LONDON, 1 March 2003 — Citing concerns about security in Yemen, the British government said Thursday that it is withdrawing most of the staff from its embassy and consulate in the country and will close them to the public beginning March 1.
“The Foreign Office is taking this step in light of the deteriorating security situation,” it said. In November, the Foreign Office warned all Britons not to travel to Yemen and said that those living there should consider leaving.
On Thursday, the Foreign Office refused to say what had happened in Yemen to prompt its decision regarding the British Embassy in Sanaa and the British Consulate in Aden, citing unidentified intelligence information.
However, terrorists have targeted other Westerners in Yemen.
On Wednesday, a security official there said that Yemeni authorities had detained a suspect because he was trying to carry a gun into a hospital where three US missionaries were shot dead last year.
On Tuesday, Yemeni authorities said they had identified and tried to arrest the suspected mastermind behind a bombing attack last year on a French oil tanker that killed one crew member and spilled 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden.
Meanwhile, thousands of people marched in Sanaa yesterday to protest a possible United States-led war on Iraq and Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
Protesters poured out from mosques in Sanaa city center chanting slogans against the “terrorism of US fleets and aircraft carriers”. Carrying Iraqi and Palestinian flags and photos of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasr Allah, the demonstrators chanted: “America cannot intimidate us with its military buildup” and “Death to America ... death to Israel.”
The demonstrators burned US and Israeli flags and effigy of US President George W. Bush.
