Aristide supporters prepare for last stand in Haiti capital

Supporters of Haiti's embattled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide steeled themselves for a last stand in the capital, Port-au-Prince, yesterday. They faced a rapidly expanding rebel insurgency which tightened its grip on the country's second-largest city, Cap-Haitien, and vowed to have the country under its control within two weeks.

Gangs of pro-Aristide street children repelled attacks on two police stations just north of Port-au-Prince over the weekend, suggesting that a showdown was imminent. By yesterday, they had set up barricades of burning tyres, vehicles and stones on the main roads leading into the city and were stopping every incoming car to check for weapons.

As police were reported to be fleeing their posts in Cap-Haitien and rebel leaders were said to be conducting house-to-house searches to find and execute pro-Aristide sympathisers, the mood in the capital turned sombre.

The traffic that usually crams the narrow streets was reduced to a trickle, and carnival celebrations - extended from three days to five this year to mark the bicentennial of Haiti's independence - were an almost complete washout. With much of the country engulfed in chaos, including mass looting and revenge killings, Mr Aristide is growing increasingly isolated.

The opposition appeared to be letting events take their course rather than signing an internationally brokered power-sharing agreement which would let the President serve out the rest of his term. The international community has resisted calls for armed intervention - in effect abandoning Mr Aristide to his fate.

France and the United States have urged their nationals to leave the country as soon as possible. A detachment of 50 US Marines left for Haiti yesterday to protect the US embassy in Port-au-Prince.

The rebels' uprising has moved with remarkable speed, spreading from the port city of Gonaives to the entire northern half of the country. The Gonaives rebels - former Aristide supporters who switched sides after the murder of their leader - have been bolstered by elements of the disbanded Haitian military, including commanders of a notorious death squad which terrorised the country in the early 1990s.

Cap-Haitien, a city of half a million inhabitants, was taken by a force of just 200 men. Poorly equipped police put up no resistance. The only significant exchange of fire took place at the airport, where at least eight people were reported to have died. Reporters in the city said they had counted seven other bodies elsewhere - possibly the victims of revenge killings.

The capture of Cap-Haitien led to looting at the still-smoking airport building. Some Aristide supporters, including several police commanders, managed to fly one last plane out of the city on Sunday.

The battle for Port-au-Prince is likely to be tougher, since street gangs fiercely loyal to Mr Aristide have vowed to fight furiously on his behalf. Unlike the police, they have access to large arsenals of sub-machine guns and other automatic weapons. The rebel leaders, however, gave no indication that the toughest part of their operation was still to come. The veteran police and army commander Guy Philippe told reporters at a Cap-Haitien hotel: "I think that in less than 15 days we will control all of Haiti."