Port-au-Prince - Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide is to end seven years in exile in South Africa and return to Haiti on Thursday, three days ahead of a presidential run-off election, a source told reporters.
“Aristide is expected this Thursday in Port-au-Prince,” the source, close to the three-time former president, said on condition of anonymity.
The United States has urged Aristide to postpone his return until after Sunday's vital presidential run-off.
November's first-round election was marred by violence and fraud and the shattered country is still struggling to rebuild after a devastating earthquake 14 months ago that killed 250 000 people.
Aristide was ousted from office twice, eventually fleeing a 2004 popular uprising aboard a US plane.
But he remains a popular figure in certain quarters in Haiti, especially in the capital's teeming slums, and in the tent cities that have sprung up since the January 2010 earthquake where many decry the slow pace of progress. - Sapa-AFP