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Haiti's 'Baby Doc' apologises for past and calls for reconciliation
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Ousted Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier has apologised to the victims of his 15-year regime and said he had ended two decades in exile to work for national reconciliation.

"I have come back as a sign of my solidarity during this extremely difficult period in national life," he said Friday in his first full public statement since his sudden return late Sunday to the nation he once ruled with an iron fist.
How is it more difficult today compared to when you were in charge?
They've got an endemic cholera epidemic now...
"Baby Doc" Duvalier said he also wanted to "voice my deep sorrow to my fellow countrymen who say, rightly, that they were victims under my government."
And he wants his money, of course...
Speaking in a weak voice to a room packed full of journalists, the 59-year-old called for "national reconciliation" in Haiti and said he had hoped for a "rapid resolution to the political crisis."

But he did not outline what had happened to those who suffered under his 1971-1986 regime.

Instead, speaking mainly in French with a few words of Creole, he offered "sympathies to my millions of supporters who, after my voluntary departure from Haiti in 1986 to avoid a bloodbath and to allow a swift resolution to the political crisis, were left to themselves."

The ex-dictator said thousands of his supporters were "assassinated, suffocated, interrogated, subjected to tire necklaces burnings; their houses, their possessions were pillaged, uprooted and torched."
They joined the thousands who opposed him.
With so many unanswered questions, his words are only likely to stoke further tensions among people with long memories of his brutal rule.

Many fear he is seeking a return to power by capitalizing on the current political chaos stalking the quake-ravaged Caribbean country.

And Duvalier, who decamped amid a popular uprising, did not explicitly rule out taking on any political role.

Haiti, already struggling to recover from the devastating January 2010 earthquake and a cholera outbreak, is caught up in deepening political turmoil due to disputed presidential elections.

Memories of Duvalier's repressive regime remain vivid, and human rights
... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you...
 groups have accused him and his late father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, of presiding over decades of unparalleled oppression and abuse.

Meanwhile,
...back at the ranch...
 six private lawsuits alleging human rights violations have already been filed against "Baby Doc," who has also been charged with corruption, embezzlement of millions of dollars from state funds and criminal association, according to the country's Chief Magistrate Harycidas Auguste.
Posted by: Fred 2011-01-23
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=314456