a273: Dominican-Haiti Coup (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ANDRES CALA

   SANTO DOMINGO, Jan 7 (AP) -- A suspected leader of a reported coup
attempt in Haiti has been taken into custody by the military in the
neighboring Dominican Republic, officials said Monday.
   Guy Philippe, former police chief of northern Cap-Haitien, had been
under house arrest. Haiti said he organized the Dec. 17 attack on the
National Palace in which about two dozen armed men stormed the building.
   One attacker, captured when police retook the building, told authorities
Philippe attended a meeting in the Dominican Republic at which the group
planned the assault.
   Philippe has denied involvement and has not yet been charged. Haiti's
government described the attack as a coup attempt.
   However, opposition politicians accused the government of staging a coup
as an excuse to crack down on dissent. That charge has been denied by
Haiti's government.
   At least 10 people were killed in the palace attack and violence that
followed. Haitian authorities have arrested four men accused of
involvement.
   Dominican government spokesman Luis Gonzalez Fabra said Philippe was
being held by the armed forces.
   The countries have no extradition treaty. Dominican Foreign Minister
Hugo Tolentino Dipp said officials were looking for a country that would
grant Philippe political asylum.