10749: (Chamberlain) Aristide Exile (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ANGELA DOLAND

   BANGUI, Central African Republic, March 3 (AP) -- In a crumbling palace
ringed by barbed wire, ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
passes his days watching CNN, reading newspapers and sleeping after his
long flight into exile.
   The Central African Republic has put Aristide up temporarily in an
apartment in the presidential residence -- a boxy 1960s building that has
seen better days, despite a fresh coat of white paint and promising name,
the "Renaissance Palace."
   "We're a country in difficulty," Foreign Minister Charles Wenezoui told
The Associated Press on Wednesday. "We offered the basics. There's no
marble, but it's adequate."
   The local food probably reminds Aristide of home -- chicken, bananas,
spices. And he's been given a television to keep up on what's going on in
Haiti as he awaits news of which country will offer him permanent exile.
   The priest-turned-president resigned Sunday and arrived here on a flight
arranged by the U.S. government. Aristide, Haiti's first freely elected
president, had become deeply unpopular, accused of failing to address
widespread poverty and of using police and militants to stifle dissent.
   Officials in Bangui said they did not know when Aristide would actually
leave.
   South Africa repeated Wednesday that it's not opposed, in principle, to
taking in Aristide, but it still hasn't received any formal asylum request.
   Both African nations are believed to be troubled by claims Aristide has
made since coming to Bangui, accusing the U.S. military of forcing him to
step down -- an allegation denied by Secretary of State Colin Powell and
other top U.S. officials.
   His hosts worry the allegations could compromise their relations with
the United States and have asked him -- "nicely" -- to stop speaking to the
media, the foreign minister said.
   Still, some officials were clearly annoyed by Aristide's remarks.
   Alexandre Kouroupe, a top adviser at the Communications Ministry, cited
an African proverb: When a bird lands on a branch, it shouldn't start
singing, it should look around for predators.
   "I don't care if he stays or not," Kouroupe added. "Personally, I have
other problems."
   Outside the Communications Ministry, guards in camouflage dozed on rusty
cots and kept watch over rocket launchers.
   Aristide's temporary host country is nearly as troubled as the one he
left. It's prone to unrest; the most recent coup came just under a year
ago. Some 15 percent of the population is believed to be infected with
AIDS. The country is also so impoverished that civil servants are owed 32
months of pay.
   In Bangui, litter and broken bottles fill the streets. Shoeless boys
hawk cigarettes, toothbrushes and batteries. Some say Aristide is welcome
-- as long as he helps reverse the country's fortunes.
   "If he comes with money, that's good," said Gaston Ngabaya, a
coffin-maker who sipped palm wine from a tin cup at a bar. "It's God who
will have sent him to us."
   "If he doesn't come with money ..." he said, trailing off and shrugging.
   Aristide hasn't ventured out into the teeming streets, though officials
say he is free to come and go. Wenezoui suggested Aristide probably has too
much thinking to do.
   "He has to take a step back ... He has to ask himself, 'What could I
have done so I wouldn't have had to leave?" he said. "That's human. He's a
man."
   ------
   Associated Press writers Daniel Balint-Kurti and Nafi Diouf contributed
to this article.