Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409220041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI LENGTH: Medium
At the Port-au-Prince harbor, jubilant Haitians clambered over fences to welcome arriving soldiers.
``We're free! We're free!'' one man shouted.
The 11th-hour deal for Haiti's future was struck Sunday in negotiations between Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras and Haitian army chief of staff Brig. Gen. Philippe Biamby and a U.S. team of former President Jimmy Carter, Gen. Colin Powell, and Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.
Cedras and Biamby will resign after Haiti's Parliament approves an amnesty protecting coup leaders and supporters from retribution - or by Oct. 15. In exchange, the tough economic embargo on Haiti will be lifted, and the military will be left largely intact, with new leaders.
Reaching the agreement was a feat of cliffhanger diplomacy.
Carter said he felt peace slipping from his grasp when Biamby walked into Haiti's military headquarters Sunday with a cellular telephone and bad news: American invasion forces were on the way.
The Haitians thought then the negotiations were only a diversion. ``We saw the entire agreement coming apart,'' Carter said Monday.
Haitians were tipped, U.S. officials believe, by a caller who spotted the planes leaving Fort Bragg, N.C.
Clinton had played a dangerous game of diplomatic chicken - all at once controlling warplanes in the sky and negotiators on the ground. Carter stubbornly refused to forsake talks for war, pleading for just a little more time.
``Well, we're almost there,'' he told Clinton in one frantic call. ``We've got this nailed.'' Clinton hesitated, then replied, ``I'm going to have to order you out of there in 30 minutes. You've got to get out!''
The warplanes were 73 minutes into their mission when Carter finally engineered a deal giving Haitians more than Clinton planned but less than they wanted.
After the warning of the planes, Carter said, the Haitian leaders were ready to end the talks and defend their country.
``I made a very emotional speech about why I came down here,'' Carter said. ``One of the things was that I was ashamed of my country's policy.''
With that, the negotiators persuaded Cedras to go to the presidential palace and meet with President Emile Jonassaint. As they crossed the street to the palace, Powell, a black military figure revered by Haitian soldiers, briefly clasped Cedras' arm.
Jonassaint was told about Clinton's demand for a deadline. His ministers urged him to reject the ultimatum.
Finally, Jonassaint spoke. ``I say to you that we'll have peace, not war,'' Carter quoted him as saying.
Monday, American and Haitian soldiers chatted amiably. But the well-briefed Americans remained wary. ``We're not going to let our guard down,'' said Staff Sgt. Clifford Drysdale of Columbus, Ga.
by CNB