Kidnapped Norwegian UN worker freed in Yemen
SANAA — A Norwegian UN employee kidnapped by
tribesmen in Yemen earlier this month was back in the capital Sanaa on
Friday after being freed by his captors in the restive east.
“I
am very pleased and relieved that the Norwegian who was kidnapped in
Yemen has been released and that he is unharmed,” Norwegian Foreign
Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement.
The
34-year-old, identified by Norwegian media as Gert Danielsen, was
“freed around midnight (2200 GMT) on Thursday following tribal
mediation,” said Sheikh Sultan al-Arada, a tribal chief in Marib
province, who was involved in the negotiations.
The
Sanaa office of the United Nations Development Programme said in a
statement that the staffer arrived on Friday in a “UN safe haven” in the
capital.
“I
am happy to be free again and I wish to thank all those who have worked
hard for my release,” commented the freed staffer in the statement.
“I am relieved that this experience is over,” he added.
UN resident coordinator in Yemen Jens Toyberg-Frandzen said the team was delighted to have their colleague back “unharmed.”
The
UNDP statement said Danielsen, who has worked as a governance team
leader, will travel home for a short holiday before resuming his duties.
Interior
Minister Abdulqader Qahtan welcomed the freed hostage at his home in
Sanaa early on Friday, after the tribal mediators brought him to the
capital from Marib, ministry staff said.
The
hostage had been seized off the street in Sanaa nearly two weeks ago by
armed men aiming to put pressure on the Yemeni government to release
members of their tribe being held for, among other things, killing four
soldiers.
His abductors took him to Marib, where their tribe is based.
“In
light of the circumstances, (Danielsen) is doing well. He has been
treated relatively well,” foreign ministry spokesman Frode Overland
Andersen told AFP.
The man is “safe” in Sanaa and will fly home to Norway as soon as possible, he said.
In
his statement, Stoere said: “I would like to thank the Yemeni
authorities for the determination they have shown in negotiating the
Norwegian’s release.
“I also greatly appreciate the close cooperation we have had with the UN, both in Sanaa and in New York.”
The
release was secured after the captors received “tribal guarantees to
answer their demand” for the freeing of a relative jailed on a criminal
conviction, a tribal source said.
The
UN employee spent the night in the main military base in Marib before
tribal mediators brought him to Sanaa on Friday morning, tribal sources
said.
Yemen’s
powerful tribes often kidnap foreigners for use as bargaining chips
with the authorities. More than 200 foreigners have been abducted over
the past 15 years. Almost all were later freed unharmed.
Marib
is one of several areas of Yemen where the authority of the central
government is weak and traditionally challenged by strong tribes. It is
also a region where Al-Qaeda is active.
Over
the past year, the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation has been the
scene of nationwide protests against veteran President Ali Abdullah
Saleh, which have resulted in deadly violence.
Hundreds
were killed before Saleh finally signed a transfer of power deal with
the parliamentary opposition in November under which he agreed to hand
his powers to his deputy.
He
left the country on Sunday after MPs passed a law giving him blanket
immunity against prosecution, as protesters remained on the streets
demanding that he face trial.
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