Will Haitian quake open path for Aristide's comeback? (News Feature)

By Laszlo Trankovits Jan 22, 2010, 15:36 GMT

Cape Town - The tears he shed were surely genuine when Haiti's ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in exile in South Africa for the past six years, announced he was ready to go back and help Haiti rebuild from its catastrophic earthquake.

'Like all Haitians around the world, I'd like to share in the suffering of my people,' he said, wanting to show sympathy but also knowing that his return could set off another - a political - earthquake.

Aristide, 57, wants to leave South Africa nonetheless. He has promised not to get involved in Haitian politics, saying he sought only 'an academic post.' Saul Kgomotso Molobi, the spokesman for South Africa's foreign ministry, confirmed he had received assurances from Aristide to that effect.

Can it be true? Aristide, who has always accused the United States and France of forcing him - 'the legitimately elected president' - out of office, no longer wants power or does not see a chance for a political comeback?

Haitian fears of political turmoil are discussed openly in Pretoria. After all, Aristide, a onetime Roman Catholic priest with strong appeal among the poor, still has many supporters in his homeland. South Africa's leaders would be happy, however, if he left their country soon.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki granted Aristide refuge in 2004, when he was forced to flee Haiti during his second term as president. His first term, which began in 1990, was interrupted by a coup. In the end, Aristide was considered to be as despotic as Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, Haiti's notorious, long-time dictator.

In South Africa, Aristide has lived quietly with his wife and two daughters - as well as advisers, household personnel and bodyguards. He has gained respect as an academic at a South African university.

But as the country's newspapers often complain, he receives a cabinet minister's salary and South African taxpayers also foot the bill for his entourage.

Mbeki welcomed Aristide in 2004 because he sees Haiti as an 'important outpost of the African diaspora.' Now Aristide is felt to be an expensive burden.

'If Pretoria is helping the world to keep Aristide the detonator from plunging back into the dynamite of Haitian politics, then perhaps the international community should help pay the bills,' the Pretoria News suggested recently.