France flies 240 people out of Haiti – including Swiss nationals
Published: Wednesday, Mar 27th 2024, 20:50
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In view of the desolate security situation in Haiti, France has flown 170 of its citizens and 70 other Europeans - including staff from the Swiss SDC office - and other nationals out of the Caribbean state.
En coopération avec le ministère de la Défense, les personnes les plus vulnérables ont été autorisées à quitter le pays, a annoncé mercredi le ministère des Affaires étrangères à Paris.
The evacuees were flown by French army helicopters to a French ship that would take them to Fort-de-France, the capital of the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Commercial flights to Haiti had been suspended due to the situation there.
Total SDC staff outside the country
According to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in Bern, three members of the foreign staff of the Humanitarian Office of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) were able to leave Haiti on Sunday with French support. These people will be temporarily relocated to Santo Domingo in the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Tous les collaborateurs suisses du bureau de la DDC ont ainsi pu quitter le pays, comme l'a indiqué un porte-parole du DFAE à l'agence de presse Keystone-SDA.
Around 70 Swiss in Haiti
The FDFA is aware of around seventy Swiss nationals in Haiti. Some of them have expressed the wish to leave the country. The FDFA and the Swiss embassy in Santo Domingo are "supporting them as far as possible", said the spokesperson.
The already extremely tense security and humanitarian situation in Haiti had deteriorated further since the end of February. Gang violence prevented interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning from a trip abroad - he announced his resignation.
Les plans pour un nouveau gouvernement intérimaire, les préparations pour les premières élections depuis 2016 et une mission multinationale pour soutenir la police haïtienne n'ont pas encore été mis en œuvre. Même avant la dernière escalade, les différents groupes armés contrôlaient environ 80 % de la capitale Port-au-Prince, selon les chiffres de l'ONU.
France's embassy in the French-speaking former colony of Haiti remains open, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday. Around two weeks ago, the German ambassador and all foreign employees of the EU representation left Haiti. The US military flew out non-essential US embassy personnel.
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