Kidnappers Demanding 1 Million Dollars for Releasing GermanThe kidnappers of a German diplomat demanded one million U.S. dollars for the release of Stephan Missrir taken hostage by armed Yemeni tribesmen on July 27, a Yemeni informed source said on Wednesday.German ambassador in Yemen on Friday received a phone call from the kidnapped diplomat who said that he was in good health, the source said. Then an unidentified man called the ambassador and demanded one million U.S. dollars in return for the release of the diplomat, the source added. Stephan Missrir, third secretary and trade attache at the German Embassy in Yemen, was kidnapped by tribesmen while driving through a diplomatic quarter in southern Sanaa on July 27. A senior official of the German Economic Cooperation and Development Ministry arrived here a few days ago to meet with Yemeni officials on the kidnapping issue. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has called his Yemeni counterpart Abu Bakr Abdullah al-Kurbi twice on the matter and the latter stressed that the Yemeni government has been working with the bodies concerned to secure the safe release of the hostage. On May 26, a 26-year-old German student was abducted and had been hold in hostage for three weeks before being safely released by tribesmen. Armed tribesmen in Yemen usually kidnap foreigners, Westerners in particular, as a way to pressure the government to meet their financial demands. |
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