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/ 22 February 2007
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s ousted former president, said in an interview published on Thursday that he will return to the Caribbean nation ”once the conditions are right”, but doesn’t plan to go back into government. In a wide-ranging interview published in the London Review of Books, Aristide said he and his family are staying in South Africa ”as guests, not as exiles”.
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/ 16 February 2006
René Préval, who was declared Haiti’s new President on Thursday, has pledged to tackle the Caribbean country’s rampant poverty and seek a national dialogue, though he was yet to announce a clear programme. During his electoral campaign, Préval had asked voters to judge him on his performance during his 1996 to 2001 presidency.
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/ 15 February 2006
Front-runner René Préval on Tuesday decried ”massive fraud or gross errors” in Haiti’s presidential election, insisted he won outright, and urged supporters to continue protesting. The presidency promptly announced the formation of a commission to investigate the claims and called for final results of the February 7 election to be kept under wraps until the probe is completed.
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/ 14 February 2006
René Préval (63) was expected to appeal for calm in Haiti on Tuesday following protests over a vote count that put him short of the 50% he needs to be elected president in the first round. Tension remained high as Préval’s supporters insisted the frontrunner be declared president, despite the partial results.
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/ 13 February 2006
United Nations peacekeeping troops in Haiti opened fire on demonstrators on Monday near the capital’s international airport, leaving many casualties, according to Haitian police and UN sources. Police said at least one person was killed in the incident, which came after protests grew over the results of last week’s presidential and legislative election.
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/ 13 February 2006
More than 10Â 000 demonstrators took to the streets of Port-au-Prince on Sunday to demand that former president René Préval be declared the winner of last week’s presidential election. With about 75% of the ballots counted, Préval had 49,1% of the vote from Tuesday’s polls, just short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff election.
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/ 12 February 2006
Haitians on Sunday nervously awaited the final outcome of presidential polls, and authorities called for calm after René Prevál, a champion the poor, fell below the 50% needed to win outright. With one fourth of the ballots still to be counted, Prevál, a former president, dominated the vote, but with 49,1%, he was almost one point short of the majority he needs to avoid going to a second round.
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/ 10 February 2006
René Préval, who took an huge early lead in Haiti’s presidential elections, is a former ally of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, though he has distanced himself from the former president who fled in 2004. Préval took over 61% of the vote with 15% of the ballots counted, more than 48% ahead of his closest rival.
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/ 7 February 2006
Voting got off to a rough start in volatile Haiti as angry mobs stormed voting centres that failed to open on time, with one person dying of a heart attack and another of asphyxia. Several more people were injured or fainted as they were trampled or shoved by crowds that rushed voting centres.
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/ 27 December 2005
For Judie Roy, the only woman among 34 candidates for president of Haiti in elections to be held in January, the face of poverty in one of the world’s poorest countries is female. "All that is misery, all that is poverty is female in Haiti. That must be changed," says the 41-year-old mother of six.
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/ 25 October 2005
Alpha, the Atlantic season’s record-breaking 22nd named storm, left at least 10 people dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic before moving north into the Atlantic Ocean and weakening into a tropical depression, authorities said. The storm also left two dozen people missing in the two countries.
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/ 19 September 2005
A year after Hurricane Jeanne ravaged Gonaives in Haiti, killing 3Â 000 and leaving 300Â 000 homeless, residents still await emergency food aid and fear they have been forgotten. Pierre Edner, who helped distribute emergency food aid to storm survivors, said people are desperate in this immense township on the coast.
The death toll from Hurricane Dennis rose dramatically on Tuesday with at least 40 reported dead in Haiti, 16 in Cuba and more bodies expected to be found. On Sunday, the storm hit the southern United States, where another five people were killed. Meanwhile, Cuban President Fidel Castro has refused aid from other countries.
