Top-Level Foe of Aristide Flees : Haiti: Capital’s police chief, targeted for removal by U.S., is admitted into Dominican Republic. Leader of a violent militia pledges allegiance to exiled president.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Lt. Col. Michel-Joseph Francois, one of three Haitian military officers targeted for removal by the United States for their role in overthrowing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, fled the country Tuesday for the Dominican Republic.

The resignation from the army and departure of a man described variously as a “killer,” “thug” and “stooge” by U.S. officials, signaled an important move forward in the effort to restore Aristide and force Haiti’s military dictatorship out of power.

Under U.N. resolutions and American policy, Francois, Army Commander in Chief Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras and Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Philippe Biamby must resign by Oct. 15 to avoid arrest and punishment.

“That’s one out of three; only two left,” Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference in Washington.

The United States also engineered a second apparent victory Tuesday when Emmanuel (Toto) Constant, head of a violent paramilitary group and another proclaimed enemy, suddenly dropped his anti-Aristide, anti-U.S. stance and pledged nonviolence, friendship to Washington and allegiance to Aristide.

U.S. officials conceded--sometimes almost bragged--that they had arranged Constant’s new attitude by threatening the leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH), a military-sponsored death squad and political party, with severe retribution if he failed to cooperate.

The exiled Aristide on Tuesday urged Cedras and Biamby to follow Francois’ lead and leave Haiti--the sooner the better. “In 11 days, I will be back in Haiti,” Aristide said in an address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “Eleven days hence I will invite you to celebrate this festival of reconciliation and democracy and of peace back home in Haiti.” If the two remaining military men leave earlier than Oct. 15, Aristide said, he will return earlier.

Francois’ flight Tuesday removed from the scene one of the most violent and corrupt officials in what has been one of the most violent and corrupt regimes ever to rule Haiti.

Once considered the most powerful man in the country, the Port-au-Prince police chief headed for the border in the dead of night to escape embittered and frustrated followers who charged that he had betrayed them.

Francois submitted his resignation from the army during the day Monday and left his home about 9 p.m. for the Dominican border crossing an hour’s drive away at Mal Pas, where the Dominicans blocked his entry.

Close friends said the escape was moved up from Tuesday because soldiers under his command “were going to press him to react to what happened at FRAPH Monday.”

In a confrontation Monday between American troops and seven Haitian police officers who appeared to try to interfere with a U.S. raid on FRAPH offices, the Americans disarmed and arrested the police--and publicly humiliated them by handcuffing them and wrapping the mouths of at least three with heavy tape.

“The (officers) expected Michel to react, to do something,” said one associate. “If they knew that he was leaving it would have been bad, very bad.”

Francois was accompanied by, among others, his brother Evans Francois, who is his closest adviser and a former Haitian diplomat living in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital.

But the 37-year-old police chief was forced to wait more than 12 hours at Mal Pas when Dominican border guards refused him entry.

Some Haitian diplomats acknowledged that Francois was held at the border because Dominican authorities had received no go-ahead from U.S. officials to let him pass. American officials later said the detention was a mistake.

It wasn’t until about 11 a.m. Tuesday that Francois and his three-car convoy bearing Dominican diplomatic license plates were permitted through the 12-foot-high iron gate and allowed to make the five-hour drive to Santo Domingo.

Back in Port-au-Prince, Constant’s reversal of position had been preceded by peculiar developments. Constant had been constant in his pledge to resist Aristide’s safe return despite the 20,000 U.S. troops here to guarantee the president’s security.

That wasn’t his position Tuesday afternoon, when he told a news conference arranged by the U.S. Embassy that he now accepts the U.S. soldiers and virtually pledged his allegiance to the exiled Aristide.

Standing on a podium hastily constructed by the Americans at the base of a statue honoring Toussaint L’Ouverture, the hero of Haitian independence, the spindly former Cedras aide told hundreds of massed reporters: “The only solution for Haiti today is the reality of the return of Aristide. . . . Violence no longer has a place in the country. Put down your stones, put down your tires, no more violence, no more burning, no more beating. Peace.”

With American diplomats circling the scene, Constant said that FRAPH is fully cooperating with the U.S. forces all over the country. “I’m asking everybody to lay down their weapons,” he said.

As he read his statement with U.S. soldiers guarding the area, the hundreds of Haitians gathered nearby hooted and shouted: “You assassin, murderer. . . . You should be handcuffed and tried for the murders of thousands. Go away, go away.”

When asked if Constant, who has been accused privately by U.S. officials of using cocaine and other drugs, had been threatened with arrest on narcotics charges, an official smiled broadly and then said with a nod and a wink, “I didn’t say that; you did.”

Whatever the lever, the connection between Constant’s shift and the U.S. Embassy was made evident by embassy spokesman Stanley Shrager’s announcement that Constant would be holding the news conference.

In fact, Shrager wrote Constant’s opening remarks in his embassy office between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.

On Tuesday no rationale was given, even privately, for arranging a deal with Constant. “The decision was made by Gen. Shelton,” Shrager said, speaking of Lt. Gen. Hugh Shelton, commander of U.S. forces here.

Shrager did indicate that Constant is not home free.

FRAPH was founded in August, 1993, and is best known here for killing and beating rampages against civilians on behalf of the military.

With Constant subdued and Francois in Santo Domingo, the American focus now shifts to Cedras and Biamby, who have agreed to resign and permit Aristide’s return.

Cedras has said he will leave the army he has used to tyrannize Haiti since the Sept. 30, 1991, coup, but not the country. Biamby has said nothing publicly, but associates say the moody general will stay until the Oct. 15 deadline and also refuse to accept exile.

Nevertheless, U.S. diplomats here and officials in Washington say they believe Cedras will give up his commission and fly to Spain, probably Oct. 12, the day his appointment as commander in chief expires.

Francois left Haiti angry and embittered, according to a close business associate, charging that Cedras had sold out the country, the army and Francois personally by accepting the presence of U.S. troops.

Paradoxically, Francois, whom most experts consider the real 1991 coup leader and the strongest opponent of Aristide, broke with Cedras and Biamby in February when he decided that Haitian resistance to Aristide’s return would lead to disaster, his friends say.

In fact, he was urged by his brother Evans to revolt against the two generals last May, when an American invasion became a distinct possibility, one associate said. “But he couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t move against his superior officers.”

Times staff writer Mark Fineman contributed to this report.