President Mbeki salutes President Aristide

[seemslikeadream]

Haitians supporting President Aristide protest against U.S. President George W. Bush during an anti-war protest on the Boston Common Sunday leading up to the Democratic Convention that began Monday.
Photo: Brian Snyder, Reuters
by Thabo Mbeki

President of South Africa

There was an important July birthday that passed in our country without public notice. But not so in Haiti, where thousands of people took to the streets bearing placards carrying the words, “Bonne Fête, President Titid,” Happy Birthday, President Titid.

The birthday demonstrators also demanded the return of Titid – President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, an honored guest in our country. Titid, “little Aristide,” is the affectionate Creole nickname given to President Aristide by the poor of his country. He quietly celebrated his 51st birthday in our country on July 15.

Where our people did not join him in these celebrations because they did not know it was his birthday, the people of Haiti did not forget. But they could not join him because circumstances had taken him and his family far away from his beloved motherland.

On July 15, CNN reported that “Aristide supporters, singing ‘happy birthday,’ marched with empty plates and spoons to show they were hungry.
“‘If Aristide was here, we would be celebrating with him and eat with him at the national palace on his birthday today,’ said Michele Sanon, a resident of the Cité Soleil slum.”

Reuters reported that on the very day that President Aristide quietly celebrated his 51st birthday and the slum dwellers marched in protest at his absence, gunmen killed two policemen in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, having fired on a group of police officers standing in the street. The authorities said the attack was politically motivated.
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