KSA exerting all efforts to free abducted diplomat

Asked about any contact established by the Yemeni security agencies with the suspected kidnappers, he said officials are trying to establish some sort of communication.
“I cannot spell out details at this point of time mainly because of security reasons,” said Alaskari, adding the officials are still trying to crack the case. Riyadh and Sanaa are trying their best to recover the diplomat, he added.
“We don’t want those who are responsible for his disappearance to know what we know,” said another source who is following the case from Yemeni side. The source said the motive behind the kidnapping is neither political nor terror-linked. “A dispute between Al-Khalidi and a Yemeni family can be the cause of abduction,” said a Yemen Times report published yesterday. Preliminary investigations show that the incident is not a political or terrorism-related abduction, but personally motivated, said the report.
Al-Khalidi was kidnapped while leaving his home in the Mansoura neighborhood of Aden.
Insecurity has plagued Yemen’s mostly lawless southern region in the past year, with Al-Qaeda-linked militants overrunning several towns in Aden’s neighboring Abyan province in May, and the abduction of foreigners is common.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry warned the kidnappers that they will be held responsible for Al-Khalidi’s safety and demanded his immediate release.
It said the kidnappers will “achieve and get nothing out of this act”, adding the Kingdom would “take all necessary measures to protect its diplomats and employees.”
Late last year, unknown gunmen stopped the diplomat while he was driving in Aden, pulled him from his car and then stole it. He was unharmed.
Al-Khalidi is the third Saudi national to be kidnapped in Yemen in as many years.
In April 2011, tribesmen kidnapped a Saudi diplomat in the capital Sanaa in an apparent bid to settle a trade dispute involving a Saudi businessman.
Saeed Al-Maliki, a second secretary at the Saudi embassy, was released nine days later.
In November 2010, gunmen kidnapped a Saudi doctor in north Yemen and demanded the release of nine jailed members of Al-Qaeda.
Dhafer Al-Shihri, acting head of Al-Salam Hospital in Saada city, was released the same day after tribal mediation.
Saudi Arabia has played a crucial role in the power-transition deal that forced former president Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office after a year-long uprising against his rule.
The Kingdom is also a key donor to the impoverished country.
On Tuesday, King Abdullah ordered the donation of petroleum products to Yemen, enough to cover the country’s needs for two months.
The Kingdom is also expected to host a donor conference in May to organize the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian relief.
Militants with ties to Al-Qaeda have exploited the weakening central government to strengthen their presence in Yemen, launching deadly attacks against security forces, especially across the restive south and southeast.
Aden itself is also a separatist stronghold, with local militants disrupting the referendum-like presidential election last month, saying the vote failed to meet their aspirations of autonomy or outright independence for the south.

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