20108: Esser: African Union slams Aristide's 'removal' (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

News 24, South Africa

AU slams Aristide's 'removal'
03/09/2004

Addis Ababa - The African Union, which groups 53 states on the
continent, has described Jean-Bertrand Aristide's "removal" as
president of Haiti as "unconstitutional," in a statement received on
Tuesday.

"The African Union expresses the view that the unconstitutional way
by which President Aristide was removed set a dangerous precedent for
a duly elected person and wishes that no action be taken to
legitimise the rebel forces" in Haiti, said the statement released by
the AU Commission, the body's main decision making body.

The head of the AU Commission, Mali's former president Alpha Oumar
Konare, arrived on Tuesday in the Central African Republic and held
an hour of talks with the exiled former leader of Haiti, officials in
Bangui said.

Neither man would comment after the meeting.

Konare "came here to meet president Aristide, gather information and
then report back to the African Union so that it can take a formal
position on the presence of Aristide in Africa and, more
specifically, in the Central African Republic," Deputy Foreign
Minister Guy Moskit said.

The French ministry meanwhile announced on Tuesday that Aristide
signed a formal letter of resignation from office, refuting his claim
that he remains the country's elected president.

"Constitutional legality was respected. Jean-Bertrand Aristide
resigned. His letter of resignation was formally put into effect,"
said foreign ministry spokesperson Herve Ladsous.

Aristide has been in Bangui since March 1, after he fled his native
Haiti following weeks of unrest.

Officials in CAR have said the Haitian former leader was only passing
through on his way to exile elsewhere, probably South Africa, where
Aristide has good relations with President Thabo Mbeki.

But with South Africa in the midst of campaigning for elections, the
country was unlikely to offer asylum to Aristide until after the
April 14 polls, an African diplomat here has said.

And Pretoria has said it will not take a snap decision on asylum for
Aristide, for which, in any case, it has not received a formal
request.

Edited by Anthea Jonathan
.