Resist U.S. 'Occupation' Says Exiled Haiti Leader
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By Jim Loney and Ibon Villelabeitia

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Exiled Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed to his supporters to peacefully resist an "occupation" of Haiti on Monday as a new president was installed in the chaotic Caribbean nation and heavily armed U.S. troops chased away pro-Aristide marchers.


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A day after gunfire killed at least six people in a huge demonstration celebrating Aristide's ouster, U.S. Marines spearheading an international peacekeeping force rumbled on armored vehicles and patrolled on foot through Port-au-Prince's tense streets.


Military helicopters circled over slums where pro-Aristide militias manned barricades. Aristide loyalists were blamed for Sunday's killings in which U.S. Marines opened fire for the first time in their week-old mission. Hundreds of ragged slum-dwellers looted an industrial park near the capital's airport but there were no reports of fresh clashes.


A U.N. assessment team was due to arrive on Tuesday to begin work on rebuilding Haiti after Aristide's flight on Feb. 29 to Africa, in the face of an armed rebellion and international pressure, sparked looting and killings.


The team will spend the next three months in Haiti laying the groundwork for the broad U.N. peacekeeping mission that will take over from the U.S.-led multinational force.


At the National Palace, across the square from Sunday's bloodshed, President Boniface Alexandre, wearing a blue, yellow and red sash, was formally installed in office behind closed doors and under heavy guard by foreign troops.


Minutes after the ceremony for Alexandre, a former Chief Justice, hundreds of Aristide supporters crowded the streets in front of the palace demanding his return. They ran away when U.S. troops guarding the palace appeared.


A council of "wise men" is set to pick a prime minister this week in a further step to piece together an administration in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.


Washington scolded Aristide for insisting from exile in the Central African Republic that he was still the president.


"If Mr. Aristide really wants to serve his country, he really has to, we think, let his nation get on with the future and not try to stir up the past again," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.


More than 200 people have been killed since the revolt erupted on Feb. 5, started by a street gang and joined by former soldiers and paramilitaries.


CALL FOR 'PEACEFUL RESISTANCE'


In the Central African Republic capital, Bangui, Aristide repeated his assertion that U.S. forces abducted him, which the United States denies. "I am the elected president and I remain the elected president," he said.


"This unfortunately has paved the way for occupation and ... we launch an appeal for peaceful resistance," Aristide said in his first public appearance since arriving. "I'm choosing my words carefully: for a peaceful resistance."


Aristide, a once popular former Roman Catholic priest who championed Haiti's emergence into democracy more than a decade ago, fled after rebels closed in on the capital and the United States and France urged him to quit.


French lawyer Gilbert Collard said he and a U.S. colleague would file suits in France and the United States saying Aristide was abducted. The suits would be filed in the next few days, once they receive authorization from the ousted leader.


In Sunday's shooting -- the worst day of violence since Aristide fled -- U.S. Marines killed one gunman.





"Marines engaged the gunmen. One of them was killed, the other fled. It is unknown whether or not he was wounded," U.S. Marine Col. Mark Gurganus, commander of U.S. forces in Haiti, told reporters.

Witnesses said pro-Aristide militias armed with automatic weapons sprayed gunfire from rooftops and pickups into a crowd of thousands of revelers celebrating Aristide's downfall. A Spanish journalist was among those killed.

Rebel leader Guy Philippe, who had promised to lay down arms after Aristide's departure, told his men late on Sunday to "stay alert" and to protect the "Haitian people." Aristide's supporters accuse rebel troops of conducting reprisal raids in the capital's slums, home to thousands of Aristide backers.

"The foreign troops gave me the guarantee that they would protect the people and disarm the chimeres," he said, referring to militant Aristide supporters. "If they fail to do that I am ready to order my men to take back the weapons and disarm the chimeres and protect the population," he said.

Philippe, who was hoisted on shoulders by jubilant supporters during Sunday's march, wants to re-establish Haiti's army, disbanded by Aristide in 1995. Washington opposes this and says the rebels should disarm and disband.

The international peace force of U.S., French, Chilean and Canadian troops has grown to about 2,300, but looting and violence continue.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Bangui, Joseph Guyler Delva and Amy Bracken in Port-au-Prince and Saul Hudson in Washington)