PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -- Four U.S. congressmen visited Haiti on
                  Thursday to meet with the country's leaders about President Rene Preval's
                  recent decision to remove many of the Caribbean nation's elected officials
                  from office, contending their terms had expired.

                  The lawmakers arrived less than a week after four U.S.

                  senators offered a resolution in Congress condemning "extra-constitutional
                  and anti-democratic actions of President Preval of Haiti" and calling on
                  Haiti's government to "fully restore the legitimate exercise of power by a
                  democratically elected national assembly."

                  The visiting congressmen -- Charles Rangel, Democrat of New York,
                  Benjamin Gilman, Republican of New York, Porter Goss, Republican of
                  Florida, and John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan -- met Haitian legislators
                  at parliament before leaving for a meeting with Preval.

                  "We are here to explore how best we can help the government of Haiti get
                  over this ... crisis, and we were here exploring with the parliamentarians how
                  best we can be of assistance," Gilman told Reuters as he left the parliament
                  meeting.

                  The United States has spent billions of dollars in Haiti in recent years,
                  including sending some 20,000 troops to occupy the county in 1994 to end
                  a three-year military dictatorship and restore and then uphold its fledgling
                  democracy.

                  Some U.S. officials have been angered by its long political crisis, which
                  escalated Jan. 11 when Preval declared that the terms of most members of
                  parliament and elected officials had expired under electoral law, and that
                  they should leave their offices until the country can hold new elections.

                  Preval's statement effectively dissolved parliament, prompting critics to
                  charge that he had staged a coup. His backers said he had taken necessary
                  steps to end a long stalemate.

                  Haiti has not held elections since April 1997, when only 5 percent of eligible
                  voters turned out for local and legislative balloting tainted by allegations of
                  fraud.

                  The country's last prime minister, Rosny Smarth, resigned in June 1997 and
                  he has not been replaced. Parliament -- dominated by the opposition
                  Organisation of People in Struggle (OPL) party -- has rejected all three of
                  Preval's nominations.

                  The standoff between Preval's Fanmi Lavalas party and parliament has held
                  up millions of dollars in international aid to the hemisphere's poorest nation,
                  kept Haiti from passing a budget and indefinitely delayed elections.

                  Preval this week began replacing government officials whose terms he claims
                  have expired, ousting many of the Caribbean nation's mayors and replacing
                  them with interim managers.

                  Joseph Emmanuel "Manno" Charlemagne, mayor of Haiti's capital
                  Port-au-Prince, was removed from his office on Wednesday after interim
                  officials named by Preval, escorted by security forces, were installed in city
                  hall.

                  "We are asking all the citizens of Port-au-Prince to join hands with the
                  commission to manage Port-au-Prince city hall," Phares Pierre, general
                  director of the Interior Ministry, said at a ceremony to install the interim
                  team.

                  Charlemagne said earlier this week that he would vacate his post only after
                  new elections, but he made no public effort to prevent his removal on
                  Wednesday.

                  Jackson Bellevue, secretary-general of Haiti's Association of Mayors, held a
                  news conference at the parliament in Port-au-Prince on Thursday to
                  denounce Preval's action.

                  "The appointment of the interim officials is a violation of the law," Bellevue
                  said. Municipal officials have been replaced in similar ceremonies across
                  Haiti this week.

                   Copyright 1999 Reuters.