Haiti veered toward anarchy on Tuesday when a rebel leader proclaimed himself chief of a revived army, threatened to jail the prime minister and sent his men to search out allies of the deposed president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

''I am the chief,'' the rebel leader, Guy Philippe, declared at a news conference, ''the military chief.''

''The country is in my hands,'' he proclaimed as he met hundreds of supporters near the palace that last held Mr. Aristide, the constitutionally elected president. Mr. Aristide left Haiti early Sunday for the Central African Republic after a shove from the United States.

In the absence of any other authority, Haiti seemed to be falling into the clutches of a self-appointed armed junta. Although American officials denounced the armed rebels and said they should have no role in ruling Haiti, the Americans did not take steps to confront them.

Col. David H. Berger, the Marine Corps commander here, said his troops would not act as police officers. ''I have no instructions to disarm the rebels,'' he said.