SA 'too busy' for Aristide

2004-03-04 20:10

Bangui - The Central African Republic will have to play host to ousted Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide until next month at least because South Africa is too busy organising its April 14 elections to take him in before then, an African diplomat said on Thursday.

"President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will certainly remain in Bangui until April 14, because the time is not right now for the South Africans to take him in," the diplomat said, asking not to be named.

"They are in the midst of an election period and go to the polls on that date, so we'll have to wait until the elections are over" before a decision is taken on whether Aristide will eventually go into exile in South Africa, as the authorities here have speculated he would.

When Aristide arrived in Bangui on Monday after fleeing his troubled native Haiti, Central African Republic officials said he was only passing through en route to exile elsewhere - probably South Africa, where the former Haitian leader enjoys good relations with President Thabo Mbeki.

Pretoria has maintained that it has not received any formal request so far and underlined that it would have no problem "in principle" with granting Aristide asylum, although such a decision could not be taken "overnight."

Central African government spokesperson Parfait M'bay said on Thursday he was unaware of the possible need to extend Aristide's stay, which has already proven an embarrassment for the host nation.

M'bay added, "He will stay in Bangui only if he abides by the request we made for him to show restraint in his public statements."

Since his arrival, Aristide has raised hackles here, first by saying in an interview on CNN that he had been ousted by a coup orchestrated by Washington and then complaining that he was a prisoner in Bangui.

On Wednesday, M'bay said Aristide owed his life to the Central African Republic for giving him refuge and to its allies for getting him out of Haiti, and ordered the ex-president to show them more respect.

Also on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Charles Herve Wenezoui led a delegation of Central African ministers to meet Aristide and urge him to respect his host country's "legendary hospitality" and stop making disparaging comments about its allies.

The Central African League of Human Rights (LCDH) meanwhile demanded that Aristide leave, saying it "refuses to see the Central African Republic used as a dump for a former despot rejected by the other countries of the Americas, Europe and Africa."

- SAPA