Aristide to take asylum in South Africa

South Africa will be the permanent home of asylum for Haiti’s ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Jamaican officials said today.

The officials said Aristide would not go to South Africa until after general elections next month, because President Thabo Mbeki’s government believed it would be “politically unsettling”.

In the meantime Aristide would remain in Jamaica, two high-ranking officials said.

Aristide arrived in Jamaica on March 14 over protests from the United States and Haiti’s new interim government, who said his presence on the neighbouring island exacerbated tensions as a multinational peacekeeping force was trying to stabilise Haiti.

Aristide fled his country on February 29 as rebels who staged a popular three-week uprising were preparing to attack Port-au-Prince, the capital.