15496: (Durban) NYTimes.com Article: Dominican Republic Detains 5 Haitians (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: lpdurban@yahoo.com

Dominican Republic Detains 5 Haitians

May 8, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, May 7 (AP) - A former
Haitian police chief and four others suspected of plotting
against the Haitian government were detained in the
neighboring Dominican Republic, the authorities said today.


Dominican soldiers arrested Guy Philippe, a former police
chief in the northern city of Cap Haitien, and the others
on Tuesday in the border town of Dajabon, said Gen.
Fernando Cruz of the national investigative department.

"These people are being investigated because of allegations
that they are trying to reach Haiti with the aim of
conspiring" against the government, he said.

Edwin Paraison, Haiti's consul general, said the five were
caught "in a meeting to seek sympathizers for their cause,
which is to achieve power through nonlegitimate means."
They were not charged, and he did not say if Haiti would
seek their extradition.

Mr. Philippe, a staunch opponent of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, is the most widely known of the five.

He fled across the border from Haiti in October 2000 with
six other top police officials. The government accused him
and the others of trying to overthrow Mr. Aristide and of
masterminding an attack on the National Palace in December
2001. At least 10 were killed in the attack and violence
that followed.

Mr. Philippe has denied all the government
accusations.