PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) – Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled his chaotic Caribbean country Sunday in the face of a bloody revolt.
President Bush ordered in U.S. Marines to restore order.
Aristide said he resigned to avert ?a bloodbath? but turmoil persisted in Port-au-Prince, where shooting rang out as armed Aristide supporters roamed the streets, a big prison was emptied of criminals and looters ransacked a police station.
Bush ordered the immediate deployment of U.S. Marines to serve as the vanguard of an international security force aimed at heading off a power struggle and restoring stability in Haiti. More than 120 French troops were to leave for Haiti Sunday night.
Canada, which has about 20 troops in the country, says it could send in another 100 on short notice.
?There will be some forces that are expected to be there this evening,? a U.S. defense official said on condition of anonymity.
Aristide, 50, whose role in a popular uprising that ended decades of dictatorship in the 1980s once made him a hero of Haitian democracy, left early Sunday morning.
It was 24 days since the uprising began in the poorest country in the Americas, and 10 years since the former priest was restored to office in a U.S.-led invasion after being bundled out in a 1991 coup shortly after first taking office.
The United States, which along with former colonial power France had called on Aristide to quit to help bring an end to the crisis, urged rebels to lay down their arms.
One of the rebel leaders said after Aristide left that ?we don?t intend to fight anymore.?
?If we move in Port-au-Prince it will be to put (impose) security but we don?t intend to fight anymore,? Guy Philippe, a former police chief who joined the rebels, told CNN?s ?Late Edition? program.
The revolt, which capped months of simmering political tensions, began on Feb. 5 in the western city of Gonaives, led by a street gang that once supported Aristide but had turned against him.
The uprising spread over much of the country and killed nearly 70 people. With rebels closing in on Port-au-Prince, many had feared a bloody battle for control with Aristide?s militant supporters. Hundreds of foreigners had fled.
ARISTIDE?S DESTINATION UNCLEAR
The departure of Aristide, who had been insisting up until late this week that he would serve out his second term until 2006, was arranged by U.S. officials.
Within hours, Haitian Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre was named to replace Aristide as laid out in the constitution.
Aristide?s destination was unclear. Haiti?s consul in the capital of the neighboring Dominican Republic said he traveled to the eastern Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda to refuel and was then planning to travel to Morocco. But Morocco said it would not grant Aristide asylum.
Panama said it would offer temporary refuge if no country offered asylum in the coming hours.
Several of Aristide?s supporters escaped to the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune read a statement by Aristide in which he said, ?the constitution should not sink in the blood of the Haitian people.?
?That?s why, if tonight my resignation is the decision that can avoid a bloodbath, I consent to leave with hope there will be life, not death,? Aristide said in the statement, evidently written late Saturday night.
Speaking at a ceremony at Neptune?fs home, U.S. Ambassador James Foley urged the rebels to lay down their arms.