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

DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994                   TAG: 9406300127
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Knight-Ridder Newspapers and Associated Press Note: lede
DATELINE: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI                                 LENGTH: Medium

HAITIANS FLOODING U.S. BASE

The largest-ever exodus of Haitians is being fueled by stepped-up military repression and not by any changes in U.S. procedures that now allow one of every three boat people to win asylum, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The Clinton administration, meanwhile, announced it had revoked all non-immigrant visas issued to Haitian citizens before May 11, a measure intended to increase pressure on rich Haitians to halt their support for the ruling military.

In six long days, Coast Guard cutters and Navy warships have intercepted more than 3,300 Haitians fleeing their country. Some of those forced back to Haiti said they would try again soon.

The exodus, including at least 521 Haitians intercepted aboard 28 vessels Wednesday, has swamped U.S. refugee processing centers. The Clinton administration was forced to reopen a tent city at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where three Coast Guard cutters docked Wednesday with hundreds of refugees, said Coast Guard spokesman Jeff Hall.

William Gray, President Clinton's special adviser on Haiti, attributed the surge of asylum seekers to a deteriorating human rights climate.

``There have been hundreds of killings in Haiti,'' Gray said, ``and we believe the reason for these outflows is connected to that.''

Gray disputed reports that more Haitians were fleeing simply because shipboard processing offered better odds for asylum applicants than the in-country processing program, in which refuge seekers must apply to any of several U.S.-run offices in Haiti.

During a flood of refugees in early 1992, Guantanamo held nearly 12,000 Haitians at one point, prompting criticism by human rights activists of unsanitary, overcrowded conditions. That exodus led former President Bush in May 1992 to order the direct repatriation of all Haitian boat people, without determining whether they were fleeing persecution.

President Clinton changed the policy, opening a refugee center aboard a ship off Jamaica on June 16 and promising hearings for all refugees to determine if they qualified for asylum.

The surge in refugees since then has dealt a strong challenge to the Clinton administration's policy. It puts more pressure on Washington to take swift action, perhaps even military intervention, to restore Haiti's elected civilian government, which was ousted by the military in 1991.

In Washington, Defense Secretary William Perry said that economic sanctions against Haiti aimed at forcing army leaders from power are working and should be given more time.

by CNB