Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 14, 1994 TAG: 9407140092
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From the Boston Globe and The Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
In an interview on ABC News Wednesday night, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras described himself as ``the pin in Haiti's hand grenade. If pulled, an explosion will follow.''
In a separate interview in Port-au-Prince, Cedras told The Associated Press he would stay in power until his term expired in January, ``no matter what the consequences,'' unless the international community recognized Emile Jonaissaint, the elderly judge installed as president by the army two months ago.
Clinton administration officials expressed astonishment at Cedras' remarks, which were made as 14 U.S. warships sailed near Haiti and 2,000 Marines stood ready to evacuate U.S. citizens in case of an invasion.
President Clinton has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of force against Cedras.
U.S. officials reiterated demands that Cedras and his top aides resign immediately and permit the return of Haiti's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was overthrown in a coup nearly three years ago.
``That is an amazing analysis of self-importance and of the illegal de facto government which no one has recognized,'' William Gray, President Clinton's special adviser on Haiti, said in a telephone interview from New York.
``It is our hope the coup leaders will live up to what they have signed and step down. ... How they come down is dependent on them,'' he added.
On Wednesday, U.S. Embassy workers looked into a fresh burial site while investigating a reported massacre of 12 young men in a village just west of the capital of Port-au-Prince.
U.S. officials said the U.N. rights monitors could have done a better job, but they confirmed uncovering at least seven burial sites.
Associated Press reporters later found another grave which residents said contained five more bodies.
It was not immediately clear who killed the men, but soldiers had ordered villagers to quickly bury the corpses Tuesday morning.
Also leaving Haiti on Wednesday were 171 Haitians who have proven claims for U.S. political asylum.
The U.S. Coast Guard reported that 770 more Haitian boat people were picked up Tuesday, bringing the total to 15,107 in July and 23,469 so far this year.
Even as 14 U.S. warships carrying U.S. Marines gathered off Haiti, Cedras said he didn't want a confrontation with the world.
``The government doesn't want to provoke the international community, doesn't want a confrontation,'' Cedras said. ``It simply wants to affirm our sovereign right to exist as a nation - no matter what the danger. We are not acting against you [the United Nations] but for ourselves.''
Cedras characterized a 1,300-member U.N. military training and development mission, originally scheduled to arrive in Haiti last year, as a ``disguised attempt'' to wrest national sovereignty from Haitians.
A small group of armed pro-military activists forced an advance group of the mission on the USS Harlan County to turn back in October.
Under a U.N. peace plan reached last July, Cedras had promised to resign Oct. 15, two weeks before Aristide was supposed to return. He reneged on his pledge, accusing both Aristide and the United Nations of ``bad faith.''
by CNB