20793: (Chamberlain) Aristide in exile (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Marsh 25 (AP) -- Ousted Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide will take permanent asylum in South Africa but not
until it holds general elections next month, Jamaican officials said
Thursday.
   The officials said on condition of anonymity that South African
President Thabo Mbeki's government demanded the delay in Aristide's arrival
because it could be "politically unsettling" before the election.
   In the meantime Aristide would remain in Jamaica, two high-ranking
government officials said.
   Aristide arrived in Jamaica March 14 over protests from the United
States and Haiti's new interim government, both of which said his presence
on the neighboring island would increase tension as a multinational
peacekeeping force sought to stabilize Haiti.
   Aristide fled his country on Feb. 29 as rebels who staged a popular
three-week uprising were preparing to attack Port-au-Prince, the capital.
   Aristide was flown on a U.S.-chartered jet to the Central African
Republic, where the ousted president claimed he was forced from power at
gunpoint by the Americans.
   Jamaican officials said Aristide refused asylum offers from Venezuela
and Nigeria. The officials spoke on the sidelines of a summit of Caribbean
leaders that opened in Jamaica Thursday.