Haitian Rebels Say They'll Disarm

Rebel leader Guy Philippe said Wednesday his forces would lay down their arms as U.S. Marines fanned out from the presidential palace — rifles at the ready — to help restore some order amid the country's bloody uprising.

"Now that there are foreign troops promising to protect the Haitian people ... and they have given the guarantee to protect the Haitian people ... we will lay down our arms," Philippe told a news conference.

The 15-nation Caribbean Community, or Caricom, concluded an emergency meeting Wednesday in Jamaica over the Haiti crisis and called for an independent international inquiry into Sunday's abrupt departure of Haitian President Jean-Bertrans Aristide, said Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.

Amid the occasional pop of a distant gunshot, a convoy of 10 U.S. Marines in machine-gun-mounted Humvees and armored vehicles rumbled out of the presidential palace as Marines on foot moved onto surrounding streets.

In their first reconnaissance in force since the vanguard of a U.N.-approved peacekeeping force began arriving in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, the Marines patrolled an area stretching 30 blocks. They pushed old burned-out cars from the road, Marine riflemen warily watching the street from behind the sights of their weapons.

There was no resistance. The Marines then returned to the palace.

Earlier, rebels and militant Aristide loyalists fought a running gunbattle that lasted an hour in the La Saline slum neighborhood near the looted seaport. It erupted when the rebels, who began patrolling the capital Tuesday, tried to disarm the militants, known as chimeres, with both sides firing with pistols and assault rifles. No casualty figures were immediately available.

Marine commanders told a press conference they had 1,000 Marines on the ground in Haiti.

At midday, a crowd of pro-Aristide Haitians ran past the National Palace, where U.S. Marines were deployed with Humvees and armored fighting vehicles, and shouted: "Aristide must return!"

The demonstrators then scattered, fearing they would be shot at, said Wilner Henri, who was selling soft drinks outside the plaza. Soon after, a pickup truck loaded with gun-toting rebels came screeching past.

Haiti's political opposition, meanwhile, met with interim President Boniface Alexandre, demanding that he name a new prime minister and that Prime Minister Yvon Neptune — a top member of Aristide's Lavalas party and his former presidential spokesman — be dismissed and possibly arrested.

The toll from the violence — which started with a popular uprising and led Aristide to flee Sunday — rose to at least 130. At the city morgue, a hospital worker said 30 bodies had been brought in since Sunday. The morgue stunk of rotting flesh, and a worker said there was no refrigeration and no fuel for electrical generators.

As rebels roamed the streets, some with assault rifles at the ready, U.S. forces in Haiti abruptly expanded their mission to protect Haitian civilians from reprisal attacks. Previously they said they were there only to protect U.S. citizens and interests.

Hours before he announced his forces would disarm, Philippe was seen entering the residence of U.S. Ambassador James Foley. Details on the encounter were unclear.It came after the U.S. Marines' mission scope was expanded to include protecting Haitian civilians from reprisal attacks.

On Tuesday afternoon, rebels drove up in a pickup and an SUV and said they to airport and said they were looking for Neptune and some other officials. The Marines came out with two Humvees mounted with .50-caliber machine-guns, and the rebels quickly left, Staff Sgt. Christopher Smith.

"As soon as we rolled up, they beat it out of there," Smith said Wednesday. "They got out of there as fast as they could."

"Part of our mission is to step in if we think there is a threat of bodily harm or deadly force to a (Haitian) citizen," Staff Sgt. Timothy Edwards said at the airport.

U.S. Marine Col. Dave Berger told a news conference Tuesday that the Marines — who began arriving Sunday night hours after Aristide fled to Africa — will increase their presence throughout Haiti after Philippe declared himself the new military chief and threatened to arrest the prime minister.

"The country is in my hands!" Philippe announced Tuesday on the radio in between touring the capital in the back of a pickup truck and greeting throngs of admiring Haitians.

Two U.S. Chinook helicopters slowly circled Tuesday over Philippe's base, the rebel-held northern port of Cap-Haitien, on an apparent reconnaissance mission, said a resident reached by telephone. Some U.S. Marines patrolled Port-au-Prince's seaport, which was being looted, in a Humvee.

But American and French troops in Haiti — the vanguard of an international peacekeeping force authorized by the U.N. Security Council — have no orders to disarm Haiti's factions, said Berger and the commander of the French forces.

"We are not a police force," said Berger.

Chile said it was sending 120 special forces to Haiti on Wednesday, the first of about 300. France said it would have some 420 soldiers and police in place by the end of the week.

Philippe, who arrived in Port-au-Prince in a rebel convoy on Monday, apparently plans to transform his fighters into a reconstituted Haitian army, which Aristide disbanded in 1995.

Out on Tuesday, he incited followers to rally against Prime Minister Yvon Neptune demanding his arrest.

"The head is gone, but the tail remains!" the crowd of 300 chanted Tuesday outside Neptune's office, guarded by several U.S. Marines. The crowd again demanded Neptune's arrest.

The whereabouts of Neptune were unknown. Radio reports said he had been evacuated by helicopter.

Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected leader since independence from France, resigned after an uprising that has killed more than 100 people since early February. Opponents accused Aristide of breaking promises to help the poor and masterminding attacks on opponents by armed gangs — charges he denied.

By Wednesday, no permanent home had been found for Aristide. The ex-leader was staying in the presidential palace in the Central African Republic, the African country's foreign minister, Charles Wenezoui said.

"Aristide really likes to read" and has slept a lot, said Wenezoui. "We're about to give him a television and satellite dish so that he can monitor news around the world."

Haiti's army ousted Aristide in 1991 and instituted a rule of terror until he was returned to power in an intervention by 20,000 U.S. troops. Washington strongly denies Aristide's claim that this time, the United States forced him out of office.

Associated Press writers Paisley Dodds and Ian James in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report.