Sanaa Mayors Son Still in Custody [Archives:2001/03/Front Page]

aTribal negotiations and mediations to release the son of Sanaa mayor are still going on. Mohammed Hussein Al-Maswari, 32, and son of the mayor of Sanaa was snatched last Tuesday from Sanaa by a group of armed tribesmen from Bani Dhabyan tribe of Khawlan who took him at the gun point to Bani Dhabyan, a mountainous village 100 Km away from Sanaa. The kidnappers headed by Mohammed Siraj Al-Humaidy demanded the release of six of their fellow men charged with various security offenses, mainly kidnapping, like that of a Dutch fellow in 1997, and four German tourists in November 1999.
Police forces have been sent to surround the area where the hostage stays. Meanwhile, Sheikhs of Khawlan are pulling all the stops with the kidnappers to set the hostage free.
On the other hand, official media barrage has recently targeted Bani Dhabyan tribesmen for all this security mess. In its Saturday issue, Al-Thawrah official Daily held Bani Dhabyan responsible for the repeated security breakdown which has invited the resentment of all Yemeni people. It is noticeable that some members of the tribe practice all these unlawful acts while others present themselves as brokers so as to achieve some personal interests., the newspaper added. The paper questioned if Khawlan Sheikhs and dignitaries will be wary of these bad acts which tarnish the image of Khawlan and its people in general. Or they accept these things and are read to shoulder the consequences whatsoever.
In a press statement sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein Al-Ahmar, Parliament Speaker, criticized the government for the security breakdown represented in the tribal revenge and kidnapping incidents. He said that if the government is serious about it, people will cooperate, confirming that sheikhs and tribesmen are not happy with such criminal incidents taking place. He blamed the lapses in security apparatuses for not exercising stiff measures against criminals and outlaws who most of the time escape from the grip of the law making the people take the law into their hands. Sheikh Al-Ahmar also confessed that there was an inefficiency on the judiciary system.
Interior Minister, Hussein Mohammed Arab was summoned by the House of Representatives last Saturday and was questioned Wednesday by MPs about the security lapses and mess in the country. They asked him about the blunder and kidnapping cases that happened to people during their travel between Sanaa and Aden in which travelers were robbed of their properties under gun threat.
The minister said security men were tracing criminals, highwaymen and robbers and that they already arrested some.
With regards to the spread of check points preventing livestock from crossing governorates under the pretext of RVF despite the governments claim to have minimized the disease, the Minister said that the security men did this on the basis of a government decree and that such measures were decreased according to the health reports on the disease. MPs also asked the minister to double efforts to arrest outlaws and criminal people and bring them to justice. However, security breakdown is noticeable in the country as terrorist acts have considerably increased. Since the beginning of this year, more than five explosions took place in Aden, a remarkable sign that security situation is deteriorating dramatically which the government has to consider seriously and deal with terrorists and criminals more vigorously.
Bani Dhabyan tribe issued a statement indicating multiple requests to be met so as to release the hostage. They asked for considering their region as an independent district, employing one thousand tribesmen, and registering other 3 thousand in the Social Care Fund. They also asked for different other development projects to be executed in their areas.

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