Violence-wracked Haiti faced a new crisis yesterday after political opponents formally rejected an international peace plan and armed rebels seized another city amid warnings of a bloodbath.
The opposition on Tuesday bucked intense pressure to accept the power-sharing proposal because the plan does not include the automatic removal of embattled President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
Aristide had earlier refused to step down and predicted brutal killing sprees if his political foes did not relent.
The rejection, in a letter delivered to the plan's sponsors, was to be announced yesterday and is expected to be roundly condemned, particularly by the US, which had leaned heavily on the opposition to accept the proposal.
Evans Paul, a senior member of the Democratic Platform coalition, said the rejection letter had been handed to David Lee, the head of a special Organization of American States (OAS) mission in Haiti.
Under the plan, Aristide would have ceded significant powers to a new prime minister and Cabinet but would serve out his term. Foreign governments would have helped face down the spreading insurgency with the dispatch of an "international security presence."
US Secretary of State Colin Powell had given Haiti's political opposition until 5pm Tuesday to accept the power-sharing plan, and spoke with 20 opposition leaders by telephone before the deadline passed.
Despite the rejection, Powell has not given up on the plan.
"We are still talking and working with the parties in Haiti to gain acceptance of the plan," a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.
Powell, who spoke with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin late Tuesday, "supported the French offer to organize a meeting in Paris and hopes the parties will take advantage of the opportunity," the official said.
With their seizure of Port-de-Paix overnight, the rebels now control at least half the country. They hold nearly all of northern Haiti, including the second-largest city of Cap Haitien, which they took on Sunday, sparking chaos and widespread looting.
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Haiti has been throttled by history and let down by the West
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