Haiti

Aristide heads for S. Africa - for now

Haiti looks for hope from the air

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

Aristide, who insisted Sunday he remains Haiti's "elected president," headed for his third country since leaving Haiti on Feb. 29 on a U.S.-supplied jet amid an armed revolt against him.

He first spent three weeks in the Central Africa Republic, then 11 weeks in Jamaica, and on Sunday left on a South African jet with his U.S.-born wife Mildred, their two daughters, a brother-in-law and a bodyguard.

"It will now be our temporary home until we are back in Haiti," Aristide said at a news conference in which he was accompanied by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat and staunch supporter, and Miami lawyer Ira Kurzban.

South Africa has said it will provide a refuge for Aristide until his personal situation "normalizes" and he can return to Haiti. He will live under tight security in the capital, Pretoria, at the South African government's expense - an arrangement that has angered the main opposition party.

"Ordinary South Africans cannot fathom why they must pay to put up the former Haitian leader," said opposition leader Douglas Gibson.

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