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An American woman and her child have been kidnapped in Haiti, according to a non-profit humanitarian organization affiliated with the woman.
On Saturday, El Roi Haiti announced that Alix Dorsainvil and her child were kidnapped two days earlier from the non-profit’s campus while the woman served in the group’s community ministry near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
Dorsainvil was described as a nurse from New Hampshire as well as El Roi Haiti’s school and community nurse. She is the wife of El Roi Haiti’s director, Sandro Dorsainvil, according to the Christian humanitarian aid organization.
“Alix is a deeply compassionate and loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family,” the organization said. “Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves the people of Haiti in the name of Jesus.”
According to a promotional video published three years ago by the organization, Dorsainvil moved to Haiti after her husband invited her to provide nursing services at a school.
“Haitians are such a resilient people,” Dorsainvil said in the video. “They’re full of joy and life and love and I’m so blessed to be able to know so many amazing Haitians.”
In its statement on Saturday, El Roi Haiti said that it was working with “partners and trusted relationships to secure [the] safe return” of Dorsainvil and the child.
“We are aware of reports of the kidnapping of two US citizens in Haiti,” an American state department spokesperson said on Saturday to Reuters. “We are in regular contact with Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and our US government interagency partners.”
Meanwhile, Haiti welcomed “with great interest” a Kenyan offer to lead a 1,000-strong multinational force to bolster security in the violence-torn country.
“Haiti appreciates this expression of African solidarity and looks forward to welcoming Kenya’s proposed evaluation mission,” the foreign minister, Jean Victor Geneus, said on Sunday.
Kenya announced the previous day that it was prepared to deploy 1,000 police agents to help train and support their Haitian counterparts in combating the violent gangs that have taken control of much of Port-au-Prince.
A Kenyan-led deployment would still require a mandate from the UN security council, as well as formal agreement by local authorities. The council has asked the secretary general, António Guterres, to present by mid-August a report on possible options for Haiti, including a UN-led mission.
Kenya’s foreign minister, Alfred Mutua, said Kenya would send an “evaluation mission” to Haiti in coming weeks.
US diplomats have been actively seeking a country to head a multinational force. On Thursday, the state department issued an advisory about travel to Haiti “due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest and poor health care infrastructure”.
The advisory added: “Kidnapping is widespread, and victims regularly include US citizens. Kidnappers may use sophisticated planning or take advantage of unplanned opportunities, and even convoys have been attacked. Kidnapping cases often involve ransom negotiations and US citizen victims have been physically harmed during kidnappings.”
The advisory also ordered the departure of family members of US government employees as well non-emergency American government employees. It also urged American citizens in Haiti to depart “as soon as possible by commercial or other privately available transportation options, in light of the current security situation and infrastructure challenges”.
A UN report last month revealed that more than 165,000 Haitians have been displaced within their country due to gang violence. The report said that the country was facing additional pressure due to floods which have affected more than 46,000 people while displacing about 13,000 others.
Saturday’s announcement from El Roi Haiti came after the kidnapping of Blondine Tanis, a Haitian radio reporter who was abducted on 21 July by “unidentified people” as she arrived home in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said earlier this week.
“The unstable political situation in Haiti has created conditions in which kidnapping is a major risk for everyone in the country, including journalists,” said Cristina Zahar, CPJ’s Latin America and the Caribbean program coordinator. “Those holding radio journalist Blondine Tanis must release her immediately and unconditionally.”
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
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