United Nations Haiti

President Clinton ordered six warships to waters off Haiti on Friday to enforce the U.N. trade embargo scheduled to take effect Monday and readied a small contingent of troops for the possible rescue of Americans in the Caribbean island nation. Clinton ordered the show of force to back up his demand that Haiti's military rulers abide by an agreement to cede power and allow the return of popularly elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in a 1991 military coup.

Little tested and little trusted, U.N.-trained Haitian police assumed responsibility for the safety of Haiti's wary people Monday at the end of a 3-year-old U.N. peacekeeping mission. The U.N. mission to restore order to Haiti ended at midnight Sunday, handing most of its duties over to civilian Haitian National Police--a 6,000-strong force assembled from scratch that has yet to win the public's confidence.

Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali launched a priority search Tuesday for a successor to the United Nations' chief Haiti envoy, who has resigned and criticized the United States for a "total absence of consultations" in last-minute negotiations to persuade Haiti's army leaders to step down.

The Security Council agreed Friday to establish a 300-member international police mission in Haiti to carry on its years-long campaign for democracy in the Caribbean country. The unanimous decision came two days before the last of 1,300 U.N. peacekeepers were to leave Haiti and end a military presence that began in March 1995, when the peacekeepers took over from a U.S. force. Before the vote, U.S.

Sending a message to Haiti's military leaders that "it's time for them to leave," the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Sunday permitting the use of force to restore democracy to the Caribbean nation. The 12-0 vote, with China and Brazil abstaining, provides the diplomatic cover for U.S.-led military action long threatened by President Clinton.

The isolation of this Caribbean nation from the outside world, at least by air, was complete Saturday as the last scheduled flight left Haiti. The Air France jet that took off in the early afternoon for the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe was the airline's last, bringing it into line with other carriers who stopped flying to Haiti late last month after President Clinton tightened sanctions against Haiti's military leaders.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the exiled priest who is scheduled to reclaim Haiti's presidency in less than six weeks, called on the United Nations on Tuesday to reimpose economic sanctions until Haitian army chief Raoul Cedras and other military "killers" relinquish power and leave the island.

Sidestepping Chinese opposition, the Security Council has agreed to extend the stay of U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti until the end of July. China objects to the presence of U.N. troops in Haiti because it extends diplomatic recognition to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province. The 15-member Security Council met this week to consider a report by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on keeping the 500 troops and 262 civilian police in place in Haiti.

Conditions in Haiti will be stable and secure enough by the end of March to allow the Pentagon to hand over peacekeeping responsibilities there to the United Nations, Secretary of State Warren Christopher predicted Sunday. Although the U.N. forces will be commanded by a U.S.

A French member of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti was shot in the head by an unidentified assailant and critically wounded, U.N. sources said Friday. Marshall Christian Marginier, 36, a member of the U.N. civilian police force in the western town of Petit Goave, was preparing to go to bed when he was shot in the head Thursday night from a distance of about 10 yards, U.N. spokesman Eric Falt said. Marginier was flown to a hospital in Miami, he said. A U.N.

The Security Council extended the U.N. military and police force in Haiti for a final four months but cut its size. The council's resolution, adopted by a 15-0 vote, will reduce the international police force from 300 to 250 and cut the military from 500 to 50 headquarters staff paid for by all U.N. members. But Canada and Pakistan will again supplement the military force, this time with 650 Canadian soldiers and 350 Pakistanis. They are part of the U.N.

Sidestepping Chinese opposition, the Security Council has agreed to extend the stay of U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti until the end of July. China objects to the presence of U.N. troops in Haiti because it extends diplomatic recognition to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province. The 15-member Security Council met this week to consider a report by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on keeping the 500 troops and 262 civilian police in place in Haiti.

President Rene Preval said Wednesday that he has asked the United Nations to extend its peacekeeping mission through July to give Haiti's new police force more training. The mission's current mandate ends Nov. 30. About 1,200 U.N. peacekeeping troops are in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. An additional 300 U.N. civilian police officers also are assigned to Haiti. In an October report, U.N.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to keep peacekeepers in Haiti for at least five more months, but it reduced the size of the force at China's insistence. China has called for an end to the mission, saying it is no longer needed. Diplomats said Beijing was threatening a veto to punish Haiti for having diplomatic ties to Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. The resolution replaces the current force of 1,200 peacekeepers, backed by 700 Canadian soldiers, with 600 U.N.

Armed with .45s, high school diplomas and four months of U.N. training, members of the year-old Haitian civilian police force are tested daily on the dusty streets of the sprawling Cite Soleil slum. Gang members with AK-47s could lurk in any shack. The bulging pocket on any passerby's torn pants could hide a .357 magnum. "People here just laugh at us and our little handguns," said one nervous young officer, returning to the new concrete-block station house after a foot patrol.

Francois Denis Gbetie, 36, a U.N. police officer from Benin, became the first member of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti to be killed by hostile fire, the United Nations said. Gbetie was driving with another Beninese officer in Port-au-Prince when several gunmen opened fired on his vehicle. The slain officer's colleague was unharmed. A suspect was arrested.

The Clinton Administration has decided to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing an invasion of Haiti by a U.S.-led multinational force to topple the military regime, officials said Wednesday. At the same time, the Administration plans to back up the threat by lining up units for an invasion force of as many as 15,000 troops--most of them American, but as many as 3,000 from other countries. U.S.

Despite the Clinton Administration proposal for tougher sanctions on Haiti, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali issued a pessimistic report Wednesday that urged outsiders to take a more passive role and allow Haitians to work out a solution to the crisis themselves. But the report to the U.N. General Assembly, dated Friday and released after a delay of four days, was evidently written before the Administration completed a review of its Haitian policy and changed course.

A U.N. peacekeeper from Bangladesh who was hit by a truck Monday has died from his injuries, the third foreign soldier serving in Haiti to die in a week, U.N. officials said Thursday. Lance Corp. Abdur Rahim, 29, was hit as he chased after a suspect near the Port-au-Prince airport. On Sunday, a Pakistani peacekeeper was found dead in an apparent suicide, and last week a soldier from Guyana gunned down another Guyanese soldier after a dispute.

Although all U.S. troops will pull out of the country by the end of February, Haiti is asking for other elements of the U.N. peacekeeping mission to remain for six more months because its new police force is still not ready to maintain order. The request for an extension came from the office of President-elect Rene Preval a week ago, after U.S. officials testified before Congress that they suspect some members of the police force of taking part in political violence.