Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Mar 01: A group of Haitians loyal to ousted Haitian President Jean-Betrand Aristide crossed the border to the Dominican Republic, where they were expected to be granted asylum, government officials said. They yesterday said the Dominican government had sent military helicopters to the Haitian capital Port-Au-Prince to bring the group, which included Aristide's security chief and at least two government ministers, to Jimani, a Dominican 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, with their wives, as well as Oriel Jean, Aristide's chief of security.
''They expect to establish residency in Santo Domingo,'' Fausto Liz, the Dominican consul in Santo Domingo, told.
Dominican government sources told that the group had been granted tourist visas to enter the country, and that the government had not yet decided whether to offer them asylum.
The helicopters also transported several Dominicans who had been living in Haiti.
A government source had earlier said president Hipolito Mejia instructed the foreign ministry to offer asylum ''for humanitarian reasons'' to the Aristide loyalists. Edwin Paraison, the Haitian consul in Santo Domingo, confirmed that the group had arrived in the Dominican Republic.
The group had sought protection on Sunday morning at the Dominican embassy in Port-Au-Prince, which had beefed up security in the past week, as rebel forces approached the city.

Dominican troops also had reinforced security at the border with Haiti, which has been closed.
Aristide left his chaotic country on Sunday, driven out by a bloody revolt that put rebels near the capital and by pressure from the United States.
Bureau Report