France plays down reported rift with US over Haiti

France on Tuesday played down reports of a rift with the United States over its management of the airport in Haiti since last week's devastating earthquake, saying cooperation between the two countries was going well.                                           

The reports surfaced after a junior minister, Alain Joyandet, said he had protested to US authorities that a French plane carrying humanitarian aid was prevented from landing at the US-controlled airport in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.                                           

"The French authorities are ... very satisfied with the cooperation between our two countries and beyond that with the permanent coordination between the crisis centres of the foreign ministry and the US State Department," president Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in a statement.                                           

"They welcome the exceptional mobilisation of the United States towards Haiti and the essential role it is playing on the ground."                                           

Haitian officials have said the death toll from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, which destroyed much of the capital on Jan 12, was likely to be between 100,000 and 200,000.                                           

With Haiti's main port out of operation, the huge international relief operation has had to use Port-au-Prince's congested airport, which has delayed the arrival of urgently needed medical and food supplies.                                           

More than 30 countries have rushed relief to Haiti since the quake, choking the airspace and ground facilities at the small airfield, which has only one runway.                                           

The US military has said it is doing its best to get as many planes as possible into Port-au-Prince.