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

DATE: MONDAY, October 10, 1994                   TAG: 9410110044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CIA LINKED TO HAITIAN TERROR LEADER

The CIA met secretly with the leader of Haiti's right-wing paramilitary group the same day his headquarters was raided by the United States, a magazine reports. And Secretary of State Warren Christopher appeared to confirm Sunday that the man once was on the CIA payroll.

The Nation magazine reports in its upcoming editions that Emmanuel Constant, head of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, met with the CIA station chief hours after the U.S. raid on FRAPH headquarters. This was less than 24 hours before Constant held a news conference denouncing violence. The CIA has denied that it was connected to the news conference.

Last week, CIA Director James Woolsey, responding to another Nation article, denied any connection between FRAPH and the CIA.

Appearing on ABC's ``This Week with David Brinkley,'' Christopher was asked Sunday about widespread reports that Constant was on the CIA payroll.

``The United States has frequently tried to get information from some people who we wouldn't want to be partners with,'' Christopher replied. ``And I think that's in that category. Beyond that, I don't want to talk about any intelligence matters.''

Several news organizations, most recently Newsweek magazine, have reported that Haitian police Chief Michel Francois also was on the CIA payroll. Francois recently fled the country. In its latest edition, Newsweek also says Francois' brother, Evans, was a CIA asset.

In a development involving two other targets of the U.S. occupation, Clinton administration officials said Sunday that they expect Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras and the army chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Philippe Biamby, to resign as early as today. One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Cedras told Defense Secretary William Perry and Gen. John Shalikashvili on Saturday that he would leave office ``in the next few days.''

In its Oct. 24 editions on newsstands last week, The Nation reported that the U.S. intelligence agencies helped launch FRAPH as a balance to exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's pro-democracy movement. FRAPH is accused of terrorizing Aristide supporters.

In carefully worded statements, the CIA and Woolsey publicly denied a connection between FRAPH and the CIA but did not comment specifically on reports that Constant was a paid CIA informant.

CIA officials told news organizations on condition of anonymity that Constant was a paid CIA informant. But they said the relationship had ended months ago.

The Nation's follow-up story in the Oct. 31 issue, due on newsstands Friday, reports that Constant met with the CIA station chief just after the raid and just before his news conference. The magazine did not identify or characterize its sources.

The CIA has long been hostile to Aristide, who as a leftist parish priest in the 1980s strongly attacked it and the Bush administration for backing Haiti's military rulers.

Last year, the CIA tried to discredit Aristide by circulating a report claiming that he was mentally ill. However, President Clinton said he didn't believe the report, and CNN later reported that the doctor cited as its source didn't exist.

On Oct. 3, U.S. troops who were sent to Haiti Sept. 19 to prepare for Aristide's return stormed FRAPH headquarters in Port-au-Prince and arrested more than two dozen members. But Constant, one of the most feared men in Haiti, wasn't taken into custody.

by CNB