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Aristide between homes
03/03/2004 19:32 - (SA)
Bangui, Central African Republic - No permanent home has yet been found for Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a top Central African Republic official said on Wednesday, as the ousted Haiti leader settled into temporary exile in this impoverished, isolated capital.
"No decision has been taken yet," Foreign Minister Charles Wenezoui said of the hunt to find a country to grant long-term asylum to Aristide - who flew here on Monday in a US-arranged jet a day after fleeing a two-week rebellion that overran large swathes of Haiti.
"All we know is that he will continue to stay at the presidential palace," said Wenezoui of President Francois Bozize's official residence in Bangui - a riverside city marked by decades of strife and Bozize's successful insurgency, which captured the capital in March 2003.
Wenezoui said authorities hadn't switched off phone service in Aristide's chambers - despite their irritation at charges he has telephoned the media, lawmakers and activists overseas saying that US forces kidnapped him from Haiti and that he's now held captive here.
Authorities have asked Aristide to stop making the allegations, which they worry could hurt the country's ties with America - where the White House and the defence and state departments strenuously denied the kidnap allegations.
Aristide has made no public statements since late on Monday and he isn't believed to have ventured beyond the presidential palace's heavily guarded walls.
South Africa repeated on Wednesday that in principle it's not opposed to taking in Aristide, but that it still hasn't received any formal asylum request.
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