SANAA, 1 September 2004 — Four oil company employees including an Australian oil engineer were briefly abducted by a group of armed tribesmen in eastern Yemen yesterday and then released, government officials said.
They said the men, who work for the Canadian Nexen oil company operating in the eastern province of Shabwa, were taken hostage for a few hours by a group belonged to the Al-Jidaan tribe in neighboring Maarib province.
A senior government official told Arab News that the Australian, two Omanis and a Yemeni were “hosted for lunch” by the tribesmen and then they were let go.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the four engineers are on their way to the capital Sanaa now.
Tribal sources earlier said armed tribesmen took the men hostage as they drove through Maarib province, roughly 190 kilometers east of the capital Sanaa.
A local official in Maarib said authorities received confirmation from Nexen that contact had been lost with the four men. Company officials were not available for comment.
Disgruntled tribesmen in this impoverished country have kidnapped tourists and foreigners working in the country over the past few years to press the government or foreign oil companies for better infrastructure in poor tribal areas.
Most of the hostages in the past incidents were treated as “guests” and released unharmed.
But three Britons and an Australian were killed in December 1998 in a botched attempt by security forces to rescue 16 Western tourists taken hostages by a militant group calling itself the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army.
