U.S. to Send Military Team to Assess Haiti Security

By Saul Hudson and Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington said on Thursday it would send a military team to assess security at its embassy in Haiti and that it was open to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide stepping down to defuse a deadly uprising.

Ratcheting up pressure on Aristide, the United States will also lead an international delegation, including French and Canadian envoys, to Haiti on Saturday to push the former priest to fulfill pledges he has made to the opposition and mediators.

Reluctant to send police to quell the violence, the United States has failed so far to persuade Aristide to reach a political settlement as armed gangs have battled a hapless police force this month for control of some towns.

A military team of three or four people from U.S. Southern Command, based in Miami, is due to travel to Haiti within 48 hours at the request of Ambassador James Foley, said chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita.

The United States also said it was withdrawing dozens of Peace Corps personnel attached to the embassy and imposed a night curfew on staff remaining in Haiti.

"Due to the continued unrest and a steady deterioration of the security situation in Haiti, including violent confrontations between pro- and anti-government forces, the U.S. embassy has further reduced its presence in Haiti," the State Department said.

Dozens of people have died in the rebellion, which capped months of anti-government demonstrations and years of political tensions dating from contested parliamentary elections in 2000.

Aristide, who was restored to power by a U.S. invasion a decade ago after a coup, has vowed to stay until his term ends in 2006.

DIPLOMATS NOT POLICE

The United States agreed with France and Canada to back a basic accord Caribbean mediators have struck with Aristide that includes setting up a broad-based advisory council to the government, appointing a new prime minister and disarming gangs aligned with political parties.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has warned the opposition against ousting Aristide, said his departure was not currently part of any possible peace plan.

But he added in an interview with ABC radio, "You know, if an agreement is reached that moves that in another direction, that's fine."

Previously, senior U.S. officials had only hinted that "major changes" in the government could break the impasse.

Foley is due to push the plan with Aristide on Friday ahead of the international delegation, a State Department official, who asked not to be named, said.

"It's very important that they take this seriously. The full weight of the international community is behind this (plan)," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Navy Petty Officer Christopher Sherwood, a spokesman for Southern Command, said the military team is "going down there to help advise and assist with security issues" relating to the embassy. He did not say how long the team would stay.

"They are not there to assist the Haitian government in any form. They're there only to assist the American ambassador and security issues for the ambassador and his people (embassy staff)," Sherwood said.

Sherwood said the team would probably examine contingency plans for evacuation of the embassy if the situation warrants.

The United States has rejected Haiti pleas for police help to staunch the violence. Canada and France have offered to send police, but Powell said the plan was for such reinforcements to go only after a political settlement.