27378: (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, French and U.N. officials said Saturday.
   A nun in her 80s was released Friday afternoon, while two French
volunteers and their Haitian driver were released late Friday, said U.N.
spokesman David Wimhurst. They were taken to the French Embassy in
Port-au-Prince after their release.
   "They're fine. They're OK," Wimhurst said, adding that an
anti-kidnapping squad of U.N. civilian police and Haitian authorities had
negotiated the group's release.
   "No ransom was paid. The anti-kidnapping squad resolved it," he said,
declining to give further details.
   The four 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 had
previously identified one of the hostages as a French priest but later said
he was a volunteer.
   The kidnappers initially demanded $500,000 for the hostages' release,
said French Embassy spokesman Eric Bosc. He said the hostages were held in
Cite Soleil and were not harmed during the ordeal.
   Wimhurst said the fact that one hostage was a nun may have contributed
to the kidnappers' decision to release the group without a ransom.
   "When you kidnap a nun who isn't hurting anybody and doesn't have a
political agenda, that puts the kidnappers in a very bad light," he said.
   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 was 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 the 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.