18648: (Chamberlain) Dominican Rep. says will detain Haiti conspirators (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The president of
the Dominican Republic told the armed forces to detain any Haitian
suspected of being part of the armed revolt against Haiti's President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, if they are found crossing into or out of the
neighboring country.
     President Hipolito Mejia said late on Saturday that his country, which
shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, was not going to be
used to undermine Haiti's democracy.
     "I have given instructions to the military for conspirators who either
enter or leave the country to be detained. We cannot under any
circumstances foster the process of undermining democracy in that country,"
he said.
     "There will be no sponsoring of aggression against Haiti from the
Dominican Republic side," Mejia said.
     A Haitian paramilitary leader who had been hiding in the Dominican
Republic has surfaced in Gonaives, the Haitian city where an armed gang
threw out police and government authorities on Feb. 5 at the start of a
revolt that spread to half a dozen towns.
     Louis Jodel Chamblain, leader of the right-wing FRAPH militia that
terrorized Haitians when a military junta ruled the country between 1991
and 1994, told Haitian radio on Saturday he had hooked up with rebels.
     Mejia's government has in the past given asylum to several people
accused by the Aristide government of being involved in plots against the
Haitian government.
    The Dominican Republic, like Haiti, has a troubled history of political
upheavals. But in recent years it has enjoyed relative economic and
political stability while Haiti has remained mired in poverty.
     The revolt against Aristide, who is mid-way through a second term as
president, came on top of months of protests against what critics condemn
as corruption and mismanagement.
     The Dominican Republic has put its armed forces at the border on alert
because of the unrest in Haiti, in which up to 50 people have died.
Officials said two Dominican soldiers were killed on Saturday at La Vigia,
on the northern border with Haiti.