ANC's Haiti, Zim stance similar
2004-03-10 22:40
Cape Town - The African National Congress's insistence that Jean-Bertrand Aristide was duly elected in a free and fair election in Haiti was "even more ridiculous" that its endorsement of Zimbabwe's presidential election results, says the Democratic Alliance.
Official opposition chief whip Douglas Gibson argued that in contrast the deposed Haitian president won the presidency in November 2000 in an election that was boycotted by credible opposition candidates, "because of the government's failure to remedy the deeply flawed results of the May 2000 legislative and local elections".
Gibson said the Organisation of American States and other international observers refused to monitor the November balloting in which Aristide faced no serious challengers.
South Africa backed the election of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in 2002 despite protests from South African opposition parties that there had been widespread intimidation.
Accusing deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad of "cosying up" to the deposed Haitian president, Gibson said: "The ANC has made an unfortunate habit out of developing close affiliations with undemocratic and rights-delinquent regimes."
It was reported earlier that a delegation including Pahad had arrived in the Central African Republic on Wednesday to hold talks with Aristide, who has been in that country since March 1.
Gibson said: "Its (the ANC's) support for Aristide is only the latest in a long line of dubious foreign affairs initiatives."
Gibson said in the May 2000 legislative elections, the president of Haiti's independent election commission Leon Manus had been forced to flee "for his life" after he refused to validate election results that gave Aristide's party sweeping victories.
Gibson reported that after going into exile, Manus issued a statement saying: "My safety was seriously endangered because I would never agree to certify the last incorrect results, which did not conform to the electoral law. At the top governmental level, unequivocal messages were transmitted to me on the consequences that would follow if I refused to publish the false final results."
Gibson said if South Africa has anything to offer Haiti, it was "the expertise of reconciling a fractured nation after years of oppression. However, the solution to the Haiti conflict does not lie with Aristide. It lies with fresh elections, which are accepted by all Haitians and judged free and fair by the international community."