Al Qaeda in Yemen frees Saudi diplomat held for three years

Saudi diplomats release comes as the US ambassador to Yemen visits Abdrabu Mansur Hadi for the first time since the president fled from Sanaa to Aden.

SANAA // A Saudi diplomat kidnapped in Yemen almost three years ago and handed to Al Qaeda has been freed and returned to the kingdom.

Abdullah Al Khalidi, deputy consul in Aden, was kidnapped in March 2012. He was freed following “intense efforts” by the Saudi intelligence services, the interior ministry in Riyadh said.

His release comes as Yemen slides towards collapse after Houthi Shiite rebels seized control of the capital and large parts of the north, and appear headed towards a broader conflict with Sunni tribesmen and Al Qaeda-linked militants further south.

On Monday, the US ambassador to Yemen visited president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi in Aden, their first public meeting since Washington closed its embassy in Sanaa last month after the Houthi takeover.

Mr Hadi has resumed official duties from southern Yemen’s main city, where he fled after Houthi fighters put him under house arrest in Sanaa.

The Houthi takeover has raised concerns that the chaos will provide further fertile ground for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to expand.

Less than one month after Mr Al Khalidi’s abduction in 2012, the extremists demanded the freeing of all its members detained in Saudi Arabia as well as a ransom in exchange for the diplomat’s release.

His captors initially asked for US$10 million (Dh36.7m) but later doubled the ransom demand to $20m, a tribal mediator said in August 2012.

It was unclear if Saudi authorities paid any money in exchange for Mr Al Khalidi’s eventual release.

The interior ministry said the diplomat had been handed to Al Qaeda “in a suspicious deal” shortly after his initial kidnap in Aden.

He “will undergo medical examinations and be reunited with his family”, the Saudi state news agency said.

AQAP was formed from a merger of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni and Saudi branches and is regarded by Washington as its most dangerous arm.

In recent years, it has carried out a growing number of abductions, with several hostages still in captivity.

In December, AQAP shot dead American journalist Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie during an abortive attempt by US commandos to rescue them from the hideout in southeastern Yemen where they were being held.

The US has long conducted drone strikes on the militants, a strategy critics say has failed to make a decisive difference and has stoked anti-US sentiment.

A drone strike late on Sunday killed three suspected Al Qaeda militants in the Markha district of Shabwa province in the south. It was the second drone strike in the province in as many days.

On Saturday, a drone strike on a vehicle killed three militants in the village of Bijan.

In Aden, US ambassador Matthew Tueller was pictured seated with Mr Hadi at the presidential compound in the Al Tawahi district.

“There is no choice before Yemenis other than what they have chosen, which is the national dialogue that President Hadi also supports,” Mr Tueller said.

He was referring to nearly a year of talks held by various political factions on political and administrative reforms.

Mr Tueller made no mention of any plans to establish a diplomatic presence in Aden, after the US embassy in Sanaa was closed last month due to the deteriorating security situation in the capital.

Speculation that Washington might relocate its embassy to Aden rose after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Arabian Gulf states moved their missions to the city.

*Agence France-Presse and Reuters