Johannesburg
South Africa this week angrily denied charges that it was allowing ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to launch a comeback attempt from South Africa, where he is in exile. Gerard Latortue, Haiti’s interim prime minister, said that Aristide had been in contact with his followers in Haiti, organizing violent uprisings. “I think [South African] President Thabo Mbeki has not made enough effort to prevent Aristide from using the South African hospitality to destabilize Haiti,” Latortue said. At least 50 people have died in political violence in Haiti over the past two weeks. A South African government statement said Haiti was using Mbeki “as a scapegoat for failure by the interim Haitian authorities to bring about peace and stability.”
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