Rebels threaten Haitian capital as foreigners flee

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Foreigners tried to flee Haiti on Wednesday, some guarded by U.S. Marines, as looting erupted in the capital and pressure mounted for international intervention in the 3-week-old uprising against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.\nPanic overtook the city, although there was no sign of the rebels who have overrun half of Haiti and are threatening Port-au-Prince.\nPresident Bush said the United States is encouraging the international community to provide a strong "security presence" in Haiti as Washington, D.C. and its allies work for a political solution.\nOpposition leaders asked the international community to help ensure a "timely and orderly" departure of Aristide.\nFrench Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin urged the "immediate" dispatch of an international civilian force to restore order in its former colony.\n"This force would be charged with assuring the restoration of public order and support actions in the field of the international community," de Villepin said in a statement that stopped short of calling for Aristide's resignation.\n"As far as President Aristide is concerned, he bears grave responsibility for the current situation," de Villepin said. "It's his decision, it's his responsibility. Everyone sees that this is about opening a new page in the history of Haiti."\nFrance also said it wants human rights observers sent to Haiti and a "long term" engagement of international aid aimed at reconstructing its economy.\nJamaica's U.N. Ambassador Stafford O. Neil said at the United Nations it might be possible to dispatch a small "interposition force" to keep the rebels and Aristide supporters apart.\nOne U.N. diplomat noted the rebels can only come to Port-au-Prince by two roads, so placing such a force would be relatively easy and would buy time for a political solution.\nDe Villepin said he was to meet Friday with representatives of the government and the opposition in Paris. Opposition leader Mischa Gaillard, however, said it was not clear when they would be able to leave Haiti because of the political chaos.\nAs of Wednesday morning, rebel leader Guy Philippe remained in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city.\nRoads all over Port-au-Prince were blocked by dozens of flaming barricades, shops were shuttered and hotels were barred against looters.\nThe roadblocks were intended to stop the rebels who began the uprising Feb. 5, but militants at the barricades also used guns and stones to stop cars and loot them of handbags, luggage and cell phones. Police did not intervene.\nAmerican Airlines delayed three of its five daily flights to the United States because crew and passengers were trying to get through the roadblocks. Air Jamaica canceled its flights to Haiti.\nGuy Lockrey, an auto worker from Flint, Mich., abandoned his car at a barricade and was headed to the airport on foot with his suitcase when police picked him up.\n"We didn't feel any tension until we got close to the capital," said Lockrey, who had driven from west-central Haiti, where he was helping build a church.\nU.S. Marines, who arrived Monday, were to escort a convoy of U.N. personnel. The U.N. Wednesday ordered all nonessential staff and family to leave.\n"The situation is bad and it's becoming worse," said Francoise Gruloos-Ackermans, UNICEF coordinator for Haiti.\nBritain and Australia have urged their citizens to get out of Haiti, following similar warnings from the United States, France and Mexico. There are about 30,000 foreigners in Haiti, 20,000 of them Americans.\nCanada said a team of soldiers flew into Port-au-Prince on Tuesday to aid a possible evacuation of some 1,000 Canadians.\nThe Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints was evacuating the last of its 120 missionaries.\n"We decided to leave because we heard things are going to get pretty crazy," said Joel Tougas, a church elder from Deep Cove, Canada. "We're hoping to come back when there's peace."\nTuesday, Aristide warned if rebels tried to take the capital, thousands could die. At least 70 people have been killed in the uprising, about 40 of them police officers.\nHaiti's opposition coalition refused to agree to an international peace plan diplomats had billed as Haiti's last chance for peace. Saturday, Aristide accepted the plan, which called for him to remain as president but with diminished powers, sharing the government with his political rivals.\n"It is absolutely necessary for the international community to accompany the country in its quest for a mechanism that will allow for a timely and orderly departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide," said a statement from the opposition Democratic Platform coalition.