23495: (Chamberlain) SAfrica-Haiti-Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ELLIOTT SYLVESTER

   CAPE TOWN, Oct 18 (AP) -- The government lashed out Monday at Haiti's
interim prime minister, denying allegations that South African President
Thabo Mbeki has allowed Haiti's ousted president to coordinate violence in
the Caribbean country from his refuge here.
   Calling the accusations baseless, Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad said South
Africa's government "rejects with contempt the attack on the integrity of
President Mbeki, and dismisses the insinuation its territory is being used
as a springboard by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to destabilize Haiti
through violent means.
   "South Africa, and indeed President Mbeki, cannot be used as a scapegoat
for failure by the interim Haitian authorities to bring about peace and
stability to Haiti," Pahad said, according to a statement given to The
Associated Press.
   Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue told reporters Sunday that Mbeki
was "taking a big risk" in sheltering Aristide, who Latortue said "is the
symbol of violence. He believes in that.
   "No respectable president would allow a person in his territory to
organize violence in another country," Latortue said. "Mr. Mbeki is not
respecting international law."
   At the time, 95 Chinese riot police were arriving in Haiti to join a
U.N. peacekeeping force struggling to keep order in the impoverished
Caribbean nation. At least 55 people have died since Sept. 30, when
Aristide loyalists took to the streets demanding his return to office.
   Aristide fled Haiti on Feb. 29 as rebels approached the capital of
Port-au-Prince. South Africa offered him temporary asylum and he arrived
May 31. He currently lives in Pretoria but has not applied for permanent
asylum in the country.
   The South African government recognizes Aristide as the legitimate
leader of Haiti, and treats him as a guest of the state. He and his wife,
Mildred, were appointed honorary research fellows at the University of
South Africa last week.
   Pahad said South Africa had agreed to host Aristide as "a visitor of the
government, pending the resolution of the political situation in Haiti."
   Only the people of Haiti and their representatives, assisted by the
Caribbean Community, can develop a long-term solution to their current
political and economic problems, he said.
   Two South African opposition groups -- the Democratic Alliance and the
smaller African Christian Democratic Party -- have called for an
investigation into Latortue's allegations.
   "If (Mbeki) can show that there is no substance to Mr. Latortue's
allegations, then our government should respond to what would amount to a
slur against the president," Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said in a
statement.
   If there is evidence Aristide has incited violence in Haiti from South
Africa, then his guest status should be revoked and Mbeki "should apologize
to the U.N. and to its peacekeeping forces," Leon said.