Britain, Germany reopen embassies in Yemen after temporary shutdown over al-Qaeda threats

Britain and Germany reopened their embassies in Yemen on Sunday after 12 days of closure due to security threats. The British embassy reopened for normal business on Sunday, British Ambassador to Yemen Jane Marriott said in a statement posted on the embassy's website, adding that the embassy had been closed from Aug. 6 over the Eid period, due to the increased security threat. "My team and I have been in regular contact with Yemeni ministers and officials, and we are glad to be back and working in Yemen after this brief hiatus," she said. Ms. Marriott presented her diplomatic credentials to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Sanaa on Sunday, according to Yemen's state-run Saba news agency. The British government said on Aug. 6 that it had ordered all staff of its embassy in Yemen to leave the country due to a terrorist threat from al-Qaida. The Germen embassy in Sanaa also announced its reopening on Sunday. However, the U.S. and French embassies in Sanaa remain closed. The U.S. State Department ordered the closure of 22 diplomatic missions in Middle East and North African regions on Aug. 4 to cope with potential terrorist threat based on intercepted communications purported to be between al-Qaida leader Ayman Zawahri and Nasser Wuhayshi, head of the Yemen-based Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. It reopened 18 of the 19 embassies and consulates on Aug. 9, but the U.S. embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa remained closed "because of ongoing concerns about a threat stream indicating the potential for terrorist attacks emanating from Al- Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula." The Yemeni government has boosted security presence around Western embassies in the capital as precautionary measures since the United States and Britain temporarily evacuated their diplomatic staff from Sanaa.