PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 1: US Marines and French troops leading an international security force moved into Port-au-Prince on Monday to restore order after chaos engulfed the city in the wake of the sudden departure of Haiti's president.
Between 150 and 200 US Marines arrived at the airport and then deployed around the capital, including to the National Palace, where thousands of people gathered to cheer the rebel leaders who played a critical role in Jean Bertrand Aristide's departure.
They were joined shortly after dawn by the first of 130 French troops who were sent from Martinique, less than 12 hours after the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of a multinational stabilization force to restore order in Haiti.
A small number of Canadian special forces, who had secured Toussaint Louverture International Airport on Sunday for the evacuation of Canadian citizens, remained at their posts.
The Marines set up a control-and-command center in the airport's diplomatic lounge and unloaded military trucks and Humvees off military transport planes.
"US forces have been sent to secure key sites in the capital for the purpose of establishing peace and security and help promote the constitutional and political process," said Colonel Dave Berger, who commands the contingent from the 3rd Batallion of the 8th Marines.
"We're here to create conditions for the anticipated arrival of a UN multinational force," he said.
There was a day of violence and looting sparked by Aristide's resignation, the culmination of a four-year
political crisis exacerbated by an insurgency which saw the rebels take control of more than half the country in less than a month.
Berger and the commander of the French contingent shook hands as the two countries, still recovering from divisions over the Iraq invasion, joined forces to prepare for the arrival of the UN operation.
Lt Col Louis Acacio of the French Army of the Antilles laughed when asked if he expected tension with the Americans. "It won't be a problem," he said.
Responding to a similar question about Franco-US cooperation in Haiti, Berger smiled and said: "It will be very good, very good."
"The cooperation between us, the French and the Canadians will not be an issue at all. We all have a job to do," he said.
France and the United States had pressed the shantytown priest turned populist leader to resign for the good of the country step down after failing to convince the opposition to accept a power-sharing deal.
The French troops were to station themselves initially at the French embassy and ambassador's residence before moving out later in the day.
Berger said the Marines would deploy from the airport "sooner rather than later."
"Our first priority is to make sure the airport remains operational and safe," he told reporters.
About 50 US Marines had been protecting the US embassy since last week, and about 10 of the newcomers were at the presidential palace, watching as rebel leaders Guy Philippe and Jodel Louis Chamblain entered the capital in a motorcade with dozens of heavily armed men.
Berger said he did not expect US troops to face hostility despite Sunday's rampage of looting, killing and arson by pro-Aristide gangs after the president's departure.
"We did not expect to come off the aircraft and fight our way to the terminal," he said, noting that Haitian police had returned to the streets and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the orders of interim leader Boniface Alexandre, the supreme court chief. But Berger warned that Aristide supporters or rebels "who interfere with our mission we'll handle in an appropriate way and with appropriate force."
He said his battalion had several Haitian-American soldiers and some 15-20 troops who served in Haiti in 1994, when the United States intervened to restore Aristide to power after a 1991 coup.-AFP