Haiti opens door for return of ex-president Aristide

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haiti’s government is  ready to issue a diplomatic passport to ousted former President  Jean-Bertrand Aristide, opening the way for his possible return  home from exile in South Africa, a senior official said today.
“The Council of Ministers, under the leadership of  President Rene Preval, decided that a diplomatic passport be  issued to President Aristide, if he asks for it,” Fritz  Longchamp, general secretary for the presidency, told Reuters.
Aristide, a firebrand leftist ex-Roman Catholic priest who  became Haiti’s first freely elected president in 1990 before  his later ouster, said earlier this month he was ready to  return to his homeland “today, tomorrow, at any time.”

Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Major western aid donors to Haiti like the United States  have been wary about his possible return to the poor,  earthquake-battered and volatile Caribbean nation.
He remains very popular at home and some fear he could  mobilize supporters who could disrupt an already confused  ongoing presidential and legislative elections process.  Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas party was banned from taking part.
His Miami-based lawyer, Ira J. Kurzban, today formally  requested the diplomatic passport in a letter sent to Haiti’s  Minister of Foreign Affairs Marie-Michele Rey and Minister of  the Interior Paul Antoine Bien-Aime.
Aristide’s plans to return home follows the controversial  return to Haiti on Jan. 16 of former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby  Doc” Duvalier. Duvalier, 59, now faces charges in Haiti of  corruption, theft and crimes against humanity.