London - The British Embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa will reopen today after being closed for 12 days because of security concerns. "British Embassy #Yemen open as normal from Sunday 18 August. Apologies for the brief hiatus," British Ambassador Jane Marriott tweeted. The Foreign Office said on August 6 it had withdrawn all staff from the embassy due to a high threat of kidnapping. Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, is the base for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the most active branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden, and militants have launched attacks from there against the West. Washington also evacuated diplomatic personnel from Yemen on August 6 because of a terrorism threat. France and Norway closed their embassies in Sanaa as well. The move followed the unprecedented closure of U.S. diplomatic missions across the Middle East and North Africa in early August after a warning of a possible militant attack in the region. It reopened them a few days later except for the embassy in Sanaa.
