23251: (Chamberlain) Ousted Aristide mourns victims of Haiti storm (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

                         Ousted Aristide mourns victims of Haiti storm


     JOHANNESBURG, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Deposed Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide mourned the deaths of more than 1,000 people in
Tropical Storm Jeanne and said on Thursday he stood in solidarity with his
suffering people.
     "It is with great sadness that I watch reports of the devastation
wrought upon Haiti ... Gonaives, the cradle of our independence, has
suffered enormously," he said in a statement issued from his exile in
Pretoria, South Africa.
     "Condolences and courage to an entire nation that has seen much pain
and suffering in this tumultuous bicentennial year."
     Haiti has begun burying hundreds of flood victims in mass graves,
while emergency food was being distributed to some of the thousands of
people made homeless by the raging storm.
     The death toll rose to 1,008 in the Artibonite region around the
northern coastal city of Gonaives and 72 in Haiti's Northwest province, a
Haitian government official said.
     Aristide has kept a low profile during his exile in South Africa,
which has sparked opposition criticism that the government is tainted by
association with a man accused of rights abuses back home.
     Pretoria says Aristide was the victim of a U.S.-sanctioned "regime
change" and has backed a United Nations probe into the events surrounding
his departure from Haiti on February 29 amid an armed revolt. President
Thabo Mbeki has been a strong supporter of Aristide.
     The government has rejected opposition and media criticism over its
funding of Aristide's exile -- including his rent and two daughters' school
fees -- saying he arrived in the country without any possessions or money.