Exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide issued a statement saying he was ”well-looked after” by his hosts and would personally address reporters at an unspecified ”opportune time”.
Central African Republic Foreign Minister Charles Wenezoui read the statement he attributed to Aristide from a small card handed to him by Aristide’s wife, Mildred, in front of the press on Sunday.
Aristide was not present, and his wife did not speak to reporters.
”Dear journalists, at the opportune time, I will have the possibility … to reply to your questions,” Wenezoui said, reading from the card.
”We are very well looked after at the presidency,” the two-line statement said of the presidential palace where Aristide has stayed.
It was the first public comment since Aristide took up asylum in this impoverished African capital on March 1 after resigning his post in Haiti under pressure from rebels and officials from the United States and France.
When reporters asked Mildred Aristide if her husband was healthy, she nodded. Asked if the couple were prisoners, she sighed.
Earlier, Central African Republic security forces carrying AK47s and extra ammunition clips told press photographers and camera crews assembled in the room that they were prohibited from recording footage.
A Haiti-based Aristide lawyer who has travelled to Central African Republic said officials turned him away from the presidential palace on Sunday, refusing to pass along a note to his client.
”I introduced myself as the president’s lawyer. I asked if I could see him,” said the attorney, Brian Concannon, an American. ”I was told I could not see him.”
It remains unclear if Aristide would stay in the Central African Republic. Authorities here have said Aristide would be allowed to stay permanently.
South Africa, another possible permanent home for Aristide, has said it is not opposed to taking Aristide, but no formal request for asylum has been made so far.
The United States, France and the West African nation of Gabon arranged Aristide’s flight here, Central African Republic authorities said, although it remains unclear why the country was chosen. – Sapa-AP