Amnesty Unlikely for Haiti Leaders : Policy: Administration says only deposed president can convene parliamentary session to consider pardons.

In a narrow, new interpretation of the agreement that averted an American invasion of Haiti, the Clinton Administration said Thursday that it is very unlikely that Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras and other Haitian military leaders will get the amnesty from prosecution they are counting on to remain in the Caribbean nation.

According to Administration officials, only exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has the authority to call the Haitian Parliament into session to consider legislation giving blanket pardons to the military for crimes committed in the bloody Sept. 30, 1991, coup or in the three years of dictatorial rule that followed.

Aristide, who says he is willing to extend amnesty for “political” crimes, such as treason and insurrection, but not for “common” crimes, such as murder and rape, is not expected to summon the Parliament in time to save his political enemies from jail or exile.

Cedras believed that before Aristide returned he would be granted amnesty by the existing Parliament, which includes members whose credentials are questionable because they were elected after the 1991 coup.

Without amnesty, Cedras and his lieutenants will face arrest if Aristide regains power, as he is scheduled to by Oct. 15.

That would give the military leaders their choice of three very bleak options:

* They could stand trial on charges that probably would produce long prison terms or execution.

* They could leave the country for exile abroad.

* They could refuse to resign and try to hold onto power, a step that probably would be blocked by the vastly superior, 14,000-member American intervention force.

There was no immediate reaction from the Haitian military junta Thursday night.

The reinterpretation of the amnesty provision--done unilaterally and which likely was most swiftly conveyed to Haiti via television news broadcasts--was part of a concerted effort by the Administration to snatch away some of the concessions former President Jimmy Carter gave to Cedras and his deputy, Brig. Gen. Philippe Biamby, during arduous negotiations last weekend.

The seven-point agreement Carter reached with Cedras and Biamby on Sunday seemed to offer the Haitian generals far more than President Clinton was willing to give.

When Clinton dispatched Carter, retired Gen. Colin L. Powell and Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) to make one final diplomatic attempt to head off an imminent invasion, the President said the delegation could only discuss the “modalities” by which Cedras, Biamby and Lt. Col. Michel-Joseph Francois, the Port-au-Prince police chief, would surrender power and leave Haiti.

The President said the three must go--the only question was whether their departure would be peaceful or as a result of military force.

Instead of sticking to his narrow mandate, Carter negotiated a deal that called for the three officers to retire from the military by Oct. 15. But it let them remain in their posts during the interim, and it did not require them to leave the country. The agreement also seemed to promise an immediate lifting of the economic embargo imposed by the U.N. Security Council.

Clinton accepted the Carter plan because it allowed American forces to enter Haiti unopposed and because it permitted Aristide to regain the presidency within a little less than a month.

But, Administration officials said Thursday, the President ordered State Department lawyers to probe the pact for possible loopholes.

The Administration announced earlier this week that the economic embargo will remain in force until Aristide is back in power. The Carter-brokered agreement said the sanctions “will be lifted without delay in accordance with relevant U.N. resolutions.” Those resolutions specify that the embargo will be lifted only after Aristide regains the presidency.

Carter’s agreement to extend a blanket pardon to Cedras, Biamby, Francois and other members of the military caused more consternation. Aristide complained bitterly about that provision, which his advisers said could set the stage for a new coup.

But on Thursday, State Department spokesman Mike McCurry announced an Administration interpretation that finessed both the amnesty and exile issues.

“The arrangements that were made last Sunday included general amnesty, but that is very clearly one that has to be granted by the Haitian Parliament,” McCurry said. “Since they are out of session at this point, it will be up to President Aristide to convoke a special session of the Haitian Parliament.”

McCurry said the United States would question the legitimacy of any Parliament convened by Emile Jonassaint, the Haitian president who was installed by the military earlier this year.

Other Administration officials said William H. Gray III, Clinton’s special envoy on Haiti issues, outlined the Administration’s interpretation to Aristide on Wednesday.

The exiled president, pleased with the construction, endorsed the plan later in the day, ending a two-day sulk during which he pointedly failed to thank American officials for their efforts.