PRETORIA, 28 March 2004 — Some South Africans are feeling that they are being buttered up to eventually accommodate ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a man with a reputation that makes them uneasy.

There has been no definite word on where he will end up next, but if persistent hints, rumors and speculation from, among others, anonymous diplomats are to be believed, he has booked a spot in the South African sun.

The government in Pretoria, however, has denied he was headed to South Africa and said it had declined US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s request for asylum for Aristide shortly after the Haitian leader resigned and jetted into exile on Feb. 29.

Senior politicians were, however, quick to point out that Pretoria had no objection to hosting the “democratically elected leader”.

When Caribbean nations called for an investigation into Aristide’s claims that he had been forced out of his country by the United States, acting with the approval of Canada and France, South Africa joined in labeling his departure a coup.

After a short pit stop in the Central African Republic, Aristide flew to Jamaica on March 16, saying he wanted to visit his two young daughters and promising that Jamaicans had nothing to fear by his visit, which Jamaican leaders said would last no longer than 10 weeks.

As the Haitian opposition expressed unease over Aristide’s return to the Caribbean, reports persisted of South Africa’s plan to take him, in which anonymous diplomats were quoted.

Nigeria on Monday announced it would grant a request by the Caribbean Community, or Caricom, to give Aristide a “staging post” for a few weeks. There had been wide consultation among African leaders on the matter, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said.

But the announcement sparked predictions that having the Haitian leader in the country would raise the ire of those who never approved Obasanjo’s decision to grant political asylum to former Liberian President Charles Taylor late last year.

And when at the end of the week, the Haitian leader, having reportedly indicated he had no desire to seek temporary asylum in Nigeria, remained in Jamaica, the anonymous diplomats and frustrated newshounds again turned their attention to South Africa.

“Diplomatic sources” in Jamaica were quoted as saying that Aristide would not touch down in South Africa before its April 14 parliamentary elections — part of the rumor all along.

South Africa’s opposition politicians have for weeks been urging Pretoria to come clean on the matter.

“It appears that he is being shuttled from country to country with no final destination being openly negotiated,” the Democratic Alliance said in a statement Friday. “This adds weight to the speculation that his final destination is South Africa.”

Drawing attention to the endless denials by foreign affairs officials, the party declared, “Government can no longer hide behind the weak excuse that it has not officially been asked yet.”

South African President Thabo Mbeki, meanwhile, spent Friday detailing the history of Haiti and urging Africans to see the unstable former French slave colony that he visited in January as an inspiration.

He told delegates at the sixth African Renaissance Conference in the east coast port city of Durban that Africans had not been taught of the Haitian people’s struggle against slavery.

Turning to the present, Mbeki confirmed that South Africa had agreed to a request from Caricom and the Haitian government to provide equipment such as teargas, ammunition and weapons to the unstable country.

That was in January as Haiti prepared to mark 200 years of independence and freedom from slavery under the French against the backdrop of demonstrations against Aristide’s government from the opposition. The protests turned fatal when Aristide supporters attacked the marchers, who accused Aristide of corruption and behaving like a despot.

Pretoria sent the equipment to Jamaica; however, before it arrived in Haiti, Aristide was removed and deposited in the Central African Republic, Mbeki said.

“He did not ask to leave, but others said he should leave,” the South African leader noted. “I think we have never seen as much unity amongst Africans on a matter,” Mbeki said. “All of us are saying a great injustice has happened and all of us are saying we must help the Haitians.”