Armed gangs captured Haiti’s second-largest city Cap-Haitien on Sunday and are threatening to march on the Haitian capital Port au-Prince within 15 days. A large cloud of black smoke hung over Cap-Haitien and there are reports of widespread looting in Haiti’s second largest city.

The armed gangs say they have no political agenda beyond ousting President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but the man who started the rebellion, Gonaives gang leader Buteur Metayer, declared himself the president of liberated Haiti last week. The gangs have made no effort to install any kind of control, beyond halting a near-riot as people rushed to get food aid in Gonaives on Thursday.

A day earlier, Aristide accepted a U.S.-backed peace plan in which he would remain president with diminished powers, sharing a government with his opponents. The opposition reacted coolly and said any plan must include Aristide’s resignation.