afrol News, 31 May - South African President Thabo Mbeki and African Union (AU) Chairman Alpha Omar Konaré are personally to welcome Haiti's overthrown President Jean-Bertrand Aristide when he arrives his new "temporary home" in South Africa. Mr Aristide and his family have been offered an exile by President Mbeki until they can return to Haiti.
The ousted Haitian leader and his family will stay in South Africa as the government's guests, with all costs paid. No limits have been placed on his stay and Mr Mbeki still considers him the legitimate "President of Haiti," as Mr Aristide is called in the government statement announcing his arrival.
South Africa and the AU were among the driving forces behind the UN's call to investigate the circumstances surrounding Aristide's removal of power. The Pretoria government holds the ousting of President Aristide was unconstitutional and that he should be returned to power on the Caribbean island state, which celebrated 200 years of independence in the presence of President Mbeki earlier this year.
President Mbeki made it clear that Mr Aristide would be welcome in South Africa as soon as the Haitian leader had been toppled by rebels on 29 February and led out of the country by US troops. Mr Aristide maintains that he was taken into exile against his own will, accusing the US government of overthrowing him.
After a short stay in the Central African Republic, Mr Aristide has staid in Jamaica, where he was given a temporary exile. The Haitian leader yesterday evening left Jamaica in an airplane headed for Johannesburg.
Today, Mr Aristide will be received with all statesman honours when he and his family arrive in South Africa. A red carpet ceremony is planned at the airport, including the welcoming by President Mbeki and AU Chairman Konaré. The welcoming is to symbolise South Africa's and the AU's belief in Mr Aristide's claims he is still the rightful President of Haiti.
South Africa has given strong symbolic support to the Haitian leader, who shares the centre-left political views of the ANC government. Haiti further has been the leading symbol of the many Africans shipped as slaves to the New World since the former French colony's slaves rebelled in 1804 and achieved to found the first independent state governed by black in the Americas.
President Mbeki was the only foreign Head of State to participate in Haiti's celebration of 200 years of independence in January this year, at a time when the rebellion against President Aristide was already turning dangerous. Mr Mbeki placed much symbolic importance in this celebration of the African Diaspora's history and South Africa even contributed financially to the celebrations.
The ANC government's strong support for Mr Aristide is however increasingly controversial in South Africa. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has questioned President Mbeki's symbolic acts towards Haiti since he ignored security risks during his January visit to Haiti.
The DA, which urges enhanced ties with the US, is highly critical to the South African exile of the Haitian leader, especially as his stay will be at the expense of South African taxpayers. The opposition also has announced a parliamentary challenge of the legality of Mr Aristide's stay regarding South African immigration legislation.
- South Africa should have adopted a far more pragmatic approach on the matter, DA chief whip Douglas Gibson said in a statement. "Haiti is so far beyond our sphere of influence; we should have left the matter to other nations. The government's time and resources will have been better spent on resolving the crises in Zimbabwe and Sudan and also on catering for the needs of ordinary South Africans," Mr Gibson added.
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