THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050397
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The U.S. soldiers who were greeted as liberators for disarming brutal military rulers when they came 3 1/2 months ago began leaving Wednesday as new troops rotated in.
``So long, Haiti. I've had fun but I'm going home for New Year's,'' said Spc. John Davis, as he and 169 other soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division prepared to leave.
Davis and his mates were returning to their base in Fort Drum, N.Y., on the same plane that brought in their replacements: 402 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division based at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.
The 10th Mountain soldiers, the last of whom are to leave Jan. 26, have been in Haiti since Sept. 19. That was the day U.S. troops swept in before dawn to disarm Haiti's repressive army, remove it from power and usher in the return of the elected government in October.
At the height of the intervention, there were about 21,000 U.S. soldiers in Haiti. About 6,000 remain in the 8,000-member U.S.-led multinational force. U.S. troop levels will remain at about 6,000 through the spring, when a 6,000-strong U.N. force is to take over. American soldiers still will comprise up to half of the U.N. force, and it will be commanded by a U.S. general.
Many Haitians express a lack of confidence in the future U.N. force, and fear rightist opponents of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will resume terror attacks after American troops leave. The U.N. force will remain at least until the end of Aristide's term in February 1996.
A police academy with U.S., Canadian and French instructors opens this month, and a new 4,000-member civilian police force should be in place by February 1996. by CNB