22008: (Chamberlain) Jamaica-Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   KINGSTON, May 21 (AP) -- Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
is making final preparations to leave Jamaica and take asylum in South
Africa, an official said Friday.
   Although there is no firm departure date, Aristide will fly to South
Africa with his wife, Mildred, and the couple's two daughters, according to
his spokesman Huntley Medley.
   "He'll be happy to leave when the arrangements are made," Medley said,
declining to elaborate.
   The Jamaican government has said Aristide's stay would not exceed 10
weeks. Since he arrived March 15, he has been staying at a government-owned
villa in a rural, central area.
   Aristide fled Haiti on Feb. 29 amid a spreading rebellion in the
impoverished nation. Flown aboard a U.S.-supplied jet to the Central
African Republic, he accused the United States of forcing him from power --
a claim Washington denies. He left two weeks later for Jamaica.
   South Africa agreed to give Aristide temporary asylum "until his
personal situation normalizes" and he can return to Haiti. An interim
government, however, has been installed and fresh elections are expected
next year.
   Aristide has not publicly said he intends to return to his homeland to
govern.
   Once in South Africa, he will live under tight security in the capital
of Pretoria at government expense -- a decision that has angered South
African opposition groups.
   The 15-member Caribbean Community, which refuses to recognize Haiti's
U.S.-backed government, has called on the Washington-based Organization of
American States to investigate the circumstances of Aristide's departure.