Americans warned against travel to Haiti
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Pedestrians make their way past trucks blocking a bridge Monday in the Haitian town of Grand Goave.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With Haiti wracked by civil unrest, the United States urged Americans Tuesday to leave the country "if they can do so safely."
"The Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer travel to Haiti and urges American citizens to depart the country if they can do so safely," the travel warning said.
In issuing the warning, the State Department said families of diplomats and non-emergency workers of the U.S. Embassy have been authorized to leave on a volunteer basis.
Haiti has been wracked by violence in recent weeks with armed opponents of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide taking control of several cities. (Full story)
Authorities believe the rebels are a combination of former paramilitary troops and former supporters of Aristide, who was ousted in a military coup in 1991 but won a new term as president in 2000.
The rebels seized Gonaives, a city of about 200,000 on the Caribbean coast north of Port-au-Prince, Thursday after a battle with police. Since then, witnesses said, the rebels have taken control of the nearby port town of St. Marc, the towns of Grand Goave and Petit Goave in southern Haiti, and the northern towns of Trou du Nord and Listere.
The Red Cross has put the death toll in Haiti at 40 over the last week.
The State Department said Americans in Haiti should be aware that the U.S. Embassy has banned travel by its staff outside Port-au-Prince and that the embassy's ability to provide emergency services outside of the city is "limited and decreasing."
The State Department said Aristide has used government resources to "pay for violent gangs to attack opposition demonstrators" and that the violence is spiraling.
"The government has failed to maintain order in Port-au-Prince or in other cities and in some instances has assisted in violently repressing the demonstrators," it said.
American citizens who remain in Haiti are advised to register at the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy.
