Sana'a, Yemen - A Dutch man kidnapped along with his wife by armed tribesmen in Yemen earlier this week appealed to the Yemeni government Thursday to explore all peaceful means to secure the release of him and his wife.

"Our only concern is that the (Yemeni) government could use force to get us freed. I hope that the government will not use force," Jan Hogendoorn, 54, told the German Press Agency in Sana'a by telephone in a conversation arranged by the kidnappers.

Hogendoorn said his abductors were treating him well.

He was speaking from a mountainous village in Bani-Dhabian, some 80 kilometres east of the Yemeni capital Sana'a.

"Actually, we have no fear of the people here. We actually have fear of the actions that the government might take, especially when they will use force," Hogendoorn said.

"I hope they can reach a peaceful solution to this problem, I'm convinced that this will have a good end if force is not used," he added.

Hogendoorn, an expert at a water project funded by the Dutch government in the southern Yemeni city of Taiz, said the kidnappers had treated him and his wife, Heleen Janszen, well and gave them the freedom to move in the village.

"We are treated very well. We are quite comfortable. Everything is okay except our freedom," he said. "We are free to move in the village, we are not locked in a room."

He said tribal sheikhs have visited them at the kidnappers' hideout. However, he said the language barrier had made communication impossible.

"We have met several sheikhs, but we could not communicate because we have not got enough knowledge of the Arabic language, and nobody ... here speaks English," Hogendoorn said.

Six armed tribesmen from the Al Siraj clan abducted the Dutch couple as they were driving in a southern Sana'a suburb on Tuesday and took them at gunpoint to a mountainous area in Bani-Dhabian.

The kidnappers said they abducted the Dutch couple to put pressure on authorities to hold accountable two provincial police chiefs in the neighbouring province of Marib, allegedly for ordering an attack on members of the Al Siraj clan at a police checkpoint in April 2008.

Local officials have said the abductors also demanded financial compensation for injuries that four of their follow clansmen suffered during the checkpoint gunfight.

The kidnapping is the third involving foreigners in Yemen this year.

On January 18, tribesmen abducted a German oil expert in the south-eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa and released him two days later. The kidnappers demanded the release of a jailed fellow tribesman.

On January 3, tribesmen seeking the release of a jailed fellow clansman took a South African tourist and her two sons hostage for one day in the southern province of Abyan, but later released them unharmed.

Disgruntled tribesmen from impoverished areas of Yemen often take hostages to use as bargaining chips to press the government for aid, jobs or the release of detained fellow clansmen.

More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Yemen since 1991. Almost all were released unharmed after mediation involving tribal leaders.(dpa)