PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned and flew into exile yesterday, pressured by foreign governments and a bloody rebellion. Gunfire crackled as the capital fell into chaos, and Washington dispatched Marines.

The Marines, due to arrive yesterday afternoon, were expected to be the first wave of a UN-backed international peace-keeping force. France also said it was considering sending troops, with more than 100 to arrive today to protect its citizens.

The head of Haiti’s Supreme Court said he was taking charge of the Government, and a key rebel leader said he welcomed the arrival of foreign troops.

“I think the worst is over, and we’re waiting for the international forces. They will have our full co-operation,” Guy Philippe told CNN. Later, an Associated Press reporter joined Philippe and three other rebel leaders in a convoy from their Cap-Haitien base in northern Haiti. They said they were moving south to Gonaives, and later Port-au-Prince.

Philippe spoke to The Associated Press in a crowd of people celebrating Aristide’s departure. “Aristide’s out! He’s gone!” they crowed.

But anarchy raged in the capital.

Furious mobs of Aristide supporters roamed the streets armed with old rifles, pistols, machetes and sticks. Some fired wildly into crowds on the Champs de Mars, the main square in front of the National Palace. Looters emptied a police station and hit pharmacies, supermarkets and other businesses, mostly on the capital’s outskirts.

Inmates were freed from the National Penitentiary and other jails around the country.

“Chop off their heads and burn their homes,” the rioters screamed, echoing the war cry of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the general who ousted French troops and torched plantations to end slavery in Haiti 200 years ago.

On the main John Brown Boulevard, Aristide followers armed with shotguns set up a roadblock; at the same spot, hours later, they had disappeared – leaving behind the bullet-riddled bodies of three men sprawled inside an all-terrain vehicle.

Some anti-Aristide militants began organising armed posses that prowled in pick-up trucks, searching for Aristide supporters. In the back of one a man lay unconscious – or dead – with a head wound.

The casualty toll was unknown.

Police finally deployed in the afternoon, scared away the crowd in the front of the palace, and the violence ebbed.

Residents sat outside their homes in the tropical heat, some listening intently to radios pressed against their ears. Police patrolled several neighbourhoods.

“Some people cried” at the news that Aristide had fled, Jackson Thomas, 32, said in garbage-strewn La Saline slum that is a stronghold of the ex-president. “He loves us. He was going to get rid of the slum,” he said.

James Voltaire, 28, said Haiti’s constitution had been violated. “Whoever the president is, it’s going to be a losing situation. As long as we don’t see our real president (Aristide) we will stay mobilised,” he warned.

UN diplomats said key Security Council members would begin talks yesterday about a resolution to authorise peace-keepers for Haiti, which erupted into violence 3 1/2 weeks ago when rebels began driving police from towns and cities in the north.

“The Government believes it is essential that Haiti have a hopeful future. This is the beginning of a new chapter,” US President George W Bush said at the White House. “I would urge the people of Haiti to reject violence, to give this break from the past a chance to work. And the United States is prepared to help.”

But some foreign leaders denounced the apparent forced resignation of Aristide, saying it was anti-democratic.

“The removal of President Aristide in these circumstances sets a dangerous precedent for democratically elected governments anywhere and everywhere, as it promotes the removal of duly elected persons from office by the power of rebel forces,” said P J Patterson, the prime minister of Jamaica.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela denounced “the Haitian oligarchy and its foreign allies” who had perpetrated the “tragedy” of Aristide’s resignation.

South Africa’s foreign ministry said “the ousting” of Aristide “did not bode well for democracy”.

The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not say how many Marines were expected in the speedy deployment, ordered by Bush only hours after Aristide left under pressure from the United States and former colonial power France.

Though not aligned with rebels, the political Opposition also pushed for Aristide to leave for the good of Haiti’s eight million people, angered by poverty, corruption and crime. The uprising – only the most recent violence in this Caribbean nation – killed at least 100 people.

Prime Minister Yvon Neptune told a press conference that Aristide resigned to “prevent bloodshed”, but there were conflicting reports on where the ex-leader would go.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said South Africa was the country most often mentioned.

National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice said Aristide was going to a “third” country, meaning he would not take refuge in the United States as he did the last time he was ousted, in 1991.

Aristide’s jet refuelled on the island of Antigua and was en route to South Africa, Government and airport officials in that Caribbean country said.

Officials in Johannesburg said there had been no offer of asylum to Aristide. Other reports said Aristide would go to Morocco, Taiwan or Panama. But officials in Taiwan said there were no plans to shelter Aristide, and Morocco said he was not welcome.

Three hours after Aristide’s departure, Supreme Court Justice Boniface Alexandre declared at a news conference that he was taking over as called for by the constitution. He urged calm.

“The task will not be an easy one,” said Alexandre, a former jurist in his 60s with a reputation for honesty. “Haiti is in crisis. … It needs all its sons and daughters. No one should take justice into their own hands.”

Despite Alexandre’s declaration that he was in charge, the Haitian constitution calls for Parliament to approve him as leader, and the legislature has not met since early this year when lawmakers’ terms expired.

Haiti’s political Opposition yesterday postponed a decision on whether to accept a proposal for forming a new government offered by the Caribbean Community of nations and the Organisation of American States. The plan calls for the Government, the Opposition and the international community to form a panel of three, which would name a committee to pick a new prime minister and set a date for elections.

Half the country is in the hands of the rebels, including former soldiers of the army that Aristide disbanded during a political career tainted by alleged fraud.

Philippe, the rebel leader, said his forces would head for the capital but would not engage in any further fighting.

He also said rebels wanted to take part in any negotiations about Haiti’s future, but had already accepted Alexandre as president.

Another rebel commander, Winter Etienne, said the fighters – a motley group also led by a former army death squad commander and a former pro-Aristide street gang chief – would disarm once a new Government is installed.

As he spoke, rebels rode through rebel-held Cap-Haitien in trucks, waving at hundreds of people who danced and sang in the streets in celebration.

Haiti’s crisis has been brewing since his party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors froze millions of dollars in aid.

Opponents also accused him of breaking promises to help the poor, allowing corruption fuelled by drug-trafficking and masterminding attacks on opponents by armed gangs – charges the president denied.

It was the second time that the 50-year-old former slum pastor fled his country. Aristide was ousted in a 1991 coup, months after he was elected president for the first time. He was restored to power three years later by US troops.

Aristide’s hand-picked successor, Rene Preval, won the 1995 presidential elections and Aristide won a second term in 2000 in elections marred by a low turnout and an Opposition boycott.