WASHINGTON, March 1: US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday slammed as 'absurd' claims that ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide had been kidnapped and removed from power by US troops.
Mr Powell said at a joint US-European Union press conference that such allegations were "absolutely baseless, absurd."
"He was not kidnapped, we did not force him onto the aeroplane, he went onto the aeroplane willingly and that's the truth," Mr Powell said, adding he had been personally involved in arranging Mr Aristide's flight on Saturday night.
The ousted leader was accompanied from his residence to the plane that took him out of the violence-wracked country, Mr Powell said.
"Some 15 members of his personal security detachment were with him from his house to the airport on to the plane with him, on to the refuelling locations and on to the Central African Republic." "That's what happened."
Randall Robinson, a former head of the Washington-based Transafrica group, told CNN he spoke with Mr Aristide by telephone and that the ousted Haitian leader claimed he had been forced to flee by the US soldiers.
"President Aristide called me on a cell phone that had been smuggled into his room. He's being held in a small room in Bangui, Central African Republic, with his wife and sister's husband," Mr Robinson said.
"The president said to me that he had been abducted from his home by about 20 American soldiers in full battle gear with automatic weapons and put on a plane," Mr Robinson said.
US Congresswoman Maxine Waters also reported she had spoken to Mr Aristide, and that he claimed he was kidnapped and the coup was completed by the Americans.
Mr Powell revealed that the first destination that Mr Aristide wanted to go to, which he did not name, would not accept him - even while the plane was in the air.
US officials were then forced into what Mr Powell called a difficult set of talks with other states lasting an hour-and-a-half to find an alternative destination. He said he was "very pleased" that the Central African Republic had agreed to accept Mr Aristide on an interim basis.-AFP
