19827: (Chamberlain) Aristide Exile (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By DANIEL BALINT-KURTI

   BANGUI, Central African Republic, March 4 (AP) -- Central African
Republic will offer ousted Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide permanent
asylum if he asks, but the impoverished nation would find it difficult to
pay for his upkeep, the government said Thursday.
   Since Aristide arrived here Monday after his ouster in a nationwide
uprising a day earlier, officials have said he would only stay temporarily
while they sought a permanent home for him elsewhere. Negotiations have
been underway to find Aristide a final destination.
   "I can't say definitively if Mr. Aristide will stay here or if he'll go,
but if he asks us, we won't refuse him," Communications Minister Parfait
Mbaye told The Associated Press.
   South Africa has said it is not opposed in principle to taking in
Aristide, but it hasn't received any formal asylum request.
   Mbaye said Aristide could choose to stay where he is, in an apartment in
the presidential palace with his wife, a brother-in-law and two bodyguards.
   If he remains in the country permanently, it will have to find him his
own villa, possibly outside Bangui.
   "He doesn't feel homesick here. He has even said the climate here is the
same" as in Haiti, Mbaye said.
   There was no immediate indication whether Aristide would request
permanent asylum in Central African Republic, which like Haiti is a former
French colony. After a flurry of phone calls Monday in which he accused the
United States of forcing him out of office, the ex-Haitian leader has had
no known direct contact with reporters.
   The day after he arrived, Aristide told reporters and members of the
U.S. Congress from Bangui that he had been abducted at gunpoint by U.S.
Marines and forced to leave his country.
   Mbaye repeated denials of Aristide's claims that he is a prisoner in
Bangui. Mbaye said Aristide has "a particular status, which requires him to
remain more or less stationary."
   He added that the former president's accusations against the United
States had "created an incident" and that there was a danger he could say
things which would further enflame the situation in Haiti.
   Aristide had nevertheless discreetly left the presidential palace once
or twice, Mbaye said.
   Mbaye suggested he hopes the international community would help pay if
Aristide stays here.
   "Taking on the charges for the stay and protection of a person such as
Aristide will take a lot of financial effort," he said. "I am convinced
that the international community will also take this aspect into account."
   Although rich in gold, diamonds and other resources, the country of 3.7
million is nearly bankrupt and has habitually failed to pay its civil
servants, sparking unrest and coup attempts.
   On Thursday, Central African state radio announced civil servants had
received one month's pay. Rhe government still owes them for more than 2
1/2 years.
   Central African Republic Finance Minister Jean-Pierre Le Bouder said the
fresh payments are unrelated to any financial incentives from either France
or the United States, who, together with the West African nation of Gabon,
negotiated Aristide's arrival in the country.
   Since Central African President Francois Bozize's rebels overran the
capital, Bangui, in March 2003, the country has been courting international
lending agencies and foreign governments. Central African Republic has
weathered nine coups or coup attempts since independence from France in
1960.
   ------
   Associated Press Writers Nafi Diouf and Angela Doland in Bangui
contributed to this article.