Yemeni tribesmen suspends freeing abducted Japanese engineer

SANAA, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni tribesmen have suspended the release of a Japanese engineer late on Tuesday after they learnt that the Yemeni government refused to give its seal of approval to the deal, a security official at the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

"There is no disagreement. The official and tribal mediators agreed on Tuesday to meet the kidnappers' demands in return for securing the release of the Japanese engineer," the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to press.

"The mediators have assured the engineer's release and there is no dispute with the kidnappers," he added.

"The suspension was just because the government has yet to give its seal of approval to the handwritten promise mediators signed with the tribesmen," said the official.

The 63-year-old Tokyo resident who serves the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was kidnapped on Monday in the Arhab district, some 60 km northeast of the capital Sanaa.

The kidnaping incident took place when the engineer was on a working visit to one of the projects financed by JICA, according to a source with the Japanese embassy in Sanaa.

The tribal kidnapers, belonging to Zindan clan in Arhab, demanded the release of an imprisoned member of the tribe from a jail of the Yemeni Intelligence Service.

An official at the Yemeni Intelligence Service, known also as the Political Security Organization (PSO), told Xinhua by phone that the officials at the PSO, in coordination with the government, offered to the mediators and kidnappers to refer their jailed young man to the judiciary to face trial, instead of the immediate release which breaches the law.

"If we meet their demands and release their suspected al-Qaida imprisoned man, then all tribes will kidnap foreigners to press the government to release their jailed relatives," the official said.

According to security authorities, the 22-year-old male tribal relative was arrested four years ago in connection with al-Qaida. The authorities say they have evidences that prove Hussain Abdullah Joub's links to al-Qaida.

Tribesmen in Yemen often take foreigners hostages to force the government to meet their demands of releasing their fellow members, and for one time to press the government to employ their tribal sons.