HAITI: Faced with an armed rebellion and intense pressure from the United States, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned and left the country yesterday, leaving a leadership void in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Hours after he left, looters ransacked police stations in the capital, Port-au-Prince, prisons were opened and residents ran for cover as gunfire crackled.
Heavily armed US security forces stood guard as Haitian Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre was announced as the new interim president at the Prime Minister's mansion.
Mr Aristide travelled to the eastern Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda after resigning, the Haitian consul in the capital of the Dominican Republic, Mr Edwin Paraison, said.
He said Mr Aristide had gone to Antigua so his aircraft could refuel, and then was planning to travel to Morocco.
Morocco said yesterday it would not grant the former president asylum.
It was not clear whether Mr Aristide had already left Antigua, Mr Paraison said.
US officials in Washington said the United States had facilitated Mr Aristide's departure from Haiti at the former Haitian president's request. As the looting went on, it was difficult to know who was in control, if anyone. Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the city centre near the presidential palace.
Earlier, police guarding the main prison in Port-au-Prince abandoned the jail, some changing from uniforms into street clothes to avoid detection.
The jail emptied some 2,000 inmates into the streets, including murderers and other hard-core criminals.
The reaction of Mr Aristide's backers was swift and angry. Armed bands of chimères, the most militant and ruthless of the ex-president's supporters from the slums, roamed the city in pickup trucks, armed with shotguns and machetes.
But there were also celebrations. "We feel very happy. We are no longer afraid of anyone," said René, a graphic designer, standing by with a dozen other Haitians on a main road to the capital.
"We're waiting for the international force to come to Haiti."
"They must come quickly," another person chimed in.
Some in the crowd shouted "Vive Philippe!" referring to Guy Philippe, a rebel leader controlling half the country and whose three-week-old rebellion helped spark Mr Aristide's departure.
Just after the shouting, a truck carrying armed chimères, named after fire-breathing monsters of Greek mythology, sped past.
Through the vehicle's open door, a hooded man dressed in black swung a gun from side to side.
Looters attacked a police station in the upscale suburb of Petionville, carting away police hats, T-shirts and helmets. Two men hoisted a new refrigerator, still wrapped in plastic. One balanced a cooler on his head. Others took televisions, filing cabinets and even doors from the station. Police later regained control of the outpost.
In central Port-au-Prince, near the presidential palace, large crowds gathered, throwing stones and shouting insults at journalists.
Others gathered at street corners, puzzled by the events, with their heads bent over radios. Cars sped by, swerving around an old refrigerator blockading the road.
US guards shadowed every movement of Haiti's new leader, Mr Alexandre, as he held a hastily organized news conference.
US ambassador Mr James Foley stood by with the guards, giving more statements than the new leader. - (Reuters)