20825: Esser: Aristide Attorney Denies Reports of South African Asylum (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com

March 25, 2004

Aristide Attorney Denies Reports of South African Asylum
By Peter Eisner
Washington Post Foreign Service

An attorney for Jean-Bertrand Aristide denied reports Thursday that
the ousted Haitian President has been granted permanent asylum in
South Africa.

Attorney Ira Kurzban said news reports quoting Jamaican officials
about asylum in South Africa were not true.

"The South Africans have not extended the offer yet, so I think it's
premature," said Kurzban, in a telephone interview from Miami. "I
don't think there's anything to the story."

The Jamaican government has been criticized and pressured by the Bush
administration for accepting Aristide, who has been in the Caribbean
country since March 15 on what has been described as a two or three
month visit. Aristide has not spoken with reporters since his arrival.

Kurzban and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) flew Aristide to Jamaica on
a chartered private jet from the Central African Republic. The ousted
leader has said the U.S. government forced him to leave Haiti on Feb.
29 and travel to the African country against his will. U.S. officials
have said Aristide resigned office and left Haiti willingly,
following a three-week bloody insurgency.

Jamaican officials, quoted by The Associated Press, said South Africa
had offered asylum, but that South African President Thabo Mbeki's
government demanded a delay in Aristide's arrival until April general
elections.

South Africa presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo said there would be
no immediate comment, the AP reported.
.