Sanna, March 31 (IANS) Yemeni President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi vowed Sunday to use force to release a Finnish couple kidnapped by Al Qaeda three months ago, the state-run Saba news agency reported.
During a meeting with visiting Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, Xinhua quoted Hadi as saying: “It is the responsibility of the Yemeni security to make all possible ways including the use of force to secure the release of the kidnapped Finnish couple.”
Tuomioja arrived in Sanaa Sunday for talks with the Yemeni officials on issues related to the kidnapped citizens.
The Finnish couple, who studied Arabic language in a school in the old city of the capital Sanaa, was kiddnepped along with their Austrian friend Dominik Neubauer Dec 21, 2012 from a busy street in Sanaa.
Neubauer, 32, appeared in a video clip posted on the internet Feb 21 in which he appealed for more than a minute to the Austrian government and the European Union to fulfill the abductors’ demand.
Yemeni officials said Al Qaeda demanded a ransom of millions of euros during talks over the past month to release the three hostages.
On Feb 27, a Swiss woman kidnapped by the Al-Qaeda wing in Yemen for one year was released through mediation by the Qatari government.
Foreigners are frequently kidnapped in Yemen by Al Qaeda militants or tribesmen who ask for ransoms for the release of the jailed fellows. Most of the kidnapped have been freed unharmed.
