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US gains a delay from Haiti rebels

A US security agent chases away a journalist outside the US embassy during the arrival of marines in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday. Rebels set their sights on the rest of Haiti after swooping in to take the country's second-largest city, prompting the US to send in troops to protect its embassy. PHOTO: REUTERS

Haiti's political opposition has insisted that President Jean Bertrand Aristide step down as part of an international power-sharing plan to end the country's growing crisis, but delayed their final decision for 24 hours following a request by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Opposition leaders on Monday agreed to a delay just as they were poised to dismiss a last-minute compromise submitted just hours before a deadline for their decision.

The brief respite is unlikely to slow Haiti's descent into anarchy as the opposition made clear it had no intention of dropping demands for Aristide's departure, and a senior western diplomat said the US and its partners would not make the president's definite ouster part of the power-sharing.

Powell's appeal came amid a deterioration in violence-wracked Haiti's security situation and a surge in attacks in and around the capital.

Armed rebels now holding the country's second largest city of Cap Haitien threaten to storm Port-au-Prince if Aristide does not resign.

The death toll from the nearly three-week-old insurgency climbed to at least 70 on Monday.

Police and armed pro-Aristide gangs erected barricades on roads outside of Port-au-Prince to prevent the rebels from advancing from the north of country, much of which is now in their control.

In Cap Haitien, rebel leader Guy Philippe, who claims to have more than 700 men under arms, said unless Aristide steps down, his forces would attack Port-au-Prince "in two or three days" and would control the entire country in two weeks.

Cap Haitien Mayor Wilmar Innocent, who ahead of the rebel incursion had boasted in an interview that the local population was "ready to face the rebels," was nowhere to be found on Monday after looters set his home on fire.

Diplomatic sources said the UN would send at least some of its 100 staff in Haiti away for a month and the US dispatched some 50 Marines to Port-au-Prince to protect its embassy after ordering most of its remaining diplomats out of the country at the weekend.

France, which warned that Haiti is heading toward a "massacre," joined a growing number of countries in advising their citizens to leave at once. Long lines of foreigners crowded the airport to catch flights out.

Powell's conference call with the Aristide's political foes was the latest in a series of increasingly intense international efforts to convince the opposition to accept the power-sharing plan.

Diplomats say it is the only way to prevent Haiti from collapsing and staving off the armed rebellion, whose leaders have been pointedly excluded from the proposal and warned not to expect any support or recognition should they take power.

If an agreement is reached, diplomats have pledged to accelerate commitments to improve security in the country by deploying an "international security presence" that could help in facing down the insurgency.

In addition, foreign governments would also train and supervise a revamped Haitian police force, under the control of the new prime minister, which would disarm pro-Aristide gangs responsible for repeated attacks on the opposition and journalists.

Powell "asked us to consider waiting another 24 hours before we let them know if we can change our position with regard to Aristide's departure," opposition leader Evans Paul said.

But, he stressed: "Our position is very clear, we need Aristide's departure as the first element in resolving this crisis."

Paul said that Powell had promised to be become "personally involved" in finding a possible compromise and other opposition leaders expressed hope that the top US diplomat would produce a resolution.

"We are hoping that in the next 24 hours, General Powell will come up with what we need," said Charles Baker, an opposition figure.

However, a senior western diplomat who participated in Powell's call said they were badly mistaken if they believed further modifications to plan would be made to require Aristide to step down before the end of his term in 2006.
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