<html>
<body>
<font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#333333"><b><br><br>
<br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#800000">ARISTIDE SAYS ONLY
DIALOGUE WILL END HAITI MAYHEM<br>
<br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=3>Source: REUTERS <br><br>
20 Oct 2004 18:26:32 GMT<br><br>
By John Chiahemen<br><br>
<br>
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Exiled former Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday angrily denied accusations he was
fomenting violence in his homeland and accused <br>
Haiti's interim leader of brutally suppressing dissent.<br><br>
Gang and political violence has killed more than 50 Haitians in the past
two weeks.<br><br>
<br>
"Latortue, stop the lying, stop the killings," Aristide said in
a statement from <br>
South Africa directed at Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.<br><br>
<br>
"True dialogue is the only solution (in Haiti). With the lives of
millions at stake, public officials must act responsibly," he said
in the statement, faxed to Reuters in Johannesburg<br><br>
<br>
Aristide has been in Pretoria since May after he was forced into exile in
February in what <br>
he says was a U.S.-engineered coup.<br><br>
<br>
The statement was his first public reaction to Latortue's blistering
attack last Sunday in <br>
which he accused South African President Thabo Mbeki of allowing Aristide
to direct a violent campaign by his supporters in the
Caribbeancountry.<br><br>
<br>
Latortue repeated the charges on Monday, telling Reuters: "President
Thabo Mbeki has not made enough effort to prevent Aristide from using the
South African hospitality to destabilize Haiti."<br><br>
<br>
Aristide did not address the allegations against him directly, but fired
his own salvo against <br>
the prime minister.<br><br>
<br>
He said Latortue had admitted in an Oct. 1 broadcast that security forces
had fired on demonstrators. "De facto prime minister Gerard Latortue
acknowledged that he is a killer," <br>
Aristide said.<br><br>
<br>
"We fired on them. Some died, others were wounded, and others
fled," he quoted Latortue as <br>
saying in the broadcast.<br><br>
<br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#800000"><b>COUNTER
CHARGES<br><br>
<br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=3>Aristide also accused Latortue of
fomenting unrest "in allowing soldiers of the disbanded brutal army
to take charge and remain in charge of entire areas of the country and
his sanctioning of their use of violence."<br><br>
<br>
"During these past eight months thousands of Haitians have been
killed in defense of democratic principles," he said.<br><br>
<br>
The South African government, which continues to recognize Aristide as
Haiti' rightful president, on Monday dismissed Latortue's accusations
against Mbeki.<br><br>
<br>
"South Africa and indeed President Mbeki cannot be used as a
scapegoat for failure by the Interim Haitian Authorities to bring about
peace and stability,"<br><br>
Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said in a prepared statement read on
national television.<br><br>
South Africa gave Aristide refuge after he was deposed, a move Pahad said
was agreed with <br>
Caribbean bloc Caricom in consultation with the United Nations,United
States and Haiti's former colonial ruler France.<br><br>
Latortue's comments reignited domestic opposition to Aristide's stay in
South<br><br>
Africa, and two opposition parties called for an investigation into
whether he was indeed inciting violence in Haiti from the safety of South
Africa.<br><br>
<br>
*******<br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#0000FF"><b>Forwarded by the
Haitian Lawyers Leadership<br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=3>*******<br><br>
"Men anpil chay pa lou" is Kreyol for - "Many hands
make light a heavy load."<br><br>
<b>SEE: <br><br>
</b>The Haitian Leadership Networks' 7 "men anpil chay
palou" campaigns to help restore Haiti's independence, the will of
the mass electorate and the rule of law. <br><br>
<b>SEE:</b> <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#003399"><b><a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/haitianlawyers.html">http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/haitianlawyers.html</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=3>;
<br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=3 color="#003399"><a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaigns.html" eudora="autourl">http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaigns.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=3>SEE:</b> <br><br>
Haitiaction.net <br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3><a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>