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SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) – – Dominican business leaders vowed to suspend activity at a border market catering to Haitians to punish their impoverished neighboring country for banning Dominican poultry.
Dominican merchants urged colleagues not to sell products at the bustling Dajabon market next Monday, in retaliation for Haiti’s decision to ban Dominican poultry imports last month after 115 chickens tested positive for a strain of avian flu.
Haiti irritated Dominican officials by seeking independent confirmation that the H5N2 strain, which poses no threat to humans, has been eradicated.
’’We will give them the certification ... along with the paralyzation’’ of the market, said Freddy Morillo, president of the Dominican Association of Egg Distributors, on Friday.
The Dominican town of Dajabon approved a resolution supporting the merchants.
Jolivier Toussaint, director of imports for Haiti’s agriculture ministry, said he was dismayed by the plan to boycott the market, where thousands of Haitians regularly buy food, clothes and other items they can’t find or afford in Haiti.
’’The way that we do agriculture is a little archaic, so it will create a lot of problems for us,’’ he said.
The Dajabon market is a main trading point for both countries, which share the island of Hispaniola.
Haiti’s ban on Dominican poultry has inflated prices and caused food shortages in Haiti. Customs officials have seized, burned and buried thousands of eggs, chickens and fighting roosters that Haitian buyers in recent weeks smuggled across the border.
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Dominican merchants urged colleagues not to sell products at the bustling Dajabon market next Monday, in retaliation for Haiti’s decision to ban Dominican poultry imports last month after 115 chickens tested positive for a strain of avian flu.
Haiti irritated Dominican officials by seeking independent confirmation that the H5N2 strain, which poses no threat to humans, has been eradicated.
’’We will give them the certification ... along with the paralyzation’’ of the market, said Freddy Morillo, president of the Dominican Association of Egg Distributors, on Friday.
The Dominican town of Dajabon approved a resolution supporting the merchants.
Jolivier Toussaint, director of imports for Haiti’s agriculture ministry, said he was dismayed by the plan to boycott the market, where thousands of Haitians regularly buy food, clothes and other items they can’t find or afford in Haiti.
’’The way that we do agriculture is a little archaic, so it will create a lot of problems for us,’’ he said.
The Dajabon market is a main trading point for both countries, which share the island of Hispaniola.
Haiti’s ban on Dominican poultry has inflated prices and caused food shortages in Haiti. Customs officials have seized, burned and buried thousands of eggs, chickens and fighting roosters that Haitian buyers in recent weeks smuggled across the border.
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