19564: Esser: U.S. activist claims Aristide kidnapped at gunpoint by U.S. troops (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

U.S. activist claims Aristide kidnapped at gunpoint by U.S. troops

Associated Press

March 1, 2004, 1:54 PM EST

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts and Nevis -- An African-American activist says
former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide telephoned him Monday
to say that he was kidnapped at gunpoint by American soldiers and
ousted by in U.S. coup d'etat.

Aristide said he was being held prisoner at the Renaissance Palace in
Bangui, Central African Republic, said Randall Robinson.

The United States has said that it facilitated Aristide's departure
at his request. White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the
claim ``complete nonsense.''

``It was Mr. Aristide's decision to resign,'' he said.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also said the Haitian leader
left the country of his own accord.

``The idea that someone was abducted is just totally inconsistent
with everything I heard or saw,'' Rumsfeld said.

Robinson spawned the series of denials by saying Aristide was a coup
victim.

``He asked that I tell the word that it is a coup. That he was
abducted by American soldiers and put aboard a plane,'' said
Robinson, the founder and former president of the TransAfrica
lobbying forum in Washington D.C. Robinson currently lives on the
Caribbean island of St. Kitts.

Robinson said Aristide claimed he was being held prisoner in the
Central African Republic at a building surrounded by soldiers.

There were indeed soldiers around the palace where Aristide is
staying in Bangui.

The Central African Republic's government on Monday released a video
showing Aristide descending from the plane. There were no military
present and Aristide looked tired, but not scared.

A Caribbean official who said Aristide called him from a refueling
stop in Antigua said only that Aristide had said he was heading to
South Africa. The official did not mention any claim that Aristide
had been kidnapped.

Aristide also did not say anything about the charges when he spoke in
comments Monday broadcast on the Central African Republic's state
radio.

Randall said Aristide called him from a cellular telephone that a
sympathizer had given him.

He said Aristide said he was being held along with his wife, Mildred
Trouillot Aristide, and his sister's husband.

Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
.