Haiti's Martelly meets ex-leaders Aristide, Duvalier

Haitian President Michel Martelly met with two of his predecessors -- Jean-Bertrand Aristide and ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier -- in separate meetings, the country's top senator told AFP. "They were cordial meetings, held in the private homes of presidents Aristide and Duvalier," said Rodolphe Joazile, president of the Haitian Senate. Aristide was Haiti's first democratically elected president and served over several periods before finally being overthrown in 2004, amid an uprising that forced him to flee the country. He returned to his poverty-stricken homeland in March 2011 after seven years of exile in South Africa. Duvalier, nicknamed "Baby Doc," led a brutal dictatorship from 1971 to 1986 before being driven out of office and the country, returning in January this year after 25 years of exile in France. "This meeting reflects the determination of President Martelly to promote dialogue and unity between all parties and former leaders of the country," according to a statement from the president's office. Aristide said meanwhile that "today we need to get along, to create a dialogue to make Haiti a beautiful country. It was in that spirit that I thanked President Martelly for the visit." Sources close to Martelly said he also intends to meet former president Leslie Manigat, who was ousted in a coup after 120 days in office and whose wife Mirlande was a candidate in 2010. Martelly also hopes to have a meeting of former Haiti leaders, although no date has been set. Joazile said he congratulated Martelly for his initiative, noting that the country needed "to come to terms with itself," although adding that pending court action against Duvalier remains to be resolved. Haitian prosecutors have charged the 60-year-old with corruption, embezzlement of public funds and criminal association during his 15-year rule. The former strongman has also faced legal action launched by former opponents who claim to be victims of his regime. Haiti is still recovering from a devastating 7.0-magnitude quake in January 2010 that leveled the capital and killed more than 225,000 people, and left one in seven people homeless in a nation that was already the poorest in the Americas. Pressure is high for Martelly to not only unite his country following decades of mismanagement but also revamp a reconstruction process that remains painfully slow for hundreds of thousands of survivors who still live in squalid tent cities around the capital. The humanitarian situation has been further aggravated by a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 5,000 people, food insecurity for 4.5 million and an active hurricane season that has already destroyed homes and crops.