Six nuns and two other people who were kidnapped last Friday in Port-au-Prince have been released, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of the Haitian capital, where crimes of this nature have multiplied again in recent weeks, announced Thursday.

“The archdiocese of Port-au-Prince thanks the Lord for the release of the six nuns and the other people who had been kidnapped with them on January 19,” said a press release sent yesterday to the media, including AFP.

The abduction, against the background of the resurgence of actions of this kind in the small, impoverished Caribbean country, was initially announced by the conference of monks and nuns (Conférence haïtienne des religieux, CHR).

According to an official of the church organization who spoke to AFP, the nuns were abducted as they were being transported by minibus to the various schools where they work. The driver and the little girl accompanying them were kidnapped at the same time, the CHR clarified in a statement.

Pope Francis appealed on Sunday for their release, adding that he prayed for “social harmony” in the country. “I call on everyone to stop the violence that is causing so much suffering” to the Haitian population, he stressed.

The archdiocese did not disclose whether a ransom was paid, or what its amount was.

Kidnappings of celebrities and ordinary people have rekindled in recent weeks in Port-au-Prince and on national highways. The country is also still faced with a wave of gang violence that is estimated to control at least 80% of the capital.

The CHR expressed its “joy” at the release of the nuns, but added that it would not be “complete” until “all the families” whose members have been abducted “can join us.”

To address the multi-year, multi-dimensional crisis in Haiti — security, economic, political — the UN Security Council gave the green light in October to deploy a multinational armed force, led by Kenya, to assist the Haitian police.

Kenya’s parliament approved the deployment of 1,000 police in November, but whether and when the deployment will go ahead depends on a decision by the Kenyan judiciary, which is expected to rule later today in Nairobi.

Haitian Foreign Minister Jean-Victor Geneis sounded the alarm once again yesterday Thursday addressing the SA, underlining that “the Haitian people can no longer tolerate” the “barbarity” of heavily armed gangs, living a situation similar to that of war zones.

According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ most recent report on Haiti, released earlier this week, the number of homicides in the country more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2022: almost 5,000 murders were committed, with over 2,700 civilians among the victims.