Marines land in Haiti as Aristide flees

US Marines flew into the chaotic Haitian capital after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into exile in Africa yesterday, driven out by a bloody revolt and foreign pressure.

The sounds of gunfire, looting and celebration rang out in Port-au-Prince as Aristide was escorted to the airport on Sunday by heavily-armed US guards. He arrived early yesterday in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, witnesses said.

Just minutes after the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of a multinational force, the first of several hundred Marines ordered in by US President George W. Bush arrived in Port-au-Prince to prevent armed insurgents making a grab for power.

"This is the beginning of a new chapter in the country's history," Bush said.

Aristide said he resigned to avert "a bloodbath." Within hours, Haitian Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre was named to replace him as laid out in the constitution.

As word of Aristide's departure spread, mayhem gripped the ramshackle capital of 2 million people -- a quarter of Haiti's impoverished population.

Looters ransacked stores, hardcore criminals escaped from prisons and the first rebels to arrive went on a ride around town in pickup trucks, hugging the people they came to "liberate."

Bush ordered the deployment of US Marines to serve as the vanguard of a multinational security force. It was the third major deployment of US troops to Haiti in the past century. The last was just 10 years ago when President Bill Clinton sent 20,000 Marines to restore Aristide to power after he had been ousted in a coup.

More than 120 French troops were due to arrive yesterday, and Canada, which has about 50 troops in the country, said it could send another 100 at short notice. Brazil is expected to contribute to the force, given an initial mandate of three months.

Aristide, 50, whose battle to end decades of dictatorship once made him a hero of Haitian democracy but has since faced accusations of corruption and political violence, left after an uprising that began 24 days ago crept close to Port-au-Prince.

The US, which along with former colonial power France had called on Aristide to quit to help bring an end to the crisis in the poorest country in the Americas, urged rebels to lay down their arms.

The rebels promised to cooperate and stop fighting.

Guy Philippe, an ex-police chief accused of fomenting earlier coup attempts, and who joined the revolt, told CNN's Late Edition program he welcomed the Marines.

"We are waiting for them. We need them," Philippe said. "They will have full cooperation."

The rebellion, which capped months of simmering political tension, began on Feb. 5 in the western city of Gonaives, led by a street gang that once supported Aristide.

It spread over the north of the country and killed more than 70 people, including at least five men found dead in Port-au-Prince on Sunday as opponents of the president hunted down his dreaded "chimeres" -- street toughs armed by Aristide to enforce his will in the country's sprawling slums.

The departure of Aristide -- who had been insisting that Haiti's 32 coups in 200 years of indepen-dence would not culminate in his own ouster, and that he would serve out his second term until 2006 -- was arranged by US officials.

Aristide initially traveled to the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and then to the eastern Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda.

Witnesses in the Central African Republic said they watched as Aristide arrived at Mpoko airport in Bangui early yesterday.