Jean-Bertrande Aristide, at a press conference from exile in South Africa, has stated that he will not return to Haiti to seek re-election, citing the fact that as he was elected twice, he is barred by the Haitian constitution for seeking a third term. He has further called for an end to violence, which has claimed the lives of 10,000 Haitians, and has brought the United Nations to pacify pro and anti-Aristide forces, and has defended his interior minister, Jocelerme Privert, charged with having political foes murdered. Aristide called Haiti a “black holocaust,” and his coup one orchestrated by the United States.
