A DIPLOMATIC row was raging last night after the deposed President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, accused the United States of abducting him from his country.

“I was forced to leave,” Mr Aristide told the Associated Press news agency from the Central African Republic, where supporters said that he had been taken against his will.

“Agents were telling me that if I don’t leave they would start shooting and killing,” Mr Aristide added. Asked who the agents were, he said: “White American, white military.”

Mr Aristide resigned on Sunday morning as the rebels, who had had already seized a string of Haitian towns, arrived at Port-au-Prince, the capital. The United States, fearing a bloodbath in the city, withdrew its support from Mr Aristide and urged him to leave voluntarily.

Mr Aristide was taken from the presidential palace by US troops early on Sunday and flown to the Central African Republic. But the exact circumstances of his departure were last night still a mystery.

A Haitian diplomat even cast doubt on the authenticity of Mr Aristide’s resignation statement, pointing out that it had been faxed to officials at the Haitian Embassy in Washington and its Consulate in New York by the US State Department. “It’s a funny thing,” the diplomat said.

While the US Administration strenuously denied that it had forced Mr Aristide from office, an eight-person delegation from the Congressional Black Caucus last night visted Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, to express their concern, and said that they would hold congressional hearings on the matter.

Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, insisted the allegations were untrue: “He was not kidnapped,” General Powell said. “We did not force him on the plane.”

His words were echoed by Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary. “I was involved in the entire process,” Mr Rumsfeld said. “The idea that someone was abducted is just totally inconsistent with everything I heard.”

However, Charles Rangel, a veteran New York Democrat, insisted that Mr Aristide had told him in telephone conversations from Africa that he had been abducted. “He wanted to make it clear that the so-called resignation was dictated to him over the phone by representatives from the United States Embassy,” Mr Rangel said.

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