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Last Updated: Dec 17th, 2006 - 21:40:35 |
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A Haitian senator was kidnapped by gunmen while driving near a dangerous slum but escaped after several hours in captivity, a U.N. official said Saturday.
Sen. Andris Riche was seized Friday night along a highway through the capital of Port-au-Prince, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said.
Blaise said the senator, a member of the opposition Organization for the People's Struggle party, escaped early Saturday.
The assault happened near the sprawling seaside slum of Cite Soleil, a base for well-armed gangs blamed for a string of recent abductions. Kidnappings for ransom have surged in the Caribbean nation since a 2004 revolt that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Gunmen ambushed Riche's pickup truck as he and three companions returned from a celebration marking the 200th anniversary of Haiti's Senate, Blaise said.
Haitian broadcaster Radio Kiskeya reported the kidnappers initially demanded a $200,000 ransom.
Haiti experienced a lull in violence following the February election of President Rene Preval, but abductions and killings have increased in recent weeks. More than a dozen children were reported kidnapped this week alone, prompting criticism that Preval's government and an 8,800-strong U.N. peacekeeping force cannot secure the former French colony of 8 million.
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