PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - US Marines and French troops started their peacekeeping mission in volatile Haiti as rebels made a triumphant entrance into Port-au-Prince following the resignation and flight into exile of President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
The more than 300 troops who arrived overnight and early Monday set up a command center at the Haitian capital's international airport, and got ready to move into the city of 1.3 million itself, which had been torn by days of violence that culminated Sunday.
The number of soldiers is expected to increase in the coming days, and US Secretary of State Colin Powell said a total of 1,000 US troops eventually would be in Haiti.
About 50 Marines had been deployed to Haiti earlier to protect the US embassy, and about 10 of them watched on from the grounds of the presidential palace as thousands of people cheered rebel leader Guy Philippe who arrived in the capital at the head of a convoy of about 50 heavily-armed men.
The US troops did not intervene as the leader of the almost month-old rebellion drove past the presidential palace and visited a police station that faces it, cheered on by a jubilant crowd chanting anti-Aristide slogans.
Philippe had earlier pledged the fighters who had seized large parts of the country in recent weeks, would lay down their weapons if Aristide stepped down.
Aristide's constitutional successor, Supreme Court chief Boniface Alexandre, 68, has urged the rebels to respect their promise, and called for an end to the violence that has left scores dead.
Relative calm reigned in the capital Monday after police restored order late Sunday, and US troops said they would ensure the situation remains under control.
"US forces have been sent to secure key sites in the capital for the purpose of establishing peace and security and help promote the constitutional and political process," said Colonel Dave Berger, who commands the 150 to 200-strong US Marines contingent that arrived overnight.
"We're here to create conditions for the anticipated arrival of a UN multinational force," he said.
At dawn Monday, dozens of French troops joined the US forces at the airport, which a small team of Canadian Special Forces had secured on Sunday for the evacuation of foreign nationals seeking to leave the crisis-wracked country. A total of 130 French troops were expected on Monday.
Powell said the US contingent would be a far cry from the 20,000 troops deployed a decade ago to chase a military junta from Haiti and bring back Aristide from an earlier exile.
"I don't have a specific number I'd like to give this morning, but it's in the hundreds, maybe a little more than a thousand or so," he told NBC television.
"It is not a large force, joined by international forces from a number of nations that have already indicated they want to make a contribution," the chief US diplomat said.
French authorities said they too were sending more forces.
Berger said the Marines would deploy "sooner rather than later" from the airport, where they set up a command and control center.
The French planned to head first to the French embassy and the ambassador's residence. "After that, it depends on circumstances," said Lieutenant Colonel Louis Acacio, of the French Antilles Army.
Aristide flew out from the same airport with US help on Sunday morning, under pressure from a mounting insurrection and abandoned by the international community.
Aristide's departure "was the result of perfect co-ordination" between Washington and Paris, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said.
The exiled president and his wife were expected to stay in the Central African Republic for a few days. A government official said they would then head to South Africa, but authorities in Pretoria said Aristide had not yet contacted them to request asylum.
In his first public comments since he left Haiti, Aristide said in a radio broadcast in Bangui that the rebels who forced him to flee had "chopped down he tree of peace, but it will grow again."
His departure sparked a rampage in the streets of Port-au-Prince by pro-Aristide gangs armed with guns and machetes Sunday. At least 12 deaths and many more injuries were reported.
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