Daily Times

The Dominican Republic announced Monday a partial reopening of its border with Haiti — for goods but not people — after closing it last month in a dispute over a shared river.

The measure, effective from Wednesday morning, would allow exports to Haiti but retain a ban on people crossing, government spokesman Homero Figueroa said after a national security council meeting.

It would “facilitate the trade of essential Dominican products such as food and medicines, especially for children,” said Figueroa, adding that “strict military control” will be maintained at the border.

The announcement came ahead of a planned UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti, the poorest country of the Americas that is mired in an economic and political crisis aggravated by ferocious gang violence. The Dominican Republic announced the border closure three weeks ago in response to Haitian plans to build a canal on the river, arguing it violates several border treaties between the two nations.

As part of the canal dispute, the Dominican government also suspended visas for Haitians.

Haitian authorities called for “dialogue to resolve the conflict” over the canal, which would divert water from the Massacre River, and asked to normalize relations.

“Haiti considers that a result (of the negotiations) will only be considered adequate if it allows the equitable distribution of water resources, the normalization of relations between the two countries and the return to the circulation of people and goods of the two parties, as it was… before the unilateral closure of September 15,” they said in a statement Monday.