Aristide arrives in Central African Republic after fleeing Haiti

[JCMach1]

(AFP)

1 March 2004


BANGUI - Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide arrived on Monday in the Central African Republic a day after he stepped down under international pressure following a three-week uprising in the poor Caribbean country that left scores dead.

Aristide and his wife were to stay in the Central African Republic for a few days before heading into exile in South Africa, according to an official from the republic’s state protocol department.

The couple arrived at Bangui’s M’Poko airport aboard a Haitian civilian airplane and was greeted by communications minister and government spokesman Parfait M’bay, an AFP correspondent at the airport said.

They were immediately escorted into a VIP area at the airport for talks with M’bay, the minister responsible for foreign affairs Guy Moskit and armed forces chief Antoine Bamdi. The embattled president resigned Sunday under international pressure after mounting trouble and insurrection had left scores dead.

“My resignation will avoid bloodshed,” Aristide, the firebrand former Roman Catholic priest in the Port-au-Prince shanties said in a farewell statement, read by Prime Minister Yvon Neptune...http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2004/March/theworld_March24.xml§ion=theworld

[einniv]

1. Yes and avoid many more things.

The agriculture subsidies, the schools, the doubling of wages, the resistance to total prostration before the world bank, the thought that Haiti might actually exchange power peacefully... and so it continues.

[JaySherman]

2. Good to know he's alive, at least.

For the time being anyway.

[dusty64]

10. This is VERY confusing.

Yesterday I was read we kidnapped him now this. What gives?

[PurityOfEssence]

3. Resignation read by the Prime Minister...

If that's not the equivalent of a typewritten suicide note, I don't know what is. According to two sources, he was escorted in handcuffs by armed U.S. Marines early in the morning. Yesterday, he proclaimed that he would not step down.

Junior calls this a "resignation"; considering what he calls an "election", that's not surprising.

[einniv]

4. What will the Dem candidates say?

Will John Kerry say that this is 4 years of concerted effort to undermine him with terrorists in order to get all the IMF structural adjustments through?

I don't think I'll hold my breath.

[einniv]

5. Maybe that is one good thing.

We can find out what Progressive Interventionism boils down to.

[einniv]

6. Hmmm . Maybe I'm wrong about it.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/8054087.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

really wrong.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Interesting to see this from the Miami Herald

It's like pulling teeth for them to EVER print anything which doesn't slavishly praise _Bush.

(snip)
Bush's critics on Thursday vowed to draw the distinction between Iraq -- where the United States acted preemptively to remove a dictator and bring democracy -- and Haiti, where a democratically elected leader is under siege and little is being done to stop the opposition.

Democrats also noted that Bush's father lost his reelection in 1992 after a coup in Haiti that led to Aristide's removal and eventual chaos.

''It's like Ground Hog Day as it relates to the Bush family,'' said U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Miami Democrat who is Kerry's Florida campaign chairman and one of the leading critics of the Bush approach to Haiti.

Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, likened his envoy proposal for Graham to President Clinton's decision in 1994 to send then-Gen. Colin Powell, former Sen. Sam Nunn and former President Jimmy Carter to help restore democratic rule -- a point clearly designed to draw contrasts with Clinton's foreign policy successes.
(snip)

Have appreciated your input on the threads I've seen here tonight. Very helpful, and accurate, for which Democratic readers are thankful, I'm CERTAIN.

[einniv]

11. This whole 4 years has been like one big payback to the world

for GHW Bush.
"No new taxes" then, tax cuts no matter what now
Didn't go Baghdad then, well that one is obvious ;-)
Roll back all the Clinton environmental legislation

We should have seen the Haiti thing coming.

Quick someone investigate what other Bush the First failures we may see resurface before this whole mess is over.

[Disturbed]

8. Nothing in the TV News...

about marines escourting him out in handcuffs. The news seemed to be saying that the Marines rescuede him. The US did zero to stop the coup.

[htuttle]

9. Are there any photos of him? Has anyone seen any footage of Aristide?

Even that 'statement' was read by a third party. Has anyone heard a first person quote from him since yesterday?

[0007]

12. ....and then to South Africa in a few days, 'eh?

Where is the media? Under the thumb of the U.S.?

[Matilda]

13. The Central African Republic is a very poor country.

It's also ruled by the military.

Somehow, I don't think Aristide will be very safe there. I'm sure
he certainly won't be allowed to open his mouth.

[Robb]

14. from the CIA factbook:

The former French colony of Ubangi-Shari became the Central African Republic upon independence (from France) in 1960. After three tumultuous decades of misrule - mostly by military governments - civilian rule was established in 1993 and lasted for one decade. In March 2003 a military coup deposed the civilian government of President Ange-Felix PATASSE and has since established a new government.

(snip)

Subsistence agriculture, together with forestry, remains the backbone of the economy of the Central African Republic (CAR), with more than 70% of the population living in outlying areas. The agricultural sector generates half of GDP. Timber has accounted for about 16% of export earnings and the diamond industry for 54%. Important constraints to economic development include the CAR's landlocked position, a poor transportation system, a largely unskilled work force, and a legacy of misdirected macroeconomic policies. Factional fighting between the government and its opponents remains a drag on economic revitalization, with GDP growth likely to be no more than 1.3% in 2003. Distribution of income is extraordinarily unequal. Grants from France and the international community can only partially meet humanitarian needs.
GDP:

(snip)

Debt - external:
$881.4 million (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
ODA $73 million; note - traditional budget subsidies from France (2000 est.)

(snip)

internal political instabilities with fighting and violence overlap into Chad and CAR, leaving refugees and rebel groups in both countries; violent ethnic skirmishes persist along the border with Sudan