Aristide leaves for S. Africa

Mon., May 31, 2004

Associated Press

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left for exile in South Africa on Sunday, but insisted his stay there will only be temporary.

Shortly before departing Jamaica, Aristide insisted he remains Haiti’s “elected president.” He did not say how soon he hoped to return to Haiti, but urged his supporters not to resort to violence in the meantime.

Aristide fled Haiti on Feb. 29 amid a rebel advance on the capital, Port-au-Prince. He was flown aboard a U.S.-supplied jet to the Central African Republic and accused the United States of forcibly removing him from office — a charge U.S. officials deny. He arrived in Jamaica on March 15.

Aristide, his U.S.-born wife Mildred, their two daughters, a brother-in-law and a bodyguard left on a South African government jet.

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