S.Africa helping Aristide prepare Haiti return

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — South Africa is helping ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide prepare to return home after nearly seven years in exile, the foreign minister said Thursday.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane did not specify when Aristide might leave South Africa, and did not say what has held up his return since the Haitian government granted his request for a new passport earlier this month.

"We are consulting with all interested parties to facilitate his return back home at the appropriate time," she said, adding Aristide had asked to go home.

Aristide, a former priest and Haiti's first democratically elected president, was ousted in a violent rebellion in …