UPDATE 1-Kidnapped Japanese freed in Yemen, governor says

SANAA Nov 23 (Reuters) - Yemeni tribesmen have released a Japanese engineer they abducted and he has arrived in Sanaa, the governor of the capital said on Monday.

The kidnappers seized the engineer, who was working with a Yemeni government project, to press the Yemeni government to release jailed relatives. "He has arrived in Sanaa and I am waiting for him in my office," Governor Numan Dwaid told Reuters.

The engineer's interpreter, Saleh al-Khulaidi said the pair were being driven together with mediators and military guards. "We are near the airport area," he told Reuters, speaking by mobile telephone. The Japanese man declined to speak.

The interpreter's abduction had not been reported earlier.

Last week, an official said the Japanese man had been freed, but later said that the release had been delayed due to a last-minute dispute between tribesmen and mediators.

It was not immediately clear if Yemen had met the demands, but the abduction was likely to add to the security concerns of foreign firms, especially those developing the oil and gas sector of the Arabian Peninsula country which is battling a Shi'ite rebellion in the north.

Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries outside Africa, is also fighting al Qaeda militants and facing a rise in separatist sentiment in the south.

The man was kidnapped in the town of Arhab about 60 km (40 miles) northeast of Sanaa on Nov. 16.

Disgruntled tribesmen often kidnap Western tourists in Yemen to pressure the government to provide better services and improve living conditions, or to win the release of detained relatives.

Most foreigners abducted by tribesmen in Yemen have been released unharmed. However in July three women from a party of nine kidnapped foreigners were found dead.

The killings coinciding with a rise in separatist and militant tensions in a country whose instability has alarmed Western countries and neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

One analyst said at the time the killings bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda but no claim of responsibility has been made. (Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; writing by Firouz Sedarat; Editing by Dominic Evans) ((dubai.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; +971 4 366 4255))