Hurricane Dennis strengthened with winds of 168kph on Thursday and threatened to become a major storm as it uprooted trees and flooded homes in southern Haiti and swept away a car in Jamaica, readying for a direct strike. Forecasters said the storm could strike the United States anywhere from Florida to Louisiana on Sunday or Monday.
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/ 22 September 2004
Haitian authorities on Wednesday said 711 people have died and at least 1 000 others are missing after floods unleashed by Tropical Storm Jeanne, which devastated the north of the country. The international Red Cross has appealed for ,3-million in emergency aid for Haitian flood victims.
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/ 21 September 2004
Bloated corpses filled morgues as Haitians faced yet another tragedy in a year marked by revolts, military interventions and deadly floods. At least 622 people were killed by Tropical Storm Jeanne, and officials expect to find many more bodies. Jeanne regained hurricane strength on Monday, but was far out in the Atlantic.
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/ 20 September 2004
Tropical Storm Jeanne brought raging floodwaters to Haiti, killing at least 90 people in the battered nation and leaving dozens of Haitian families huddled on rooftops as the storm pushed further out into the open seas, officials said. Floods tore through the north-western coastal town of Gonaives and surrounding areas.
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.
Hundreds of people went on a looting rampage on Monday at an industrial park near Port-au-Prince airport, attacking passing cars and threatening journalists with machetes, witnesses said. The latest unrest came one day after at least six peoplewere killed when gunmen opened fire on an opposition rally in the Haitian capital.
Ten years ago, United States Marine Staff Sergeant Mark Hardin arrived in Haiti as part of a US force to restore Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. Earlier this week, after the US had forced Aristide to leave, Hardin was back. ”It looks like nothing’s changed,” he said.
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/ 27 February 2004
Looting and killings were reported in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on Friday as loyalists of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide manned barricades and vowed to beat back an expected rebel assault. Banks and most other businesses were shuttered and there was virtually no traffic in the city centre.
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/ 24 February 2004
Haiti’s rebel leader said on Tuesday he is seeking to re-establish the army that was disbanded after ousting President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991. With the rebels threatening to attack the capital of Port-au-Prince, the United States has tried to broker a last-ditch peace plan that does not require Aristide to resign.
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/ 17 February 2004
Former soldiers took Haiti’s rebellion to the key central city of Hinche, torching the police station and freeing prisoners as President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed for international help to end a bloody uprising. Rebels have driven police out of more than a dozen towns in 12 days.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=31350">Aristide vows to complete mandate</a>
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/ 14 February 2004
Rebels sharpened their attack skills and aid workers prepared for the worst as suspense grew in the bloody Haitian insurrection that has left at least 49 people dead. Roadblocks have halted most food shipments since rebels trying to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide seized the city of Gonaives last week.
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/ 11 February 2004
Haitian police retook three towns from rebels battling President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and the government pledged to win back control of all territory lost during battles that have left at least 42 dead in five days. The United Nations has warned that Haiti faces a major humanitarian crisis.
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/ 10 February 2004
In the strongest challenge yet to embattled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, rebels in nearly a dozen towns on Tuesday pressed ahead with a bloody uprising that has killed at least 42 people and prompted fears of a coup d’état. Government supporters in Cap-Haitien on Tuesday built barricades to keep rebels out.
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/ 9 February 2004
Hundreds of Haitians looted TV sets, mattresses and sacks of flour from shipping containers on Sunday in the port town of St Marc, one of several communities seized by rebels in a bloody uprising against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. At least 18 people have been killed since opponents of Aristide began their assault on Thursday.
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/ 6 February 2004
An armed opposition group seized control of Haiti’s fourth-largest city in clashes that killed at least four people, while the government vowed to restore order. Members of the Gonaives Resistance Front on Thursday set fire to the mayor’s home in Gonaives, then doused the police station with fuel, lighting it while officers fled.
President Thabo Mbeki has been ill-advised to link celebrations of SAs first Haiti’s decade of democracy with festivities marking Haiti.