PORT-AU PRINCE Oct 9: Lt Gen Raoul Cedras will resign tomorrow and his No 2 com mander will take over as army chief under an agreement worked out by his representatives tn Washington sources close to the Haitian military said Saturday reports AP

Also going in a shuffle of the army high command wifi be Hng Ou Philippe Bunin the sources said on condition of anonymity

The information could not 1* immediately confirmed by US sources However although a Stale Department official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity said a "small group of Haitian sol diers travelled to Washington

at the request of exiled President .Jean Bertrand Aristide for a meeting with him or his representatives The group returned to Haiti on Saturday night

Another US official in Port-au-Prince said the agreement makes sense " as does the re port of a list given by Haitian sources of a new command lineup for the Haitian military

US officials at the State Department in Washington could not immediately be reached for comment

According to the list re counted by the Haitian sources

— Cedras would be replaced at ‘east temporarily by Gen Jean Claude Duperval the current No 2 in (he army

whose power had widely been eclipsed by Biamby. the No 3 In command

— Replacing Biamby would be Col Herbert Valtnond Another anti US member of the high command not listed in the new command was Col. Carl Dorelien. who lambasted American soldiers during funeral services Thursday for 10 soldiers killed In a firefight with American troops in Cap Haitien on September 24

Oilier members of the new leadership would be Brig Gen Max Mayard and Cola Alex Rene and Eddy Iziuis

The United States, with 20,000 soldiers In Hatti to tn sure a transition to conatlut

tional government, is pressuring Cedras and Biamby not only to quit but to leave the country.

They have run Haiti since the 1991 overthrow of the democratically elected Aristide, who has pledged to return here Saturday.

■ The Haitian sources said Cedras will resign Monday under the agreement worked out in Washington.

Another American source here said he expected "a little ceremony" to mark the turnover.

Earlier Saturday, US Defence Secretary William Perry met with Cedras and later declared "significant progress" in restoring elected rule.

Perry's meeting with Cedras ended an eight-hour visit, his second in two weeks. Cedras' arrival at the airport prompted rumors and excitement among dozens ol Haitians there, who .believed he was about to go into exile.

When asked when Cedras ' was leaving. Perry told reporters — just before meeting the general — “We hope it will be very soon."

The United States has been pressuring Cedras not only to step down from power but to leave Haiti before the scheduled return of Aristide, whom Cedras overthrew In a coup three years ago.