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Aristide to Be in South Africa

BERT WILKINSON

Associated Press


BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - Caribbean leaders demanded a U.N. probe Thursday into allegations that the United States forced Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti's presidency, even as debate swirled over where the ousted leader would take permanent asylum.

Aristide is now in Jamaica, and Jamaican officials said Thursday he will settle in South Africa but not until it holds general elections next month, Jamaican officials said Thursday.

But a spokesman for Aristide said it was too soon to say for sure where he would go. "A final decision has not been made," Huntley Medley said by telephone from Jamaica. "The discussions are continuing with several places and people."

Caribbean leaders are "still upset and uncomfortable" about the manner of Aristide's departure, St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview at the end of a two-day summit of the 15-nation body.

"We are taking this matter to the U.N. General Assembly for clarification," he said.

U.N. special envoy Reginald Dumas, who spent two hours listening to the debate on Haiti, aid he would return to New York on Friday and probably brief Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the weekend and the Security Council early in the week.

Conference officials said the 15-nation regional bloc wants the General Assembly to investigate rather than the Security Council, where the United States could veto the proposal, or France, which Aristide has accused of complicity in the alleged plot.

The Caribbean can expect support from the 53-member African Union, which last month echoed its alarm at the "dangerous precedent" and also demanded a U.N. investigation. The two groups make up nearly a third of U.N. member states.

The officials say Aristide has told Caribbean leaders that he was abducted at gunpoint by U.S. agents and put on a U.S.-chartered aircraft that carried him to the Central African Republic.

U.S. officials say they organized the Feb. 29 departure at Aristide's request and probably saved his life as rebels who had overrun half the country threatened to attack Haiti's capital.

In Haiti, interim Cabinet Minister Robert Ulysse said Aristide's departure from Jamaica would help stabilize Haiti and mend tattered relations with the Caribbean Community.

"We want to put (Aristide) behind us and allow Haiti to move forward," Ulysse told The Associated Press.

In the meantime, Aristide would remain in Jamaica, two high-ranking government officials said.

Jamaican officials said Aristide refused asylum offers from Venezuela and Nigeria. The officials spoke on the sidelines of a two-day summit of Caribbean leaders that opened Thursday.

At the summit, Caribbean leaders angry about claims of U.S. meddling in Haiti considered rejecting the country's U.S.-backed interim government but also pledged to find ways to help its impoverished people, including possibly sending troops.

They also said they had won agreement from the United States that Haiti's rebels would not participate in any government nor any reconstituted Haitian army.

Several Caribbean leaders have criticized interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue for hailing as "freedom fighters" rebels who include assassins convicted of murdering Aristide supporters.

Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson warned Haiti's crisis cannot reach a "lasting and permanent solution" unless the 15-nation Caribbean Community is involved.

Caribbean leaders have refused to join Haiti's U.S.-led peacekeeping force, but on Thursday considered sending troops with a separate humanitarian force to help rebuild Haiti, St. Kitts Prime Minister Douglas said.

Aristide arrived in Jamaica on March 15 over protests from the United States and Haiti's new interim government, both of which said his presence on the neighboring island would increase tension as a multinational peacekeeping force sought to stabilize Haiti.

Aristide fled his country Feb. 29 as rebels waging a three-week uprising threatened to attack Port-au-Prince, the capital.

He was flown on a U.S.-chartered jet to the Central African Republic, where the ousted president claimed he was forced from power at gunpoint by the Americans.

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