ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

DAVID BEARD

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)—Haiti’s military defied an approaching midnight deadline to yield power Monday and belittled a U.N. arms and oil embargo. Its right-wing supporters threatened that any American invaders will go home ‘‘in bags.’‘

Rightists mixed threats against the outside world with gifts of chrysanthemums to foreign reporters, while Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, the army strongman, suggested new talks on his departure. But the United States said Cedras was only stalling.

‘‘I think the solution is in dialogue. Dialogue must lead us to national reconciliation,’‘ Cedras told ‘‘McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour’‘ on the Public Broadcasting System, hours before the sanctions were to take effect.

He also said that the United States should not try to reinstall ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by force. Aristide is scheduled to return Oct. 30 under terms of a U.N. accord.

‘‘That solution would bring suffering, blood and tears to my country,’‘ said Cedras.

Asked what the armed forces would do if U.S. troops came ashore to rescue U.S. citizens, Cedras later told CNN: ‘‘I’m certain it will not reach such a point.’‘

An army broadcast urged Haitians not to worry about the U.N.-authorized embargo or the U.S. warships steaming offshore to enforce it, beginning at midnight. The measures are aimed at forcing the return of Aristide, Haiti’s first democratically elected president.

The capital was quiet, and some small shops opened despite calls from a variety of groups calling for a shutdown of business activity. Few cars lined up at gas stations ahead of the cutoff of oil imports, probably because Haiti’s leaders had stockpiled fuel in recent months.

Stanley Schrager, a U.S. Embassy spokeman, said Cedras must honor the U.N.-mediated pact he signed in July to return Aristide, who was ousted in a bloody coup two years ago. He was widely popular among Haiti’s impoverished masses, but opposed by the nation’s elite and other conservative factions.

Many Haitians have fled the capital, fearing violence by army-supported Aristide opponents or a possible intervention by U.S. forces.

Asked about that possibility, Schrager said: ‘‘I’m not saying that a military intervention is imminent, but clearly there is always that risk.’‘

U.S., French and Canadian guards have been providing security at the residence of Prime Minister Robert Malval since the assassination of his justice minister on Thursday, Malval officials said.

Private security, as well as about 10 Haitian soldiers, were inside the walls of Malval’s home Monday afternoon, and five blue-uniformed police with machine guns stood outside.

Army Lt. Col. Jean-Robert Gabriel urged Haitians to remain calm. Speaking on Radio Tropic FM, he told Haitians not to flee the capital and said the army would maintain control.

An aide at army headquarters said Cedras was not available to comment on the U.S. Embassy’s statements. But army-backed rightists were not at a loss for words.

‘‘We accuse the Aristide-Malval government of having threatened this government with arms … (and) by collaborating with foreign forces,’‘ said former Sen. Reynald Georges, alluding to the threat of U.S. intervention.

Georges congratulated Cedras for not resigning and thanked U.S. Sens. Robert Dole, R-Kan., and Sam Nunn, D-Ga., for opposing greater American involvement in Haiti.

A group behind pierside demonstrations last week that kept a U.S. warship from docking as part of a U.N. mission sought to present a gentler side Monday by handing out flowers to foreign reporters at a news conference.

But later, far-right sociologist Jacquelin Montalvo-Despeignes said he had a message for Washington: ‘‘If you send boys, they will go back, in bags.’‘

Such threats led to the evacuation of hundreds of U.N. personnel and recommendations by Canada and Belgium for their citizens to leave. About 9,000 American citizens, 8,000 of them Haitian-Americans, did not get similar warnings, and very few foreigners were seen at the airport Monday.

After the departure Saturday of the last U.S. members of what was to have been a 1,600-member U.N. force to retrain police and help rebuild the economy, the only U.S. troops in the country were approximately 45 Marines guarding the U.S. Embassy. About 30 Marines came Saturday to beef up security.

The rightists pledged to fight if foreign soldiers tried to intervene. They put up posters criticizing U.N. envoy Dante Caputo and the hard times caused by previous economic sanctions.

Those sanctions were lifted after the July accord was signed, but the U.N. Security Council voted last week to reimpose them when the Haitian army and police made no effort to prevent violence aimed at Aristide supporters.

U.S. officials continued to express confidence about the implementation of the U.N. pact.

Keeping up pressure on Cedras, the United States said the army leader would have to make the next move in resolving the conflict and blamed him for any suffering that will be caused by the economic embargo.

Schrager said new U.S. Ambassador William Swing had not met with Cedras and had no intention to do so.

‘‘We don’t think there’s any reason at this point to meet with Gen. Cedras,’‘ he said.

The developments came amid reports of divisions within army ranks. The executive secretary of Haiti’s Chamber of Commerce, Olivier Nadal, said Cedras, a professional soldier, was holding the force together.

‘‘If Cedras goes, the army will break down into armed clans,’‘ he said.