HAITI: US MARINES ARRIVE TO TAKE CONTROL OF KEY AREAS OF CITY DAYS AFTER PRESIDENT ARISTIDE FLEES

Record ID: 648144

  • Title: HAITI: US MARINES ARRIVE TO TAKE CONTROL OF KEY AREAS OF CITY DAYS AFTER PRESIDENT ARISTIDE FLEES
  • Date: 2nd March 2004
  • Summary: (EU) PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (MARCH 02, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF U.S. MILITARY PLANE ARRIVING 0.15 2. VARIOUS OF U.S. MARINES AT AIRPORT 0.21 3. WIDE OF US. MILITARY IN MILITARY VEHICLE 0.33 4. CLOSE OF MARINE IN JEEP WITH MACHINE GUN 0.38 5. CLOSE OF U.S SOLDIER 0.42 6. SLV SOLDIERS WITH MILITARY VEHICLES 0.50 7. VARIOUS OF U.S. AIRFORCE PLANE 0.53 8. VARIOUS OF MARINES UNLOADING HEAVY EQUIPMENT 1.07 9. SLV MARINES CARRYING LUGGAGE AND EQUIPMENT 1.18 10. WIDE OF MARINES WITH BOXES OF EQUIPMENT 1.21 11. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. MARINE CORPORAL OF HAITIAN BACKGROUND HARRY MILBIN, SAYING: "I always wanted to be a part of the United States military but the most thing is, I always wanted to join the Marines because I know that they're the best. We always get the job done. And me being back here, I kind of like it 'cause usually you help other people. I always ask myself, 'When are we going to Haiti one day so I can help like my own people?' Finally this is the day." 1.49 12. WIDE OF PORT WITH SHIPS 1.52 13. WIDE OF SHIP IN DOCK 1.55 14. VARIOUS OF U.S. MARINES ARRIVING AT PORT IN MILITARY CONVOY 2.06 15. VARIOUS OF U.S. MARINES AT PORT/ CHECKING VEHICLES 2.17 16. WIDE OF MARINES AND VEHICLES 2.19 17. SLV MARINES LOOKING AT MAP 2.26 18. HAV /PAN OF PEOPLE GATHERED OUTSIDE WHAT IS NOW THE REBEL HEADQUARTERS (FORMER PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE) 2.35 19. SLV PEOPLE LOOKING THROUGH GATE 2.38 20. WIDE OF MAN SELLING NEWSPAPERS 2.41 21. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED HAITIAN RESIDENT, SAYING: "Some people are very happy because Aristide left the country. Others are not." 2.55 22. VARIOUS OF AUDIO OF REBELS FIRING GUN TO DISPERSE CROWD OUTSIDE HEADQUARTERS/ CROWD RUNNING AWAY 3.04 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 17th March 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
  • Country: Haiti
  • Reuters ID: LVA4WXQQI3SIBUDDZXQ1PGBY9W
  • Story Text: U.S. marines organise across Port-au-Prince.





    U.S. Marines organized across Port-au-Prince Tuesday
    (March 02), taking control of key areas within the city two
    days after Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled
    the country.

    U.S. troop reinforcements were arriving to spearhead an
    international force and Washington worked on political
    plans for restoring order.

    Hundreds of Marines and 100 French troops are camped
    out at the airport in the first stage of a United
    Nations-sanctioned effort to restore order. The U.S. force
    was to grow to 1,500 to 2,000 as part of an international
    force of some 5,000.

    Marine Corporal Harry Milbin, whose family is Haitian,
    said he was proud to be part of the contingency.

    "I always wanted to be a part of the United States
    military but the most thing is, I always wanted to join the
    Marines because I know that they're the best. We always get
    the job done," said Milbin. "And me being back here, I kind
    of like it 'cause usually you help other people. I always
    ask myself, 'When are we going to Haiti one day so I can
    help like my own people?' Finally this is the day."
    U.S. forces were securing the airport, the coast guard
    station and the port.

    U.S military troops guarded the national palace, the
    gleaming white presidential office in the middle of the
    peeling and impoverished city which was long a symbol of
    Aristide's power.

    Despite the presence of troops, there were reports of
    more killings.

    Overnight there was sporadic gunfire, including outside
    the presidential palace. About 80 people have been killed
    in the month-long uprising.

    Hundreds of U.S. and French troops were in Haiti as
    part of an international force led by the U.S. Marines.

    President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country's
    democratically-elected ruler, fled the country Sunday in a
    hasty departure arranged by Washington. A former Catholic
    priest, his presidency unravelled under months of often
    violent protests by political foes who accused him of
    becoming the kind of corrupt dictator he once railed
    against.




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