UN fears humanitarian crisis in Haiti as pro-Aristide forces retake three towns

Supporters of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's embattled President, retook control of three towns attacked by rebel fighters yesterday and set up flaming barricades on the outskirts of several others in an effort to quell the five-day-old armed rebellion, which has claimed more than 40 lives.

Efforts by the pro-Aristide forces appeared to have some qualified success as they retook the burnt-out police station in St Marc, fought off gunmen in the northern city of Dondon and reasserted control in Grand-Goave.

Fears of a looming civil war were also allayed by a coalition of opposition political parties, who chose to distance themselves from the uprising and deplore the violence. Mischa Gaillard, the spokesman for the Democratic Platform group, said: "We do not recognise ourselves in the armed insurrection but in the peaceful struggle of the people for democracy."

But the situation remained volatile, with widespread reports of gun battles, shootings and politically-motivated arson attacks. In Cap-Haitien, the country's second largest city on the north coast, gunfire crackled through the night, assailants threw rocks at passing vehicles and there were reports that pro-Aristide militants had gutted a restaurant belonging to a noted local critic of the President.

Barricades in several Haitian cities were preventing food deliveries by the United Nations World Food Programme and other crucial supplies from getting through, and UN officials warned yesterday that a protracted struggle could trigger a humanitarian crisis.

Calls for peace have come from the US State Department, but there are widespread fears that the rebels can easily outgun Mr Aristide's poorly equipped 5,000-strong police force.

The uprising began on Thursday in Gonaives. Mr Aristide is accused of exerting ever more dictatorial control over the country following the flawed 2000 election, in which he claimed a mandate to remain in office until 2006.