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by Hamoud Mounassar
SANAA, June 20 (AFP) - An Italian archaeologist and four Yemenis kidnapped by armed tribesmen in the lawless region of Marib were released unharmed on Tuesday after four days in captivity, police said. "The hostages have been freed safe and sound following tribal mediation and thanks to pressure exerted by the authorities," a police official told AFP. The release came a day after a Sanaa court condemned to death seven Yemenis found guilty of murder and a series of kidnappings between 1998 and 1999, and followed a warning of tough action from Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The family of hostage Alberto Alessio, quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA, said he would return via Sanaa to his family in Turin, northern Italy. The Italian embassy in the Yemeni capital declined comment on the release. Alessio - the latest victim of a wave of kidnappings of foreigners to plague Yemen - and his Yemeni companions, including an antiquities official and two guards, were snatched Friday in the eastern province of Marib. Tribal sources said they were taken to the mountainous region of Sirwah, some 140 kilometers (85 miles) north of Sanaa where they were surrounded by the Yemeni army. The Italian foreign ministry said the kidnappers released their hostages around 5:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) near where they were originally snatched. It gave no details of the mediation. The kidnappers issued a list of demands through tribal mediators. The list of demands included: compensation for 1996 floods, royalties from a pipeline that runs through oil-rich Marib, a school, roads to be built, and a ransom. The police did not specify whether any of the kidnappers' demands had been met. Alessio, vice-president of Turin's Bricherasio Palace foundation, arrived in Yemen on June 14th to arrange for an exhibition on ancient Yemen, currently being staged in Rome and to later move on to Turin. Yemen is an archaeologist's dream, but the kidnappings and the cost of hiring armed guards have curbed access to lawless areas, archaeology experts said Tuesday. British, Canadian, French, German, Italian and US teams all carry out digs in Yemen, some of which are conducted under armed military guard if the ruins are located in high-risk areas such as Marib. "Yemen is a huge open-air museum. It's a paradise for archaeologists," said Francois Burgat, head of the French Centre for Yemeni Studies. But the Centre no longer has the right to move around without prior authority from the French embassy. Yemen's tribes, described as unruly, have abducted more than 200, mostly Western, foreigners since the early 1990s. They are normally used as bargaining chips in disputes with the Sanaa government or foreign oil companies. Almost all hostage-takings have been resolved without bloodshed and the kidnap victims are generally well treated. An exception was the seizure of group of Western tourists in December 1998 by Islamists. Four tourists died in a botched rescue operation. The latest kidnapping came just a week after a Norwegian diplomat on tour through Yemen was killed in a shootout between kidnappers and police on the outskirts of Sanaa. |
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