France, ICRC thank Muscat for Yemen hostage release

Franco-Tunisian Red Cross worker, Nourane Houas, was in Oman on Tuesday morning after being freed from 10 months' captivity in wartorn Yemen. The Red Cross, French President François Hollande and Houas herself thanked the sultanate for its help in saving the 38-year-old hostage.

Franco-Tunisian Red Cross worker Nourane Houas ICRC

Although tribal groups and political factions sometimes kidnap foreigners in Yemen, Houas appears to have been taken captive for profit by a criminal group, diplomatic sources say.

She was captured, along with a Yemeni colleague who was released within hours, in December 2015 in the capital, Sanaa.

On arrival in Muscat, Houas thanked the sultanate, "without which my liberation would not have taken place" and praised the French government and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for their efforts to free her.

Hollande thanked "all those who made possible the happy conclusion to this ordeal, notably Sultan Qaboos Ibn Said" and the ICRC issued a similar statement.

Tunisia's foreign ministry expressed its "profound relief" on its Facebook page.

Muscat Yemen's honest broker

Unlike other Gulf states, Muscat has good relations both with Yemen's internationally recognised government of President Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi and the Houthi groups that are fighting him.

Muscat has helped in the release of other hostages, including that of French national Isabelle Prime in August 2015.

The ICRC does not wish to "speculate" on the reasons for Houas's kidnapping, spokesperson Rima Kamal said.

"We are not sharing any information in relation to the abductors or their identity for the continuing security and safety of our teams in Yemen," she added.