DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: BORDER WITH HAITI TEMPORARILY OPENED TO ALLOW ACCESS TO WEEKLY MARKET.

Record ID: 648183

  • Title: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: BORDER WITH HAITI TEMPORARILY OPENED TO ALLOW ACCESS TO WEEKLY MARKET.
  • Date: 22nd February 2004
  • Summary: (U6) DAJABON, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (FEBRUARY 20, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/MV/PAN: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CROSSING DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/HAITI BORDER (3 SHOTS) 0.17 2. MV/CU/PAN/GV: VARIOUS OF SECURITY ON BORDER (4 SHOTS) 0.41 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARMY REGIONAL SECURITY COMMANDER, GENERAL MARCO TULIO REYNOSO, SAYING: "The authorities of Dajabon municipality along with the armed forces have taken these appropriate measures understanding that if this town is cut off it could generate a deterioration of the situation than what is happening right now." 1.11 4. MV: PEOPLE CROSSING BORDER TO HAITI WITH PRODUCTS BOUGHT AT MARKET (2 SHOTS) 1.19 5. GV: SECURITY CLOSING BORDER GATE 1.24 6. MV: PEOPLE LOOKING THROUGH GATE (2 SHOTS) 1.33 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HAITIAN RESIDENT, JOSE PIERRE, SAYING: "A good change for us, speak to foreign governments to implement peace that mess is not for us we want peace. Aristide needs to do something for Haiti, peace and harmony so that everyone can live without fear. We are worse off now, there is no food everyone is fighting we just want peace above all." 2.02 8. LV/GV: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT RIVER (5 SHOTS) 2.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th March 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DAJABON, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
  • Country: Dominican Republic
  • Reuters ID: LVAC2WH6G4B1358D7UE1ZIDINMR1
  • Story Text: The Dominican Republic temporarily opens Haitian
    border under heavy security to allow access to weekly
    market.



    Under heavy security, the Dominican Republic
    briefly opened the Haitian border on Friday (February 20)
    to allow residents on both sides to attend a twice-weekly
    market.

    For about six hours hundreds of Haitians where allowed
    to shop at a market in the Dominican border town of Dajabon
    where they could by water, ice, poultry, medicine and other
    staples.

    "The authorities of Dajabon municipality along with the
    armed forces have taken these appropriate measures
    understanding that if this town is cut off it could
    generate a deterioration of the situation than what is
    happening right now," said Army Regional Security
    Commander, General Marco Tulio Reynoso.

    Residents of Dajabon and the Haitian border town of
    Juana Mendez both depend on the commerce between the two.

    According to local authorities, some 2.5 million dollars
    were made in commercial activities in 2003.

    Haiti, facing a 12-day-old revolt against President
    Jean-Bertrand Aristide, shares the Caribbean island of
    Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, which fears unrest
    might spill across the border.

    The Dominican Republic sought a peaceful solution to the
    crisis and was in touch with regional groups including the
    Caribbean trade group Caricom and the Organization of
    American States.

    Foreign aid to Haiti, the poorest country in the
    Americas, has been scant in recent years because of a
    long-running dispute between Aristide and his political
    opponents. The crisis took a sharp turn for the worse when
    an armed gang took over the western Haitian city of
    Gonaives on February 5 in a revolt that has spread to
    several other towns.

    The Dominican Republic, which in recent years has
    enjoyed relative economic and political stability compared
    with its impoverished neighbour, has reinforced the
    soldiers guarding its 240-mile (380-km) border. President
    Hipolito Mejia has said any conspirators in the revolt
    trying to get in or out of the Dominican Republic would be
    arrested.

    But some Haitians who have joined the rebels in
    Gonaives, including a former leader of a paramilitary group
    and a former senior police official, have slipped over the
    border from the Dominican Republic.

    Two Dominican soldiers at the frontier were killed last
    Saturday (February 14) in an attack apparently carried out
    by Haitians, who fled with the soldiers' weapons.




  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register