SANAA, 11 September 2006 — Armed tribesmen seeking the release of jailed fellow clansmen kidnapped four French tourists in southeastern Yemen yesterday.
Yemeni officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Arab News that the abduction took place in the Haban district of Shabwa province, about 460 km from the capital Sanaa.
The kidnappers belonged to the Al-Abdullah clan — the same clan which last December kidnapped and held for several days a German diplomat, his wife and three sons.
Yesterday’s abduction had the same motive — to force authorities to release imprisoned fellow clansman, said the officials.
They said the kidnappers intercepted a convoy of four cars carrying a group of tourists and forced the driver of the one carrying the four French to get out. Then they drove away with the hostages. Two local tour guides were also abducted, according to the officials. Officials at the French Embassy in Sanaa confirmed the abduction.
Local officials and tribal sources said a German tourist was among the hostages, but government officials and the German Embassy refused to confirm those reports.
Tribal chieftains told Arab News that leading members of the Al-Abdullah clan met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh during an election rally in Shabwa on Saturday and urged him to release five fellow clansmen imprisoned on the grounds of a vendetta with another clan.
The release of the five men was part of a deal that was made in exchange for releasing the German diplomat Juergen Chrobog, his wife and three sons from the kidnappers last December. Authorities failed to honor the deal.
In January, kidnappers abducted five Italian tourists, releasing them unharmed six days later when they were cornered by security forces in the mountains of north Yemen.
President Saleh has pledged to crack down on kidnapping, a tactic tribesmen frequently employ to win concessions from the government in Yemen. While hostages are usually freed unharmed, several were killed in 2000 when Yemeni soldiers carried out a botched raid to free them.
As many as 325 people were kidnapped between 1991 and 2001. They include 91 French, 80 Germans, 37 Britons, 23 Americans and 22 Dutch.
