The United States urged TuesdayHaitian rebels to lay down their arms and go home, saying that there is no role for them to play in the Caribbean nation's political future.

"All illegal and armed groups should lay down their arms," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at a regular news briefing.

"The rebels need to disband and go back to their homes," he added.

The spokesman said that there is "an orderly and constitutionalprocess underway" in Haiti after ex-president Jean Bertrand Aristide resigned and flew into exile over the weekend.

But Boucher noted that the rebels, whose offensive has plunged the Caribbean nation into political crisis in the past few weeks, will have no role in Haiti's political process. "The rebels do nothave a role in the political process," he said.