20828: Esser: Government insists Aristide has not asked for asylum (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Pretoria News
http://www.pretorianews.co.za

March 26, 2004

SOUTH AFRICA
Government insists Aristide has not asked for asylum

Former Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide had not asked for
asylum in South Africa, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign
Affairs, Ronnie Mamoepa, said yesterday.

The denial follows reports from Jamaica, where Aristide is currently
staying, that he would move to South Africa after the election.

Jamaican officials claimed yesterday that South Africa insisted on
the delay because giving Aristide asylum could be "politically
unsettling" before the April 14 election.

In Haiti, cabinet minister Robert Ulysse said: "We want to put
Aristide behind us and allow Haiti to move forward," he said.

Mamoepa reiterated that South Africa is not opposed to taking in
Aristide, but has received no formal asylum request. In the early
days of Aristide's exile, South Africa had said it would accept him
if he asked for asylum.

The Africa Union pledged "full support to the country that will agree
to grant such asylum" but local opposition parties have said South
Africa should not support Aristide.

Aristide fled Haiti at the end of February for the Central African
Republic.
.