27365: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Kidnapping (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 28 (AP) -- Three French citizens and a Haitian who
were kidnapped near a volatile slum outside of the capital have been
released unharmed, a French official said Saturday.
   Two hostages were released Friday afternoon and two were freed Friday
evening, said Eric Bosc, a spokesman for the French Embassy in
Port-au-Prince. They were taken to the French Embassy after their release,
he said.
   The four, including a French priest and a nun believed to be in her 80s,
were abducted Wednesday on a road running between Haiti's international
airport and Cite Soleil, a slum on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince used as
a base by heavily armed gangs. U.N. officials have said another may have
duel French-Haitian citizenship.
   The kidnappers initially demanded $500,000 for the hostages' release,
but the four were apparently freed without a ransom being paid, Bosc said.
   An anti-kidnapping squad made up of U.N. civilian police and Haitian
authorities had been working to win the hostages' release, but it was
unclear if they were freed as a result of negotiations. Haitian police and
U.N. officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
   Bosc said the hostages were held in Cite Soleil and were not harmed
during the ordeal.
   A wave of kidnappings has plagued the Western Hemisphere's poorest
nation, where criminal gangs have flourished in the aftermath of the
rebellion that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
   Last month, there were 162 reported kidnap cases in Haiti, compared to
37 so far in January, the U.N. reported. The actual number is probably much
higher because victims' families often prefer to negotiate with kidnappers
rather than notify police.
   The abductions highlighted Haiti's shaky security ahead of Feb. 7
elections, which have been repeatedly postponed due to poor organization
and violence. With elections approaching, 9,000 U.N. soldiers and police
have increasingly tried to gain control of Cite Soleil, home to 200,000
people living in squalor and a stronghold of armed gangs allegedly linked
to Aristide.