Aristide Agrees to Call In Parliament for Amnesty Vote : Caribbean: The exiled Haitian president ignores aides’ advice, will allow lawmakers to decide fate of junta leaders. Meanwhile, Clinton says the U.S. operation is ‘going well.’

Exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, apparently holding out an olive branch to his political foes, agreed Friday to call a special session of the island nation’s Parliament to vote on amnesty for the leaders of the bloody coup that deposed him three years ago.

With about 15,000 U.S. troops poised to referee, Aristide and Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, the chief coup plotter, jockeyed for position in advance of Oct. 15, the date the military regime is scheduled to give up power so Aristide can regain the presidency.

The outcome of the high-stakes political contest could shape Haiti’s future and determine whether the U.S. occupation ends as peacefully as it began.

Going against the advice of some of his closest aides, Aristide agreed to allow Parliament to consider a pardon for Cedras, Lt. Gen. Philippe Biamby, Lt. Col. Joseph-Michel Francois and other coup leaders for crimes committed during and after the insurrection that drove Aristide from power Sept. 30, 1991.

Michael Barnes, Aristide’s Washington attorney, confirmed that the exiled president will soon summon Parliament to consider an amnesty bill. That would allow the lawmakers to decide if Cedras and his followers will be able to remain in Haiti without fear of arrest. Aristide would issue the call from Washington, where he is living pending his return to Haiti, and is not expected to attend the parliamentary session in Port-au-Prince.

The disclosure came as President Clinton declared the first five days of the U.S. operation in Haiti a success. He said conditions have improved enough to permit the first contingent of refugees to return home from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“In short, our mission is going well,” Clinton said. “I am very proud of the competence and the discipline our troops and their commanders have demonstrated.”

Also Friday, Secretary of State Warren Christopher said he plans to fly to former President Jimmy Carter’s home in Plains, Ga., today for a private meeting to patch up misunderstandings over Carter’s negotiations with Cedras and Biamby last weekend.

Carter was critical of U.S. policy on Haiti and of Christopher personally in a series of interviews after his return from Haiti. For his part, Christopher is known to believe that the former President exceeded his authority in negotiating a deal that made far more concessions to the military leaders than the Administration had wanted to give.

It was Carter’s seven-point agreement that raised the amnesty issue, which may hold the key to Haiti’s immediate political future. Cedras has vowed to stay in the country and remain part of its political life. Aristide wants to force the military leaders into exile.

Cedras wants a broad amnesty covering acts by him and by all other members of the military during or after the coup. Aristide has offered amnesty for “political” crimes such as treason and insurrection, but not for “common” crimes such as murder, rape and embezzlement.

Cedras and his followers could remain in Haiti without fear of arrest under the broad plan he favors but probably would have to go into exile under Aristide’s narrow proposal. U.S. officials are hoping that the Parliament can come up with a middle ground that would be generous enough to help reconcile Haiti’s hostile factions but still would make it so uncomfortable for Cedras that he would leave the country.

Aristide probably will ask for the narrow interpretation when he calls Parliament into session. But the lawmakers are not required to follow his lead. Aristide had difficulty getting legislation through Parliament even before the coup.

Further complicating matters are questions about the current makeup of Parliament. Most members were elected in 1990, before the coup. But the military government conducted elections in 1993 that are not recognized internationally. For the vote to have any validity in the rest of the world, the legislators elected in 1993 would have to be excluded.

In addition, several dozen lawmakers fled Haiti after the coup and now live in the United States. The Administration has offered to help these representatives, not all of them backers of Aristide but all critical of the military, return to vote, but they have not yet indicated if they will go.

Aristide’s key advisers recommended against any sort of amnesty.

Jean-Claude Martineau, Aristide’s official spokesman, said: “President Aristide has to establish in Haiti the rule of law and it will make it difficult for him to do this if the military steps down but can stay in the country with their assets. These three guys are richer than the whole nation. What are they going to do? They can disrupt everything. They can finance terrorism. They have killed so much in the past.”

On Thursday, when the Administration first argued that Parliament could only be called into session by Aristide, it was widely believed that he would block amnesty by refusing to summon the lawmakers.

But Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and other members of Congress pressured Aristide to seek amnesty.

During an hourlong meeting on Capitol Hill, Nunn, who was a member of Carter’s negotiating team, told Aristide that the House and the Senate will be influenced by Aristide’s decision on amnesty when they vote, probably next week, on legislation setting a time limit for the U.S. occupation of Haiti.

“The next 72 hours are crucial,” Nunn told reporters after the meeting. “President Aristide’s leadership over these 72 hours will have a real effect on the flexibility that the Senate and the House of Representatives give to President Clinton.”

Aristide and his backers fear that Cedras will try to hold power through some sort of ruse. Burton Wides, an Aristide lawyer, predicted that a few days before the Oct. 15 deadline, Cedras and his supporters will begin to charge violations of some of the terms of the transfer of power agreement and will claim that gives them a right to retain their positions.

If that happens, he said, Clinton will again be faced with the choice of using military force in Haiti or backing down.

White House officials say there is no possibility that the U.S. government will allow Cedras and his backers to thwart Aristide’s return to power. U.S. forces have overwhelming military superiority, should the Administration decide to use it.

Aristide and his camp do not question Washington’s military might. But after three years of exile in which the George Bush Administration and the Clinton Administration talked of restoring him without taking decisive action until recently, Aristide is afraid that the United States will shy away at the last minute from using force if the military leaders try to retain power.

An Administration official said there is no doubt that the United States will use as much military force as is necessary to make sure Aristide regains the presidency. But he admitted that, in light of recent events, Aristide’s fear of a sellout was “not entirely paranoia.”

Times staff writers Elizabeth Shogren and Michael Ross contributed to this report