Rebels began moving toward Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince on Thursday and are awaiting the order to attack, a guerrilla leader told The Associated Press...
News Source: NY Times
``I don't want him to die. It would be too easy. He has to pay for what he has done to the Haitian people,'' Philippe said in an interview with the AP in Cap-Haitien, the country's second-largest city that fell to the rebels Sunday.
Pressure is mounting for Aristide to resign, with France blaming him for the chaos in its former colony in the 3-week-old rebellion and urging that he be replaced by a transitional government. The U.N. Security Council scheduled a meeting for later Thursday.
Foreigners are fleeing Haiti amid isolated looting, and President Bush said the United States is encouraging the international community to provide a strong ``security presence.''
Amid concerns of a refugee exodus toward Florida, the U.S. Coast Guard said it has intercepted about a dozen small vessels within 50 miles of the Haitian coast during the last three to four days. Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz said 546 Haitians have been brought onto Coast Guard cutters, where they were receiving food and water.
``We've decided to go toward Port-au-Prince. They're on their way,'' said Philippe, leader of the uprising that has overrun half of Haiti and killed at least 80 people. ``They're taking their places. They know what to do.''
Aristide, who has shown determination to keep power, has said a rebel attack on the capital could kill thousands.
Most of the barricades that had been erected by Aristide supporters in Port-au-Prince were removed Thursday and streets were empty, except for motorists lining up for dwindling supplies of gasoline.
The rebel movement already has sleeper cells in the capital but they would be reinforced by fighters from rebel groups moving in from variety of locations in the north, Philippe said.
Asked if an attack was imminent, he said: ``It doesn't mean that we're going to attack today. We're just going to take our positions and wait for the right time.''
There were no independent eyewitness reports of rebel movement, but there appeared to be very few fighters in Cap-Haitien, where hundreds had been seen Wednesday. Cap-Haitien is just 90 miles north of Port-au-Prince, but is a seven-hour drive over potholed roads sometimes reduced to bedrock.
Scouts were checking ``pockets of resistance,'' he said. That might include the government-held town of St. Marc, on the main road from Gonaives to Port-au-Prince.
On Wednesday night, rebel commander Winter Etienne and others crowded around a map of Haiti on the wall of the Mont Joli Hotel, discussing the best route to take and whether to use boats to get around St. Marc.
``It won't take a lot of days. We don't have all our lives to wait for what a dictator is going to do,'' Philippe said Thursday.
A government official said Aristide's National Palace was defended by about 100 officers in Haiti's force of fewer than 4,000. Philippe has boasted he now commands 5,000 men -- thanks to volunteers from the scores of towns they have passed through in northern Haiti.
Philippe said Wednesday he was going to give Aristide a chance to step down. On Saturday, Aristide agreed to a U.S.-backed plan to share power, but the opposition rejected it, saying he must step down.
``We saw there was no hope for peace,'' Philippe said. ``We spent a week waiting for this peace to come. We can't stay waiting for him to decide while his people are killing people. ... Every day, innocent people are being killed, houses are being burned.''
Concerned about the increasing chaos, France called for Aristide's resignation, saying ``he bears grave responsibility for the current situation.''
``It's up to him to accept the consequences while respecting the rule of law,'' Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said in a statement.
French diplomatic officials confirmed Thursday that de Villepin was calling for Aristide to resign.
Abel Descollines, a member of the opposition Democratic Platform coalition, praised France's statement and asked 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.
