20077: (Chamberlain) Aristide defiant, calls for peaceful resistance (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Andrew Gray

     BANGUI, March 8 (Reuters) - Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide appealed from exile in Africa on Monday for peaceful resistance to
what he called the "occupation" of Haiti and insisted he had been abducted
by U.S. forces.
     Appearing for the first time in public since his arrival in the
Central African Republic a week ago as a rebellion plunged his homeland
into chaos, Aristide said he still regarded himself as Haiti's legitimate
leader.
     "I am the elected president and I remain the elected president,"
Aristide told a news conference, looking composed in a dark blue suit with
his wife seated at his side. "I am pleading for the restoration of
democracy."
     Washington has flatly denied Aristide's allegations of kidnapping,
saying it helped him leave Haiti but the decision to go was his own. His
supporters have alleged that a resignation letter he signed is invalid as
he wrote it under duress.
     Aristide said U.S. officials had told him before he left Haiti that he
could speak to the news media but then took him directly to the airport.
     "The fact is there was a political abduction," Aristide said in the
Central African capital Bangui.
     "This unfortunately has paved the way for occupation and ... we launch
an appeal for peaceful resistance (in Haiti)," he said. "I'm choosing my
words carefully: for peaceful resistance."
     His call came a day after suspected supporters of the exiled leader
sprayed gunfire at thousands of jubilant revellers celebrating his downfall
in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, killing at least six and wounding 18.
     U.S. Marines are leading an international peace mission in Haiti
approved by the United Nations to restore order after days of looting and
shooting following his flight into exile.
     One of Aristide's lawyers, Gilbert Collard, said in Paris he and an
American colleague would file lawsuits in France and the United States in
the next few days, alleging that French and U.S. authorities had kidnapped
the Haitian president, once they received full authorisation from Aristide.
     "The suits will target the Bush administration and the French
government," he said. "If we get support from some African states, we will
also appeal to the relevant commission of the United Nations."
     Central African authorities have expressed annoyance over Aristide's
repeated accusations against Washington. Foreign Minister Charles Wenezoui
told him at the news conference it would be better if he did not talk about
the situation in Haiti.
     The event appeared in part to be an effort to quash reports Aristide
was being held a virtual prisoner by his hosts.
     "I have never been a prisoner here and I am not a prisoner here,"
Aristide said. "On the other hand, I was a prisoner on February 28, in the
plane, where we spent 20 hours without knowing where we were going."
     Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, became a champion of Haiti's
impoverished masses when he helped overthrow the brutal Duvalier family
dictatorship in 1986. But critics accused him of ruling autocratically and
tolerating corruption.
     He brushed off questions about his ultimate destination saying the
important thing was to keep calling for the restoration of democratic rule
in the poor Caribbean nation.
     South Africa, which has backed Aristide in the past, said last week it
would consider any official request for asylum.
     The Central African Republic is a former French colony and one of the
world's poorest countries. It has housed Aristide in an apartment in the
presidential palace of General Francois Bozize, who seized power a year
ago.
     A group of Aristide supporters from the United States met him on
Monday, a day after being refused access.
     "I'm reassured in the sense that his material situation is pretty
good," said Brian Concannon, an attorney representing Aristide's lawyer in
the United States.
     "I'm not reassured in the fact that he's in an area where it's
difficult to communicate with the outside world."