Aristide's return

Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has returned in triumph to the city and the office from which he was expelled three years ago by mutinous soldiers.

President Bill Clinton's controversial intervention, which we ourselves argued against, was directly responsible for this promising result. He was right when he said that it opens "a new era of hope" for Haiti's people.

The nature of this new era, and its duration, depend very much on the skill and restraint that President Aristide is able to bring to the tremendous job before him.

He spoke Saturday of reconciliation and commitment to democracy, a good beginning. But his supporters -- two-thirds of the country and with some exceptions the poorest two-thirds -- have lived for three years under the rule of corrupt and increasingly violent soldiers.

At similar moments, in countries with strong legal traditions like, say, France at the end of the German occupation, it has been difficult to prevent a wave of vengeance and summary justice. The American troops are trying to avoid being drawn into day-to-day policing. But since Haiti is a country with no police apart from the discredited army and no independent judiciary, the Americans will inevitably be the referees and peace-keepers for a certain period.

It's in the interest of both Haiti and the United States to keep this period as short as possible. The solution is an international corps of civilian advisers and monitors to work with Haitian police forces yet to be established.

Much will also depend on the reaction of Aristide's opponents. They include most people of property in this impoverished land, and they saw Aristide as the apostle of social revolution. But now some of these people have drawn back in dismay from the brutality and repression that the soldiers imposed, and there have been signals that people who are no friends of Aristide who are nonetheless ready to work with him.

In response, Aristide probably is going to have to remind them of the deal that is essential to democracy. People of property will have to accept constraints on their influence and greater obligations than in the past, including the obligation to pay taxes. In return, they will get the protection of the law. Aristide needs to spell it out to both his friends and his adversaries.

The men who led the military in these past three years have departed. They have flown off to sanctuary in Panama with, in Cedras's case, what amounts to a pension guaranteed by the United States.

Galling as that is, there's a reason for doing it that way. It gets these people off the scene, when they might otherwise stick around and make trouble. The same kind of exit was arranged for the equally unsavory Jean-Claude Duvalier when he fled from Haiti to southern France eight years ago. But the safe departure of the commanders will make it more difficult to bring to justice other soldiers, some of whom are guilty of atrocious crimes.

Haiti and its president have much arduous work ahead of them, and yet Aristide's return means that Haiti's 7 million people now have a real chance for freedom and better lives.

Whatever pitfalls lie ahead, the American troops that Clinton ordered into Haiti have done a great thing. To a country that was living under the rule of terror a month ago, they have offered a new beginning.

To Haitians discouraged by the job confronting them, Aristide said, "Remember this day."

-- The Washington Post