JEDDAH/SANA'A: The kidnappers of a Saudi diplomat in Yemen want SR5 million for his release, according to a member of the Yemeni tribe negotiating his freedom. The tribal and government mediators are still talking with the kidnappers in Yemen's Assarirain area to release Saeed Al-Malki. The mediators claim that the kidnappers took Al-Malki because a Saudi owes SR5 million to a Yemeni man from Yafe'e area in Lahj region. The kidnappers want to get the Saudi government to pressure the Saudi citizen to pay the money, it is claimed. The kidnappers are members of three different Yemeni tribes in the Bani Dhabyan region of Sana'a. The source added that mediation efforts are continuing and that the kidnappers will eventually agree to release Al-Malki. Meanwhile, sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the ministry was in constant contact with Yemeni authorities to get the diplomat released. Nasser Shareef, a sheikh from the Bani Dhabyan tribes, has slammed the abduction and said efforts to free the diplomat are continuing. He added that the kidnappers' movement at night has made tracking difficult. The most recent abduction by tribe members in Yemen took place in 2009 when a Dutch couple who worked at a water project in Ta'az was kidnapped by armed members of Aal Siraj tribe, one of the Bani Dhabyan tribes. They demanded compensation from the authorities because the security forces had shot at them at a checkpoint.
