For helping Haiti, thank you, President Zuma

 guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 February 2011 14.00 GMT 

Haiti is indebted to South Africa for sheltering ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Please now assist his early return

Jesse Jackson, Danny Glover and others

Jean-Bertrand Aristide (left) being welcomed by South Africa's then president, Thabo Mbeki, on arrival at Johannesburg, in May 2004. South Africa granted Aristide and his family asylum after Haiti's president had been forced into exile by a coup. Photograph: EPA/Jon Hrusa

Dear President Zuma,

We write to offer our warm thanks and appreciation for the gracious generosity and historic hospitality that the South African government and the South African people have offered to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his family over the past seven years.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide (left) being welcomed by South Africa's then president, Thabo Mbeki, on arrival at Johannesburg, in May 2004. South Africa granted Aristide and his family asylum after Haiti's president had been forced into exile by a coup. Photograph: EPA/Jon Hrusa

South Africa's action in offering a home to the Aristides, following the coup d'état in 2004, was an act of brotherhood in keeping with the many acts of international solidarity shown towards the people of South Africa during their long walk to freedom. This deed will be remembered by the people of Haiti and the world.

On my return to Haiti …

On my return to Haiti …

By former President, Dr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide

guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 February 2011 20.00 GMT

A profit-driven recovery plan, devised and carried out by outsiders, can not reconstruct my country.

Haiti's devastating earthquake in January last year destroyed up to 5,000 schools and 80% of the country's already weak university infrastructure. The primary school in Port-au-Prince that I attended as a small boy collapsed with more than 200 students inside. The weight of the state nursing school killed 150 future nurses. The state medical school was levelled. The exact number of students, teachers, professors, librarians, researchers, academics and administrators lost during those 65 seconds that irrevocably changed Haiti will never be known. But what we do know is that it cannot end there.

Congressional Black Caucus Calls for a New Electionin Haiti

Congressional Black Caucus Task Force on Foreign Policy and International Affairs

Statement on Haiti Elections & OAS Report

Washington, DC – Chairman Emanuel Cleaver, II and Hon. Donald M. Payne, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Task Force on Foreign Policy and International Affairs, released the following statement in response to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s support of OAS report:

“The Congressional Black Caucus cannot overlook the serious concerns that the recent elections in Haiti have posed to its overall democracy.  The CBC urges the United States and the international community to uphold the ideals of fairness and support a new Haiti election process that is free and fair, respecting the rights of the Haitian people.  

We are not blind to the complexity of this issue, as well as the need for a functional Haitian government.  Our Members have experienced first-hand the denial of voting rights, voter intimidation, and other acts of voter discrimination.  No entity can truly report on the “will of the Haitian” people without accurately counting the unfair circumstances concerning the November elections.  If the United States is going to play a role, public integrity calls for us to do for others what we would do for our own citizens:  equal access and equal protection for those who want to participate in the democratic process.