Leaders of the rebel Artibonite Resistance Front said that they intended to “liberate” the north of the country, creating an independent republic, although they have promised to turn in their guns if Mr Aristide resigns.

Despite claims by the Haitian Government that order would be restored soon in the port of Gonaives, the capital of Arbonite province and Haiti’s fourth-largest city, rebels continued to control the barricaded streets for a fifth day yesterday. A unit of 150 heavily armed police was repulsed when it tried to enter the city at the weekend. By yesterday the rebellion threatened to cut off Port-au-Prince, the capital, from the north of the country.

Police were chased out of the city of St Marc on the main highway a few miles south of Gonaives. There were reports that officers also abandoned their posts in several other towns in the province. The Government denounced violence in Gonaives as “a terrorist attack”, linking it to a larger opposition political movement that has been calling for Mr Aristide’s resignation since December.

Some gunmen in Gonaives wore the camouflage trousers and helmets of the disbanded Haitian Army. The army ousted Mr Aristide in 1991 in his first term. He was restored in an American invasion in 1994 and disbanded the army, replacing it with a new civilian police force.

Opposition leaders in the capital condemned the violence in Gonaives, and said that they continued to support peaceful efforts to remove the Government.

Haiti, a Caribbean nation of eight million people, is one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Mr Aristide’s administration has been buffeted by almost daily street protests, which began in December and have claimed more than 50 lives. The discontent stems from accusations of vote fraud by Mr Aristide’s Lavalas Family party during elections in 2000. All efforts at a diplomatic solution have failed, because of deep mistrust between Mr Aristide and the Opposition. He has agreed to hold new elections, but opposition leaders have said that they will accept nothing less than his resignation.

Escalating violence has given rise to fears that the situation could descend into civil war. At least four, and maybe as many as 14, police officers and civilians were killed in Gonaives over the weekend in shoot-outs, ambushes and lynchings by the front and its supporters.

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