Haitian rebels expand power base

REBELS set their sights on the rest of Haiti yesterday after swooping in to take the country’s second-largest city in an escalation of a bloody rebellion against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The move prompted the US to send in marines to protect its embassy.

With the rebels in control of Cap Haitien, Washington was sending about 50 marines to protect its embassy in the capital of Port-au-Prince. France, the former colonial power in the poorest country in the Americas, joined several other foreign governments and told its citizens to leave the country, wracked by violence that has killed more than 50 people since the revolt began on February 5.