A French woman working as a development worker on a project funded by the World Bank in Yemen was kidnapped on Tuesday, as ousted Yemeni president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi struggled to reassert his authority in the crisis-hit Arabian Peninsula nation.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Iran contributed to the collapse of the government’s authority in Yemen, where a Shiite militia seized the capital in September last year.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged all French citizens “to leave the country as fast as possible.”
Photo: Reuters
Western nations, including the UK, France and the US closed their embassies in Yemen this month over security concerns and have also called on their citizens to leave.
A Yemeni security source said gunmen seized 30-year-old Isabelle Prime and her local guide from a taxi in downtown Sana’a. She worked for Ayala Consulting assisting the Yemeni government’s social welfare program.
“She was about to leave in the next few days,” employer Francisco Ayala said in a telephone interview.
Prime, her Yemeni colleague and their driver were on the main street in Sana’a traveling to work when their car was stopped by men dressed as police officers, Ayala said.
“It seemed they moved around the city and eventually the driver was released after a few hours,” he said. “He was the one who gave us the alert and provided the information to the authorities.”
The kidnappers wanted to free Prime’s local female colleague as well, but it is understood she refused to leave Prime alone with her captors, Ayala said.
French President Francois Hollande called for her to be released “as soon as possible.”
The World Bank said it was “deeply concerned” about their fate.
“There has been some contact” with the kidnappers, said Ayala, who had no details as the Yemeni Ministry of the Interior continues to deal with the case.
Yemen has descended into chaos since the militia, known as Huthis, swept into Sana’a last year.
The Huthis overran Sana’a and installed a “presidential council” this month after Hadi and Yemeni Prime Minister Khalid Bahah tendered their resignations.
Hadi retracted his resignation on Tuesday after escaping house arrest in Sana’a, staking a claim to lead the nation out of crisis.
He made his surprise escape on Saturday and resurfaced in Aden, capital of the formerly independent south Yemen. There he has attempted to resume his duties and branded all measures adopted by the Huthis “null and illegitimate.”
An aide to Hadi said the 69-year-old had withdrawn his resignation in a letter to parliament, which has never met to formally consider it.
In the letter, Hadi urged lawmakers to cooperate with him “to normalize the security and economic situation in all provinces.”
He also called on government ministers to “head immediately to Aden to convene,” the aide said.
Bahah remains under house arrest in Sana’a along with other ministers and officials.
In an angry riposte, the Huthis urged nations to avoid dealing with Hadi, whom they said would face legal action.
Critics have accused predominantly Shiite Iran of backing the Huthis in a bid to destabilize Yemen, strategically located on oil-rich Saudi Arabia’s southern flank and along key maritime shipping routes.
Speaking to lawmakers in Washington, Kerry said Iran’s support for the Huthis “contributed” to the government’s collapse.
He said its backing was “critical” to the militia, but added that Iranian leaders appeared to have been surprised by events in the nation and “are hoping to see a national dialogue” take place.
On Monday, Sunni Gulf monarchies, long wary of Iran’s alleged support for the militia, urged Yemenis to “stand by the president and support him... in order to end Yemen’s dangerous situation caused by Huthis.”
Analysts said given that Hadi is a Sunni from the south, it could deepen the nation’s north-south division and its sectarian fault lines.
The Huthis have pushed their advance south and west into mainly Sunni areas, where they have met with fierce resistance from tribesmen and Yemen’s powerful branch of al-Qaeda.
Hadi became president in 2012 after former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced from power by a year-long uprising.
The continued chaos has raised fears that Yemen — a key US ally that has allowed Washington to carry out a longstanding drone war against al-Qaeda — will collapse into a failed state and fuel further regional instability.
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