With U.S. military forces already on the ground in the Caribbean nation and more on the way, chief presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said, "It's nonsense, and conspiracy theories do nothing to help the Haitian people move forward to a better, more free, more prosperous future."
Meanwhile, rebels rolled into the capital Port-au-Prince Monday and were met by hundreds of residents dancing in the streets and cheering the ouster of Mr. Aristide. U.S. Marines and French troops secured key sites.
At the Pentagon, Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also vehemently denied that Mr. Aristide had been forced out by the United States.
Mr. McClellan told reporters that Mr. Aristide left on his own free will. ``We took steps to protect Mr. Aristide and his family so they would not be harmed as they departed Haiti," he said.
A Canadian soldier stands guard in front of the airport Sunday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Violence erupted throughout Port-au-Prince after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled the country. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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An African-American activist told The Associated Press that Haiti's ousted president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, telephoned him Monday to say that he was kidnapped at gunpoint by American soldiers in a U.S.-engineered coup.
Mr. Aristide said he was being held prisoner at the presidential palace in Bangui, Central African Republic, according to Randall Robinson, former president of TransAfrica, a Washington-based group that monitors U.S. policy toward Africa and the Caribbean and supported Aristide.
U.S. and French troops were patrolling Haiti's capital to preserve peace a day after Aristide fled the country following a rebellion.
"He asked that I tell the world that it is a coup, that he was abducted by American soldiers and put aboard a plane," said Mr. Robinson, who currently lives on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts.
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People clapped and waved as they yelled "Good job!" and called out the name of key rebel leader Guy Philippe. The convoy first rolled through Petionville, a wealthy suburb, before moving into the heart of Port-au-Prince.
When the rebels arrived at the plaza outside the National Palace and a nearby police station, thousands of Haitians converged on the square, shouting "Liberty!" and "Aristide is gone!"
Mr. Philippe later met in a hotel with members of the political coalition that had opposed Mr. Aristide, including Evans Paul, a former mayor of Port-au-Prince and a top opposition figure. Mr. Paul said Mr. Philippe "has played an important role."
Not everyone was happy to see the rebels in the capital. Some residents watched indifferently, their arms folded. At one point, the convoy stopped and rebels jumped out, sweeping their weapons from side to side, then moved on.
A half-dozen Marines in combat fatigues with assault rifles were seen on the grounds of the palace. The rebels and the Marines did not immediately approach each other.
Most of the 150 U.S. Marines who arrived Sunday night were at the capital's airport, some doing overflights in a helicopter. Some of the 50 Marines who arrived last week drove cautiously along the waterfront road, and pedestrians raised their hands in fright and surprise upon seeing them.
The U.S. and French forces spread out from the airport to protect key sites — the vanguard of a multinational force approved by the UN Security Council.
Col. David Berger, head of the U.S. Marine contingent, described the capital as "definitely not a hostile environment" for U.S. troops.
"Most [Haitians] are going to welcome us. We're glad to be here," he told the AP.
Mr. Aristide, who fled Haiti under pressure from the rebels, the political opposition, the United States and France, arrived Monday in the Central African Republic for "a few days," according to the country's state radio.
Mr. Aristide said in a short broadcast on the African station that those who overthrew him had "cut down the tree of peace," but "it will grow again." Mr. Aristide has returned to rule Haiti once before, in 1994, when U.S. forces took him back to Port-au-Prince. He had been ousted in a military coup three years earlier.
