Aristide urged to keep a low profile in Bangui

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 04, 2004

Aristide urged to keep a low profile in Bangui

Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for days hasn't ventured outside a heavily guarded compound in this impoverished African nation, where he has temporary asylum, officials said.

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Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for days hasn't ventured outside a heavily guarded compound in this impoverished African nation, where he has temporary asylum, officials said.

The Central African Republic is housing Aristide in a villa inside the freshly renovated presidential palace, a 1960s building surrounded by a barbed wire fence and guarded by armed soldiers. He is sharing his new quarters with his wife, a brother-in-law and two aides, Foreign Minister Charles Wenezoui said Wednesday.

Aristide is free to move around, though he has chosen to stay inside the presidential compound for his own security, Wenezoui said. He is passing the days by reading the papers, watching CNN and sleeping a lot.

Authorities say they have urged Aristide to keep a low profile, following his recent allegations that he was forced to leave the country Sunday by the U.S. military a claim denied by Secretary of State Colin Powell, among others. Officials here were worried Aristide's remarks to the media could harm their small nation's diplomatic standing with the United States and other countries.

"We cannot allow him to make statements that will put a strain on our relations with our friends," said Wenezoui, who spoke to The Associated Press in the ministry in Bangui. He said he could not immediately put Aristide in contact with reporters.

Wenezoui said Aristide was granted a temporary asylum for strictly humanitarian reasons, and because of the Central African Republic's tradition of hospitality. He denied the country received any financial incentives to accept him.

Negotiations were under way to find Aristide a final destination.

"This could take a day, or a week or 10 days," Wenezoui said.

South Africa has said that in principle it's not opposed to taking in Aristide, but says it still hasn't received any formal asylum request.

For at least a few days, Aristide has found a home in this poor nation of 3.5 million people, where civil servants are owed 32 months of unpaid salary. Striking teachers have shut down public school for nearly a week.

In Bangui, litter and broken bottles fill the streets. Shoeless boys hawk cigarettes, toothbrushes and batteries. At night, the roads are nearly deserted. Crumbling edifices with chapped painting and missing windows surround General Francois Bozize's freshly painted presidential palace.

Bozize, the self-proclaimed president who seized power on March 15, 2003, inherited a country worn down by military coups and army mutinies that left the coffers totally empty.

Aristide fled under strong international pressure only to find himself in a country struggling to emerge from years of instability.

Source: Agencies

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