By Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife, Mildred, shortly after arriving in Jamaica last week. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
FORMER HAITIAN President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide is now contemplating a number of countries for asylum after Nigeria joined a growing list that has offered him temporary lodgings at the end of his two-month stay in Jamaica.
A number of international news agencies including the Associated Press reported yesterday that Nigeria agreed to a request by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to offer the former Haitian President temporary asylum.
Huntley Medley, Mr. Aristide's media liaison officer, confirmed Nigeria's offer in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday. However, he said the former Haitian President was contemplating several options and he had not made any decision on where he will be going with his family at the end of his stay in Jamaica.
"The information is coming in even as we speak and the former president is still in consultations," said Mr. Medley.
"The former president has been looking at all the options and as soon as he has decided an announcement will be made. He has been in talks with CARICOM's chairman (Prime Minister P.J. Patterson) but I am not at liberty to say what they have discussed," explained Mr. Medley.
Contacted yesterday, John Eziaghighala, Nigeria's acting High Commissioner to Jamaica, said he could not discuss whether Aristide would be going to Nigeria as he had not been so briefed by his Government.
According to a BBC report, the announcement of Nigeria's offer was made in a statement from the office of the Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.
The statement said that CARICOM, under the leadership of Prime Minister Patterson, requested Nigeria to consider giving Mr. Aristide 'a staging post' for a few weeks until his movement to another destination.
The statement further explained that Nigeria undertook widespread consultations with African leaders, the African Union and the U.S. government before agreeing to CARICOM's request.
Since Mr. Aristide's questionable flight from Haiti on February 29, for the Central African Republic at the height of civil unrest in Haiti, CARICOM has called for an investigation into his removal from his country.
Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, who has already accused the U.S. of backing a 2002 coup which briefly ousted him, has since declared that "the doors of Venezuela are open" to Mr. Aristide.
ASYLUM OFFER
Last weekend, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, paid a brief visit to Mr. Aristide but Mr. Medley dismissed speculations that the visit could have also included another offer for asylum.
"President Aristide and his wife and I are friends and when friends are in adversity, it is important that you stand with them," Mr. Gonsalves is reported to have said.
