Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday said the United States has "no enthusiasm" for sending military or police forces to Haiti to help the administration of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide end a bloody uprising in that country.

"There is frankly no enthusiasm right now for sending in military or police forces to put down the violence that we are seeing," Powell told reporters.

Powell renewed his appeal for a political solution to the dispute.

"We cannot buy into the proposition that the elected president must be forced out of office by thugs and those who do not respect the law," Powell said.

He added that some disreputable Haitians also have returned to the country in recent weeks after having been denied permission to live there because of their activities. Powell spoke to reporters after a meeting with Lila Freivalds, the foreign minister of Sweden.

Powell reaffirmed that the administration is working with the Organization of American States and other groups to get a dialogue under way between Aristide and his rivals.

The rebels are said to be led by Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a former soldier who once headed the feared paramilitary group FRAPH - the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti - which killed and maimed hundreds of Aristide supporters under military dictatorship between 1991 and 1994.

Aristide, a slum priest who preached revolution to Haiti's poor, swept 1990 elections to become the country's first freely elected leader. He was ousted by a coup in 1991 and restored to power when the United States sent 20,000 troops to Haiti 1994.