Rebels Advance On Haiti Capital

A rebel leader said Thursday that fighters opposed to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide are converging on Port-au-Prince, waiting for order to attack.

"We've decided to go toward Port-au-Prince. They're on their way," Guy Philippe said in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city in the north, which fell to the rebels Sunday. "They're taking their places. They know what to do."

France made clear that it wanted Aristide to resign and called for the immediate establishment of a transitional government.

On the capital's streets, police watched idly as thieves wearing black ski masks and armed with guns and stones swarmed motorists trapped by roadblocks, stripping people — many of them attempting to flee the city — of luggage, handbags and cell phones.

The U.S. Embassy was closed by what American officials called "gang activity."

The rebels have overrun half of Haiti. Having disbanded the military after he was returned to power following a 1991 coup, Aristide has little to protect him.

Around Port-Au-Prince, most of the dozens of barricades, constructed from burning tires, large rocks and wrecked vehicles, were erected and guarded by militant Aristide supporters, who have been accused of rampant human rights violations.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin unveiled a five-point initiative that also calls for an international civilian force to restore order and back up a new "national unity" government. De Villepin issued the proposal in a statement that squarely blamed Haiti's crisis on Aristide.

"As far as President Aristide is concerned, he bears grave responsibility for the current situation. It's up to him to accept the consequences while respecting the rule of law," said the statement, issued Wednesday.

French diplomatic officials confirmed Thursday that de Villepin, in political parlance, was calling for Aristide's resignation.

Aristide's two daughters flew to the United States on Thursday. The president himself has pledged not to leave his post.

French Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau said it was too early to discuss whether there would be a role for the military in ensuring a peaceful departure by Aristide, should he leave the island.

"I can't answer that. It's much too early. Everything depends on the discussion that takes place this afternoon at the Security Council," Bureau said.

France is Haiti's former colonial ruler. Last year, Aristide began a push for France to repay some $21.7 billion in reparations.

On Wednesday, President Bush indicated the U.S. would not intervene militarily as it did ten years ago, when it restored Aristide to power following the coup.

Mr. Bush repeated the United States' oft-stated policy in recent days that it will turn back any Haitian refugees trying to reach American shores.

"With violence increasing and food shortages widespread, the threat of an exodus is real," said CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk.

In Florida, a freighter with 21 Haitians on board was intercepted by the Coast Guard off the coast of Miami Beach on Wednesday.

The French foreign minister, meanwhile, called for a peace plan based on a proposal by the 15-nation Caribbean Community, known as CARICOM, to be accelerated and broadened to include "the immediate establishment of a civilian peacekeeping force."

On Wednesday, a coalition of political opponents formally rejected that plan, which Aristide had accepted.

De Villepin said he spoke several times Tuesday and Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, other foreign diplomats and Haitian political officials. He said he was to meet Friday with representatives of the Haitian government and the opposition in Paris.

As part of the broadened CARICOM plan, the French government called for international assistance to help Haiti organize a presidential election, including establishing an election commission, lists of "legitimate" voters and international observer missions to oversee the ballot.

It also called for delivery of humanitarian aid, the dispatch of human rights observers and a "long-term" international engagement to reconstruct Haiti's economy and society.

Abel Descollines, a member of the opposition Democratic Platform coalition, praised France's call for Aristide to step down and issued a plea to the United States and Canada to do the same.

"We hope American and Canadian authorities will rally behind the French position to help Haiti avoid a civil war," he told French RTL radio.

Aristide, a 50-year-old former slum priest, once commanded widespread support as Haiti's first democratically elected leader and savior to the poor, but he has steadily lost support as poverty deepened after his party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors suspended aid.

The elections dispute concerned a handful of Senate seats that went to Aristide supporters, but opposition leaders have boycotted subsequent elections, paralyzing the government.

On Wednesday, a convicted drug lord, provided damning testimony against Aristide, saying the president was profiting from cocaine trafficking.

Beaudoin "Jacques" Ketant testified in Miami after being sentenced to 27 years for money laundering and allegedly shepherding 41 tons of drugs for Colombian drug cartels through Haiti to the United States from 1987 to 1996.

"He turned the country into a narco-country," Ketant said.

Ira Kurzban, a Miami attorney for the Haitian government, dismissed the allegations from "a lying, convicted drug dealer."

Kurzban claimed on a U.S. radio program that the U.S. was aiding the rebels. He cited the U.S. shipment last year of 20,000 automatic rifles to the Dominican Republic. The arms were ostensibly for border patrol. Some of the rebel groups were based in the Republic before the uprising began.