[News] President Aristide receives a red carpet welcome in South Africa

[News at freedomarchives.org]

President Aristide receives a red carpet welcome in South Africa this Monday
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Port-au-Prince, May 31, 2004 ;(AHP)- The red carpet was rolled out to 
welcome President Aristide upon his arrival Monday at the Johannesburg 
airport in South Africa.

South African President Thabo Mbeki was at the airport to welcome President 
Aristide.

Despite reservations expressed by a sector of the South African opposition, 
Mr. Aristide could remain as long as necessary in South Africa while 
awaiting the normalization of the situation in his country before returning 
home, said South African leaders.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide arrived from Jamaica with his wife and their two 
daughters.

He traveled to Jamaica after having spent two weeks in the central African 
Republic following his departure from Haiti on February 29 under 
circumstances that have been described as clouded.

His arrival in Jamaica in mid-March aroused tremendous anxiety on the part 
of the Latortue government.

Interim Prime Ministry Gérard Latortue as well as several leaders of the 
former opposition said at that time that they in a panic, and explained 
that the presence of Aristide very close to Haiti could cause trouble there.

Despite the fact that several sectors had recalled that the Haitian 
Constitution does not allow for exile and that it was very serious to seek 
to prevent a Haitian from even being received in a country close to his 
homeland, Mr. Latortue had decided to go all the way, recalling the Haitian 
Ambassador to Jamaica and making statements against CARICOM that were seen 
as causing a commotion and not diplomatic.

The positions taken by the provisional prime minister have since created 
unease between Haiti and CARICOM. Consequently, a request by Latortue to 
take part in the last CARICOM assembly was rejected.

For the past two weeks, CARICOM has been pressuring the OAS to hold a 
special session to determine the circumstances under which President 
Aristide left power on February 29, 2004.

Despite the talks by Haiti's provisional representative to the OAS aimed at 
persuading CARICOM to abandon its decision, the matter is set to be 
discussed at the next OAS Assembly in Ecuador.

In receiving President Aristide Monday morning in South Africa, the full 
apparatus of the State and almost all members of the diplomatic corps of 
the African continent were involved.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide pointed out before leaving Jamaica that he remains 
the legitimate president of Haiti, and thanked all who have provided him 
accommodations to date: the Central African Empire, Jamaica and now South 
Africa.

A provisional president was installed in Haiti three months ago, but many 
believe that the situation there remains confused. Security conditions, the 
political situation and the economy continue to deteriorate, the observers 
note.

Many sectors, including those who took part in the anti-Aristide GNB 
movement in February, feel that "the technocrats who were parachuted into 
power do not know the territory". A host from a political broadcast said to 
be close to the new government went so far as to speak in terms of chaos.

Human rights violations, political persecution, arbitrary arrests, and 
prolonged preventive detention directed at supporters of Fanmi Lavalas, the 
party of Aristide, are regularly denounced.

At the same time, the interim government decided two weeks ago for reasons 
that remain unknown to place seals on the doors of Radio and Télétimoun, 
two broadcasters operating under the Aristide Foundation for Democracy.

President Aristide, in 1990, became the first chief of State to be elected 
democratically in the country's entire history. He was re-elected for a 
second term in November 2000 through elections in which most of the 
opposition political parties did not participate, as they said they were 
protesting irregularities that marked, in their view, the legislative 
elections organized four months earlier.

In reality, what happened was that seven or eight Senators were proclaimed 
winners by the electoral council, however the OAS electoral observation 
mission said that they were leading in the polls, but were not first-round 
winners. These Senators then took the initiative of resigning several 
months later to facilitate the resolution of the conflict.

In related news, President Aristide received an honorary plaque presented 
by students of the University of the West Indies on Sunday before leaving 
Jamaica.

"This plaque is recognition of your struggle in favor of human dignity and 
your courage in the face of adversity", declared the students, who spoke 
Sunday, placing the presentation of this plaque within the context of the 
celebration of Haiti's bicentennial of independence.

They hailed President Aristide for having the courage, as they put it, to 
seek from France the restitution of the debt of independence and 
reparations for the slaves who were victims of atrocities during the age of 
slavery.



AHP May 31, 2004  1:20 PM


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