Rebels who have launched a bloody uprising took control of another town today, closing in on the capital as Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed for foreign peacekeepers and the country lurched toward chaos.

Foreigners, some guarded by US Marines, were fleeing Haiti in droves today, as looting erupted in the capital and pressure grew for an international intervention and for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to step down.