Ousted Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide appeared at a news conference in the capital of Central African Republic, a week after he fled a rebellion in his homeland.
Mr Aristide has not been seen in public since his arrival in the impoverished African nation on March 1st, and the news conference appeared to be an effort by his hosts to quash reports that he was being held a near-prisoner.
Central African authorities have expressed annoyance that Mr Aristide has repeatedly accused the United States of kidnapping him and forcing him from office, a charge the US government has denied.
Yesterday, suspected supporters of Mr Aristide fired into a crowd outside the National Palace yesterday, killing at least six people and wounding 18.
Witnesses said gunmen linked to Mr Aristide's Lavalas movement fired from rooftops and burst into the capital's main square in a pickup truck, a jeep and on foot, shooting with automatic weapons into a festive crowd celebrating the fall of the president.
Hospital officials said the dead included Spaniard Ricardo Ortega, a correspondent for the Antena 3 Spanish television station. The wounded included two Haiti police officers and an American journalist from the South Florida Sun-Sentinelnewspaper, who was shot in face and shoulder.
It was the boldest attack since Mr Aristide, facing a bloody revolt and international pressure, fled the Haiti last Sunday. His supporters had accused rebel troops of carrying out reprisal raids in the capital's slums, home to thousands of Aristide supporters.
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune urged police to pursue the "assassins" no matter what side of Haiti's political divide they came from and said police and foreign troops should start disarming people with illegal weapons.
The shootings shattered a largely peaceful demonstration in which thousands took to the streets in a noisy parade to celebrate the fall of Mr Aristide. More than 200 people have been killed in the month-long rebellion.