22190: (Chamberlain) Angry Haitian ex-president leaves for South Africa (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Horace Helps

     KINGSTON, Jamaica, May 30 (Reuters) - Haiti's former president,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, insisted he was still his country's elected leader
as he left Jamaica on Sunday for exile in South Africa and denounced what
he said were killings of his supporters since he was ousted three months
ago.
     "Since February 29, 2004, the level of suffering has dramatically
increased in Haiti," the former Roman Catholic priest said at a news
conference before flying out of Kingston on a private jet with family
members and aides after an 11-week stay in Jamaica.
     "While on one side, thousands are being killed for supporting their
elected government, on the other side, more than 2,000 people lost their
lives because of ecological disaster," said Aristide, who fled Haiti on
Feb. 29., in the face of an armed revolt and U.S. pressure to leave.
     He was referring to floods and mudslides in Haiti and neighboring
Dominican Republic which this week killed an estimated 2,000 people.
    Officials have put part of the blame for the disaster on decades of
stripping of hillside trees for use as charcoal fuel in Haiti, the poorest
country in the Americas.
     Aristide, whose stay in Jamaica was protested by Haiti's new
government, was barred from speaking publicly about politics during his
time on the Caribbean island.
     Just before he left, he abandoned that restriction and said he still
regarded himself as the constitutionally elected leader of Haiti's 8
million people.
     Aristide supporters have protested what they say is harassment and
arrests of supporters of Aristide's Lavalas Family party since he fled. The
new government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has denied charges of a
witch hunt.
     Aristide took the accusations further, saying  the new administration
was killing Lavalas supporters and dumping their bodies at sea.
     "They don't want the people to talk, so they prefer to kill them, put
them into bags and drop them in the sea. That's what's been happening since
February 29 when I left Haiti," he said.
     "Those who want to talk they kill them, arrest them, or push them in
hiding. Some have come to Jamaica as refugees, because they put fire in
their houses, and at the same time prevent them from leaving those houses."
     The bloody revolt against Aristide, who is regarded as a near savior
by his followers in Haiti, came after months of protests by his political
foes, who accused him of becoming autocratic and using armed thugs to shore
up support.
     A U.S-led multinational force moved into Haiti to help restore order
hours after Aristide fled. An interim administration was picked by a
council of prominent Haitians to lead the country until elections scheduled
for next year.
     Aristide, hailed as a champion of Haiti's emerging democracy in the
late 1980s, arrived in Jamaica on March 15 from temporary exile in the
Central African Republic and now will be a guest of the South Africa
government.
    Despite his condemnation of Haiti's new leaders, he urged his
supporters not to resort to violence.
     "As I have never asked my supporters to use violence, today again I
say don't answer with violence. I wish my people do not fall in the
temptation to use violence against those using violence to keep them
silent," Aristide said.