US embassy cable - 03SANAA2342

S E C R E T SANAA 002342 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2013 
TAGS: PTER, ASEC, EG, YM 
SUBJECT: REPORTS OF 9/16 KIDNAPPING OVERSTATED; NO 
TERRORIST THREAT INDICATED 
 
REF: A. 9/16/03 MISENHEIMER/JONES TELCON 
     B. FBIS 161011ZSEP03 
     C. FBIS 1611172ZSEP03 
     D. FBIS 161153ZSEP03 
 
Classified By: DCM Alan G. Misenheimer for reasons 1.5 (b and d) 
 
1. (s/nf) Summary:  Post has determined from various ROYG 
sources, informed journalists and the Egyptian Embassy that 
9/16 media reports that an Egyptian diplomat was kidnapped in 
Sanaa were overstated.  While sources provide a range of 
variant "facts" and posit wildly differing motives for the 
assailant (including a 1995 arms deal gone awry), the 9/16 
incident does not/not appear to presage any heightened threat 
to Americans or other diplomats, nor to herald a return to 
the long-gone bad old days of tribal kidnappings in Yemen. 
Notably, the 9/16 episode has no visible connection with the 
GOE's detention of Hillah.  End summary. 
 
2. (s/nf) On September 16 Reuters reported that an Egyptian 
diplomat, possibly the Military Attach, was kidnapped by 3 
or 4 armed Yemeni tribesmen from a car with Egyptian mission 
diplomatic plates, but was released after a police chase 
(refs b-d).  Post immediately sought details from police and 
security authorities as well as informed journalists and the 
Egyptian Embassy.  Journalists' reflexive (but 
unsubstantiated) assumption that this was a tribal kidnapping 
by the Beni Hosheish calculated to press the GOE to release 
Hillah shaped initial reporting, but subsequently proved to 
be untrue. 
 
3. (c) Yemeni police and security sources played down the 
incident from the outset, and Embassy's eventual success in 
contacting the Egyptian MilAtt himself (who denied that he or 
any of his colleagues had been kidnapped) during the evening 
of 9/16 confirmed that the lurid initial published reports 
were distorted. 
 
4. (c) Early on 9/17 the official Saba news agency carried an 
account of the "kidnapping" that proved only vaguely 
consistent with divergent accounts provided to Embassy Sanaa 
by other sources during the day.  While Saba held that an 
Egyptian embassy driver was kidnapped by individuals hoping 
to press the GOE on an unspecified financial dispute, police 
sources told Embassy contacts the incident consisted of an 
attempted kidnapping by a single assailant.  A journalist 
connected with the Presidency stood by the kidnapping 
account, adding that the perpetrators were tribal elements 
from Shabwa province.  A top security official provided a 
variant story and added carjacking as another motivation of 
the perpetrator. 
 
5. (s/nf) Also on 9/17, Pol/Econ Chief met with Egyptian 
Political Counselor Hossam el-Din Salama, who characterized 
the incident as "harassment" rather than kidnapping, and 
added arms trafficking as another angle.  Salama said that in 
1995 a Yemeni named Ali Mansour purchased arms from Bulgaria 
for shipment to Yemen via Egypt.  The weapons were reportedly 
seized in Egypt because of a "lack of paperwork."  According 
to Salama, within the last week Mansour contacted the 
Egyptian Military Attach to complain about the situation and 
was told to work through the Yemeni Ministry of Defense. 
Salama played down the 9/16 incident, but was evasive on 
exactly what Mansour had done, and on whether he acted alone 
or with tribal accomplices. 
 
6. (s/nf) Comment: Despite the varying accounts of the story, 
all sources agree on facts central to U.S. interests and 
security of Embassy Sanaa personnel: (a) There is no/no 
indication of a link between the 9/16 incident and Hillah; 
(b) There is no/no reason to believe the incident was 
ideologically motivated; and (c) there is no evidence of a 
heightened general threat of kidnapping (tribal or otherwise) 
against Egyptian, American or other diplomats in Yemen. 
Nevertheless, post will continue to pluck at the disparate 
strands of the story, and a scheduled courtesy call on 
Ambassador next week by the new Egyptian Ambassador may offer 
further insights. 
HULL