Yemeni President: Separatists kidnap foreigners

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Wednesday and for the first time accused the "former separatists in former southern Yemen who live in neighboring countries of being behind the kidnapping operations of foreigners in Yemen."

President Saleh announced that, "If there are behind kidnapping foreigners, foreign forces, we openly accuse the separatist forces who live in certain neighboring states," in reference in particular to Saudi Arabia.

This is the first time President Saleh has attributed the responsibility of foreigners for kidnapping operations to former South Yemen officials who separated, and most of them resorted to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.