26052: Wharram (news Seized officials freed in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

  BBC NEWS
Seized officials freed in Haiti
Two members of the Organization of American States (OAS) and one of their
spouses kidnapped in Haiti have been freed, the group has said.

The employees and a Haitian woman were seized in the capital,
Port-au-Prince, on Thursday afternoon.

All three had been treated well, the OAS said in a statement on its website.

The officials were working towards presidential elections, scheduled for 8
January, which are now thought to have been postponed for a fourth time.

An official announcement has not been made, but electoral workers say
conditions for holding the vote have not been met.

Max Mathurin, chairman of the Provisional Electoral Council, told the
Associated Press news agency that the council would meet with political
leaders to explain the situation and discuss a new date for the vote.

Safe and secure

Haiti has been blighted by political and criminal violence since armed
insurgents overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004.

A UN peacekeeping force has been unable to restore complete order in the
country.

"The Peruvian and Guatemalan members of the OAS team in charge of preparing
for elections have been freed," an OAS source told the AFP news agency.

"The Haitian wife of one of them has also been released. They are safe and
secure now," the source said.

The two OAS employees - a Guatemalan and a Peruvian - and the wife of one of
them were abducted while driving on a road near the international airport on
Thursday.

They were a short distance away from the Cite Soleil neighbourhood, where
several kidnappings and shootings have taken place.

On Thursday, police said 20 people were arrested on suspicion of
participating in kidnappings, and at least two hostages were freed in the
operation.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4572758.stm

Published: 2006/01/01 03:40:38 GMT

© BBC MMVI