SAN’A, Yemen — A Japanese technician and his Yemeni driver
were abducted Sunday by a tribal group in Yemen, according to the Japanese
Embassy in Yemen.
The two were abducted in Arhab, a city close to the nation’s
capital, San’a. They are said to be in good physical condition, and the Yemeni
government has began negotiations with the group for their release, the embassy
said.
According to a Japanese government source, the 63-year-old
technician, works for an architectural design office in Tokyo.
The man and the driver were abducted Sunday afternoon while
on their way to a school construction site located northeast of the capital.
Later in the day, the embassy received a phone call from the
man saying he had been abducted. The embassy is able to contact the man via
cell phone, the embassy said.
There has been no ransom demand. However, according to
Agence France Presse, local sources told the news agency the tribal group is
demanding that the Yemeni government release a member of the tribe who has been
detained for four years without trial.
According to the Web site of the man’s company, the firm has
been helping construct schools in Africa and Southeast Asia at the behest of
the Foreign Ministry or the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The office
received an order to build primary and middle schools in Yemen in 2005, and the
man has been working in the area where he was kidnapped since March.
Foreigners are frequently abducted in Yemen, mainly in areas
ruled by tribal groups that are beyond the control of the central government.
More than 200 abductions have been reported since 1990, including a case in May
2008 in which two Japanese tourists were abducted at gunmen. They were released
later in the month unharmed.
The Metropolitan Police Department on Tuesday began
investigating the incident as a case of kidnapping for ransom, after learning
that the kidnapped man is a Tokyo resident.
The MPD applied a Penal Code provision that allows it to
investigate serious crimes overseas involving Japanese. The prefectural police
in charge of the area where the victim resides will handle the case.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
