South Africa grants Aristide asylum

Friday, March 26, 2004

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (AFP): South Africa has granted permanent asylum to Haitian former president Jean Bertrand Aristide from mid-April, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

Aristide may leave for South Africa after the April 14 general elections, the sources said asking not be named.

"Yes, Aristide is going to go to South Africa," a diplomat said. "The arrival of the former president was probably put off until after the elections so as not to be of any trouble to South African President Thabo Mbeki."

Aristide arrived in Jamaica on March 15 from the Central African Republic, where he had been staying since he left Haiti on February 29, in the midst of an armed uprising.

He was expected to spend 10 weeks in Jamaica, but his presence so close to his still unstable country had raised fears that his supporters might be tempted to mount a counterattack.

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