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By Wire servicesA gang in Haiti declared independence Thursday, and Americans were warned to leave.
Haiti's rebellion kept spreading Thursday, as the president defiantly pronounced himself ready to die rather than surrender power.
The Bush administration convened diplomats to broker a political settlement as it urged Americans to leave the country and said it will send a small military team to assess the security of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.
The last major government bastion in northern Haiti is Cap-Haitien, the second-largest city, where armed supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide patrolled, vowing to fight any rebel attempt to seize control. Frightened police remained barricaded in their station, saying they were too few and poorly armed to repel any attack. Both sides have committed reprisal killings, and dozens of homes have been torched.
The uprising, which began Feb. 5, is led by a gang that says it was armed by Aristide to terrorize his opponents in Gonaives, a rebel-held city and the country's fourth-largest, northwest of Port-au-Prince. Its members turned on Haiti's leader after gang leader Amiot Metayer was killed in September, saying he was silenced to stop him from spreading damaging information about Aristide. Aristide denies any connection to the gang.
On Thursday, the gang declared its independence in Gonaives. The insurgents named Guy Philippe, a former police chief accused of planning a 2001 attack on Haiti's National Palace that killed 10, as head of the armed forces.
"Alone we are weak, together we are strong, together we are the resistance," shouted Buteur Metayer, head of a group once known as the Cannibal Army, chanting along with some 20,000 supporters in Gonaives, Reuters reported. The rebels named their country Artibonite, after the rice-growing region surrounding the city.
The rapidly unfolding developments hinted that the Haitian crisis may soon turn critical. The rebels vowed to attack Port-au-Prince within a week and depose Aristide.
In the capital, Aristide declared he is ready to die to defend his country against the rebellion.
"I am ready to give my life if that is what it takes to defend my country," Aristide told stony-faced police officers honoring slain comrades at a ceremony in Port-au-Prince.
"If wars are expensive, peace can be even more expensive," warned Aristide, who has survived three assassination attempts and a coup.
At least 57 Haitians have died violently since the uprising began two weeks ago, among them about 40 police officers, said Jean-Gerard Dubreuil, Haiti's undersecretary for public security.
Amid the chaos, the United States urged Americans to leave Haiti. More than 20,000 Americans are registered with the U.S. Embassy.
Peace Corps personnel were being withdrawn, and other U.S. citizens should leave while commercial transportation is still available, the State Department said.
"American citizens should be aware that the U.S. Embassy has prohibited travel by its staff outside of Port-au-Prince," the warning said.
Under pressure from relief agencies, human rights groups and lawmakers, the administration brought together diplomats from the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community, the United Nations and France to draft a peace proposal.
Ambassadors from those organizations and countries plan to present the plan today in Haiti. It calls on Aristide to appoint a new government, strengthen the police and release detainees, while requiring that his opponents disarm and enter a political dialogue, the New York Times reported, quoting unnamed officials.
Some observers said that such reforms are a tall order for a country in turmoil, and they note that many Aristide opponents say they will accept nothing less than his departure.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Aristide's resignation is not part of the plan, though he left open the possibility that the president might step down under a negotiated settlement.
"If an agreement is reached that moves that in another direction, that's fine," Powell said on ABC Radio. "But right now, he has no intention to step down, and since he is the elected leader of Haiti, we should not be putting forward a plan that would require him to step down."
But the plan does not address how to end the northern rebellion. Powell said the international community must do what it can to help Aristide in his capacity as Haiti's elected leader. But many countries, including the United States, have accused Aristide of using police and militant supporters to stifle opposition.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said it is sending a small military team to assess the security of the U.S. Embassy and its staff in the Caribbean country. The security team will depart today from the U.S. Southern Command in Miami.
In Miami, a Southern Command spokesman said the security team would be limited to assessing security arrangements at the embassy and wouldn't examine the political and military situation or the strength of the rebels.
The Pentagon added that the Port-au-Prince embassy's ability to provide emergency services to American citizens outside the capital is limited and has "drastically decreased in recent days due to numerous random roadblocks set up by armed groups."
Aristide got to serve only two years of his first term of office, shortchanged by U.S. insistence that he could not recoup three years lost in exile and had to respect a constitutional term limit.
Instead, he handpicked his successor and was largely seen as the power behind the scenes until his return in 2000 through elections marred by a low voter turnout and an opposition boycott.
He has lost much support since flawed legislative elections that year led international donors to freeze aid. Even before the rebellion, half of Haiti's 8-million people went hungry daily, according to aid organizations.
The United Nations said Thursday that it is sending a team to Port-de-Paix and Cap-Haitien to assess the situation.
U.S. officials have said they see no signs so far of widespread boat-building on the north coast, something that presumably would occur before any refugee exodus.
- Information from the Associated Press, New York Times, Cox News Service and Knight Ridder Newspapers was used in this report.