BuaNews (Tshwane)
Michael Appel
5 January 2009
Pretoria — The Department of Foreign Affairs on Sunday confirmed the release of three South Africans who were kidnapped in Yemen.
"The Department of Foreign Affairs wishes to confirm the release of three South Africans who were held hostage in Yemen.
"According to Ambassador John Davies in Riyadh [Saudi Arabia], the three were released unharmed on Sunday evening," the department reported.
President Kgalema Motlanthe and Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma have sincerely thanked Ambassador Davies and honorary Consul in Yemen Zubieri for the good work done in securing the release of the three hostages.
The department has also sent out thanks to the Yemeni Government for their assistance rendered during the ordeal.
According to Yemen's English-language newspaper Yemen Times, the South African woman and her two sons were abducted about 150 kilometres east of the port city of Aden on 2 January 2009.
"A tribal mediation committee conducted negotiations with the kidnappers who demanded the release of one of their relatives who is imprisoned in Sana'a central prison for a criminal case in return for freeing the African hostages.
"Pierre Smith, an accountant who works in [the capital] Sana'a, was able to contact his wife and sons aged three and six and has been assured that they are safe and have not been harmed in any way," the Yemen Times reported.
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