HAITI QUAKE
Anger at US builds up
Jan 17, 2010
Dozens of French citizens and dual Haitian-French nationals crowded the airport but had to sleep on the tarmac when a plane due to take them to Guadeloupe was prevented from landing.
PHOTO: AFP
PORT-AU-PRINCE - ANGER built Saturday at Haiti's US-controlled main airport, where aid flights were still being turned away and poor coordination continued to hamper the relief effort four days on.
'Let's take over the runway,' shouted one voice. 'We need to send a message to (US President Barack) Obama,' cried another. Control remained in the hands of US forces, who face criticism for the continued disarray at the overwhelmed airfield.
Dozens of French citizens and dual Haitian-French nationals crowded the airport on Saturday seeking to be evacuated after Tuesday's massive 7.0 earthquake, which levelled much of the capital Port-au-Prince.
But at the last minute, a plane due to take them to the French island of Guadeloupe was prevented from landing, leaving them to sleep on the tarmac, waiting for a way out.
'They're repatriating the Americans and not anyone else,' said Mr Charles Misteder, 50. 'The American monopoly has to end. They are dominating us and not allowing us to return home.' The crowd accused American forces, who were handed control of the airport by Haitian authorities, of monopolising the airfield's single runway to evacuate their own citizens.
The US embassy denied it was putting the evacuation of the approximately 40,000 to 45,000 American citizens in the country first. -- AFP
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