Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) WASHINGTON
The Bush administration on Monday vehemently denied ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s claim that he “did not resign” and was kidnapped” by U.S. diplomatic and military officials. Aristide’s first day in exile, spent in the Central African Republic, was as contentious as his four-year rule, as two members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have supported Aristide relayed his message that he was physically forced to leave by U.S. forces. He later made the charges himself in telephone interviews. “I’m telling you the truth. I’m a victim of a coup d’etat,” Aristide told CNN during a phone interview from the Central African Republic. He said that U.S. forces “kidnapped” him and forced him to leave Haiti. “That’s nonsense,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. “It was Mr. Aristide’s decision to resign.”Secretary of State Colin Powell also vigorously denied the kidnapping charge, calling it “absolutely baseless, absurd,” and offered new details about Aristide’s hasty departure from Haiti Sunday morning. The secrecy surrounding the operation and lack of witnesses also fueled rumors about what happened. Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who visited Aristide one week before he left power, said the deposed president called her Monday morning after he arrived in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. “The world must know it was a coup,” Waters quoted Aristide as saying. “That I was kidnapped. That I was forced out. That’s what happened. I did not resign. I did not go willingly. I was forced to go.” Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Randall Robinson, the former head of TransAfrica, a lobbying group, said they spoke with Aristide and his wife, Mildred, and heard the same complaint. “He said he was taken at gunpoint,” Robinson said from his home on the island of St. Kitts. “The point is he was taken against his will.” Adding to the confusion was a misunderstanding – and possible deception – about Aristide’s eventual destination. Aristide wanted to go to South Africa, a senior State Department official said on condition of anonymity, but that country wouldn’t take him. Neither would Gabon or the island state of Sao Tome and Principe. When the Boeing 757 jet that Aristide was aboard lifted off from Port-au-Prince, the final destination was unclear. According to one official, the French government helped arrange for the destination to be Central African Republic, a former French colony, and Aristide was told that in mid-flight. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday that Aristide’s stay in the Central African Republic, which has a history of coups and strife rivaling Haiti’s, was “temporary,” and U.S. officials were talking with other nations about Aristide’s exile. Aristide said in his televised interview that no official of the Central African Republic had contacted him and that he was waiting for instructions on what he was supposed to do. At a news conference, Powell rebutted allegations that Aristide had been forced from office. Saying he was “intimately involved” in the discussions overnight Saturday that led to Aristide’s departure, Powell said Aristide asked U.S. Ambassador to Haiti James Foley a series of questions about security and destinations, and eventually he decided to leave. “He said it was his decision, based on what his security people were also telling him about the deteriorating situation, that he should leave,” Powell said. “We made arrangements for his departure. He wrote a letter of resignation. “We did not force him onto the airplane. He went onto the airplane willingly, and that’s the truth,” Powell added. Other officials, and some of Aristide’s advisers, said Aristide left because U.S., French and Canadian leaders had urged him to step down, and his security forces were uneasy about possible rebel attacks. From his residence, Aristide and his wife rode to the airport in his limousine, trailed by vehicles with embassy officials and security personnel, a State Department official said. Powell said Aristide left the capital with 15 members of his personal security detachment, an indication that he wasn’t kidnapped. Waters quoted Aristide as saying that U.S. Marines came to his home, but Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said no U.S. military personnel were involved in the operation. In Port-au-Prince, embassy spokeswoman Judith Trunzo said Aristide signed a letter of resignation, urging peace, which was read by Prime Minister Yvon Neptune. Haitian officials on Monday didn’t release the letter. Few witnesses to Aristide’s departure came forward, and there were indications that many of those closest to him had fled the city.