US 10 quizzed over 'orphans'
Source: Agencies |
February 3, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HAITIAN authorities questioned a group of 10 American missionaries on Monday who have been accused of illegally trying to take children out of the quake-shattered Caribbean country.
A prosecutor met the Americans at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince, where they have been held since they were arrested on Friday trying to cross into the Dominican Republic with a busload of 33 children they said were orphaned by the devastating January 12 earthquake.
The Baptist missionaries deny Haitian charges they were engaged in child trafficking and insist they were only trying to help vulnerable orphans left destitute.
Haitian authorities have expressed fears the chaos and loss caused by the earthquake that killed up to 200,000 people could allow child traffickers to prey on vulnerable children.
Government officials said the detained Americans had no documents proving the children were orphans or giving them permission to take them out of the country.
The case could be diplomatically sensitive at a time when the United States is spearheading a huge relief effort to help hundreds of thousands of Haitian quake victims, and as US aid groups pour millions of dollars of donations into Haiti.
The US military on Monday resumed medical evacuation flights of critically injured earthquake victims to the US, ending a five-day suspension caused by a dispute over where to treat patients and who would pay for their care.
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and two other US ships were leaving Haiti after completing their relief missions. Several other US warships remained offshore to support the operation.
Also on Monday, United Nations officials said former US President Bill Clinton, the world body's special envoy to Haiti, would be named international coordinator for Haitian relief efforts.
A prosecutor met the Americans at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince, where they have been held since they were arrested on Friday trying to cross into the Dominican Republic with a busload of 33 children they said were orphaned by the devastating January 12 earthquake.
The Baptist missionaries deny Haitian charges they were engaged in child trafficking and insist they were only trying to help vulnerable orphans left destitute.
Haitian authorities have expressed fears the chaos and loss caused by the earthquake that killed up to 200,000 people could allow child traffickers to prey on vulnerable children.
Government officials said the detained Americans had no documents proving the children were orphans or giving them permission to take them out of the country.
The case could be diplomatically sensitive at a time when the United States is spearheading a huge relief effort to help hundreds of thousands of Haitian quake victims, and as US aid groups pour millions of dollars of donations into Haiti.
The US military on Monday resumed medical evacuation flights of critically injured earthquake victims to the US, ending a five-day suspension caused by a dispute over where to treat patients and who would pay for their care.
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and two other US ships were leaving Haiti after completing their relief missions. Several other US warships remained offshore to support the operation.
Also on Monday, United Nations officials said former US President Bill Clinton, the world body's special envoy to Haiti, would be named international coordinator for Haitian relief efforts.
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