
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 14, 1990                   TAG: 9003142909
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From The Washington Post and The Associated Press
DATELINE: PORT-AU-PR                                LENGTH: Medium

HAITIAN ARMY PLEDGES TO BACK NEW PRESIDENT

Haiti's army Tuesday yielded power to a provisional civilian president and, in a historic public ceremony, promised to let her guide the nation toward free elections.

"I order the army to return to its barracks and stay there," declared Maj. Gen. Herard Abraham, army chief of staff. "Madame President of the Republic, the armed forces of Haiti are at your command."

With that, Abraham turned and saluted the new president, Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, solemnly removed his hat, and shook her hand.

Pascal-Trouillot, a previously obscure Supreme Court justice and expert on women's legal rights, delivered a brief speech accepting the presidency "in the name of the Haitian woman."

"My essential task is electoral preparations at a national level and to pass power to a democratically elected government chosen with complete liberty," she said.

The installation of Pascal-Trouillot, who was chosen by a coalition of political parties, marked the first time since the departure of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986 that civilians rather than soldiers have played the dominant role in selecting a new national leader.

Despite the army's outward show of fealty to the new president, however, many Haitians and foreign diplomats remained skeptical that Pascal-Trouillot would be able to govern with a free hand. Since Duvalier's departure four years ago, the army has shown no disposition to stay out of the affairs of state.

Moreover, the former allies of Jean-Claude Duvalier and his father, Francois, including their private militia, known as the Tontons Macoutes, continue to pose a potentially violent threat to stability here, Haitian and foreign analysts say.

Pascal-Trouillot will govern in conjunction with a 19-member Council of State whose power may exceed hers.

An hour after the ceremony, mobs stormed the two-story suburban home of a prominent landowner. They stole furniture and destroyed belongings.

Late Tuesday, radio stations reported six deaths in a coastal village following a land dispute.

by CNB