The prospect of such a conflict seemed much closer on Tuesday night, after the political opposition rejected a regionally brokered power-sharing plan.

The power-sharing plan approved this week in the federal Parliament is considered by some experts to be the first step toward a confederation.

He has shepherded the long-dominant whites of the National Party to a democratic power-sharing plan with the black majority, which is expected to vote Nelson Mandela, apartheid's most revered political prisoner, into power as the next President.

The action surprised Bush administration officials, who had drafted the power-sharing plan and seemed confident of their ability to deliver opposition support.

It is uncertain whether a power-sharing plan, if formalized, would have wide support.

The five officials will present City Hall with a power-sharing plan by mid-February, he added.

In an increasingly desperate attempt to get a quick solution, Ambassador Pezzullo conceived a power-sharing plan with some elements of the military that Father Aristide rejected as immoral.

It insists on reconciliation among warring sects, but offers no realistic political power-sharing plan to achieve it.

Mr. Aristide's dawn departure had been long sought by his political opponents, who rejected a power-sharing plan pushed by the United States.

In 2008 he created a new power-sharing plan by making his councillors "mini-mayors" and giving them responsibility for areas of council policy.