UN peacekeepers move against kidnapping in Haiti

The United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti, taking action to reduce criminal activity in the capital's sprawling Bel-Air district, secured the releases of two kidnapped people, arrested more than two dozen people and seized false papers, munitions and illicit drugs, the mission has said.

A Brazilian unit freed an unidentified kidnapped person during a routine raid last Tuesday, after having liberated an abducted young woman called Karine Dominique Joseph on 22 July, who had been held for 24 hours. It also arrested 14 suspects in different parts of Bel Air, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said.

During the week the Brazilian "blue helmets" seized electronic equipment, ammunition and bank cards and rounded up another 12 suspects in the shantytown, it said.

In another development, MINUSTAH said the total number of voters registered across the Caribbean country since 11 July was 630,333.