HAITI AT THE EDGE OF THE VOLCANO A government hangs on for life

''I have absolutely no sense of guilt, no reproach whatever to myself.'' With that, the former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude (''Baby Doc'') Duvalier, 35, insisted last week in an ABC interview from his rented villa on the French Riviera that he could not be blamed for the plight of his country. But back home in Baby Doc's impoverished Caribbean nation, the three-man ruling National Council of Government, led by Lieut. General Henri Namphy, 53, seemed to be having a hard time holding the country together. The latest troubles began last month when the Information Ministry hired a sports reporter who had been a favorite of the exiled Duvalier to broadcast commentary on the World Cup matches from Mexico for a fee of $10,000. The TV station's director promptly resigned and 180 of his employees staged a walkout, thereby shutting down the facility. Secretary of State for * Information Aubelin Jolicoeur only made matters worse by going on the radio and declaring that the strikers were ''without honor.'' Said he: ''If I saw them, I would spit in their faces.'' The government's action in the TV case led to violent demonstrations in Port-au-Prince and several other cities. Protesters blocked highways by erecting burning barricades. Along the Harry Truman Sea Drive in the capital, angry youths hurled rocks and pieces of iron at passing motorists. Observed Port-au-Prince Businessman Roger Savain: ''Any country that has such a legion of poor and unemployed is a volcano ready to erupt.'' The wave of unrest was also directed against the unpopular Colonel Williams Regala, the Interior Minister and a member of the ruling junta. Regala was blamed for a clash between demonstrators and security forces that occurred in April at the notorious Fort Dimanche Prison during a memorial service for thousands of Haitians who died there during the Duvalier dictatorship. At least seven people were killed after protesters attempted to invade the fort. Perhaps most important, however, Haitians were upset about the disastrous state of the economy and the slow pace of reform. Last week Foreign Minister Jean-Baptiste Hilaire met with U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz in Washington and was promised an increase in U.S. aid from $50 million to $70 million for 1986. Even so, many Haitians blame their economic problems on Finance Minister Leslie Delatour, 34, a former World Bank official. Because of his advocacy of a belt-tightening austerity program in a time of staggering unemployment, Delatour is ridiculed by some of his countrymen as a toutou, or puppy, of the Americans. After a fortnight of unrest, the country appeared to be settling down last week as a one-day national strike passed uneventfully. In a conciliatory speech a few days earlier, Namphy had promised his countrymen, ''Things are going to change.'' He added, ''You want a revolution in Haiti. We are going to do it together.'' Namphy sought to disarm his critics by saying that national elections would be held in November 1987. After 28 years of Duvalier rule, Haiti is beset by an opposition that is splintered into two dozen or more parties that may decide to field presidential candidates. The situation was so volatile that nobody could possibly predict what Haiti might be like in 17 months' time. But for the moment, many Haitians believe the present junta has a better-than-even chance of lasting long enough to surrender power to a democratically elected government.