Sunday, January 31, 2010

Distress mounts about child trafficking in Haiti

By Ofentse Mokae
31 January 2010

Police in Haiti have arrested 10 United States citizens caught trying to take 33 children out of the earthquake-stricken country in a suspected illicit adoption scheme.

Authorities in the country fear traffickers could try to exploit the chaos and turmoil following the earthquake to engage in illegal adoptions.

The suspects say they are from an Idaho-based charity and were not doing anything wrong.

Meanwhile United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other foreign leaders have sent an open letter to Nigeria over the long absence of its president.

The letter describes Nigeria as being in a "period of uncertainty."

President Umaru Yar'Adua left the nation in late November to head to a Saudi Arabian hospital for treatment of what his doctor says is a heart condition.

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