"Let's take over the runway," shouted one voice. "We need to send a message to Obama," cried another, referring to US President Barack Obama.

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 Saturday seeking to be evacuated after Tuesday's massive 7.0 earthquake, which leveled 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 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 monopolizing 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.

Others waiting for a way out were taken aback by the chaotic scenes that confronted them when they arrived at the Toussaint L'Ouverture airport.

"I haven't been able to tell my family that I'm alive. The coordination is a joke," said Wilfried Brevil, a 33-year-old housekeeper.

"I was at the Christopher Hotel," said Daniele Saada, referring to the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti, MINUSTAH.

"I was extremely shaken up. I was pulled out, the others weren't," added Saada, 65, a MINUSTAH employee.

"I decided to return to France. I have nothing and now I am stuck," she said, caught between fury at the chaos and sheer exhaustion.

The disorder even appeared to cause diplomatic ripples, with French Secretary of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet telling reporters he had lodged a complaint with the United States over its handling of the Port-au-Prince airport.

"I have made an official protest to the Americans through the US embassy," he said at the Haitian airport after a French plane carrying a field hospital was turned away.

A spokesman for the French foreign ministry later denied France had registered a protest, saying "Franco-US coordination in emergency aid for Haiti is being handled in the best way possible given the serious difficulties."

The US ambassador to Haiti defended American efforts at the small airport, which was up-and-running 24 hours after the massive quake, even though the air traffic control tower was damaged.

"We're working in coordination with the United Nations and the Haitians," said Ambassador Kenneth Merten, though he acknowledged some difficulties.

"Clearly it's necessary to prioritize the planes. It's clear that there's a problem."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spent several hours at Port-au-Prince's airport during a lightning visit Saturday, sought to reassure Haitians that help would come.

"We are here at the invitation of your government to help you," she said after meeting Haitian President Rene Preval.

"As President Obama has said we will be here today, tomorrow and for the time ahead," she pledged.

Despite the chaos at the small airport, a group of French citizens was eventually able to take off on Saturday, and the French plane carrying a field hospital landed safely around noon.

Due to logistical problems Port-au-Prince airport officials continued to divert some flights carrying emergency relief supplies to the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos Islands, according to US and UN officials.

Still, with aid continuing to flood into the quake-stricken country, concern remains about the lack of coordination at the airport, and across devastated Port-au-Prince.

The UN Security Council was to meet Monday to discuss coordination of the aid effort, Mexico's foreign ministry said, as Haitians complained they were being kept in the dark.

"The Haitians haven't been notified about the arrival of planes. And when they do land, there's no one to take charge and a large amount of goods are arriving without coordination," said Haitian government official Michel Chancy.

Clinton vows US will stand by Haiti
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Jan 17, 2010 - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday pledged US support for Haiti's recovery from a devastating earthquake, in a lightning visit to the hub of relief operations for the Caribbean nation.

Amid the clatter of aid-laden helicopters flying in and out of the international airport at Port-au-Prince, Clinton declared the United States would work closely with Haiti to restore electricity and communications.

"As President (Barack) Obama has said, we will be here today, tomorrow and for the time ahead," Clinton said as she stood next to President Rene Preval, whose palace was destroyed in Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude temblor.

The two countries were to unveil a statement on Sunday on how they planned to cooperate together.

The breakdown in basic utilities, along with the destruction of the palace and key ministries, has left Preval's government barely functioning and reliant on foreign donors for massive quantities of emergency aid.

"We are here at the invitation of your government to help you," Clinton told a press conference after an hour-long meeting with Preval and talks with US officials organizing the relief operation.

"I know the resilience and strength of the Haitian people. You have been severely tested," said Clinton, the highest-ranking US official to visit the Caribbean nation since the quake.

"But I believe that Haiti can come back stronger and better in the future," the chief US diplomat said.

Preval, who said he had just visited a man pulled out of the rubble alive after four days by American rescuers, said Clinton's visit "warmed our hearts.

"But it's also a chance for us to restate priorities and to ensure coordination with the American government and with the international community."

Clinton said the pair "discussed the priorities of restoring communications and electricity."

Anger was building at Haiti's US-controlled main airport, where aid flights were still being turned away and poor coordination continued to hamper the relief effort.

But tons and tons of badly-needed aid was finally getting to some of those left destitute in Port-au-Prince, and even to at least one devastated town beyond the capital.

Clinton said criticism that aid was piling up at the airport was unfair, saying US forces, in charge of the airport, were getting it out as quickly as possible.

She and Rajiv Shah, director for the USAID US Agency for International Development (USAID), said the UN World Food Programme had begun setting up food and water distribution centers at 14 points across the capital.

Clinton said the international relief operaton faced many logistics hurdles.

The US military had tried to establish helicopter landing zones for some aid deliveries but had to drop the plan when it realized Haitians would mob the site each time and make it dangerous to land, she said.

Clinton said State Department officials had asked the US military whether supplies could be parachuted to Haitians, but were told that such drops could provoke riots in crowded urban areas or could hit people on the ground.

The chief US diplomat said officials were still looking for innovative solutions.

"The other thing we're trying to do is get our helicopters outside the immediately affected area, outside of Port-au-Prince, because people are leaving the city," Clinton said.

"They are seeking medical help. They are trying to get to relatives," she added. "The countryside is relatively unaffected... We're trying to get ahead of the curve here."

The US operation has been officially dubbed "Operation Unified Response," General Douglas Fraser, head of the US Southern Command, said on the command's official page on micro-blogging website Twitter.

Philip Crowley, Clinton's spokesman, said there were hopes to make the northern city of Cap Haitien operational as a second container port, but he gave no details.

Clinton, who never ventured beyond the airport in order not to burden relief efforts with security concerns, later left Haiti taking with her 50 US citizens who had been living in or visiting Haiti.

One group was dropped off in Jamaica to take commercial flights to the United States in the coming days, while the other group traveled back to Washington DC with Clinton.

Marie Lindor, who sat with her newborn baby aboard the spartan C-130 transport plane, told reporters she hoped to find a flight from Kingston to Miami, where she lives with her husband.

She had gone to stay with relatives in Haiti only to experience the earthquake and learn that her cousin had died in it, along with other family members. Her brother and sister had lost their homes there.

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