Aristide palmed off to Jamaica
2004-03-15 06:47
Bangui - Former Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide left his exile in the Central African Republic for Jamaica on Monday.
According to an airport official at Bangui airport, Aristide left for the Caribbean island nation at around 02:30, in the company of a US-Jamaican delegation.
Aristide was also accompanied by his wife Mildred and a personal aide.
His plane was scheduled to stop over in Dakar, Senegal.
Aristide fled Haiti on February 29, ending weeks of violence which left at least 70 people dead after opposition and rebel forces demanded his resignation, alleging mismanagement and corruption.
American plot
Aristide has claimed he was flown out of Haiti into exile as part of a plot managed by the United States and backed by France. Washington and Paris have strongly denied the claims.
Caribbean leaders have called for an inquiry into Aristide's accusations.
Jamaican foreign minister Sharon Hay Webster arrived in the Central African Republic on Sunday and met with the ousted president.
Hay Webster said she had come to "get him out of this situation", adding that Jamaica, as president of the community of Caribbean states, Caricom, was intervening for purely humanitarian reasons.
She said Caricom was seeking a solution that would enable Aristide to leave Bangui and go somewhere where he could see his two daughters, now in the United States.
A government source said on Friday that the Jamaican-led delegation, which includes five US Democratic lawmakers, would take Aristide away for a temporary stay in Jamaica.
The probable return of Aristide to the Caribbean has provoked unease in Washington, which fears it could rekindle violence in Haiti. The United States is at the head of a 2 600-man multinational force there, spearheading a process of political transition.
Jamaica lies less than 200 kilometres west of Haiti.
Jamaican President Percival Patterson last week said that Aristide's expected visit, which reports said would last for up to 10 weeks, should not be regarded as the granting of political asylum.
- AFP