According to a religious organisation in the US, 17 missionaries from the United States have been kidnapped in Haiti
According to a religious organisation in the US, 17 missionaries from the United States have been kidnapped in Haiti
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According to a voice message delivered to several religious missions by an organisation with direct knowledge of the event, a group of 17 American missionaries, including children, was kidnapped by a gang in Haiti on Saturday.

The missionaries were returning home after constructing an orphanage, according to a letter from Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries.

The one-minute message added, “This is a special prayer alert.” “Pray for repentance among the gang members.”

The field director of the mission is working with the US Embassy, according to the message, and the field director’s family and one other unidentified man stayed at the ministry’s base while the rest of the team visited the orphanage.

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Other information was unavailable at the time of publication.

A spokesman for the US administration confirmed that the kidnapping had been reported.

After President Jovenel Mose was tragically murdered at his private residence on July 7, and following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that rocked southwest Haiti in August and killed over 2,200 people, Haiti is once again grappling with an increase in gang-related kidnappings.

According to investigators, gangs have sought ransoms ranging from a few hundred dollars to over $1 million.

A deacon was assassinated and his wife kidnapped in front of a church in Port-au-Prince last month, one of scores of individuals kidnapped in recent months.

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According to a study released last month by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, or BINUH, at least 328 kidnapping victims were reported to the Haitian National Police in the first eight months of 2021, compared to 234 for the entire year of 2020.

As gangs become more dominant, they have been accused of kidnapping schoolchildren, physicians, police officers, busloads of passengers, and others. In April, a gang kidnapped five priests and two nuns, prompting a rally identical to the one planned for Monday to protest the impoverished country’s lack of protection.

“Political uncertainty, an uptick in gang violence, and deteriorating socioeconomic situations – including food poverty and malnutrition – all contribute to the humanitarian situation deteriorating,” BINUH said in its study. “An overworked and under-resourced police force cannot solve Haiti’s security problems on its own.”

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The United Nations Security Council overwhelmingly approved on Friday to prolong the UN political mission in Haiti.

The missionaries’ kidnapping comes just days after high-ranking US officials visited Haiti and promised more resources for Haiti’s National Police, including an additional $15 million to help reduce gang violence, which has displaced thousands of Haitians this year and forced them to live in increasingly unsanitary temporary shelters.

Uzra Zeya, the US undersecretary of state for civilian security, democracy, and human rights, was among those who visited with Haiti’s police head.

“Destruction of violent gangs is critical to Haitian stability and citizen security,” she recently tweeted.

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