AN Austrian man, kidnapped in Yemen late last year with a Finnish couple, says in a video posted online that his captors will kill him in a week if their demands are not met, media reports say.
The video, posted on YouTube on February 21, was confirmed as authentic by Finnish and Austrian authorities, the Austrian APA agency said.
"My name is Dominik Neubauer. I'm an Austrian citizen. I've been taken hostage on the 21st of December 2012 by a Yemeni tribe," the hostage says in the video, a gun held to his head.
"I appeal to the Yemeni government, to the Austrian government and to all the governments concerned and to the European Union to give them what they want. Otherwise, they will kill me seven days after this video is published," he says.
Austrian foreign ministry spokesman Martin Weiss told APA that the video was the first proof of life but refused to further elaborate on the captors' demands or the existence of any negotiation.
Yemeni forces late last month suspended an offensive aimed at freeing the three foreign hostages that cost more than 65 lives.
Tribal mediators were allowed to attempt a negotiation with the kidnappers.
The Austrian man and Finnish man and woman were abducted in the capital Sanaa as they prepared to travel to the southern port of Aden via Yemen's second city Taez.
Most kidnappings of foreigners are carried out by members of the country's powerful tribes who use them as bargaining chips in disputes with the central government.
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