Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini on Friday expressed his ”most sincere gratitude” to his Yemeni counterpart at the release of five Italian hostages who had been held by Yemeni tribesmen.
”Following the release of the Italians kidnapped in Yemen, I want to express to you in the name of the Italian government and mine, our most sincere gratitude for the efficient handling of the affair by the Yemeni foreign ministry,” Fini said in a letter to Abu Bakr al-Kurbi.
”The successful outcome of the situation was the result of the constant involvement of the Yemeni government, which on the one hand ensured the physical well-being of the hostages and on the other led a fight against the kidnappers,” said the letter, released to the press.
”This experience can only reinforce the ties of friendship that have traditionally united Italy and Yemen,” he said.
The Italian foreign ministry earlier confirmed that the hostages, including three women, had been released and are in good health.
”The five hostages are in good health and they have been transferred by helicopter to the capital Sanaa,” said Elisabetta Belloni, in charge of a crisis cell at the ministry, told the all-news television channel Sky Tg24.
The families of the hostages also expressed their relief at the news.
”We are happy, the nightmare is over,” Andrea Polato (24) son of one of the hostages, Camilla Ramigni, told the Ansa news agency.
In the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his joy over the news.
”The Holy Father has greeted with relief the news of the release of the Italian hostages, he thanks God for the happy outcome of this painful affair and he joins in the joy of the families who will soon be able to hold their loved ones in their arms,” Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement.
In Yemen, a source involved in the negotiations said the five were handed over to mediating tribal chiefs at dawn Friday and their captors arrested.
The five, including three women, were captured on Sunday by tribesmen seeking to settle a local vendetta in the lawless region of Marib 170km east of the capital. – AFP