Marines protect US embassy in Haiti

US Marines were protecting the country’s embassy in Haiti today as rebels threatened to attack the capital in a bid to overthrow President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

An opposition coalition was on the brink yesterday of rejecting a US-backed peace plan because it did not require Aristide to resign. But US Secretary of State Colin Powell phoned opposition politicians and persuaded them to delay their formal response for 24 hours, according to Evans Paul, a leading opponent once allied with Aristide.

The extra time “will perhaps give Mr Powell a little more time to consider his position … and give us the assurances we need”, Paul said, repeating demands from an opposition coalition that Aristide step down.

Rifles at the ready, about 24 marines in full battle gear rushed off a US Air Force transport plane at Port-au-Prince’s international airport and secured a perimeter around the aircraft before another 30 marines got off a second plane.

The marines then drove to the US Embassy in a convoy of trucks and cars. Western diplomats and a Defence Department official said their mission was to protect the embassy and its staff.

Ten years ago, the United States sent 20,000 troops to end a military dictatorship that had ousted Aristide in 1991, a year after he became Haiti’s first freely elected leader. But Washington has made clear it will not commit a large number of troops this time.

Aristide, hugely popular when he was elected especially among the destitute in Western hemisphere’s poorest country, has since lost a lot of support.

Opponents accuse the former priest of failing to help those in need, condoning corruption and masterminding attacks on opponents by armed gangs. Aristide denies the charges. Flawed legislative elections in 2000 led international donors to freeze millions of dollars in aid.

Paul told The Associated Press the international community was hinting it would call for Aristide’s resignation if he failed to respect the terms of the peace plan, which calls for him to share power.

Aristide’s supporters, fearing the rebels would move on the capital after taking Haiti’s second-biggest city, Cap-Haitien, on Sunday, set flaming barricades to block a key road outside Port-au-Prince.

“We are ready to resist, with anything we have – rocks, machetes,” said a teacher guarding one roadblock, who gave his name only as Rincher.

Rebels in Cap-Haitien, meanwhile, hunted down militants loyal to Aristide yesterday, accusing them of terrorising the population in the days before the city fell.

“We’re going to clean the city of all ‘chimeres’,” said rebel Dieusauver Magustin, 26. Chimere, which means ghost, is used to describe hardcore Aristide militants.

It was not clear what would happen to those detained. One rebel said they were saving them from lynching. But another, Claudy Philippe, said “The people show us the [chimere] houses. If they are there, we execute them.”

Thousands of people demonstrated in favour of the rebellion, chanting “Aristide get out!” and “Goodbye Aristide.”

Looting continued in the city yesterday, although some rebels tried to scare off looters with warning shots. At least two looters were wounded by rebel gunfire.

The 800 tons of food in the United Nations World Food Programme warehouse was plundered, according to the agency’s Andrea Bagnoli, and people set fire to the home of pro-Aristide mayor Wilmar Innocent.

Rebel leader Guy Philippe said more than 30 residents had volunteered to fight with the rebels, who have started to replace officials in Cap-Haitien with rebel sympathisers. Philippe, an officer in the army when it ousted Aristide and instigated a reign of terror, said in an interview yesterday that he hoped to take Port-au-Prince by Sunday, his 36th birthday.

More than half of Haiti now is beyond the control of the central government. The takeover of Cap-Haitien by only some 200 fighters was the most significant victory since the uprising erupted on February 5. At least 17 were killed in Sunday’s fighting, raising the toll to about 70 dead and dozens wounded in the revolt.