Red Cross visits 12 kidnapped by Senegal rebels

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement that they visited 12 employees of a South African bomb disposal firm currently being held by rebels from the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance.

The employees, all of whom are Senegalese nationals, were grabbed on May 3 in southern Senegal's Casamance region, where they were helping clear mines for Denel Mechem, a South African firm which began working in the area in July 2012.

Delegation head Thierry Parodi said Wednesday that the Red Cross was able to speak with the detainees in private and were able to give them writing material so that they could send messages to their families. They also brought them hygiene items, sleeping mats and blankets.

The rebels have not made their demands public.

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Dozens kidnapped in M23 fief in Congo: officials

RUTSHURU, Congo (AP) — Nearly 30 people have been kidnapped in eastern Congo by the M23 rebels in their fief of Rutshuru since the beginning of April, said a community leader on Wednesday. The kidnappings appear to be for ransom, a new and worrying trend in Congo's lawless east.

The latest abduction took place Sunday, when an advisor to the area's Catholic schools, Gratien Bahati, was stopped on his way back to Rutshuru's town center. He was released after a $5,000 ransom was paid, according to the president of North Kivu Civil Society Thomas d'Acquin Muiti.

At least few other kidnap victims have been released on ransom, while others are still missing. The M23 rebel group denies being involved in the kidnappings, even though they are the only armed rebels in the area.

"We were 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Rutshuru when three armed men wearing police uniforms stopped us, and placed themselves on each side of the motorbike," said Georges Mumbere, the motorbike taxi driver who was carrying Bahati. "They called him by his name and forced him to get off and then they walked away with him in the bush," he said.

School was cancelled on Monday in Rutshuru following Bahati's abduction. Bahati was freed on Tuesday, after the ransom was paid to the kidnappers, said Muiti. The M23 said they had nothing to do with the incident.

The M23 rebels celebrated the one-year anniversary of the creation of their armed group with a ceremony in the town center earlier this week, but residents privately complained about the growing climate of fear under the rebels' rule.

"There is too much insecurity, it's even dangerous to go to school," said Asante, a 15-year-old girl dressed in the white blouse and long blue skirt that is her school's uniform. She would only give her first name, out of fear of reprisals.

Some residents blame the M23 for the spate of kidnappings.

"The abductions were carried out by men wearing police uniforms, in the M23 territory. The M23 intelligence services are excellent, they know everything that is happening in their territory and their police forces are the only ones wearing uniforms in the area, so it has to be them," said a local religious leader, who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisal from the rebel group.

Insecurity has increased since the M23 took control of the territory in July 2012, say residents who add that simply walking outside after dark is dangerous. Many have simply gone missing, they said.

In addition to the ransoms, the population must pay taxes now to M23 and many people have lost their jobs because Congolese government services have shut down. The area is experiencing a cash shortage, making everyday life a strain for many.

The M23 rebel group gets its name from the date of a March 23, 2009 peace accord which paved the way for fighters belonging to the now-defunct rebel group, the National Congress for the People, or CNDP, to join the ranks of the regular army. It was an imperfect solution to years of conflict in the troubled east of Congo, and until 2012, the accord was more or less respected. The ex-CNDP fighters, now wearing the uniform of the regular army, continued to control access to lucrative tin, tantalum and tungsten mines, as the Congolese government largely looked the other way in the interest of maintaining peace.

But starting on April 4, 2012, they began defecting from the regular army by the hundreds, citing their bad living conditions and claiming that the terms of the three-year-old agreement was not being respected. Country watchers, including investigators with the United Nations Group of Experts, believe the defections were prompted by changes inside the army which made it more difficult for the ex-rebels to continue their control of the mining trade.

Subsequent reports by the U.N. Group of Experts revealed that the M23 rebellion is being financed and orchestrated by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda, through which the minerals are funneled. Last December the M23 fighters left their base in Rutshuru and pushed south, taking the crucial provincial capital of Goma for a few tense days, in the single-largest blow to the Congolese government in a decade.

They pulled back under intense international pressure on the rebels as well as on their alleged patron, Rwanda, which saw aid cut off from numerous European nations.

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Associated Press writer Rukmini Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.

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Kidnapped girl, 4, returned to Mexico

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Salvadoran authorities say a 4-year-old Mexican girl found in their Central American country had been kidnapped.

Salvadoran Attorney General Luis Martinez says a 43-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly snatching her from Texcoco, Mexico, and bringing her to El Salvador earlier this month.

Martinez says prosecutors suspect the man was part of a human trafficking ring.

Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said Sunday the girl had been flown home and was reunited with her mother.

Martinez says tests indicated the girl had been sexually abused, but said she appeared in good spirits.

She vanished from her home near Mexico City on April 1. Martinez says the suspect reportedly dumped her at a home in El Salvador, where residents alerted police.

