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Aristide Tells U.S. Contacts He Was Abducted
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted as Haitian president on Sunday, told U.S. lawmakers and other contacts by telephone on Monday that he was abducted by U.S. soldiers and left his homeland against his will.
Washington immediately denied this, saying Aristide had agreed to step down and leave his country. "It's complete nonsense," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
"We took steps to protect Mr. Aristide, we took steps to protect his family and they departed Haiti. It was Mr Aristide's decision to resign," he said.
U.S. officials said that after intensive consultation between U.S. officials and Aristide on Saturday, he had signed a letter of resignation.
Rep. Charles Rangel (news, bio, voting record) and Randall Robinson, the former head of the black lobbying group TransAfrica, said in separate interviews with CNN that Aristide called them from the Central African Republic, where he is in temporary exile.
Robinson, speaking from the Caribbean island of St Kitts, said Aristide had telephoned him on a cell phone on Monday morning from a room in the Central African Republic, where he said he was being guarded by African and French soldiers.
"The president said to me that he had been abducted from his home by about 20 American soldiers in full battle gear with automatic weapons and put on a plane" on Sunday morning, Robertson said.
"Across the aisle from him and Mrs. Aristide sat the American soldier who apparently was the commander of the contingent. They were not told where they were going, nor were they allowed to make any phone calls before they left the house or on the plane," he said.
He said Aristide had told him the plane made two stops before landing in the Central African Republic and that the Americans had instructed them not to raise the blinds to look out when the plane was on the ground.
"Not until they arrived did the president learn where he was," Robertson said. "He said to me twice before he had to get off the phone, 'Tell the world that it's a coup. That American soldiers abducted (me)."'
Rangel, a Democratic member of the House (of Representatives) from New York, said he heard a similar account from Aristide by telephone. Aristide told him he was "disappointed that the international community had let him down, that he was kidnapped, that he resigned under pressure."
Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California and like Rangel a member of the congressional black caucus, also said she had heard by telephone from Aristide that he had been kidnapped, a spokeswoman for Waters said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040301/ts_nm/haiti_aristide_kidnap_dc
"We took steps to protect Mr. Aristide, we took steps to protect his family and they departed Haiti. It was Mr Aristide's decision to resign," he said.
U.S. officials said that after intensive consultation between U.S. officials and Aristide on Saturday, he had signed a letter of resignation.
Rep. Charles Rangel (news, bio, voting record) and Randall Robinson, the former head of the black lobbying group TransAfrica, said in separate interviews with CNN that Aristide called them from the Central African Republic, where he is in temporary exile.
Robinson, speaking from the Caribbean island of St Kitts, said Aristide had telephoned him on a cell phone on Monday morning from a room in the Central African Republic, where he said he was being guarded by African and French soldiers.
"The president said to me that he had been abducted from his home by about 20 American soldiers in full battle gear with automatic weapons and put on a plane" on Sunday morning, Robertson said.
"Across the aisle from him and Mrs. Aristide sat the American soldier who apparently was the commander of the contingent. They were not told where they were going, nor were they allowed to make any phone calls before they left the house or on the plane," he said.
He said Aristide had told him the plane made two stops before landing in the Central African Republic and that the Americans had instructed them not to raise the blinds to look out when the plane was on the ground.
"Not until they arrived did the president learn where he was," Robertson said. "He said to me twice before he had to get off the phone, 'Tell the world that it's a coup. That American soldiers abducted (me)."'
Rangel, a Democratic member of the House (of Representatives) from New York, said he heard a similar account from Aristide by telephone. Aristide told him he was "disappointed that the international community had let him down, that he was kidnapped, that he resigned under pressure."
Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California and like Rangel a member of the congressional black caucus, also said she had heard by telephone from Aristide that he had been kidnapped, a spokeswoman for Waters said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040301/ts_nm/haiti_aristide_kidnap_dc
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Haiti: ICFTU welcomes release of union prisoners but expresses concern for their safety 1/3/2004
Brussels, 1 March 2004 (ICFTU OnLine): The release from prison in Port-au-Prince on 29th February of ten trade union activists held for over one month was warmly applauded today by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The freeing of the prisoners (9 men, detained at the National Penitentiary and 1 woman, held in the women’s’ prison, Fort National) came in the wake of the abrupt departure of Haiti’s former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide earlier on Sunday.
The detainees had been arrested during an illegal raid by Haiti’s Police Nationale on the headquarters of the umbrella trade union group “Coordination Syndicale Haïtienne” (CSH) on 24 January 2004. They had been charged with “criminal conspiracy ” and “plotting against the internal security of the State ”; a charge carrying a sentence of imprisonment with forced labour for life.
An international trade union delegation, led by the ICFTU and its Regional Inter-American Organisation (ICFTU-ORIT), had forcefully rejected these charges after visiting the prisoners in jail in Port-au-Prince, less than a fortnight ago, and meeting with their lawyers, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Haiti representative. The 12-strong delegation, comprising trade union leaders from the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa, as well as representatives of Global Union Federations in the teaching (EI) and services (UNI) sectors, had made representations about their situation to the Minister of Justice. It had also met with the diplomatic corps in the Haitian capital, many national trade union organisations, the “Group of 184” democratic opposition platform and various other groups.
While welcoming the release of the 10 union detainees, the ICFTU is still preoccupied with their safety, a concern already put forward by the mission which had visited the island from 15 to 18 February. As confirmed yesterday by ICFTU-ORIT sources in Port-au-Prince, several Haitian labour leaders and activists still remain in hiding, while others went underground last night, fearing reprisals from Aristide’s ill-famed “Chimères” and other criminal elements.
In a letter sent this morning to the Acting President of Haiti, ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder demanded “clear and firm security guarantees for Haiti’s trade union and human rights’ activists and their relatives, as well as respect for labour and human rights in the future”. “We will pass on a similar demand to the governments of all countries involved in the UN security operation charged with re-establishing law and order in Haiti”, he said in Brussels today.
Ryder added the ICFTU would now also call on the international community, including regional bodies CARICOM and the Organisation of American States, to “provide meaningful re-construction and development assistance, with adequate safeguards against corruption and other abuses which have marred these efforts in the past. Helping Haitians to build democracy must be a priority for the international community.” The ICFTU said this recommendation was at the heart of its delegation’s mission report, which it has now decided to make publicly available, following the 10 union prisoners’ release yesterday.
The ICFTU represents over 150 million workers in 233 affiliated organisations in 152 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org
For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2 224 0206 or +32 476 621 018.