Beleaguered Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide today made an impassioned appeal for the international community to come urgently to his nation's aid.
He warned there could thousands of deaths if rebels carry out their threat to attack the capital, Port-au-Prince.
"Should those killers come to Port-au-Prince, you may have thousands of people who may be killed," Mr Aristide said.
Earlier rebels said they will be in the Haitian capital within days while Washington has sent Marines to protect its embassy after the country's second-largest city fell in a bloody armed revolt.
Rebel leaders said after seizing control of the northern city of Cap Haitien on Sunday they were ready to take the entire country and liberate it from President Aristide's "slavery".
About 50 US Marines flew in on two C-130 Hercules transport planes to Port-au-Prince airport on a mission to protect the US Embassy and other US facilities in Haiti.
Mr Aristide's government said it was sending reinforcements north from Port-au-Prince to face the rebels and repeated a plea for international help for its hopelessly outgunned police.
About 60 people have died in the revolt that erupted on February 5th in the former French colony.
Haiti opposition parties, which want Mr Aristide gone but have distanced themselves from the rebels, face a Tuesday deadline to respond to a US backed power-sharing plan that would keep the president in office.
Even if they agree to the deal, it is not clear whether that would halt the rebels. Many Haitians, who say Mr Aristide runs their country with thuggery and corruption, have welcomed them.
But today Mr Aristide said: "We need the presence of the international community as soon as possible."
It sounded like a call for a military intervention, though that was not immediately clear.
At a press conference, Mr Aristide said rebels were attacking Port-de-Paix, a centre for boat-building and launches on the dangerous trips to escape Haiti.
With rebels threatening to attack the capital any day and opposition leaders stalling on an international peace plan, he made an emotional appeal for Haitians to stay in the country so that they can vote.
"The criminals and terrorists went to the north, to Port-de-Paix, and burned private and public buses, killing people," Mr Aristide said.
"Unfortunately many brothers and sisters in Port-de-Paix will not come down to Port-au-Prince, they will take to the sea, they will become boat people."
Instead of fleeing to Florida, he said, they should think about coming to Port-au-Prince, so that they can vote in new elections.
AP