HAITI: US MILITARY PRESENCE TO END

(23 Jan 2000) Creole/Eng/Nat

Nearly six years after U-S troops arrived in Haiti, the U-S military has decided not to maintain a permanent presence in the country.

U-S President Bill Clinton sent 20-thousand troops to Haiti in 1994 to restore a democratically-elected government to power.

Haitian authorities and the U-S military will now begin an assessment of the impact of the presence of American troops has had and will have in the near future.

A few U-S soldiers and thousands of pounds of equipment is all that remains at Camp Fairwinds in Port-au-Prince, which was once home to as many as 400 soldiers.

Their departure at the end of January marks the end of a mission that began in 1994.

The purpose of the American force was to restore and support the democratically elected government in this Caribbean nation.

But the U-S Support Group commander stressed that the U-S military was not abandoning Haiti, just relocating.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We were never a security force and there is the possibility that our presence here provided a psychological sense of security. The main point I should make is that the US is not leaving Haiti."
SUPER CAPTION: Ray Duncan, US Army Colonel

The U-S support group backed up 20-thousand troops President Clinton sent to Haiti in 1994 to restore the elected government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide after a bloody three-year military dictatorship.

Unlike the invasion force, the support group's mission was humanitarian.

It built roads, bridges and schools, drilled wells and provided health care for the poorest of Haitians.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The support group was formed in March 1996, and from this time we were providing a humanitarian and civic assistant mission, and with that we provided medical treatment to over 138,000 Haitian people in some the poorest areas of the Port au Prince region."
SUPER CAPTION: Ray Duncan, US Army Colonel

Few here deny that the presence of uniformed Americans had a calming effect on the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

Some Haitians fear the pull-out will increase the risk of unrest as the country prepares for legislative elections on March 19.

The streets here are anything but calm these days.

Haitian President Rene Preval toured downtown Port-au-Prince on Thursday as the American force prepared to leave.

SOUNDBITE: (Creole)
"The highest responsibilities of the country have to touch the reality to solve the problems."
SUPER CAPTION: Rene Preval, President of Haiti

A police training mission here run by the United Nations ends on March 15, when an unarmed U-N training mission takes over.

But U-S officials say Haiti has largely policed itself since a local police force was deployed under U-N supervision in 1995.

Washington is now sending units of between 150 and 200 non-combat reserve troops, including engineers and medics, on temporary humanitarian missions.

The temporary deployments will save 20 (m) million U-S dollars a year.

Critics in the U-S Congress say the Support Group mission hasn't promoted democracy in Haiti, where no elections have been held since a 1997 vote was marred by fraud.

Many Haitian politicians demanded the withdrawal of the U-S troops, saying their presence was an affront to the country's sovereignty.

Haiti did, however, approve the "New Horizons" missions last week.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...