Austrian and Italian tourists (Terrorist Incident and Terrorist Incident) and a German diplomat and his family have been kidnapped and released in Yemen in the past month. They are the latest victims in a chronic problem in the Arabian Gulf?s poorest country, where foreign visitors are used as leverage in ongoing battles between tribes and the Yemeni government.
The Yemeni government?s inability to consolidate power over the country combined with unpopular decisions in arrests of tribal members or in the allocation of state resources means that there is likely to be little abatement in this trend of kidnapping foreigners. The foreigners are usually released unharmed, and it is typically unreported what concessions or ransoms were granted by the Yemeni government to secure such safe releases. It could be presumed by the frequency with which kidnappings continue and the scores of unharmed, freed hostages that the Yemeni government capitulates to some demands or works out deals in the kidnappers? interest.
This is understandable. The impoverished Gulf republic is trying to build up its tourist industry, and the Yemeni government seems earnest in its attempts to become a legitimate member of the international community, to somehow compensate for or alleviate the fact that its lawless areas are vulnerable to terrorist infestation. However, as long as the government negotiates concessions or money for kidnappers, kidnappings will continue.
The Yemeni government probably does not view this as the worst possible scenario. Dozens of tourists are kidnapped and released unharmed. In the case of both the Italian hostages and the German diplomat, they still praise Yemen and its people upon their departure. The government has to give something up to the tribesmen, but this costs less than dead tourists would cost Yemen?s small economy and image to the rest of the world. The Yemeni government is likely to continue putting up with this problem as long the foreigners continue to come back alive and unharmed. This means that kidnappings will likely persist, and, as one Yemeni journalist complained resignedly about the kidnappings, ?Alas Yemen remains a lawless country where thugs and feudal tribalism essentially rule the land.?
As long as problems between the federal government and the tribes do not escalate, and the Yemeni government continues to allow kidnapping negotiations to stand in for more institutionalized forums for the tribes to engage in political participation with the central government, travelers to Yemen (some 450,000 a year, according to the Yemen Times) should continue to be aware that kidnapping is a danger. The parts of the country in which tribes are upset with the central government should be investigated before any trip to Yemen and avoided; for example, the Maarib province, and the port city of Aden is also currently unstable due to clashes with rebels.