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US couple who kidnapped kids to appear in court

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Florida parents charged with kidnapping their boys after losing custody and fleeing to Cuba by sailboat are facing a judge for the first time since they were forcibly returned from the island nation.

Joshua and Sharyn Hakken were scheduled for their first appearance in court Thursday on charges of kidnapping, child neglect, false imprisonment, burglary and interference with custody.

Four-year-old Cole and 2-year-old Chase are now with their maternal grandparents, who have legal custody and from whom the children were taken last week. They planned to talk about the ordeal publicly later Thursday morning.

Joshua and Sharyn Hakken arrived with their sons in Florida early Wednesday, accompanied by federal, state and local authorities after being handed over by Cuban officials.

Friends of the couple say they seemed to have a charmed life, doting on their two young boys, buying a comfortable home and building successful careers as engineers. It all derailed last year when police in Louisiana found the family inside a hotel room with drugs, weapons and promises from the parents to take "a journey to the Armageddon."

"This is a train that went completely off the tracks, and I don't have any explanation for how it can go off the track that badly basically in a year and a half. It's very bizarre," said Darrell Hanecki, who employed Sharyn Hakken for nearly a decade at Hanecki Consulting Engineers.

Hanecki said she was an easygoing and relaxed employee who worked from the home they owned in sunny Tampa, Fla., so she could spend more time with the kids. She brought the boys into the office a few times to show them off to her colleagues.

"The kids were really well-behaved. From everything I could tell, she was a great mom. Her kids were definitely her priority," Hanecki said.

He said Sharyn Hakken was pragmatic and responsible, graduating from the University of South Florida in 2008. She occasionally gave advice to Hanecki's daughter, an aspiring engineer, and encouraged her to stay in school and finish her degree.

She resigned in 2011, saying it was too difficult to juggle work with caring for an infant and toddler.

Sharyn Hakken's husband, Joshua, also seemed to show few signs of trouble. He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1996 to 1998 but did not graduate, according to academy spokesman Sgt. Vann Miller, who declined to provide further details.

Joshua Hakken also worked as an engineer, employed at one point by Hahn Engineering, Inc. A woman who answered the company's phone Wednesday declined comment. Last year, the couple started their own company, listing Sharyn as president and Joshua as vice president, but it's unclear what type of business it was.

Then, last year, police in Louisiana came upon a disturbing scene in a hotel room: The Hakkens were inside with drugs and weapons, talking about "completing their ultimate journey" and saying they were traveling across the country to "take a journey to the Armageddon," Daniel Seuzeneau, a spokesman for Slidell Police, said in a news release. Their two children were in the room at the time.

After that arrest, the Hakkens lost custody of the boys, who were initially sent to a foster home. Authorities say Joshua Hakken tried and failed to kidnap them at gunpoint from the home.

Last week, the boys' maternal grandparents were granted custody. That's when police say Joshua Hakken broke into the home, tied up his mother-in-law, took the children and eventually set sail for Cuba. Federal, state and local authorities searched by air and sea for the sailboat Joshua Hakken had recently purchased. They were found in Cuba, thanks to a crucial tip from the person who sold the boat to Hakken.

The couple may have believed they could find refuge there, but experts said Cuba had little to gain politically by holding them. The communist island shares no extradition agreement with the U.S., and relations between the two have been icy for decades. But Cuban officials said Tuesday they would hand over the family.

The blinds at the Hakken household were drawn tight Wednesday. An "infowars.com" bumper sticker was pasted on their mailbox, a reference to conservative radio personality Alex Jones' Web site.

A white SUV was in the driveway where neighbors said they usually saw a small boat parked. The boat was such a common presence that it was noticeable when it disappeared last week, said neighbor Simon Castillo.

"I'm just surprised the little thing made it all the way to Cuba," Castillo said.

Other neighbors said they rarely saw the Hakkens in the neighborhood, which some described as not being particularly social.

Lindsay Fleming, who lives two doors down from the Hakkens, recalled last speaking to the Hakkens about a year ago outside their homes during an annual air show put on by nearby MacDill Air Force Base.

Fleming said Sharyn Hakken offered him marijuana in front of her kids.

"They were smoking pot and they offered me some, at least his wife did," Fleming said. "(Joshua) was like, 'Don't do that!'"

The Hakkens were jailed Wednesday at the Hillsborough County Jail on charges of kidnapping, child neglect, and interference with custody, according to the jail's website. Joshua Hakken also was charged with false imprisonment. His bond was set at $154,000. No bond information was listed for Sharyn Hakken.

The public defender's office declined to comment. The couple will not face federal charges, said David Couvertier, a spokesman for the FBI in Tampa.

The children were "happy and sleepy" on a flight back to the U.S., sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said in an email. They and the family dog, Nati, are with their grandparents until child welfare officials can again review the case in light of the abduction.

