22182: (Chamberlain) Aristide-Exile (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   KINGSTON, Jamaica, May 31 (AP) -- Haiti's former president, ousted in a
coup three months ago, left Jamaica for asylum in South Africa but insisted
he was still the impoverished country's leader and promised to return
someday.
   Still, Jean-Bertrand Aristide urged supporters to refrain from violent
protests on his behalf in Haiti, where the interim government has opened a
corruption investigation of his administration.
   Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected leader, fled the country
Feb. 29 as rebels approached the capital, Port-au-Prince. He was flown
aboard a U.S.-supplied jet to the Central African Republic, went from there
to Jamaica, and later accused the United States of overthrowing him -- a
charge Washington denies.
   "There is one elected president of Haiti, ... and it's me," Aristide
told reporters in Jamaica on Sunday, shortly before departing aboard a
South African jet with his family and bodyguards. He was flanked by his
wife, Mildred, and his security detail.
   Aristide never mentioned the United States on Sunday, but claimed he was
the victim of Haiti's "33rd coup" and said he was nearing completion on a
book that would detail his final days in office.
   "We've had 33 coups. That is enough," said Aristide, who was also joined
by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat and a staunch supporter,
Miami lawyer Ira Kurzban and several South African diplomats.
   Aristide said South Africa would be his "temporary home" until he can go
back. He was due to arrive in the country Monday afternoon.
   Aristide's move to Jamaica in March angered Haiti's interim government,
which worried his presence in the region would further destabilize Haiti,
just 100 miles east. The 15-member Caribbean Community refuses to recognize
Haiti's new government and has called on the Washington-based Organization
of American States to investigate Aristide's departure.
   Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue's government has said it may seek
Aristide's extradition for stealing state funds.
   Aristide called the embezzlement charges "lies and accusations" drummed
up by political enemies in a bid to discredit his Lavalas Family party
ahead of new elections scheduled for next year.
   "How can they talk about elections when they don't allow people to say
how they feel?" said Aristide, who accused opponents of killing his
partisans.
   "Thousands were killed just because they were supporting the elected
president," he said, though estimates put the total death toll from the
crisis at around 300. "They killed them, put them in bags and dropped them
in the sea."
   In South Africa, the main opposition party protested Aristide's imminent
arrival. He is to live under tight security in the capital, Pretoria, at
the South African government's expense.
   "Ordinary South Africans cannot fathom why they must pay to put up the
former Haitian leader," said opposition leader Douglas Gibson. "Mr.
Aristide should go home."
   Haiti has been in crisis since Aristide's party swept disputed 2000
legislative elections. International donors suspended aid and in the past
year the Western Hemisphere's poorest country became embroiled in
increasingly violent confrontations between Aristide and opposition
supporters.