Port-au-Prince, October 25 (Prensa Latina) A government delegation will today inspect work on the irrigation canal being built in Ouanaminthe, northeast of Haiti, which has caused a conflict with the neighboring Dominican Republic.
According to a source quoted by the newspaper Le Nouvelliste, the commission will consist of the ministers of the environment, agriculture and trade and industry, James Cadet, Charlot Bredy and Ricardin Saint Jean.
The director general of the National Center for Geospatial Information, Boby Emmanuel Piard, must also accompany the committee.
The aim of the mission is to express the government’s solidarity with farmers, the source explained, noting that Haitians, like their Dominican neighbors, have the right to use shared water resources, including the Masacre River.
In addition, the delegation will pave the way for the deployment of a commission to collect information on the technical and financial needs of the work.
In August, farmers and residents of Ouanaminthe began construction of the irrigation canal, which had been halted following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
The construction is intended to enable the irrigation of about three thousand hectares of the Maribaroux Plain in the northeast of the country, an area considered Haiti’s second breadbasket.
However, the water withdrawal did not go down well with neighboring authorities, who accused the initiators of trying to divert the Masacre River.
In retaliation, Santo Domingo unilaterally closed the border, suspended visas for Haitian citizens, and banned binational trade and transportation.
For its part, the Haitian government defended its sovereign right to use water resources and assured that the work would not stop despite pressure from the Dominican Republic.
ode/ane