Haiti Rulers Still Defiant; Embargo Set : Caribbean: Canadian and American warships are ready to enforce U.N. sanctions. U.S. official issues veiled threat, but Sen. Dole says he will act to restrict President’s military options.

The country’s military rulers on Sunday continued to defy U.N. demands that they resign, all but ensuring the imposition tonight of a U.N. naval quarantine ordered by the Security Council.

U.S. and Canadian warships appeared within sight of the capital’s harbor in a pointed show of force in advance of the embargo at midnight.

And in a veiled threat to the ruling regime, Madeleine Albright, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, raised the possibility of eventual U.S. military intervention if the situation does not change--the first time that any U.S. official has made that threat publicly.

Although officials insisted privately that the Clinton Administration still is a long way from any decision on whether to use military force if the embargo proves ineffective, Albright said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “we have not ruled out anything.”

“This is a very tense situation,” she added, “but one in which we have to maintain calmness about our response.” She said that 600 U.S. Marines now standing by at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are ready to evacuate U.S. citizens, if necessary.

At the same time, there were signs that President Clinton’s options in Haiti may be limited by domestic political considerations after the recent backlash over U.S. casualties in Somalia.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said Sunday that he will introduce legislation today that would restrict Clinton’s power to send troops into Haiti without congressional approval.

“I wouldn’t risk any American lives to put Aristide back in power,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation,” referring to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

On the same program, Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) said that sending U.S. troops to the island nation would be “a mistake.”

Lugar said that even Clinton’s latest action sending warships to Haiti was misguided, contending that it could well set off a backlash that would threaten Americans in Haiti and force the United States to intervene. “We need to call timeout at this point,” the senator said.

In Port-au-Prince, hundreds of foreigners jammed the airports Sunday while locals fled to outlying areas. Cars and buses were streaming from the city, with luggage, crates of food and packages tied to roofs and bumpers, and people clinging to doors and windows.

Leaders of Haiti’s two most violent pro-military factions called for calm and vowed to protect foreigners who may remain in Haiti. But some Aristide opponents threatened to stage demonstrations today before the embargo takes effect.

Also Sunday, the Haitian army commander, Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, appeared on Cable News Network and said he will continue in power until the Parliament enacts an amnesty for opponents of Aristide.

The United Nations is demanding that Cedras and Police Chief Michel-Joseph Francois step down from their posts, as called for in a U.N.-brokered peace accord known as the Governors Island agreement. And it wants the government to pave the way for Aristide’s return Oct. 30.

In one possible olive branch, Cedras and his top lieutenants appeared to suggest that the army might allow Aristide to take power as scheduled if he agrees to accept anti-Aristide forces as part of the incoming government.

But Administration officials who watched Cedras’ performance on CNN dismissed his position as unacceptable.

Cedras’ sentiments were echoed in an interview with The Times by Emanuel Constant, secretary general of the Force for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, the group responsible for the violence last Monday that prevented a U.S. warship from docking here.

Constant said that the process of returning Aristide to office could be resumed “if Aristide would open the government to all other parties”--including his own. Gerard Bissainthe, head of the Oct. 11th Revolutionary Council, expressed similar sentiments.

Both men have close links to Cedras and Francois, and are described by many diplomats as civilian front men for the Haitian military’s violent effort to prevent Aristide’s return.

The statements by Cedras and other top Haitian leaders appeared to be part of a campaign to persuade Americans that the military regime can be reasonable and has no bone to pick with the United States.

Constant dismissed talk of possible violence against Americans, saying that “everything is quiet today and should remain quiet tomorrow.” And Bissainthe said that Americans would be safe as long as U.S. troops did not try to land.

In the interview on CNN, Cedras also contended that U.N. mediator Dante Caputo had distorted the situation in Haiti, and hinted that the army might accept a papal envoy as a replacement.

He also argued that the dispute over Aristide was internal, and “there is no threat to any American on Haitian soil.”

The naval cordon around Haiti beginning at midnight tonight was authorized Saturday by a unanimous vote of the U.N. Security Council. Warships have authority to interdict shipments of oil, arms and military or police equipment until further notice.

On Sunday, France said it is considering sending its own warships to join U.S. and Canadian vessels in enforcing the U.N. embargo. The United States has six warships off Haiti and Canada has three.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters that although no decision has been made, “we are studying how we can take part.”

Besides the naval quarantine, the United Nations has authorized a spate of economic sanctions, expected to take effect today, including the freezing of financial assets belonging to top Haitian military leaders.

Times staff writer Art Pine in Washington contributed to this report.