20417: (Chamberlain) S.Africa's Mbeki faces new heat on Haiti links (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Andrew Quinn

    JOHANNESBURG, March 15 (Reuters) - South Africa's opposition accused
President Thabo Mbeki of violating the constitution by sending arms to
Haiti to head off a revolt against the president of the embattled Caribbean
nation.
     Opposition leader Tony Leon said Mbeki had failed to inform
parliament, as required by the constitution, before sending a military
plane with security gear on a mission to bolster the government of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "It appears, prima facie, that the
president has violated the constitution," Leon, who heads the opposition
Democratic Alliance (DA), told a news conference.
     Mbeki's office denied the accusation, which came a month before the
opposition takes on Mbeki's ruling African National Congress in
parliamentary and presidential polls on April 14.
     "Nothing was done by the president or government that was not in line
with the Constitution," Mbeki spokesman Bheki Khumalo told the South
African Press Association.
     Defence Ministry officials said the shipment -- said to include guns
and ammunition -- was requested by Caribbean leaders and arrived in Jamaica
on February 29 just as Aristide quit Haiti in the face of an armed
rebellion.
     "Had Aristide resigned even 12 hours later, or had he stayed and come
under armed attack in the early days of March, the SAAF (air force)
aircraft and any defence force personnel on board could have been directly
involved," the DA said in a statement.
     "That would have had serious and negative diplomatic consequences for
South Africa."
     Leon demanded Mbeki say if he had sought legal advice before sending
the shipment and why he failed to inform parliament.
     The DA has reacted sharply to suggestions that South Africa might
offer asylum to Aristide, who left his temporary exile in the Central
African Republic on Monday for what officials described as a 10-week trip
to Jamaica.
     Mbeki has faced criticism at home since attending Haiti's bicentenary
celebrations on January 1, with the opposition charging he was backing an
undemocratic and repressive regime.
     Mbeki countered that, as the world's oldest black-governed republic,
Haiti was a natural ally of South Africa and the "African Renaissance" he
champions. South Africa has since joined Caribbean calls for an
international investigation into the circumstances surrounding Aristide's
departure from Haiti.
     Mbeki's spokesman said the government had followed "the letter and
spirit" of South Africa's constitution in dealing with the Haitian crisis,
and would reply to Leon in writing to explain its position.