MUSCAT: An American and a Singaporean who had been missing in war-ravaged Yemen were found and taken to neighboring Oman Monday, as a French hostage abducted in Yemen by an unknown party appeared in a video pleading for help.
The announcement came as a U.S. official told AFP that an American citizen, Casey Coombs, who had been held in the war-torn country had been freed and sent to Oman where he was met by the U.S. ambassador.
Meanwhile, a video surfaced showing Frenchwoman Isabelle Prime, a World Bank consultant who was kidnapped in February, pleading for help. Prime was abducted in Sanaa, along with her Yemeni translator, who was released shortly afterward.
There has been no word on the identity of her kidnappers, who were dressed in police uniforms.
In the video, Prime appeared sitting in the desert dressed in a black robe and looking frail. She addressed French President Francois Hollande and Yemeni President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi by name, saying, “Please bring me to France fast because I am really, really tired.”
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said his government has verified the authenticity of the video and that it was filmed in April. He told AP that the French government is “mobilized to obtain the release” of Prime.
Word of four abducted Americans first surfaced Friday when The Washington Post reported that three held private sector jobs, and that the fourth holds dual U.S.-Yemeni citizenship. A day later, the State Department said it was working to win the release of several Americans detained in Yemen.
Oman’s Sultan Qaboos had issued “orders to help the American and Singaporean governments regarding their two citizens who had gone missing in Yemen,” the sultanate’s official ONA news agency reported.
The sultanate had “coordinated with concerned parties in Yemen to search for the American citizen and the Singaporean,” ONA said.
U.S. officials said efforts to secure the American’s release had been through “intermediaries including humanitarian groups that continue to have a presence in Sanaa,” it reported over the weekend. |