AMMAN/BAGHDAD, 28 July 2004 — The chief executive of a Jordanian firm working for the US military in Iraq said yesterday he was withdrawing from the country to secure the release of two employees who have been kidnapped by militants.
“I am ceasing operations and pulling out from the company’s premises in Iraq for humanitarian reasons, and out of my concern for the safety and the lives of my two employees who were kidnapped in Iraq,” Rami Al-Ouweiss told The Associated Press.
Fayez Saad Al-Udwan and Mohammad Ahmed Salama Al-Manaya’a — who work as drivers for the private company Daoud and Partners — were kidnapped Monday by a group calling itself the Mujahedeen Corps in Iraq. The group warned they would be killed within 72 hours unless their employer withdrew from Iraq and stopped cooperating with US forces there.
The wife of Al-Udwan, Umm Mohammad, promptly thanked Al-Ouweiss for his “wise decision.”
Earlier yesterday, relatives of the hostages had threatened to behead Al-Ouweiss and kill all the company’s staff unless the firm immediately complied with the kidnappers’ demand to cease operations in Iraq. “We told Rami that if he does not comply with the kidnappers’ demands today, his company and the lives of his employees will not be spared,” said Al-Udwan’s brother, Omar.
After the withdrawal was announced, Omar said he was retracting the threat and apologizing, telling the AP he had spoken in “a moment of rage.” Al-Manaya’a’s father, Ahmed Salama, had said: “We will chop off the head of the firm’s director if he doesn’t heed our demands to cease completely his operation in Iraq.” Daoud and Partners provides construction and catering services to the US military in Iraq.
The Jordanian firm’s decision came as Iraq’s president vowed not to cave in to insurgents who have sparked a kidnapping crisis. “We will never give in to their demands or negotiate with them,” Ghazi Al-Yawar told reporters in Baghdad.
Countries whose citizens have been caught up in the hostage-takings also continued to appeal for them to be released. In Islamabad, President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain jointly appealed for the release of two Pakistanis threatened with death by kidnappers. Azad Hussein Khan, a maintenance engineer and Sajjad Naeem, a driver, were kidnapped Friday by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq. Likewise, Kenya and Egypt made a fresh appeal for the release of four hostages, among a group of seven truck drivers snatched six days ago. Three Indians were part of that group.
An Iraqi tribal chief, named as a go-between by the kidnappers of the seven, urged their employer, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport, and the embassies concerned to make contact and negotiate for the men’s freedom. “The kidnappers accepted my appeal to delay (their) ultimatum (to execute the hostages), but this company and the relevant embassies have not come forward,” Hisham Al-Dulaimi complained
