Advertising
For help, call:
The ongoing border dispute between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which began over the structure of a canal on Haitian soil, became even more tense on Monday when one side accused the other side of illegally entering its territory.
The latest border clash between the two bitter neighbors, who control the island of Hispaniola, took place near what is known as Pyramid 13, in the border area that divides the Dominican Republic and Haiti, near the Haitian city of Ouanaminthe. It is also where the Dominican Republic is building an internal wall in its territory to prevent access by undocumented Haitians.
This wall, the Dominican government admits, turns out to have sown confusion about where the Dominican Republic ends and Haiti begins.
Although the wall faces Haiti, both sides of the route are in Dominican territory, Dominican officials say, and its military has the right to patrol either side of the wall. However, some Haitians claim that the dominance on the side of the wall facing Haiti is a no-man’s-land and that, even if it is not, the Dominican Republic ceded its rights to this aspect once it built the wall. It’s unclear exactly how far the wall is from Haitian territory, however, the Dominican presidential office said there are transparent markers on the domain that indicate each country’s borders.
Still, the appearance of Dominican infants crossing the wall on Monday prompted Haitians to protest and burn tires.
Homero Figueroa, a spokesman for Dominican President Luis Abinader, said the incidents occurred while the Dominican military was patrolling the domain on Monday morning. An organization of Haitian citizens entered Dominican territory to obstruct patrol, he said.
“This action appears to be due to a clear false impression on the Haitian citizen component regarding the border barriers separating the two countries,” he said in a statement.
In Haiti, media outlets and bloggers reported that Dominican infantrymen had breached the wall and illegally entered Haitian territory. They accompanied their messages with videos and images of the state of the infantry soldiers in front of the wall and Dominican army helicopters flying overhead.
This misinformation has increased tensions along the border, not far from the canal. Some Haitians severely beat the head of Haiti’s Protected Areas Surveillance Brigade, Samson Camiel, while he was visiting his team in the region. Camiel accused through the angry Haitian crowd of colluding with the Dominican government and supporting the “intrusion” of its foot soldiers into Haitian soil. Camiel was eventually rescued by Haitian police.
In Ort-au-Prince, telephone calls were exchanged between the Dominican ambassador, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, and the foreign ministries of both countries, in an attempt to calm tensions that have been brewing for just two months.
Last Wednesday, the Haitian government said Foreign Minister Jean Victor Généus and Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez had agreed to work to ease tensions until a solution was found.
“The Ministry of Foreign and Religious Affairs reiterates the government’s willingness to continue the debate and negotiation with the Dominican side and takes the opportunity to call for calm and serenity,” he said.
Insisting that the Dominican infants acted “with prudence and respect for human rights, foreign agreements and treaties,” Figueroa said, “Fortunately, the incident escalated. “
He pointed out that lately there are 311 serially numbered cement pyramids that mark the 220-mile border, beginning in the north, at the mouth of the Dajabón or Masacre River, and ending at the mouth of the Pedernales River, in the south. All pyramids are marked with a number, the country where they are located and the year 1929, when a long-running border dispute between the two countries was resolved.
“The Dominican Republic army has all its strength to carry out patrols in said area,” said Figueroa.
Since mid-September, the two countries have been embroiled in a tense diplomatic dispute over the construction of a canal off the Massacre River in northeastern Haiti. Abinader claimed that the canal would divert water from Dominican farmers.
In response, it canceled all visas for Haitians and halted all movement of goods along the entire land, sea, and air border with Haiti.
In recent weeks, Abinader has slowly reopened parts of the border and resumed flights (while Haiti has kept its land border closed in protest), the Dominican military and immigration are still being told to prevent Haitians from crossing .
Figueroa said that after Monday’s incident, the Dominican military would intensify patrols with manpower and cars in the border area, where in a video shared with the Miami Herald Haitians are building a trench just on the other side of the wall, which Dominican Republic Consider your territory.
The government of the Dominican Republic, Figueroa said, considers Monday’s incident “a provocation, with the aim of generating a confrontation with unpredictable consequences that will worsen relations between the two countries. ” .
“We warn that our will will comply with the constitutional mandate to maintain Dominican territorial sovereignty. “
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising