Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide signed a resignation letter on Sunday and fled into exileamid a bloody, three-week-old rebellion and pressure from around the world, including the United States which put him back to powera decade ago.

Only on Saturday, the 50-year-old former priest said in a televised address that his resignation was "out of the question." Nine days earlier he had said he was "ready to die if that is whatI must do to defend the country."

Many analysts say Aristide has been forced to step down under pressure from both inside and outside the country, adding that domestic pressure was the main reason for his resignation.

Aristide's departure is the focus of the Haitian crisis, which erupted on Feb. 5. Though differing in political position, the opposition and rebel forces had the common desire to topple the Aristide administration. A week ago, the opposition rejected a peace initiative launched by the international community, and rebel forces took control of more than half of the impoverished Caribbean nation and closed in on the capital Port-au-Prince.

Analysts said the weak police force loyal to Aristide was not capable of resisting rebel attacks, triggering Aristide's flight from power.

Aristide was returned to power in 1994 with the help of the United States and disbanded the army a year later. Instead, he setup a police force made up of poor people. However, the 4,000-strong police force, very poorly equipped and trained, had not been able to crack down on the rebel National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Haiti, consisting largely of former government soldiers.

Moreover, at the request of the United States, Aristide in 1994did not punish coup plotters, including Guy Philippe, who heads the National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Haiti, allowing them to go into exile. Since the start of the Haitian crisis, Philippe and other coup plotters slipped back into Haiti from the Dominican Republic.

Analysts said Aristide lost an opportunity to stop the violenceat the start of the crisis, resulting in a stronger rebel force.

On the other hand, they say that if Aristide, leader of the ruling Lavalas party, had had the support of the United States, which restored him to power with an intervention force of 2,000 soldiers in 1994 following a coup, the situation would have radically shifted at this time.

On Sunday, a US State Department official, who declined to be identified, said: "At the request (of Aristide) we facilitated hima safe departure."

He added that US Secretary of State Colin Powell personally convinced him Saturday night to abandon power.

Some US congressmen considered Aristide's fall a "coup" organized by President George W. Bush and the rebel forces, who even said they had delayed the final assault on Port-au-Prince because the United States had requested it.

The announcement of Aristide's departure, the appointment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre as the interim president and Bush's order to deploy Marines in Haiti occurred almost at the same time, analysts noted.

On Monday morning, Haiti woke up without Aristide while US Marines and French troops leading an international security force moved into Port-au-Prince after chaos engulfed the city in the wake of Aristide's departure.

Analysts said US authorities, currently involved in the fight against terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq and facing a presidential election, believed that they should not disregard Haiti, a nation of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) that is a decision-maker on fundamental economic issues of the region.

Governments of the region maintain that what happened in Haiti,in a year when the country celebrated its bicentenary independenceand began the democratic process, opened a dangerous precedent fordemocratic governments in the region as it promoted the overthrow of elected presidents by rebel forces.

In Port-au-Prince, there was a day of violence and looting sparked by Aristide's resignation and heavily armed police teams sped through the capital, baton-charging looters and shooting gunmen.

Everything indicates that political stability will not be immediately recovered.

"The task won't be easy," interim President Alexander said at apress conference.