U.S. troops on a multinational peace mission received a hostile welcome Monday when their warship was blocked from docking and embassy personnel were chased away from the port by an angry mob.
American authorities did not know how long the USS Harlan County would be held up. They played down the dockside harassment as representative of a small minority opposed to the United Nations' effort to restore democracy in Haiti.However, gunfire broke out in several places in the capital, including near the seaside U.S. Embassy, and frightened shop owners and market merchants closed by midday. No casualties were reported.
Some police stood by while others held up traffic and allowed demonstrators to get off a bus near the dock. The protesters then dispersed diplomats and a crowd of foreign reporters, punching and kicking their cars.
"We don't want foreigners coming here and trying to tell us what to do!" one man shouted. Another yelled: "We're going to do to them what they did in Somalia!"
The U.N. mission, which has stirred fears among U.S. lawmakers and citizens following the deaths of at least 15 Americans in an Oct. 3 battle in Somalia, represents the largest American military presence in Haiti since a 19-year Marine occupation ended in 1934.
Haiti's army, which seized power in a coup two years ago, has not stopped a wave of violence preceding the scheduled return to power of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. On Sunday, army leaders expressed concern the arriving American soldiers would be carrying automatic weapons for a mission described as non-confrontational.
The Harlan County, an amphibious landing vessel, anchored off the downtown wharf at first light, with about 200 military engineers, medics and civil affairs specialists aboard. They are to join an advance party of 26 American soldiers who flew in last week.
But port authorities, who have the support of the Haitian military, had moved another ship into the Harlan County's planned berth. There was no indication when the U.S. warship, 800 yards offshore, would dock.
At the Pentagon, public affairs officer Jan Walker said U.S. military leaders had not heard about any problems with the docking and described the ship as waiting at anchor in a normal berthing procedure. "We're just waiting for space so we can pull in," she said.
Another U.S. warship, the USS Fairfax County, is to arrive Oct. 20, carrying hundreds more soldiers. After unloading, the Harlan County is to remain off Haiti, ready for possible rescue missions.
Seven hundred soldiers are to be in place by Oct. 30, part of a 1,600-member U.N. force of military engineers, police trainers and administrative personnel. That is the date of Aristide's scheduled return under a U.N. peace plan.
The Roman Catholic priest, the elected president who was ousted two years ago by soldiers, is widely popular among Haiti's poor masses. But he is despised by many in the army, and some soldiers have vowed to kill him if he returns. In anticipation of his return, roving military-backed gangs have terrorized the capital and killed Aristide supporters the past two months.
The Harlan County was to unload trucks, bulldozers, tents and rations. The American soldiers also are equipped with M-16 assault rifles, sidearms and ammunition, which U.S. officials said would be used only in self-defense.
Beleaguered civilian Prime Minister Robert Malval, leading Haiti's democratic transition, says the mission had the support of most Haitians and in no way could be construed as a military occupation force.
However, rightist attorney Mirelle Durocher Bertain, reflecting the views of some in the military, told The Associated Press: "The normal reaction of a Haitian citizen is that we don't like this occupation because we consider it an intervention. I don't think a `technical' mission needs M-16 assault rifles."
Haiti's army command said in a statement Sunday it was "surprised" to learn that U.S. soldiers would arrive with assault rifles. The army said that contradicted the spirit of a U.N.-brokered accord on Aristide's reinstatement.
countered that the military was violating the agreement by failing to disarm military auxiliaries - known here as "attaches" - believed responsible for the violence.
Worn down by a worldwide petroleum embargo and other economic sanctions, Haiti's army agreed to the U.N. plan in July.
Malval said Sunday that if the U.N. mission failed to restore democracy, "even the U.S. 6th Fleet will be unable to prevent Haitians" from fleeing toward U.S. shores.