South African government agrees to give Aristide asylum

Aristide is currently in Jamaica, where he arrived on March 15 from the Central African Republic, his first destination following his resignation in late February under pressure from the United States and France.

"This is a temporary arrangement until the Haitian situation stabilises and Aristide and his family can return," government spokesperson Joel Netshithenzhe said.

No date has been set for Aristide's arrival in South Africa but ThisDay newspaper reported that he was expected here next week with his wife, two children and two bodyguards.

The former priest who was first elected in 1990, ousted in a coup in 1991 only to return to power with United States military backing in 1994, had said from the outset that he wanted to come to South Africa.

But the government had let it be known that it did not want to agree to the controversial move ahead of April 14 elections, which President Thabo Mbeki's African National Congress won by a landslide.

"South Africa accepts financial responsibility for his residence and upkeep in South Africa," Netshithenzhe added.

Local reports said Aristide would take up residence in the capital Pretoria under tight security.

The government also said that it supported calls for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Aristide's departure from Port-au-Prince after the former leader claimed that he was forced to resign by the United States and France.

"We oppose the concept of regime change and no country, however powerful, has the right to remove a democratically elected leader," said the government spokesperson.

South Africa discussed its decision to welcome Aristide with US and French leaders "and everybody has agreed that we should offer a temporary home to president Aristide", Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad told SABC radio news.

The Democratic Alliance has spoken out against allowing Aristide into South Africa, arguing that his democratic credentials were in doubt and that taxpayers should not have to foot the bill to support him.

It also said that France and the United States should take him in if they forced him to step down.

"The governments that are responsible for removing him from power should take responsibility for looking after him in exile. France and the United States were very prominent in this regard - why not send him to Paris?" said Douglas Gibson, foreign affairs spokesperson for the party.

Gibson was quoted by the Sapa news agency as saying that Aristide's 2000 re-election was marred by fraud and that Aristide had ordered his security forces to carry out political killings.

"He is personally responsible for a great deal of human suffering, and his record is an affront to the principles of good governance," said Gibson.

But supporters of the move point to Haiti's history as the world's first black republic, created when slaves rose up against French rule in 1804, as a moral reason for helping out one of its former leaders.

"This is the first slave revolt that was successful in 1804, the first one," said Kader Asmal, chairman of the parliamentary international affairs committee.

"Secondly, it was the revolt of blacks against colonialism. We can't forget that," said Asmal quoted in The Star newspaper.

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