Yemen army besieges Italian hostage hideout

SANAA – Yemeni armed forces yesterday besieged the tribal area where five Italians are being held captive as negotiations continued to seek their peaceful release.

“Army and security forces are now besieging completely the captors of the Italian tourists in order to force them to free the hostages,” Prime Minister Abdel Kader Bajammal told reporters. “We will not negotiate with the hostage-takers, we will not be lenient, and (we will) exercise all kinds of pressure on them for a peaceful release of the hostages,” he said.Bajammal was speaking outside his office where hundreds of artists were holding a demonstration to protest kidnapping operations and calling on the government to be strong.”We will confront terrorism, kidnappings and the spread of arms with seriousness and without hesitation,” Bajammal vowed.”There are clear instructions from the government and the leadership of the ruling party to parliament in order to activate the debate and adoption of the project law meant to curb the spread of arms,” he added.A disarmament campaign in Yemen has been launched every year since 1995, but Yemen’s tribes remain well armed and maintain fierce independence in rural areas.According to the interior ministry, there are more than 60 million firearms in Yemen, or an average of three pieces of weapons per person.Security sources told AFP that a delegation of local officials and tribal leaders headed early Monday to negotiate the release of the hostages in the town of Sirwa, located in the Marib region 170 kilometres east of Sanaa.Italy’s foreign ministry confirmed the kidnapping of five Italian citizens in Yemen on Sunday, saying it knew their identities but without giving further details.Local Yemeni government sources said that three Italian women among the hostages on Sunday refused to be released and instead insisted on returning to their two male companions who were still being held captive.A tribal source told AFP that the captors belong to the Al-Zayidi clan, which belongs to the Jahem tribe, and that they are demanding the release of eight members of their clan imprisoned for a tribal vendetta.The kidnapping of the five tourists occurred just one day after a German family of five, including a retired top diplomat, were freed and was the fourth abduction of foreigners in the country within the space of three months.Juergen Chrobog – a former ambassador and foreign ministry number two – and his wife and three sons were freed while their four captors arrested.Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh late on Sunday dismissed the governors of Marib and Shabwa, in a move apparently related to the recurring abductions in the tribal regions.Nearly all of the kidnappings in Yemen have been carried out by tribesmen seeking to put pressure on the central government and the hostages have generally been released unharmed.However, three Britons and an Australian seized by Islamist militants were killed when security forces stormed their hideout in December 1998.Despite its proximity to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Yemen is one of the world’s poorest countries and more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in the past decade.- Nampa-AFP”We will not negotiate with the hostage-takers, we will not be lenient, and (we will) exercise all kinds of pressure on them for a peaceful release of the hostages,” he said.Bajammal was speaking outside his office where hundreds of artists were holding a demonstration to protest kidnapping operations and calling on the government to be strong.”We will confront terrorism, kidnappings and the spread of arms with seriousness and without hesitation,” Bajammal vowed.”There are clear instructions from the government and the leadership of the ruling party to parliament in order to activate the debate and adoption of the project law meant to curb the spread of arms,” he added.A disarmament campaign in Yemen has been launched every year since 1995, but Yemen’s tribes remain well armed and maintain fierce independence in rural areas.According to the interior ministry, there are more than 60 million firearms in Yemen, or an average of three pieces of weapons per person.Security sources told AFP that a delegation of local officials and tribal leaders headed early Monday to negotiate the release of the hostages in the town of Sirwa, located in the Marib region 170 kilometres east of Sanaa.Italy’s foreign ministry confirmed the kidnapping of five Italian citizens in Yemen on Sunday, saying it knew their identities but without giving further details.Local Yemeni government sources said that three Italian women among the hostages on Sunday refused to be released and instead insisted on returning to their two male companions who were still being held captive.A tribal source told AFP that the captors belong to the Al-Zayidi clan, which belongs to the Jahem tribe, and that they are demanding the release of eight members of their clan imprisoned for a tribal vendetta.The kidnapping of the five tourists occurred just one day after a German family of five, including a retired top diplomat, were freed and was the fourth abduction of foreigners in the country within the space of three months.Juergen Chrobog – a former ambassador and foreign ministry number two – and his wife and three sons were freed while their four captors arrested.Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh late on Sunday dismissed the governors of Marib and Shabwa, in a move apparently related to the recurring abductions in the tribal regions.Nearly all of the kidnappings in Yemen have been carried out by tribesmen seeking to put pressure on the central government and the hostages have generally been released unharmed.However, three Britons and an Australian seized by Islamist militants were killed when security forces stormed their hideout in December 1998.Despite its proximity to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Yemen is one of the world’s poorest countries and more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in the past decade.- Nampa-AFP