US missionaries kidnapped in Haiti

A group of 17 US missionaries including children are believed to have been kidnapped by a gang in Haiti.

The missionaries were on their way home from building an orphanage when they were snatched, Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said.

It added: “This is a special prayer alert. Pray that the gang members would come to repentance.”

A US Government spokesperson said it is aware of the reports of the kidnapping.

“The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State,” the spokesperson added.

Haiti is once again struggling with a spike in gang-related kidnappings that had diminished after President Jovenel Moise was fatally shot at his private residence on July 7, and following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the south-west in August and killed more than 2,200 people.

Gangs have demanded ransoms ranging from just a few hundred pounds to more than £700,000, according to authorities.

Last month, a deacon was killed in front of a church in the capital Port-au-Prince and his wife was kidnapped, one of dozens of people who have been abducted in recent months.

At least 328 kidnapping victims were reported to Haiti’s National Police in the first eight months of 2021, compared with a total of 234 for all of 2020, according to a report issued last month by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti.

Gangs have been accused of kidnapping schoolchildren, doctors, police officers, busloads of passengers and others as they grow more powerful.

In April, one gang kidnapped five priests and two nuns, a move that prompted a protest similar to one organised for this Monday to decry the lack of security in the impoverished country.

The UN last month report said: “Political turmoil, the surge in gang violence, deteriorating socioeconomic conditions - including food insecurity and malnutrition - all contribute to the worsening of the humanitarian situation.

“An overstretched and under-resourced police force alone cannot address the security ills of Haiti.”

On Friday, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the political mission in Haiti.

The kidnapping of the missionaries comes just days after high-level US officials visited Haiti and promised more resources for its police force, including millions of pounds to help reduce gang violence, which this year has displaced thousands of Haitians who now live in temporary shelters in increasingly unhygienic conditions.