a133: Ecuador-Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   QUITO, Dec 25 (AP) -- Ecuador expelled a former Haitian police chief
Tuesday who had been accused by Haiti's government of plotting a failed
coup, officials said.
   Guy Philippe, the former police chief of Cap-Haitien, a city in northern
Haiti, was placed on a flight to the Dominican Republic.
   Philippe has denied any involvement in the Dec. 17 coup attempt.
   Haitian officials say two dozen armed men launched an assault against
Haiti's National Palace, which was foiled by security forces. A captured
suspect linked Philippe to the plot, saying he attended a meeting in the
Dominican Republic where the coup was planned.
   Philippe arrived in Ecuador the day after the coup on a flight from
Panama. Haiti asked Ecuador to extradite him, but authorities here instead
decided to deport him.
   Panamanian authorities refused to let him re-enter Panama and Ecuador
then decided to send him to the Dominican Republic.
   In October 2000, Philippe sought refuge in the Dominican Republic along
with seven others accused of plotting a coup in Haiti. He later moved to
Ecuador, but flew back to Dominican Republic two weeks before the Dec. 17
assault, Dominican officials said.