PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) — Haiti’s Defence Minister, Hervé Denis, will travel to the Dominican Republic next week, as the Spanish speaking country steps up its deployment of troops along the borders between the two countries.

Denis is expected to discuss the process of withdrawal of the United Nations Multinational Interim Force (MIF), after then President Bertrand Aristide departed Haiti for exile in the aftermath of an armed conflict, which spread, to several cities across the country.

The Dominican Republic officials have already held talks with Michel-Ange Gédéon, the Director General of the Haitian National Police (Haitian PNH) and Sandra Honoré Head of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

The Dominican Republic Minister of Defense, Lieutenant-General Rubén Darío Paulino Sem, said that the members of his country’s armed forces were being deployed along the border between the two countries.

The army is increasing the effectiveness of its military at checkpoints and other sensitive areas nearby, in order to be able to face any situation that could affect the Dominican Republic before and after the departure of the MINUSTAH in October.

He said new security measures including surveillance cameras have been installed at strategic control points.

Meanwhile, figures released here show that for the first two weeks of July this year, a total of 4,143 undocumented Haitian migrants living in the Dominican Republic returned to the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

The figures show that 2,170 were expelled by the Dominican authorities and 1,973 returned voluntarily.