As the saying goes: Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts, if not 
checked. Aristide, for me, just as Yahya Jammeh, came to liberate [Aristide from a 
spiritual and philosophical angle and Yahya, an overnight opportunist/AK47 
soldier without cause or pause]  the moral decay afflicting
both societies. Haiti's situation, is deeply rooted in the colonial epoch of 
history: French-American and a selective chosen-few nomenclature/upper 
class/light-dark skinned misguided rulership/misleadership.
If one had the chance to listen to Aristide plea or preach on the Haiti 
cause, one would think, another Martin Luther king in the 60's. The reason why I 
respect Mandela, is the fact that, he understands the difference between how the 
world is run/rule and how it should be run/rule. As an activist, Mandela, at 
the initial stage, understood the need to form an effective coalition and 
leadership, to save South Africa from further decay and bankruptcy. He came in and 
left as soon as the mechanisms and structure for continual and feasible 
leadership were implemented. Aristide, like Jammeh, betrayed the trust [different 
perspective and stance] of the masses and stayed over, in search of more power, 
fame and riches. In Jammeh's case, he betrayed each and every cardinal 
principles of ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY AND PROBITY, promised to the enlightened 
Gambian masses, who, for years, looking for another Moses to lead them the 
mountains, fell for a Child-soldier [lieutenant] and criminal, for a savior or 
leader.
I got to go now. Will come back to this.  


Aristide Flees Haiti; Leadership Unclear
By PAISLEY DODDS and IAN JAMES, AP
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Feb. 29) - President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled Haiti 
on Sunday, bowing to pressure from a rebellion at home and governments 
abroad, U.S. and Haitian officials said.

Hundreds of angry Aristide militants armed with old rifles and pistols 
converged on the National Palace, the presidential seat in Port-au-Prince. It was 
not immediately clear who was in charge, but Aristide's prime minister Yvan 
Neptune called a news conference early Sunday.
There were reports Aristide signed a letter of resignation before he left, 
which would open the way for Supreme Court Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre to 
take power. Such a move would require approval by the Haitian parliament, which 
has not had power since early this year after the terms of most legislators 
expired.
In Cap-Haitien, the northern port that has become a base for the rebels, 
crowds danced and sang in the street and a rebel commander said his fighters were 
ready to disarm once a new government was in place.
"Aristide's gone! Aristide's out!'' rebel fighters in Cap-Haitien yelled with 
glee, hugging each other.
Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president in 200 years of 
independence, left as the rebels came were 25 miles from the capital and 
threatening to attack unless he resigned.
A senior U.S. official said Aristide flew from Haiti on a corporate jet that 
left at 6:45 a.m. He was accompanied by members of his security detail but his 
destination was unclear. An Associated Press reporter saw an unmarked white 
jet take off from Port-au-Prince's airport about that time Sunday morning.

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The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he could provide no 
other details because Aristide had not yet arrived at his destination.
Aristide's Cabinet minister and close adviser Leslie Voltaire said Aristide 
was on board along with his palace security chief Frantz Gabriel.
The rebels launched the rebellion on Feb. 5 from Gonaives, 70 miles northwest 
of Port-au-Prince. More than 100 people were killed.
Voltaire said Aristide was flying to the Dominican Republic and would seek 
asylum in Morocco, Taiwan or Panama.
In Morocco, a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official said Aristide is not 
heading for the North African kingdom.
Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Richard Shih also said they had not 
received ``any message or any request from the Haitian government,'' although he 
would not rule out the possibility of accepting Haiti's president.
Rebel commander Winter Etienne said the fighters - a motley group led by a 
former army death squad commander, one of Aristide's provincial police chiefs 
and a former pro-Aristide street gang - said ``We're going to put our weapons 
down when we've got a new government.''
As he spoke, rebels rode through Cap-Haitien in trucks, waving at hundreds of 
people who took to the streets in celebration, dancing and singing.
But Etienne indicated it might not be over: "We will go to Gonaives, and then 
we will pass to St. Marc,'' he told The Associated Press.
St. Marc is a government held town north of Port-au-Prince where Aristide 
militants have been terrorizing opponents, torching homes and executing alleged 
rebel sympathizers.
One diplomatic source in Port-au-Prince said Aristide signed a letter of 
resignation before he left. His term did not expire until February 2006.
That would open the way for a U.S.-led plan to install Supreme Court Chief 
Justice Boniface Alexandre, the president's constitutional successor, to head a 
transitional government. Alexandre is honored for his honesty in a judicial 
system notorious for corruption. He could not immediately be reached.
The crisis has been brewing since Aristide's party swept flawed legislative 
elections in 2000 and international donors froze millions of dollars in aid.
Opponents also accused him of breaking promises to help the poor, allowing 
corruption fueled by drug-trafficking and masterminding attacks on opponents by 
armed gangs - charges the president denied.
It was the second time the 50-year-old former slum priest fled his country. 
Aristide was ousted in a 1991 coup, months after he was elected president for 
the first time. He was restored to power three years later by U.S. troops.
President Bill Clinton sent 20,000 troops to restore Aristide but insisted he 
respect a constitutional term limit and step down in 1995.
Aristide handpicked his successor, Rene Preval, but was considered the power 
behind the scenes until he won a second term in 2000, in presidential 
elections marred by a low turnout and an opposition boycott.
France, Haiti's former colonizer, and the United States had suggested he step 
down for the good of his Caribbean nation of 8 million people.
It was not clear where Aristide's wife, Mildred Trouillot Aristide, was. The 
couple had sent their two daughters to Trouillot's mother in New York City 
last week.
A convoy of cars later drove onto the tarmac alongside a second jet, but it 
was not clear who was on the plane. Canadian military police were at the 
airport, but they refused to say who was on the planes.
02/29/04 08:34 EST





"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are 
evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
 - Albert Einstein 
"
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change 
the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead 

"When the government fears the people, you have liberty. When the people fear 
the government, you have tyranny." 
- Thomas Jefferson

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" 
- Edmund Burke

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