29667: (news) Chamberlain: Kidnapped Children (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec 15 (AP) -- Kidnappers freed seven children who were
seized on their way to school in a volatile suburb of Haiti's capital, a
U.N. official said Friday.
   The children were released unharmed late Thursday following negotiations
between their relatives and the captors, but it was unclear whether a
ransom was paid, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said.
   The students, whose ages were not released, were riding to school in the
northern La Plaine suburb Wednesday when armed men hijacked their vehicle.
   Their release came as several Haitian media outlets reported a string of
new child abductions in and around Port-au-Prince. Ten children were
kidnapped in the capital on Thursday, private Radio Kiskeya reported.
Haitian authorities could not immediately confirm the report.
   More than 30 children have been reported kidnapped in Haiti since
November. Fear of kidnappings has led many schools in the capital to close
until after the Christmas holiday.
   Most of the crimes are blamed on street gangs that flourished in the
aftermath of a violent uprising in 2004 that toppled former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected leader.
   U.N. peacekeepers this week launched a round of anti-kidnapping
operations in the capital, detaining 25 suspects so far and setting up
random checkpoints, Blaise said. The measures will continue for several
days, he said.