23535: Esser: Aristide takes swipe at Haiti's premier (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>


The Star
http://www.thestar.co.za/

Aristide takes swipe at Haiti's premier
By Beauregard Tromp

October 21, 2004


Ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide has rounded on his
critics by denouncing Haiti's prime minister as a killer responsible
for the latest wave of violence in his home country.

Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue started a diplomatic spat when
he was quoted as saying that "no respectable president would allow a
person in his territory to organise violence in another. Mr Mbeki is
not respecting international law".

President Thabo Mbeki's office declined to respond to Latortue's
allegations but Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad
dismissed the allegations "with contempt".

Opposition parties have called on Aristide to clear his name and
prove that he is not in any way involved in the recent violence in
Haiti, where more than 55 people have died since protests calling for
his return started on September 30.

Yesterday, Aristide replied in a signed letter distributed by the
Department of Foreign Affairs.

"Latortue crossed the line; he unleashed a new torrent of repression
in Haiti and is now looking for a scapegoat," he said.

Aristide accused Latortue's government of killing a number of
protesting civilians during the recent clashes in Haiti and of
allowing former soldiers of the "disbanded brutal army" to take
charge of certain areas.


He also referred to a report by the US Catholic peace movement, "Pax
Christi USA", which berated the interim government for jailing
elected officials and their supporters while armed militias went
about their business with impunity.

"Latortue, stop the lying, stop the killings. Start paving the way
for a dialogue which we have unceasingly invoked these past
three-and-a-half years," read Aristide's statement.

Aristide fled Haiti in February 29 and arrived in South Africa on May
31 after a request from the Caribbean Community to the African Union
for asylum for the ousted president.

He has always contended that he had been kidnapped by US soldiers and
forced to flee.

He currently resides in Pretoria, where he and his wife are honorary
researchers at the University of South Africa.

The violence in Haiti has continued unabated, with regular clashes
between Aristide supporters and police and troops.

A 3 000-strong Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping force is straining to
deal with the violence, most of it in the Aristide stronghold of Bel
Air.

The Haitian government announced yesterday it would start talks to
buy arms after a 13-year embargo by the US. The US government has
said it would consider individual requests for a lifting of sanctions.
.