29663: (news) Chamberlain: Kidnappers free Haitian children but others abducted (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Kidnappers freed seven
children snatched two days ago from a school bus in the Haitian capital but
several other children were abducted in the latest wave of
kidnappings-for-ransom, police said on Friday.
     "The children were released on Thursday night. ... They are fine,"
said Henri Dossous, the police commissioner in charge of the
anti-kidnapping unit. "The ransom collected by the families was paid to the
kidnappers."
     No arrests were made in the case and police would not reveal the
amount of the ransom paid.
     As many as seven other children were kidnapped in separate incidents
on Thursday, according to witnesses and local media. Police confirmed that
several children had been abducted.
     In a new twist to the rash of kidnappings that have plagued the
impoverished Caribbean nation in recent weeks, children were being targeted
because they offered no resistance and their families were more likely to
pay quickly, police said.
     The abduction of children appeared to have struck a nerve with
Haitians. Residents of the capital helped police in door-to-door searches
for the kidnap victims this week and authorities reported a sharp rise in
calls from the public with information on the case.
     About 100 kidnappings for ransom were reported last month and at least
60 have occurred so far this month, including that of a 6-year-old boy who
was killed.
     The kidnappings are still more bad news for Haiti nearly three years
after then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was driven into exile by a
violent rebellion.
     U.N. peacekeepers have done little to reduce violence since they
arrived in June 2004 although Haiti enjoyed a brief period of relative
peace after President Rene Preval won elections in February.