South Africa has agreed to give former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide a temporary home nearly three months after an armed revolt forced him to flee his poor Caribbean country. Cabinet spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe on Thursday said the arrangement will be a temporary one "until the situation in Haiti has stabilised".
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66273">DA slams Aristide decision</a>
Ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide has asked to visit South Africa ”until his personal situation normalises”, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced on Monday. Dlamini-Zuma said she would, this week, table the request at the first session of the Cabinet.
The former interior minister under ex-president Jean Bertrand Aristide, Jocelerme Privert, was arrested on Tuesday in Port-au-Prince and taken to prison, a police spokesperson said. Privert was wanted in connection with a massacre in the town of Saint Marc in February by forces loyal to Aristide.
Haiti’s ousted leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide is to set up permanent home in South Africa, Jamaican officials said on Thursday. He would not go there until after the general election next month, because President Thabo Mbeki’s government believed it would be ”politically unsettling”, they added.
The deposed Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, flew back to the Caribbean on Monday, bringing hope to his supporters and objections from United States and Haitian officials, who believe his presence in the region will increase the tension in the country.
The question remains: Why did Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted leader of Haiti, end up in the Central African Republic? No one goes there for kicks. The country has no particular political or economic record to write home about. The whole saga is packed tight with humbug.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad has landed in the Central African Republic and is expected to be asked by ousted Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide for asylum in South Africa, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=32453">SA envoys meet Aristide in Bangui</a>
South African envoys began holding talks with Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the Central African Republic on Wednesday after Pretoria said it is open to granting exile to the ousted Haitian leader. The delegation, led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad, first met with Central African Republic President Francois Bozize.
The ousted leader of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, urged his followers on Monday to resist the ”occupation” of their homeland peacefully, and said that he still considered himself president. Aristide denounced the rebels as drug dealers and terrorists and repeated the claim that he had been kidnapped by the Americans.
Exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide issued a statement on Sunday saying he was ”well looked after” by his hosts and would personally address reporters at an unspecified ”opportune time”. When reporters asked Mildred Aristide if her husband was healthy, she nodded. Asked if the couple were prisoners, she sighed.