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

DATE: MONDAY, May 16, 1994                   TAG: 9405160098
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO NOTE: BELOW 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI                                LENGTH: Short

HAITI NEAR TO CREATING FORMAL DICTATORSHIP

Haiti's army-installed government evolved toward formal dictatorship Sunday, as its 81-year-old president considered ruling by decree and serving without a prime minister.

Several conservatives turned down offers to serve in Emile Jonassaint's Cabinet, saying they were unwilling to have their U.S. visas revoked or foreign assets frozen.

Washington has revoked visas and frozen assets of key supporters of the 1991 military ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

U.S. officials, who have not ruled out military intervention to restore Aristide, have characterized as illegal Wednesday's army-backed installation of Jonassaint as provisional president.

Two conservatives said Jonassaint has little choice but to begin ruling by decree.

"We are in a war," said far-rightist Gerard Bissainthe, an information minister under a previous military-backed government. "Threatened with military intervention and suffering unjust economic sanctions, we need a strong government unhampered by constitutional restrictions."

Jean-Claude Roy, like Jonassaint a key figure in drafting Haiti's 1987 Constitution, supports Jonassaint's move to circumvent it.

"We have only two alternatives to the anarchy we are living under now," Roy said. "An enlightened dictatorship or Aristide returning from exile in triumph, with international backing and a lack of locally countervailing powers."

Aides and allies in parliament say Jonassaint will either move to formally dissolve the legislature or rule as if it did not exist.

by CNB