This March 5, 2015 file photo shows Yemeni women holding posters with pictures of two abducted women, French national Isabelle Prime (R) and her Yemeni interpreter Sherine Makkaoui during a demonstration calling for their release in Sanaa. AFP Photo
This March 5, 2015 file photo shows Yemeni women holding posters with pictures of two abducted women, French national Isabelle Prime (R) and her Yemeni interpreter Sherine Makkaoui during a demonstratShow more

French hostage arrives in Oman after captivity in Yemen



PARIS // Frenchwoman Isabelle Prime, who has been freed after nearly six months of captivity in Yemen, arrived in Oman on Friday before she returns to Paris to be welcomed by her “unbelievably happy” father.

The 30-year-old, who worked as a consultant on a World Bank-funded project in Yemen, was released late on Thursday, according to a statement by the French presidency, and was poised to return to France as soon as possible.

She is currently under French protection, the statement said, without giving further detail on when or where she would arrive back in the country.

There is no confirmation yet on the identity of her kidnappers.

The official ONA news agency in Oman said she arrived there early on Friday from Yemen.

The Omani foreign ministry said efforts by the Gulf nation “in coordination with certain Yemeni parties” had helped track her down.

“I’m unbelievably happy. She’s in good health but I don’t have any further details,” her father Jean-Noel said.

He said he was leaving “pretty quickly” from Angers in western France, to travel the 300 kilometres to the French capital to welcome his daughter home.

Ms Prime was seized with her translator on February 24 as they were driving to work in the capital Sanaa. Her translator Sherine Makkaoui was freed in March.

France has made “every effort to achieve this happy outcome”, the presidency statement said, adding that Paris “expresses its gratitude to all those who worked on this solution, including the Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, Sultan of Oman”.

President Francois Hollande “shares the joy of the family of Isabelle, who have demonstrated great courage and great responsibility during the long wait”, it said.

Ms Prime, originally from the west of France, arrived in Yemen in 2013.

In June she appeared in a 21-second video posted on YouTube by her captors.

Seated on the ground and dressed in black, she appealed to the French and Yemeni presidents to secure her release.

Francisco Ayala, president of Ayala Consulting, Ms Prime’s employer, said late on Thursday that he received news of her release through a telephone call from the French foreign ministry.

He said: “The whole thing was very secret. The government of France never told me or even her father anything (about efforts to secure her release). I guess more news will come later.”

He said Ms Prime could arrive in Paris as early as on Friday.

A number of foreigners have been taken hostage in Yemen over the past 15 years, mostly by tribesmen as bargaining chips in negotiations with the government.

* Agence France-Presse