Haitians Want Aristide, Foreign Troops to Stay : Caribbean: Ordinary citizens are fearful about their security. They say they prefer that the president extend his term and the U.N. force remain.

Shaken by the growing violence in this capital city, ordinary Haitians said Sunday that they want President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to remain in office and foreign troops to stay in their country.

Haitians spending a leisurely afternoon at the Champ de Mars park outside the Presidential Palace said they prefer the status quo because they are worried about what change could mean for public safety and the nation’s stability. Although Aristide has promised to step down early next year and the U.N. peacekeeping mission is scheduled to end at the same time, they said they hope both will stay on.

“They have to stay,” Baptiste Locont, 38, said as he stacked a pile of coins from a gambling game that he runs in the park. “They came to deliver the country. We need them for security, and we want security in Haiti.”

The United Nations has about 6,000 peacekeeping troops in Haiti, including 2,500 Americans. The U.N. mission was deployed last spring to succeed the all-U.S. military force that helped restore Aristide to power in October, 1994, three years after he was ousted in a coup.

Similarly, Nissan Gimrand, a 53-year-old farmer from southern Haiti, said, “Because of [the troops], I can live with my heart calm.” But he will feel less tranquil, he said, if Aristide leaves office in February at the end of his term. The constitution forbids the president from seeking reelection.

“What matters is not what the constitution says, but what the people want,” he insisted. “The people matter more than the constitution.”

Mounting pressure from people like Gimrand appears to be causing Aristide to reconsider his promise to leave office as mandated. When a committee representing his most fervent followers asked him to stay in office three more years--to recover the three years he spent in exile after the 1991 coup--Aristide replied, “I will not turn my back on you.”

Top U.S. officials expressed concern Sunday about Haiti’s recent wave of violence--sparked by the assassination of a cousin and political ally of Aristide--but said they still expect that the president will step down as promised and that U.N. peacekeeping forces will withdraw early next year as scheduled.

“We’re watching with concern some of the developments in Haiti,” Defense Secretary William J. Perry said on the CBS-TV program “Face the Nation.”

“I think the situation in Haiti is ambiguous, but I do not consider in any sense that it is unraveling.”

National Security Adviser Anthony Lake denied a Washington Post report that the United States is planning to extend its military and police presence in Haiti beyond the scheduled withdrawal of U.N. peacekeeping forces Feb. 29.

“The American forces will leave after the inaugural in February,” Lake said on ABC-TV’s “This Week With David Brinkley.” He added that there is a possibility U.S. military engineers will remain in Haiti after the withdrawal but said no final decision has been made on their mission.

Pentagon officials quietly said, however, that staff-level discussions are continuing about whether U.S. troops should continue to play a security role in Haiti after the U.N. pullout. Such a mission would occur only if the Haitian government requested it. Top officials have yet to be engaged in the discussions.

Haitians questioned Sunday said they would support a continued U.S. presence, a surprising response in a country that has been the object of several U.S. invasions.

“At first it was humiliating,” Gilbert Garoute, a 33-year-old artist and computer software designer, said of the occupation by U.N. peacekeeping forces. “Maybe in the long run, we’ll get used to it.”

David Limogena, who takes pictures that he sells as mementos, was more adamant. “Our police cannot provide us with security on their own,” he said. “There are too many thieves. We would need at least 15,000 policemen.”

In Washington, Lake said the White House expects Aristide to step down after the inauguration of his successor in February as he has repeatedly promised, despite his statement to supporters last week.

“He is in a difficult position here because clearly he is still the most popular politician in Haiti, and a lot of Haitians don’t want him to leave,” Lake said. “But we expect the democratic process to take place on schedule.”

While Lake refused to speculate on what the White House would do if Aristide refused to step down, members of Congress sent out a clear message that Aristide would lose his support in Washington if he failed to abide by his promise.

“You know, we’ve put a lot of money and a lot of time and risked a lot of lives down there,” Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) said on the Brinkley program. “. . . We’ve put a lot of energy into supporting democracy, and if he doesn’t support democracy, we shouldn’t support him.”

But in Haiti, the issue does not appear so clear-cut.

“So many people are undecided,” said artist Garoute. “No one can tell what is good and what is bad. We’re just here watching the show.”

Darling reported from Port-au-Prince and Shogren from Washington.