PORT-AU-PRINCE - The kidnapping of an Indian businessman and a Russian in Haiti has highlighted the growing insecurity in the impoverished Caribbean state as it seeks stability to hold elections later this year.
The Indian head of a plastics firm in Port-au-Prince and the Russian, who worked as a contractor helping air transportation for the the UN force in Haiti, were seized separately on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Damien Anses Cardona, a spokesman for the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
Neither man has been identified. But they are the first foreigners to be kidnapped in Haiti since Jean Bertrand Aristide quit as president and fled in February 2004 and the UN peacekeeping force started four months later.
A ransom is being asked for the Russian by the unknown kidnappers, said Cardona, who added that MINUSTAH was "not involved directly in talks". The man works for a Russian services company that has a contract with MINUSTAH.
Despite the presence of the 6,000-strong UN force, Haiti has seen a sharp increase in violence and kidnappings in recent months. Wednesday, a Haitian schoolteacher was also seized.
According to some sources, the kidnappers have demanded 200,000 dollars for the release of the Russian but this could be brought down to as low as two thousand dollars.
The interim government, under Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, is desperate to establish a semblance of order before elections for a new legislature and president at the end of the year.
The kidnappings "are not an easy situation," said the MINUSTAH spokesman. "It is not a military affair, but MINUSTAH is working with the Haitian police to find a solution."
UN troops have regularly clashed with gangs and followers of Aristide. Three peacekeepers have been killed since March and the current six month mandate of the UN force runs out June 1.
But Latortue's government has asked the UN Security Council to extend the stay until after the elections, Brazil's ambassador to the UN has said. Brazil is in charge of the UN force which will be discussed by the Security Council this month.
Haitian business leaders are also worried about the lawlessness. They issued a statement Wednesday calling for "different sectors of the population to mobilize in the face of mounting insecurity."
Local businessmen have become a particular target for the kidnappers who have become more brazen in recent weeks.
Many of the victims are released after just a few hours or days, if a ransom is paid.
Gunmen last month kidnapped Jean Enold Buteau, head of the left wing Movement for National Reconstruction, and brother of the interim education minister. He is also a doctor and was kidnapped as he opened his clinic but was released the next day after a payment was made.
National police spokeswoman, Gessie Coicou, last week highlighted, without naming anyone, the involvement of police and "important personalities" in the kidnappings which he said had become "an industry that makes a lot of money" in the Americas' poorest country.
05/05/2005 17:52 GMT