20385: (Chamberlain) Africa-Aristide-Exile (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By JOSEPH BENAMSSE

   BANGUI, Central African Republic, March 14 (AP) -- Ousted Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide flew out of the Central African Republic
on Monday for Jamaica, heading back to the Caribbean over the objections of
Haitian and U.S. officials.
   Aristide left Bangui's international airport on a chartered Gulfstream
jet carrying a five-member delegation of U.S. and Jamaican officials who
came to retrieve him.
   Aristide's expected arrival in Jamaica, scheduled later Monday, has
increased tensions in Haiti, where his followers plan more protests to
demand his return.
   Asked if he wanted to return to power, the former Haitian president was
elusive.
   "For the time being, I'm listening to my people," Aristide said before
boarding the plane. "The more we listen to them, the more we serve them,
the more we will know what to do at right time."
   "We all have to do what we can to promote peace," he added.
   Before departing, Aristide met late Sunday with the man who granted him
temporary asylum here -- Central African Republic President Francois
Bozize, said Stanislas Moussa-Kembe, head of protocol at the presidency.
   Aristide's departure was delayed by several hours because of the meeting
with Bozize. Aristide said he believed Bozize, before letting the Haitian
leader depart, had to consult with the three countries that had organized
his exile in Bangui -- the United States, France and Gabon.
   Central African Republic officials, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said the meeting was a matter of protocol -- a chance for Aristide to thank
his host -- and Bozize had been busy with other affairs of state.
   Bozize presented Aristide and his wife with gifts, including a picture
made of hundreds of butterfly wings.
   Aristide had stayed in a presidential palace apartment in Bangui since
March 1, a day after he fled Haiti's capital with rebels closing in.
   Among those who flew to Africa to retrieve the former Haitian president
were U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who described herself as "a very
close friend" of Aristide who had been in daily communication with him
since his arrival in Bangui.
   "We're here to accompany him as friends to Jamaica," Waters told
reporters in Bangui. "We're very proud and pleased that (Jamaican) Minister
P.J. Patterson responded to his request" for temporary refuge.
   Aristide, a once-popular slum priest, left the Central African Republic
capital with those he brought with him -- his wife Mildred, two bodyguards
and a brother-in-law.
   In Kingston, Jamaica, he will be reunited with his two young daughters,
who had been sent to New York for their safety.
   "I simply would like to see him reunited with his children, see the
family come together and him be able to go to someplace in the region where
he comes from so that he can have time to think, to make his decision for
what he wants to do," Waters said.
   Aristide is likely to stay in Jamaica for several weeks before going
into permanent exile somewhere else -- possibly South Africa.
   Haiti's interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has warned Aristide's
return to the region could threaten a fragile stability. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld told CNN's "Late Edition" that "the hope is that he will
not come back into the hemisphere and complicate the situation."
   Aristide claims he is still the legitimate leader of Haiti, and accuses
the U.S. government of forcing him from office. U.S. officials say Aristide
asked for help and that they saved his life by arranging his departure
aboard a U.S.-chartered aircraft during a bloody rebellion.
   Aristide's claims have embarrassed Central African Republic's
government, which had asked the Haitian leader to keep a lower profile.
   Earlier Sunday, Aristide appeared in public for only the second time in
Bangui, attending a special church service at the city's main Notre Dame
cathedral to celebrate Bozize's seizure of power here last year.