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Lawyer: Aristide Still in Africa, Wants to Return

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A U.S. lawyer for former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide says his client is still in South Africa despite rumors that he had left exile.

But Ira Kurzban says his client wants to return immediately. He says Haitian officials agreed to issue Aristide a diplomatic passport but none has been sent.

Haitian officials could not immediately be reached for confirmation.

Aristide was ousted by armed rebels in 2004, leaving aboard a U.S. plane.

Speculation that he would return to Haiti heightened after ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier came back from an even longer exile.

Over the weekend, Internet rumors spread citing a Venezuelan news report that Aristide had traveled to the nearby island of Cuba.

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