PORT AU PRINCE Aug 7: Haiti • military chief Raoul Cedras said in an interview aired on Saturday that a US invasion was inevitable and predicted it would be bloody reports AFP

"I don t think that any ar rangement can be made to avoid an invasion of Haiti, he said tn an interview from the Haitian capital with CNN tele vtton

Tt has been decided to in vade and we are awaiting this moment Cedras said adding "We are getting readv as sol dsers we have sworn to defend our country '

The United Nations ap proved a resolution last Sunday pvmg the green light for a US led invasion of the Caribbean

nation to force the military to step aside and reinstate ousted President Jean Bertrand Aristide

If they (the US military) intervene. it will be bloodshed on both sides." Cedras said through an interpreter "It will be to kill a lot of military and a lot of civilians also

Cedras said the crisis sparked by the 1991 coup which toppled Aristide could be resolved through negotia tions. but added "We would need much dialogue and many exchanges

He noted that there was support tor holding new etec tions but would not say whether Aristide should be allowed to run

President BUI Clinton s spe

clal advisor on Haiti echoed Cedras. saying the United States and Haiti were on a collision course that could lead to the use of force

William Gray ruled out dla logue with Haiti's military leaders except on one point "When will you step down, what time, and where will you go?

As long as the military re fused to step down and restore democracy, said Gray in an Interview with'CNN. I believe we are on a collision that lead to the use of force."

The White House has set no deadline for an invasion and continues to pursue a course of diplomatic and economic pressure. Gray said

A Tlme/CNN poll, mean-

while, showed a majority of people in the United States — 61 per cent' —• remains opposed to sending US forces for an Invasion, up from 52 per cent In June

Cedras" resignation to an in vasion wan reflected in the hard Une the military backed government has taken since UN Security Council resolution 940 authorised military inter vention.

After imposing a state of seize Monday the government announced Thursday that the minister of Justice had begun legal proceedings to charge Aristide with high treason

Aristide was accused of -sending a letter July 29 to UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, which served as

the basis for ’ the Security Council resolution

Colombia, meanwhile, closed Ha embassy "temporarily." and Argentina sent its five diplomats and nine guards to the neighbouring Dominican Republic after Argentine ambassador Carlos Carrasco received death threats, diplomatic sources said

In Buenos Aires. Deputy Foreign Minister Fernando Petrella said Argentina was taking a wait and see stance for now

"We still have a long month and a half for the solution to be found." Petrella said, adding that the UN resolution "really helps a peaceful settlement to be possible

Haiti a government also has

turned a deaf ear to a rising clamour of calls from local political leaders for a peaceful settlement of the crisis

Leslde Manigat, a Christian Democrat who briefly sen rd as president, contended that both camps were "irreconcilable" and that the only way out waa for both Aristide and Cecfras to atep down

That view waa echoed by the speakdr of the chamber ol deputies. Frantz Robert Monde, who said the resigns tfon of both Aristide and Cedraa was "the only contoen Sus poaaible now “

But the likelihood of a nego tlated solution appeared more distant as a laat ditch diplo matic initiative by Venezuela has crumbled.