About two dozen government officials and others loyal to ousted Haitian President Jean-Betrand Aristide crossed the border to the Dominican Republic, where they are expected to be granted asylum, government officials said on Sunday.
They said the group, which included at least two government ministers, had traveled by helicopter to Jimani, a southwestern city near the border with Haiti.
Among those seeking protection were Haitian Finance Minister Gustave Faubert and Henri Claude Voltaire, the minister of public health and population, they said.
Dominican government sources said that President Hipolito Mejia had instructed the foreign ministry to offer asylum "for humanitarian reasons" to the Aristide loyalists.
http://www.spa.gov.sa/html/archive_e.asp?srcfile=619775&NDay=29/02/2004&wcatg=0NOTE: headline changed from
No.: 51