Haiti's former military ruler and his right-hand man will be heading together into exile, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said Tuesday. Haitian military sources said a likely destination was Panama.
Ministers loyal to exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, meanwhile, prepared to take charge of their offices now that the military ruler, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, has resigned and promised to leave the country.Shipments of gas and diesel oil were on their way to Haiti, the first sent by international oil companies since December. The world's trade embargo on Haiti ends after Aristide's homecoming, scheduled for Saturday.
Cedras' resignation Monday cleared "the field for the real work of reconciliation," said Aristide spokesman Jean-Claude Martineau.
Aristide supporters also demanded the resignation of President Emile Jonassaint, installed by the army in May.
"We can now roll up our sleeves and begin to rebuild democracy in the spirit of reconciliation," Aristide's commerce minister, Louis Dejoie II, said in an interview.
With Cedras' resignation, Haiti's military met the terms of the agreement former President Jimmy Carter concluded last month as U.S. warplanes were in the air, ready to launch an invasion.
Cedras is about to go into exile; so too is Brig. Gen. Philippe Biamby, who resigned Saturday. Port-au-Prince police chief Michel Francois, architect of the September 1991 coup that overthrew Aristide, fled last week to the neighboring Dominican Republic.
The agreement did not require the coup leaders to leave Haiti, but the United States has been urging them to do so. U.S. Embassy spokesman Stanley Schrager said Tuesday that Cedras and Biamby would be leaving Haiti together, but he said he did not know when or to where.
Haitian military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said negotiations were under way for Cedras and Biamby to go to Panama. The new Panamanian government is seen as eager to please Washington in helping resolve the Haitian crisis.
President Clinton said Monday night that Aristide would return to Haiti on Saturday. He credited the 19,000 American troops who began their mission Sept. 19 for putting Haiti back on the road to democracy.
"But I also want to caution again: The job in Haiti remains difficult and dangerous," Clinton said.
U.S. officials said Aristide may be accompanied to Haiti by Secretary of State Warren Christopher, underscoring support for the populist Roman Catholic priest despite his frequent criticism of U.S. policy toward Haiti.
Senate Republican leader Bob Dole said Aristide's return should be viewed as an opportunity to pull American troops out of Haiti.
"The president's right in complimenting our armed forces," Dole said on CNN's "Larry King Live" program Monday night. "They're doing the best they can, but they were never trained to be the sheriffs of Haiti. And my view is that Aristide walks in, we ought to walk out."
In a reminder of continuing violence, the death toll reached 24 in a hit-and-run attack on a pro-democracy demonstration Sunday in a hamlet near the southwestern city of Miragoane, a radio station reported.