FORMER PRESIDENT of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his family are expected to fly out of the island later today to take up residence in South Africa, after spending two-and-a-half months of temporary asylum here.
Mr. Aristide and his wife, Mildred, flew to Jamaica on March 15 and were later joined by their two young daughters, who had been sent to New York, in the wake of an armed uprising by rebels.
The immediate circumstances of his forced departure from office remain shrouded in controversy particularly over the role of the United States and regional governments' subsequent refusal to recognise the interim regime that replaced him. But geo-politics aside, we are pleased that the Jamaican Government extended the arm of friendship and hospitality to our Caribbean neighbours.
We are also pleased that, as far as we are aware, Mr. Aristide did not attempt to abuse the privilege of his stay by seeking to foment trouble or to exploit the continuing explosive political situation in his country.
No doubt the emotional pain of having to leave not only his country but the region would have been made more poignant by the reports this week of hundreds of his compatriots dying in flood rains.
Of course the circumstances of Mr. Aristide's forced exile have presented the international community with another complicated example of the difficulties of responding to the plight of political and economic refugees.
For years, Haitians fleeing their impoverished country have been turned back either by U.S. Coast Guards or by security personnel from neighbouring Bahamas and Jamaica. Others have been allowed to settle and have gone on to contribute to the social and economic development of their new homes.
The Aristides' stay here has clearly caused problems between CARICOM and the United States whose representatives have attempted to bully regional governments to endorse the new Government in Port-au-Prince. With their departure for South Africa, a new opportunity has been presented for dialogue among CARICOM leaders and representatives of the Latortue Government, especially on how to return Haiti to democratic rule.
Elsewhere in this edition we've reported on the friendships forged between the Aristide children and schoolmates at a private school in St. Ann. Such friendships should perhaps be seen as the silver lining behind the dark clouds of another unhappy episode in the life of a troubled people.
As Mr. Aristide leaves for South Africa, we bid him and his family adieu.
