wfn.org | Kidnappers free United Methodist pastor, family

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Oct. 28, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-71B{572}

By United Methodist News Service

A United Methodist pastor and his wife and daughter were freed unharmed
early on Oct. 28 after being kidnapped at gunpoint by tribesmen in Yemen.

The Rev. Don and Gladys Colburn of Portland, Ore., were in the Middle
Eastern country visiting their daughter, Marta, who teaches at the American
Institute for Yemeni Studies in San'a, the capital city.

Rev. Colburn, a member of the United Methodist Oregon-Idaho Annual
(regional) Conference, retired in 1994. Mrs. Colburn works as a librarian
for the Oregon Peace Institute at Portland State University. She served as
media librarian for 11 years with the conference until her retirement in
1989.

The Rev. Steven Sprecher, a district superintendent for the Oregon-Idaho
Conference, said the couple had traveled to Yemen on Oct. 9 for a visit of
three to six weeks. The three family members were kidnapped Oct. 26 as they
returned from a trip to the south of Yemen.

According to the Associated Press, the Colburns were freed after Yemeni
authorities conducted intense negotiations with the kidnappers, part of the
Bani Jabr tribe of the Habib Valley in Marib, east of San'a. The kidnappers
had demanded the release of 25 fellow tribesmen detained in connection with
an explosion at an oil pipeline on Oct. 21.

The three were found in good health and were reported to be on their way
back to the capital.

Kidnapping tourists or foreign workers as a way of pressuring the government
for better services or money in this impoverished country is a frequent
tactic of Yemeni tribesmen. Most are released unharmed, although four
tourists held by an Islamic group were killed in a botched rescue attempt
last December.

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United Methodist News Service
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