decide if there are other places (to secure)," Berger said.
Aristide's home in the suburb of Tavarre, meanwhile, was looted and trashed. Pictures, documents and a grand piano were dragged out onto the courtyard of the three-story villa, then abandoned.
Family and school pictures lay among the disorder. Broken plates littered the area by the pool. Books strewn about included several written by Aristide and one about Marcus Garvey, a black nationalist leader from Jamaica.
Aristide and his wife arrived in the Central African Republic for what will be at least temporary asylum, said Communications Minister Parfait Mbaye.
Aristide's departure was secured by U.S. forces at his request, U.S. officials said. Haiti's first democratically elected president, who was pressured to leave by the United States and the rebels, would travel next to South Africa, according to state radio and a senior Caribbean Community official.
South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said in Pretoria that it had not received a formal request to host the 50-year-old former slum priest.
"It is possible that there have been informal consultations with some ministries, but up until this morning I know of no request by President Aristide to come to South Africa," he said.
Aristide sent his two daughters to New York last week.
The crisis has been brewing since Aristide's party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000, prompting international donors to freeze millions of dollars in aid.
Opponents also accused Aristide of breaking promises to help the poor, allowing corruption fueled by drug trafficking and masterminding attacks on opponents by armed gangs - charges the president denied.
Though not aligned with rebels, the political opposition had pushed for Aristide to leave for the good of Haiti's 8 million people, angered by poverty, corruption and crime. The uprising killed at least 100 people.
Three hours after Aristide's departure, Alexandre declared he was taking control of the government as called for by the constitution. He urged calm.
"The task will not be an easy one," he said. "Haiti is in crisis. ... It needs all its sons and daughters. No one should take justice into their own hands."
Alexandre has a reputation for honesty but could face a legal obstacle: The Haitian constitution calls for parliament to approve him as leader, and it has not met since early this year, when lawmakers' terms expired.

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