Yemen refuses to release Egyptian fishing boats, crews

Egyptian efforts failed to win the release of five fishing ships and their crews, which were being held by the Yemeni authorities in Al-Hudaydah harbor last month for entering Yemeni waters without permission.

A communique sent by Egypt's foreign minister, Amr Moussa, to his Yemeni counterpart Abdel-Karim Al-Iryani and security talks involving Egypt's minister of interior, Habib Al-Adli expressed Egyptian hopes of resolving this issue quietly within relations between the two countries.

Yemeni officials apologized for not satisfying Egypt's demands and insisted on presenting the ships' crew members for trail on charges of violating Yemeni regional waters, saying that this incident could be repeated if the ships and their crews are released.

Meanwhile, implementing the bilateral security agreement signed by both countries' ministers of interior in May 1996 requires the involvement of Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh, due to disputes in implementing some items of the agreement.