Haiti rebels in control and vow to arrest PM
The United States struggled to stop the rebels from filling the power vacuum left by Aristide's departure by scrambling Marines to protect Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, after nerves were heightened by rebel leader Guy Philippe's comment that he controls Haiti "on a military and police level".
Philippe said his forces would not yield to pressure to disarm until the "chimeres" gangs loyal to the former president are no longer a threat.
"We won't give back our weapons now," Philippe told supporters after leading a noisy march through the capital yesterday. "We have to protect ourselves and the Haitian people until the chimeres are disarmed."
Earlier, Philippe had said he would begin disarmament talks soon with interim leader Boniface Alexandre, when the authorities could end the looting and violence. However, the political leader of Philippe's National Resistance Front, Winter Etienne, said: "You can't demand the Haitian army to lay down its weapons," referring to some 350 rebel fighters who have set up camp at the headquarters of the disbanded Haitian army.
Etienne said, at his meeting with Alexandre, Philippe "should be appointed head of the Haitian armed forces," adding that, with the help of the National Front, "we hope to have a government in place by Friday."
US Marines raced to protect Neptune, a close Aristide ally, after a top aide to Philippe told a cheering crowd that the rebels would arrest the premier.
The speedy dispatch of the Marines along with a military helicopter to Neptune's office was an indication of lingering volatility following Aristide's departure, particularly as Philippe and his rebels are now in Port-au-Prince.
Marine commander Colonel David Bergen, whose troops entered the capital's looted and barricaded port on Tuesday backed with surface-to-surface missiles and other heavy weaponry, described the prime minister's office as one of several "friction points" around the city.
The rebels' presence in the capital and their uncertain ambitions have alarmed the international community which is trying to implement a power-sharing plan aimed at ending the crisis between the government and the political opposition.
"It's a very difficult situation to read right now," said a senior western diplomat. "They (the rebels) could very well want to throw a spanner in the works."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned the international community to be patient in its efforts.
"We need to work with them to stabilise the country and sustain the effort. It may take years, and I hope we will have the patience to do it," said Mr Annan.
In Washington, the State Department demanded that the rebels disarm and disband, saying they "do not have a role in the political process" under way to restore a functioning government and stabilise the impoverished nation.
The top US diplomat for Latin America, Roger Noriega, denigrated Philippe's force as a "ragtag band of people" and suggested that, once an international security force was in Haiti, the rebel leader would "probably want to make himself scarce". The Marines, along with French and Canadian troops, are at the vanguard of a multinational force that is to be deployed in coming days with help from Chile, Brazil and other western hemisphere nations.
They are under orders to end the looting and violence in the capital, shore up Alexandre's shaky authority and ease growing tension between Aristide loyalists and Philippe's rebels that has sparked fears of a bloodbath. The US, meanwhile, struggled to quell questions over its role in Aristide's flight into exile in the Central African Republic, repeating denials of accusations that he had been overthrown in a "coup d'état" by US diplomats and troops who coerced him into leaving.
Aristide's allegations dismissed by the White House, Secretary of State Colin Powell and the US diplomat who escorted the president to the airport on Sunday threaten to complicate the power-sharing deal. Diplomats fear Aristide's accusations may prompt his loyalists violently to reject or sabotage the agreement.
The political opposition signalled its intention to move ahead with the internationally backed plan by naming a representative to a three-person panel that will choose a seven-member council of "wise men" to select a new prime minister and government.
Civic leaders and opposition politicians who rejected mediation while Aristide remained president, named former leftist senator Paul Denis to the panel. He will join a representative from Aristide's Lavalas Family political party and chief of the UN Development Programme's Haiti office, Adama Guindo.
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