A patient at the Doctors Without Borders rehabilitation clinic 'Maison Gingerbread' walks on crutches to his physical therapy appointment in Port-au-Prince Tuesday. The so-called Gingerbread House is a post-surgical rehabilitation centre for patients with injuries from car accidents to gunshot wounds. The clinic offers patients a safe environment to rehabilitate themselves. - REUTERS
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP):
KIDNAPPERS WHO seized a Canadian missionary from his home in Haiti have threatened to kill him unless a US$45,000 (euro35,590) ransom is paid, an associate said yesterday as authorities worked to win his release.
Ed Hughes, 62, was snatched Sunday in a town just north of Haiti's capital where he runs an orphanage. Bandits broke into his home and ransacked the property before fleeing with Hughes, who was wounded in a December 2005 kidnapping in the troubled Caribbean nation.
Police and U.N. officials were working through a Haitian mediator to negotiate Hughes' release but haven't made any progress so far, said Nelson Ryman, co-director with Hughes of the Tytoo Gardens orphanage.
"The mediator asked the kidnappers why they had done this to a man who is only trying to help their country, and the kidnappers replied that he had not yet been injured, but if they do not see the money, they will kill him," Ryman said from his home in Tampa, Florida.
ABDUCTIONS
Haiti's capital has been beset by a string of recent abductions that have raised fears of a return to the chaos seen after a February 2004 revolt that toppled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and touched off a wave of violence.
Twenty-nine people were kidnapped in the capital last month, up from 15 in April, according the U.N. peacekeeping mission. The actual number was probably much higher because victims' families often prefer to negotiate with kidnappers rather than notify police, who are sometimes involved in the crimes.
Ryman, who left Haiti last week, said Hughes is estranged from his family and can't pay the US$45,000 (euro35,590) his captors are demanding.
Hughes' arm was amputated after being shot while trying to stop the kidnapping of an associate late last year, Ryman said. He said Hughes, who has lived in Haiti for eight years, decided to stay in the country to continue running the orphanage.
"He has not had contact with his son for years and is divorced from his wife, there is no family to pay his ransom," Ryman said.
The abductions have highlighted Haiti's shaky security following last month's inauguration of President René Preval, who has vowed to try and restore security to attract jobs and investment to the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.
It's unknown whether the suspects had any connection to the abduction of Hughes.
"We have been in contact with the kidnappers but have no developments on the situation. He is still in captivity," said Leslie Dallemand, coordinator with the U.N. peacekeeping mission's anti-kidnapping unit.
Caroline Desrochers, a spokeswoman at the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince declined to give details on the negotiations.
"We're aware of the kidnapping and we're following up with relevant officials," Desrochers said.
