French couple kidnapped, freed in Yemen
Yemen, Politics, 1/19/2000

The Yemeni authorities said yesterday settling free two French tourists and two Yemeni tour guides yesterday after negotiations with sheiks of the tribes that kidnapped the four.

The Yemeni police on Tuesday cordoned the area where the French man and his wife were held together with their driver and guide after they were kidnapped on Monday by armed tribesmen in northern Yemen.

AFP quoted a Yemeni security official as saying that the armed kidnappers who number 20 are from a tribe in northern Yemen and that they are led by Faisal Saleh Shamalan, who kidnapped hostages in the same area last year.

Meanwhile, the deputy governor of Omran, Abdul Salaam Ateef, said the kidnapping operation is not directed against the tourists, but intends to pressure the government.

On Monday morning the four persons were kidnapped from their car in Omran province, 60 km north of the capital, Sanaa.

Previous Stories:
  Special forces formed in Yemen by President Saleh's eldest son   (11/8/1999)
  Yemen forms special courts for kidnappings   (10/28/1999)
  Kidnapped Americans released in Yemen   (10/28/1999)

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