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Yumpin' Yemeni
Err Travel · August 3, 1999

The currency of outlaw tribesmen in Yemen is not the dollar, the pound, or the euro. It is the "hostage." Yemeni bandits use kidnapping as a means to get the attention of their government and to extract demands from it.

Although the practice is clearly criminal, until this past year, hostages generally had been treated well and, upon concessions from the government, released unharmed. One U.S. State Department official even referred to the kidnappings as a sort of high-adventure travel experience.

All of that changed in December when sixteen Western tourists were captured by Islamic militants while traveling in a motor caravan with police escort. Four of those hostages were killed during a shoot-out between the captors and security forces trying to rescue them.

Since then a British oil worker was kidnapped from an American-operated oil field, two U.S. nationals were robbed in an apparent failed kidnapping attempt, two British citizens and a Dutch family were abducted from their cars, three members of a German family were taken hostage, and another British national working for another American oil company was kidnapped.

All hostages have subsequently been released unharmed, but these are only the kidnappings we heard about. In the midst of these assaults, the U.S. State Department released a Travel Warning reading, in part, "The level of risk for foreigners in Yemen is very high.... Americans who have considered this warning but nevertheless decide travel to Yemen is essential should exercise a very high level of caution. They should make security arrangements in advance with their sponsoring organization in Yemen, vary routes and times of daily commute, and travel between cities only by air or with an armed escort."

An armed escort? This Travel Warning, is about as alarming as State Department warnings get.

Translation: You'd be outta your mind to even think about a trip to Yemen.

Now the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army has issued a statement threatening that it will kill foreigners in Yemen if the government carries out death sentences against three of its members who were found guilty of terrorism in connection with the December abduction. Not to be discouraged by a little bad publicity, this past Spring, enterprising Yemen Explorer Tours began offering two week tours for women -- women! -- in the old city of Sana'a to "discover the charm and secrets of the Orient."

Riding around with an armed escort: Now there's charm. As of this writing, there have been no takers.

Dr. Terry Riley is a psychologist and travel security authority. Visit his site at http://www.appliedpsychology.com or e-mail him at riley@appliedpsychology.com.