Kidnappings in Yemen! .. Where to? [Archives:2000/48/Focus]

Hassan Al-Zaidi
Yemen Times
Again, kidnapping in Yemen is a breaking news in all international media. Kidnapping has become a frequent phenomenon that annoys everybody here in Yemen. In a study published in the Yemen Times in November 1999, 112 kidnapping cases were registered since the start of this phenomenon in 1992, numbers of kidnapping victims were about 380 foreigners and 252 Yemenis. Those kidnapping cases happened to foreigners working in public and private companies, tourists and their Yemeni companions, workers at international organizations and diplomats. Yemeni victims were children of businessmen and a son of a minister. All kidnappings ended with releasing victims apart from tourist kidnapping in December 1998 and the Norwegian tourist in April 2000.

The crime of kidnapping
The law issued in 1998 dealing with kidnapping crimes stipulates severe punishments reaching execution sentences and a minimum of ten years in prison but it didnt cut down kidnapping cases and weve seen many cases took place since the law was issued in 1998, none of them ended with seizing the kidnapper apart from one, the kidnapper Faisal Bajjash was sentenced to 20 years in prison. It is about time we tackle the reasons leading to this uncivilized phenomenon especially the kidnappers do not try to harm their hostages, instead they use them to put pressure on their countries or the companies they work for to respond to demands of the kidnappers.

How hostages are treated in custody
Kidnapping is condemned at all measures no matter how well the hostages are treated. All those kidnapped and released talked about the generosity of their kidnappers. A tourist expressed the happiness she felt with her husband and son while they were in custody in an article published in an American newspaper, and said that the kidnappers tried to put pressure on the Yemeni government to do projects in their deprived area. She also said that hostages made close relationships with their kidnappers. Some western hostages expressed their happiness to spend some time among tribesmen who gave them old souvenirs. A Dutchman wrote about his experience in custody, traditions and ways of living of his kidnappers and archeological sites they passed by. His book was a best seller for quite some time and made a lot of money.

Why Kidnapping?
Reasons behind kidnapping are clearly seen through the demands of kidnappers. Those feel the government is ignoring their needs, so as a result they kidnap to draw attention of the government to their demands. Others feel discrimination in awarding public jobs is one of the reasons. Corruption, unemployment, ineffectiveness of judicature and the persistent feeling of the kidnappers that the government will never do anything to rectify the bad conditions they are suffering from peacefully.
No doubt, kidnapping is an uncivilized act even if you dont have other alternatives of drawing the attention to your fair demands. In a conference held on 2nd Aug 1998, all representatives of people of the midlands agreed to condemn the act of kidnapping in an attempt to draw the attention of the government to fulfill its promises and demanded the government to execute some service projects in those areas.

How to deal with it!
The continuity of this phenomenon has showed us the ineffectiveness of the methods of treatment, military assault on kidnappers is dangerous, responding to their demands is wrong and denying their rights is cynic. The way the government has handled the kidnapping of the Swedish expert was an example. The first thing the government did when the kidnapping took place was pursuing all students and people from the kidnappers home town and put them in jail as hostages to be exchanged with the kidnapped Swedish expert, then the government will use some sheikhs to work as mediators to deal with the kidnappers peacefully. Kidnappers in cases like these usually give up their original demands to some personal ones.

Even Peaceful Solutions are unsatisfactory
Despite the peaceful solutions of middlemen, kidnappings are always shaking the reputation of Yemen which makes foreign investors hesitant to invest in Yemen and those peaceful solutions lead to put innocent people who have nothing to do with the kidnapping in jail. The real problem is kidnapping draws the attention of the government but peaceful means dont.

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