31 January, 2011 — Radio Canada In English – http://bit.ly/ibjVGk In French – http://bit.ly/dOs3jA

The Haitian government said Monday it would not oppose the return of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In a statement from the Interior Ministry, the Haitian authorities say they are ready to issue a passport to Aristide who has lived in exile in South Africa since 2004.

“The Government of the Republic gives assurances that as soon as a demand is produced, such a request will be honored promptly,” said Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime, in this release.

The Minister further stated that an expired passport is not an obstacle to the return of a citizen in his native Haiti. However, if stops are necessary for the traveler of Haiti, it must take appropriate action.

In mid-January, shortly after former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier returned to Port-au-Prince, Aristide had expressed his desire to also return home. He said however that authorities had not acted on his passport application.

Counsel for Jean-Bertrand Aristide told the Associated Press that his client was still in South Africa, and had not yet received a passport. The former president of Haiti was ousted by a coup in 2004.

Press the Haitian Ministry of Interior

Ezili Dantò’s Note: No passport required unless he makes a stopover

Folks in Haiti say South Africa probably would fly President Aristide out to Cuba and Venezuela who are friendly to this, but apparently, and we don’t know if this is true, the Euro/US and their client states won’t allow a plane carrying the greatest symbol of the voice of the majority of Haiti’s peoples to re-fuel in their territory or client states’ territory. The rumor is that they’ve asked Brazil, supposedly the closest to Haiti a plane from SA could fly without refueling and Brazil, as head of the UN lucrative poverty-pimping operation in Haiti, is not too welcoming about the idea. That’s the Haiti rumor going around for two weeks now.