Japanese Engineer Failed to Exempt

A Japanese man held hostage in Yemen were not released until late Tuesday because of a dispute at the last moment between Yemen and tribal mediators. According to an official with the province, on Tuesday evening tribal people have been handed over hostages to the mediator and the Japanese engineers who were kidnapped were expected to arrive in Sanaa.

"This appears to have happened at the last minute disagreements, which makes mediator can not go to Sanaa with the Japanese man," the official said. Japanese man kidnapped in the city's Arhab, about 60 kilometers northeast of Sanaa. An official at Arhab told AFP, Japanese men were abducted Sunday while on his way to a village in the area to supervise the construction of a school.

The engineer who was abducted was identified as an employee of the Japanese aid agency operating in Yemen, but the Japanese Embassy in Sanaa refused to comment on the report. Officers who are not willing to be named, said, these armed groups to kidnapping in an attempt to force the Yemeni government to free a member of their tribe who were detained by police for unknown reasons. Several other sources said the kidnappers were tribesmen Jub Zindani who are working on the release of a prisoner who was accused of being members of the hardline Muslim but had never even been to trial four years in detention.

Yemen is not clear whether meeting the demands, but kidnapping is added concern about the safety of foreign companies, especially those who develop the oil and gas sector in the Arabian peninsula country, which is fighting the Shi'ite rebellion in the northern region. Tribal people in poor areas of Yemen often take hostages to pressure the government to provide aid, employment, or the release of their fellow tribesmen who were arrested.