19357: (Chamberlain) Dominican-Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By FRANK GRIFFITHS

   SANTO DOMINGO, Feb 27 (AP) -- The Dominican army detected rebels
training across the border in Haiti and warned President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide's government eight months before the start of Haiti's bloody
uprising, a top military official said Friday.
   Dominican authorities detected the guerrillas in at least two
northwestern Haitian border towns, including an area near Hinche, , said
Gen. Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez, the Dominican Republic's armed forces
secretary. Hinche was one of the first towns seized by the rebels earlier
this month.
   Soto said he had no knowledge of rebels training inside the Dominican
Republic.
   Rebel leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain said Tuesday he and other rebel
leaders trained a small number of their forces in the Dominican Republic
and crossed the border nearly three weeks ago to join the rebellion, which
began Feb. 5.
   The two countries share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola -- the
Dominican Republic is on the eastern side and Haiti occupies the western
side -- with a porous 225-mile border.
   The Dominican military has doubled the number of troops along the border
to 3,000 since the rebellion broke out. The government has said it cannot
handle a mass exodus of Haitian refugees across its border, though no
significant increase has been reported.
   The Dominican government estimates 1 million Haitians live in the
Dominican Republic, many illegally.