Britain urges nationals to leave Haiti as rebel leaders prepare to take th

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The British government urged all of its nationals in Haiti to leave the country yesterday before armed rebels who have taken over more than half the country launch a final offensive on the capital, Port-au-Prince.

With the opposition rejecting a political settlement that offered the last hope to persuade the rebels to halt their advance, the Foreign Office warned that the situation throughout the country had become "highly volatile". It added: "We advise against all travel to Haiti and all British nationals are advised to leave the country if they can do so safely."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=494798

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1. UN food warehouse looted in Haiti

A mob looted Sunday 800 tons of food from a United Nations warehouse a few hours after the rebels took Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second largest city, reports reaching here from the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince said on Tuesday.

Authorities of the UN World Food Program (WFP) expressed regret that the looting worsened the situation of Haiti's poorer inhabitants and said that the roadblocks and clashes between supporters and opponents to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide would make the distribution of food even more difficult.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-02/25/content_1329990.htm

[I AM SPARTACUS]

4. Open Bet: 800 tons, 600 will end up being re-sold by Haiti's...

wealthiest families.

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2. Haiti's neighbor posts extra troops on border

The country that shares an island with Haiti is sending extra troops to the border between the two neighbors.

Officials in the Dominican Republic say an extra 12-hundred troops have been sent to the border to provide more security.

Dominican officials say they wouldn't be able to handle a flood of refugees from Haiti -- because of their own economic crisis.

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=1666186

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3. Armed gangs provide last line of defense for Aristide

Bily Prezidan, 22, and his gang of slum toughs don't have much, but what they have they owe to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, so they're willing to sacrifice all to defend him.

We are the military of Aristide," Prezidan said.

Aristide recently handed out some 4,000 weapons to civilian supporters from stockpiles in the basement of the National Palace and bought 2 million rounds of ammunition from a Latin American country, according to one U.S. security expert monitoring Haiti. But whether that will be enough to stave off rebels, which include former Haitian soldiers, is uncertain.

"Maybe I don't have no money, but I am the same as the rich," he said. "I never understand the dream of the opposition. What plan do they have for the poor, for the children?"

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/8031304.htm

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5. I only recently learned...

...that Haiti has no military, just police. Apparently, they were the source of too many coups in the past?