Swiss development aid staff leave Haiti with French help

Even before the latest escalation, armed groups had gained control of around 80% of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, according to the UN. KEYSTONE/Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

France has evacuated 170 of its citizens, 70 other Europeans – including staff from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) – and others out of Haiti in light of the country’s security situation. 

Thanks to the mission carried out in cooperation with the defence ministry, the most vulnerable people were able to leave the Caribbean state, the foreign ministry in Paris announced on Wednesday.

Evacuees were flown by French army helicopters to a French ship, which will take them to Fort-de-France, the capital of the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Commercial flights to Haiti have been cancelled due to the security situation.

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All SDC staff out of the country 

According to the foreign ministry in Bern, three staff members from the SDC’s humanitarian office were also able to leave Haiti on Sunday with French support; they will be temporarily relocated to Santo Domingo in the neighbouring Dominican Republic.  

This means that all Swiss SDC staff have now managed to leave the country, a foreign ministry spokesperson told the Keystone-SDA news agency.  

Around 70 Swiss nationals still in Haiti 

The foreign ministry said it was aware of some 70 Swiss nationals still in Haiti, some of whom have expressed a wish to leave. The ministry is working with the Swiss embassy in Santo Domingo to “support them as much as possible”, the spokesperson said. 

The already extremely tense security and humanitarian situation in Haiti has worsened since the end of February. Gang violence prevented interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning from a trip abroad and earlier this month he announced his resignation.

Plans for a new interim government, for the first elections to be held in the country since 2016, and for a multinational mission to support the Haitian police have not yet come to fruition.

Even before the latest escalation, armed groups had around 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince under their control, according to UN figures.  

France’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that its embassy in Haiti remained open. Two weeks ago, the German ambassador and all foreign employees of the European Union delegation left the country. The US military also flew out non-essential US embassy personnel. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kp 

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