President Luis Abinader visited Dajabon province late last week to see for himself the completion of the La Vigia Canal that is upstream from the canal under construction in Haiti that has been the trigger for the shutdown of the sea, land and air crossings with the Dominican Republic and the unusual stop to regular dialogue between both countries.
The President said he visited to see the work on the canal for himself. The operation of the Vigia canal, while expensive as it requires the operation of pumps, would serve to significantly reduce the water that the Haitian builders seek to divert to Haiti to a minimum. The President said the possibility of operating the Vigia Canal will enable the government to “relax” some of the positions taken. Still, he said the border would remain closed until further notice.
The impasse occurred after interests in Haiti resumed the construction of the 2 km diverting of the Masacre river to benefit individual persons in Haiti. The diverting would affect the river that has an extension of another 53 km in the Dominican Republic.
Abinader stressed that he was trying to protect Dominican interests in the border provinces, and that there would be “more controls” at every crossing site along the entire border.
The President also noted that through the Institute for Price Stabilization (Inespre), the Ministry of Commerce, and other government institutions, have taken measures so that merchants of perishable goods would not be seriously affected by the closure of the border by land, sea, and air.
The shutdown of the border has been immensely detrimental to the legal trafficking of goods and has put at risk the jobs of thousands of Haitians employed in free zones in Haiti that source goods from the Dominican Republic. It is crucial inputs for free zone operations again be allowed to cross the border.
Contraband of goods has continued, and illegal crossings through points along the almost 400 km border between both countries. But legal trade and crossings from Haiti to the Dominican Republic are on hold. The Dominican border authorities have allowed Haitians to return to Haiti through a separate door gate.
Nevertheless, the positive indirect outcome of the shutdown has been that China and Russia abstained from voting against the sending of a United Nations peace mission to Haiti. The Security Council cleared the sending of a Kenya-led multinational task force to Haiti to begin actions for peace and order in that country. The Dominican Republic government had supported the request by the government of Haiti for the multinational force.
Meanwhile, the Dominican government has intensified efforts to find new markets in the Caribbean for Dominican goods that traditionally have been exported to Haiti.
At the same time, local media reported that interests in Haiti would build a cement wall to fortify the Haitian side of the regular border crossing with the Dominican Republic and impede the reopening of the border gates to the flow of people and goods.
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Kenyan Foreign Policy
9 October 2023