Peacekeepers roll though Haitian capital amid fears of violence on Aristide anniversary

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — U.N. peacekeepers in armored vehicles rolled through nearly deserted streets Friday in Haiti's capital, where shops were closed amid fears of violence on the 10th anniversary of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return from his first exile.

Burning tires smoked in Bel Air, a slum stronghold of Aristide loyalists who barricaded streets with wooden market stands and debris. Residents said gunshots rang out occasionally.

Aristide's backers are demanding his return to the Caribbean country from his current exile in South Africa as they mark his restoration to power in 1994 through the intervention of 20,000 U.S. troops who ended three years of brutal military rule.

Business leaders called for a "day of protest against terrorism" Friday following two weeks of shootouts and beheadings that have killed at least 48 people. Many Haitians heeded the call for a shutdown, staying home while banks, stores and gas stations were locked up. Police stood watch at intersections.

U.N. peacekeepers have taken over for the U.S. Marines who arrived Feb. 29, the day Aristide fled a rebellion by former soldiers of the army that ousted him in 1991 and that he disbanded in 1995.

Heavily armed ex-soldiers based in Port-au-Prince said Thursday that reinforcements had been arriving from all over the country to help end two weeks of shootouts and beheadings in which at least 48 people have been killed.

"We are mobilizing, we have started working, carrying out the weapons inspections ourselves, addressing security problems in the city," former Maj. Remissainthe Ravix told Associated Press Television News.

Just before sunset Thursday, the central neighborhood of Poste Marchand was besieged by men firing gunshots into the air and burning cars as drivers and pedestrians scattered.

A glassy-eyed man holding a bottle of rum stood across the road from an incinerated white Jeep: "That was my car," he said, just blocks from the National Palace guarded by U.N. peacekeepers in armored cars.

Earlier Thursday, officials reported Aristide militants rampaged in Delmas neighborhood, firing into the air and threatening people with machetes.

The United States urged the departure of all nonessential personnel and family members working at its embassy in Port-au-Prince, which was shut Friday. The State Department also upgraded its travel warning for Haiti, saying police are ineffective and peacekeepers are not fully deployed.