Military

DATE=02/29/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= HAITI UNREST / S-UPDATE

NUMBER=2-313648

BYLINE=JIM TEPLE

DATELINE= PORT-AU-PRINCE

INTERNET=

CONTENT=

INTRO: Haiti's embattled president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, has fled into exile and a new president has been sworn in as thousands of multi-national troops prepared to arrive in the Caribbean nation to halt a

breakdown of law and order. V-O-A's Jim Teeple reports from Port-au-Prince that Haitian officials and foreign diplomats in the capital are calling for rebels who control much of Haiti' north, to lay down

their arms.

TEXT: Jean Bertrand Aristide bowed to international pressure and a rebel advance threatening his capital, and left Port-au-Prince at dawn. Shortly afterwards, Haiti's Prime Minister Yvon Neptune told journalists the president had departed to spare his country further bloodshed.

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He did say that it was to avoid a bloodbath to leave office before the end of his mandate.

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Supreme Court justice Boniface Alexandre has been sworn in as Haiti's new president. He will serve until new elections can be held.

Mr. Aristide's departure was greeted with violence in poorer areas of the capital where his supporters burned shops and homes, and engaged in widespread looting.

Both Haitian officials and international diplomats who helped mediate Mr. Aristide's departure say the first priority of international peacekeepers will be to restore order. (SIGNED)

NEB/JLT/RAE