Posted on 12/28/2005 9:41:06 AM PST by HAL9000
A German family of five, including a former high-ranking diplomat, have become the latest foreigners taken hostage by tribesmen in Yemen, tribal sources said Wednesday.They were abducted from a restaurant on the road to from the southern port city of Aden from the eastern region of Shabwa, 480 kilometres (300 miles) east of the capital Sanaa, the source told AFP.
He said they have been held for some three days and that their captors had demanded "the release of tribesmen imprisoned in Aden."
A German foreign ministry spokesman confirmed the disappearance of Juergen Chrobog -- who served as German ambassador to the United States from 1995 to 2001 -- and his family, but declined to say whether they had been kidnapped.
"Former foreign ministry state secretary Juergen Chrobog and his family are missing in Yemen," the spokesman told AFP.
Howver ARD television, citing sources in Yemen and Berlin, said that Chrobog had been taken hostage with his wife and three children.
Chrobog, 65, served as foreign ministry state secretary under former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Ironically, he helped secure the release of 14 German tourists taken hostage in Mali in August 2003.
Reports said Chrobog and his family were guests of the Yemeni junior foreign minister, who is a former Yemeni ambassador to Germany.
It was the fourth abduction of foreign tourists in Yemen this year.
Last week, two Austrian tourists were held hostage for three days in the eastern Maarib region. In November, two Swiss holidaymakers were briefly held by tribesmen in the same area.
And in August, three Spaniards were abducted in the south before being released unharmed.
Despite its proximity to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Yemen is one of the world's poorest countries and more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in the past decade.
Nearly all of the kidnappings have been carried out by tribesmen seeking to put pressure on the central government and the hostages have generally been released unharmed.
But in December 1998, three Britons and an Australian seized by Islamist militants were killed when security forces stormed their hideout.
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Let's see who the Krauts spring from jail this time.
Bet the price goes up, too.
Who else are the Germans holding ?
I don't know, but we ought to have someone watching the jailhouse doors so that we can put the bag on whomever the Germans let go.
Again: Hammadi had nothing to do with Osthoff. There was no connection. If it had been, or if Hammadi has so powerful friends, why haven´t they taken a German hostage earlier than after 19 years?? It may be hard to understand for Americans, but murder is punished with 15-18 years usually, and only 5% or so are not released after 20 years in prison.
Regarding this case:
It seems to be a regional case, the Yemeni terrorists want to blackmail the government of Yemen to get their fellows out. I´m curious how my government will react, considering that Chrobog criticized the "social security mentality of tourists travelling to dangerous countries" last week.
It´s outrageous that Germany has paid ransom money to terrorists in the past years (Indonesia, Algeria, probably Iraq). Never give them a little finger. Hunt them and kill them on the cost of the hostage´s lives!
Sorry to see that they let him out.
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