Cape Town - South Africa’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mogamat Jaffer will on Wednesday meet Yemeni authorities in the capital San’a to try to secure the release of two South Africans who were kidnapped in the city Taiz, about 200km south of San’a on Monday.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation confirmed on Tuesday night that the man and woman were in fact South Africans, after some initial confusion about their nationalities.
On Tuesday Dirco spokesperson Nelson Ngwete said ambassador Jaffer had seen copies of their passports in Riyadh and so had been able to confirm they were South Africans. As South Africa has no embassy in Yemen, Jaffer is also ambassador to Yemen and would travel there on Wednesday.
Ngwete said relatives of the two abducted South Africans had also called the department for the first time on Tuesday to ask for their help in securing their release. The family members asked the department not to release the names of the two, for their safety.
Ngwete said Yemeni police had told Jaffer that the two were involved in developing a hotel in Taiz and had been kidnapped because of a dispute betweeen the hotel developers and the owner of the land on which the hotel is being built.
“What is not clear to us is why they were the ones kidnapped because they have local partners in the hotel development.”
He said Jaffer would report to the department later on Wednesday about the outcome of his talks with the Yemeni authorities.
In a further development, the Cape Argus was told by the Yemeni embassy in Pretoria on Wednesday morning that the pair may be American citizens, not South Africans.
“The two kidnapped people are American citizens, originally from South Africa,” Ahmed Sa’ad, the Third Secretary at the embassy, wrote in an e-mail. “They were kidnapped in Taiz City, the 3rd Largest City in Yemen.
“The city is peaceful and the background of the hijacking is that, a former member of parliament claimed a compensation for his land which he claims was taken by the government to build a shopping mall; he wanted to press the government by hijacking the two Americans.
“So far, five of the suspects are under arrest and are being investigated. This information was obtained from the press. It may be right or wrong.
“We do not have any further details from any official source,” Sa’ad said in the e-mail.
Cape Argus and Independent Foreign Service