21813: Esser: This is not Asylum (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

News 24
http://www.news24.com

May 10, 2004

'This is not asylum'

10/05/2004 13:08  - (SA)  Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki's
cabinet will this week weigh a request from former Haitian leader
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to visit South Africa in a decision that could
pave the way for asylum, officials said Monday.

Deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad said the cabinet will be asked to
allow Aristide to visit as a "guest of the South African government"
pending further consultations on granting him asylum.

The cabinet will consider a request to allow Aristide "to visit South
Africa until his personal situation normalises," the foreign ministry
said.

"This is not asylum," foreign ministry spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa
told AFP, adding that the permission to visit would be "temporary."

Aristide, who is currently in Jamaica, fled Haiti in late February
for the Central African Republic following armed revolt against his
rule in the poor Caribbean country.

The United States and France applied heavy pressure on Aristide to
step down to avoid a bloodbath, but he later contended that he was
forced out of office.

Pahad said the visit, once approved, could "take place within weeks"
and that South Africa would then consider whether to take him in.

"Obviously, we will consult with others about the implications of
granting him asylum," he said.

While the government insisted that Aristide had not made any formal
request for asylum, sources had privately let it be known that
Mbeki's government did not want to deal with the issue until after
the April 14 elections.

Edited by Jannie Momberg
.