Their grandfather, Bob Hauser, said at a news conference late Tuesday that he had spoken with the boys before they left Cuba. He and his wife asked the media to leave them alone for 24 hours so they could spend time with their grandchildren.

Nancy Weining, who said she is an acquaintance of the Hausers, called them a "wonderful family." She said the Hausers had lost touch with their daughter and son-in-law after the Hakkens lost custody of their boys.

"I knew they had left them with them and nobody knew where they were," Weining said. "Everybody was looking for them, trying to figure out where they were."

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Kennedy reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Kevin McGill in New Orleans; Paul Haven and Peter Orsi in Havana; and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

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Suzette Laboy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SuzetteLaboy

Kelli Kennedy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kkennedyAP

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Tourists kidnapped, 1 sexually assaulted in Rio

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Two foreign tourists were held for hours, brutalized and one of them sexually assaulted aboard a public transport van they boarded in Rio de Janeiro's showcase Copacabana beach neighborhood, police said in a statement.

Two men aged 20 and 22 have been taken into custody and a third is being sought in connection with the incident, which saw the two foreigners held for around six hours starting shortly after midnight on Saturday, police said.

The statement said the suspects forced other passengers to get out of the van and then sexually assaulted the female tourist inside the vehicle, which was one of a fleet of vans that serve bus routes and seat about a dozen people. During the alleged assault, the tourists were driven to the poor suburban neighborhood of Sao Goncalo, where the two suspects were apprehended, the statement said.

The victims' nationalities have not been released, but local media reports have said the woman is American. Reports said the two had been studying Portuguese in Rio for about a month and that both left the country following the incident.

The statement said one of the victims' cellphone was found in the suspects' possession. The suspects had also used a debit card belonging to one of the victims at two gas stations, the statement said.

The Globo television network broadcast surveillance camera images of two men filling up the white van and showed police images of a metal bar the suspects are thought to have used to beat and intimidate the victims.

The victims positively identified the two suspects, and a Brazilian woman has said she'd also been assaulted by the pair on March 23, the statement said.

In an interview with Globo television, commanding officer Alexandre Braga, who heads the Rio police unit specializing in crimes against tourists, said the suspects had gone on a sex crime spree.

"The characteristics of both crimes, both the Brazilian case and the one with the foreigners, lead us to believe that they (the suspects) wanted to have a 'party of evil,' in quotes," Braga said. "The principal motive appears to have been the satisfaction of their lust."

He added that the robbery and other crimes appear to have been "secondary."

Multiple calls to police seeking further detail Monday have not been returned.

The incident raises new questions about security in Rio, which has cracked down on once-endemic drug violence in preparation for hosting next year's soccer World Cup and the 2016 summer Olympic games. The city will also be playing host to World Youth Day, a Roman Catholic pilgrimage expected to draw some 2 million people in late July.

The attack also drew comparisons with the fatal December beating and gang rape of a young woman on a New Delhi bus. Six men beset a 23-year-old university student and male friend after they boarded a private bus, touching off a wave of protests across India demanding stronger protection for women.

In Brazil, more than 5,300 cases of sexual assault were reported between January and June 2012, according to the country's Health Ministry.

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Nigerian police: Expatriate kidnapped is British

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A British businessman was abducted Saturday in Lagos, a rare case of expatriate kidnapping in this West African nation's commercial center, Nigerian police said Tuesday.

Nigeria's police spokesman Frank Mba told The Associated Press that kidnappers probably followed their victim as he was leaving a nightclub in Victoria Island, one of Lagos' most exclusive and safest neighborhoods, at about 11 p.m.

Mba would not say if the kidnappers had demanded a ransom and did not give any other details.

The U.K. and U.S. governments had mentioned the kidnapping in separate security warnings issued Sunday, leaving out the victim's nationality.

Kidnappings for ransom are common in Nigeria, but most have occurred in its oil-rich southern delta. Lagos, a city of 17.5 million inhabitants, is in the country's southwest.

Mba said police are investigating, saying, "Lagos does not have a reputation for kidnappings and we want to keep it that way."

In recent years, Nigeria has had a spate of ransom kidnappings, which usually last for a few days and which have focused on the country's oil-rich region. However, Nigeria's north has also started to see politically-motivated kidnappings which typically last much longer. Kidnappings there have been linked to Islamic extremist groups rather than criminal gangs.

Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement Tuesday that "there is no indication of terrorist involvement at this stage." The statement did not confirm the victim's nationality or provide any new details.

The kidnapping comes a week after men claiming to be members of the radical Boko Haram Islamic network said in an unverified video that they would not free a kidnapped French family unless Nigeria and Cameroon freed all the group's members from their jails. The family was kidnapped on Feb. 19 in Cameroon, near the border with northern Nigeria.

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