Seventeen Christian missionaries, including five children, from the US and one from Canada, have been kidnapped by an armed gang near the capital Port-au-Prince. The gang, 400 Mowozo, is notorious for killing, kidnappings and extortion. The missionaries were taken from a bus last Saturday after leaving an orphanage project in the crisis-engulfed Caribbean nation.
They were associated with Christian Aid Ministries, a US-based organisation, which reports it has been working with the US embassy in Haiti to see what could be done to help the abducted missionaries.
It is an Ohio-based group which carries out charitable projects on behalf of Amish, Mennonite, and other Anabaptist groups. It supports Haitians largely through donations and supplies shelter, food and clothing to children and helps to fund their education.
“We are seeking God’s direction for a resolution, and authorities are seeking ways to help,’ they said, sending out a prayer alert within hours of the kidnapping. Haitian officials are in touch with the US State Department, the country’s foreign minister, Claude Joseph, reported. The abduction of such a large group of Americans has shocked officials for its brazenness.
Two days after the kidnapping, Haiti officials told the media that a $1-million-per-person (£725,000 per person) ransom demand has been sent by the kidnap gang. And it was announced that the youngest child kidnapped is an 6-month-old baby. The US has sent a team of FBI agents and Department of State diplomats to Port-au-Prince to work with Haitian authorities, the missionary group and the victims’ relatives. Haitians have had enough of the poor economic situation and violence. Just before the missionaries’ abduction, a Haitian transportation union called for an indefinite strike, which began on Monday, in protest of the rise in kidnappings, among other issues.
This is the latest is a series of kidnappings in Haiti, as powerful gangs exploit the lawless situation to make money from ransom payments. The 400 Mawozo gang is also blamed for the kidnap of Catholic clergy in April. Since the killing of President Jovenel Moïse in July, and an earthquake the following month which killed more than 2,000 people, rival factions have been trying to gain control and the lack of security has intensified the daily struggle to survive of many Haitians.
Armed gangs have controlled the poorest districts of the Haitian capital for years. Recently they have extended their hold to other parts of Haiti's capital city Port-au-Prince and its outlying areas. More than 600 kidnappings were recorded in the first three quarters of 2021, compared with 231 over the same period last year, according to a local civil society group.
The Catholic Church has previously described the situation as “a descent into hell”, with gangs taking people from all walks of life, both local and foreign. Last month, a deacon was killed in front of a church in Port-au-Prince and his wife kidnapped, one of dozens of people who have been abducted in recent months.
Loading ...
