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

DATE: SUNDAY, October 17, 1993                   TAG: 9310170074
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI                                LENGTH: Medium

SHOWDOWN NEARS IN HAITI

The confrontation between Haiti and the United Nations intensified Saturday as the country's military ruler continued to defy U.N. demands that he step down, prompting the U.N. Security Council to order a naval cordon around the strife-torn nation.

Hours later, President Clinton, determined to ensure the safety of Americans here, announced that he had ordered 30 more Marines to the capital, Port-au-Prince, to reinforce the guard unit at the U.S. Embassy, tripling the previous complement.

Clinton' top national security advisers conferred briefly at the White House on Saturday, but officials said they made no new decisions on policy toward Haiti.

The quick and unanimous vote by the 15-member Security Council clears the way for six U.S. warships dispatched by the president Friday to begin enforcing the U.N. embargo at 11:59 p.m. EDT Monday. It is designed to force Haitian army commander Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras to honor an agreement reached in July and step down in favor of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The steps by the United Nations and the White House came amid continuing chaos in Port-au-Prince and conflicting signals from Haiti's military leaders about their intentions.

Civilian gunmen stalked the streets as diplomats and other foreign nationals scrambled to leave the country. Haitians rushed to refill their gas tanks before the embargo went into effect.

Anti-Aristide gangs have demanded that the city be shut down Monday and have called on Haitians to drive whites out.

Cedras, in an appearance on Haitian television, insisted the U.N.-brokered accord is still in effect and said he would step down, as he has promised, as soon as Parliament approves amnesty for him and his allies.

At the same time, he was quoted as having said in a letter to U.N. mediator Dante Caputo that the plan for restoring democratic rule to the troubled island nation is "at a dead end." Later in the evening, he said in a statement that the United Nations had "overstepped its bounds" in ordering the sanctions.

Aristide, who appeared Saturday on Cable News Network's "Both Sides With Jesse Jackson" show, said he believes that Cedras and Haiti's chief of police, Lt. Col. Michael Francois, must "be removed first" before democracy can be restored.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department said six ships had arrived at their stations. Officials said they will be empowered to stop and search any merchants ships suspected of carrying oil, arms or military and police equipment and do whatever is necessary to prevent their goods from reaching Haiti.

Keywords:
INFOLINE

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