A REBEL convoy was greeted with jubilation when it rolled in to the capital yesterday as US troops hit the streets to help quell the violence following the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously today to send a military force immediately to restore order in Haiti, hours after the country’s embattled president fled into exile.

HAITI descended into chaos yesterday hours after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled the island nation as looters ransacked Port-au-Prince police stations, prisons were opened and residents of the capital ran for cover as gunfire crackled.

Faced with an armed rebellion and pressured by the US and France, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left his troubled Caribbean country yesterday, saying he wanted to avert bloodshed.

Rebels were within 25 miles of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince today, as militants loyal to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide torched barricades, hijacked cars and looted the city’s only operating hospital.