ID :
90296
Wed, 11/18/2009 - 10:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/90296
The shortlink copeid
Abducted Japanese in Yemen reported well, negotiations for release ongoing+
SANAA, Nov. 17 Kyodo - A 63-year-old Japanese engineer who has been abducted by Yemeni tribesmen along with a Yemeni driver is being treated well and Yemeni authorities negotiating with his captors know where the two captives are kept, according to Japanese Embassy officials in Yemen and other sources Tuesday.
Negotiations are under way between the Yemeni government and the tribesmen, and
a ransom is not being demanded, the embassy said, while declining to identify
the Japanese victim, citing possible effects on the negotiations.
The captors are demanding the release of jailed relatives in exchange for the
two captives, who were seized near the capital Sanaa on Sunday, the Japanese
Embassy and media reports said Monday.
Embassy officials said the engineer, an employee of a Tokyo-based consultancy,
contacted the embassy by cell phone.
The Japanese captive, who has been based in Sanaa for more than a year, has
been engaged in a Japanese government-funded aid project to build schools in
Yemen.
He and his driver were seized while on their way to the construction site of an
elementary school in the town of Arhab, several dozen kilometers north of
Sanaa, under a Japan International Cooperation Agency project, an embassy
official said.
Yemeni authorities were reportedly still negotiating with the captors on
Tuesday. According to French public radio, Yemeni authorities are trying to
persuade the abductors to release the pair with a promise to expeditiously
handle the case of their jailed relatives.
This is the second abduction case in Yemen involving Japanese nationals in the
past two years.
In May last year, armed tribesmen abducted two female Japanese tourists near
Marib. The two were released unharmed the following day after local tribal
leaders negotiated with their abductors.
In contrast to kidnapping cases involving militants, kidnappings of foreigners
by Yemeni tribesmen are usually intended to wrest concessions from the
government. The captors usually treat their hostages well and release them
unharmed after attaining their objectives.
Three women from a party of nine kidnapped foreigners were found dead in June
amid a recent rise in conflicts between the military and Shiite militia in the
country's north.
==Kyodo
2009-11-18 00:30:34
Negotiations are under way between the Yemeni government and the tribesmen, and
a ransom is not being demanded, the embassy said, while declining to identify
the Japanese victim, citing possible effects on the negotiations.
The captors are demanding the release of jailed relatives in exchange for the
two captives, who were seized near the capital Sanaa on Sunday, the Japanese
Embassy and media reports said Monday.
Embassy officials said the engineer, an employee of a Tokyo-based consultancy,
contacted the embassy by cell phone.
The Japanese captive, who has been based in Sanaa for more than a year, has
been engaged in a Japanese government-funded aid project to build schools in
Yemen.
He and his driver were seized while on their way to the construction site of an
elementary school in the town of Arhab, several dozen kilometers north of
Sanaa, under a Japan International Cooperation Agency project, an embassy
official said.
Yemeni authorities were reportedly still negotiating with the captors on
Tuesday. According to French public radio, Yemeni authorities are trying to
persuade the abductors to release the pair with a promise to expeditiously
handle the case of their jailed relatives.
This is the second abduction case in Yemen involving Japanese nationals in the
past two years.
In May last year, armed tribesmen abducted two female Japanese tourists near
Marib. The two were released unharmed the following day after local tribal
leaders negotiated with their abductors.
In contrast to kidnapping cases involving militants, kidnappings of foreigners
by Yemeni tribesmen are usually intended to wrest concessions from the
government. The captors usually treat their hostages well and release them
unharmed after attaining their objectives.
Three women from a party of nine kidnapped foreigners were found dead in June
amid a recent rise in conflicts between the military and Shiite militia in the
country's north.
==Kyodo
2009-11-18 00:30:34
