Foreigners fled the island nation amid isolated looting Wednesday, while the UN Security Council was set to hold a meeting on Haiti yesterday.

President Bush said the United States is encouraging the international community to provide a strong "security presence," and France said a peace force should be established immediately for deployment once a political agreement is reached.

A leader of the group of rebels that has overrun half the country urged Haitians to stay indoors if fighting nears the capital.

"We're going straight for the National Palace where we're going to arrest Aristide," Guy Philippe said in a call to Radio Vision 2000 from the rebel-held city of Cap-Haitien in the north. "It will be over very soon."

The message was contrary to one he gave hours earlier, when he told a reporter he wanted to see if Aristide resigns and to "give a chance to peace."

Aristide, 50-year-old former slum priest, once commanded widespread support as Haiti's first democratically elected leader and savior to the poor, but he has steadily lost support as poverty deepened after his party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors suspended aid.

An opposition coalition, which maintains it is not linked to the rebels, continued to call on the president to resign and formally announced its rejection of a US-backed proposal for Aristide to remain president and share power with his political rivals.

French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin also indicated France no longer supports Aristide.

"As for President Aristide, he bears heavy responsibility for the current situation," de Villepin said in a statement. "It is up to him to accept the consequences while respecting the rule of law. Everyone sees quite well that a new page must be opened in Haiti's history."