May 13, 2012 - attempted kidnapping of the Bulgarian ambassador to Yemen and his wife. The attack took place in the capital Sana'a. The diplomat escaped with minor injuries and his wife is fine.
Four armed attackers jumped out of the pickup truck, broke the window of the passenger car, started beating the driver and trying to get him out of the driver's seat. However, he resisted and managed to escape.
The attempted kidnapping of Ambassador Boris Borisov in 2012 is among the great mysteries in Bulgarian diplomacy. He is an experienced diplomat and one of the famous Bulgarian Arabists. He is a graduate of Baghdad University. For 25 years in the system of our foreign ministry, he passed through all levels - from attaché to minister plenipotentiary in several countries.
What is the truth about the "Yemen mystery" one year after Bulgarian sailors were kidnapped in the country – conversation with Boris Borisov in “120 minutes“.
Returning to those events, I remember that we initially thought that behind the attack was one of the terrorist organizations that, after the elimination of Bin Laden in Pakistan a year earlier, wanted to show the world that it still existed. You must not have thought so at the first moment.
Boris Borisov: Such were everyone's expectations. We had some suspicions even then, based on what was exchanged as information with the Yemeni authorities and on the visits to our foreign ministry by the Yemeni interim ruler at the time.
What happened that night on May 12, 2012?
Boris Borisov: The car was blocked by a pickup truck. Several gunmen jumped out of it, immediately started shooting and hitting the car with butts. They tried to pull me out of the car to kidnap me. I was saved by an instinctive desire to disobey these orders despite the express instructions given in such incidents - one should follow the instructions of the captors. But the situation in the country during the last months there was such that it was doubtful whether there would be a favorable development if I obeyed the orders of the captors.
In your book “Embassy”, which is in the form of a novel, with changed names, you reveal that the reason for the attack was far more prosaic. I don't know how far the truth is. A deal to import weapons from a Bulgarian company to Yemen. Can we open the curtain a little - who is selling weapons to whom?
Boris Borisov: This is true, although I define the book as a political thriller. In addition to literary, it has a political, diplomatic and even criminal expression. Many of the events are handed down one to one, although all the names of the main actors have been changed. But they all have real prototypes. These are attempts by a Yemeni company to supply weapons to the groups that at that very moment had become active in connection with the events of the so-called Arab Spring in early 2011 and the next few years. Throughout the Arab world, these events were the focus of attention because they were aimed at toppling dictatorial regimes in several countries. The initiative came from the Yemeni businessman involved, who is a sheikh. We have supplied all kinds of production to the country through the official channels, but in this case there was an effort to bypass them. This transaction was presented to the institutions as a transaction for the supply of mineral fertilizers from Bulgaria to Yemen.
It so happens that this pseudo-Bulgarian businessman decides to deceive his Arab counterparty. To suck as many advance payments as possible out of him and in the end deliver him nothing. He gets about $700,000.
The Yemeni sheikh, who was deceived, goes to seek his rights through the courts in Bulgaria. What happens to his reports against the Bulgarian arms dealer?
Boris Borisov: First they made a complaint to their embassy in Cape Town, they handed a note to our foreign ministry. We have received a copy of this note and have been informed. Our authorities did not react in any way, because this Bulgarian businessman is actually a person who was operationally interesting to our services. There were repeated insistences on my part, after there was already some clarity on the matter, that this person be called and explanations be demanded of him. And finally it comes to the attempted kidnapping so that the Bulgarian authorities can force this businessman to return what he took from the Arab sheikh, since he cannot by legal means.
How did you eventually find out who was behind the attempted assassination between you?
Boris Borisov: In Yemen, there is a system that is parallel to the official state power. There, many questions are solved in this way. First, I had suspicions from the very beginning of these legal interventions of the Yemeni businessman. He then made a visit to the embassy and made threats. He had also reached the official channels of his country. We actually got the confirmation that this person was behind the kidnapping attempt and then the repeat attempt against another Bulgarian diplomat the following year, when the members of a Yemeni delegation from their Ministry of Interior had to travel to Bulgaria. I asked them to say and they informally told us that this company is probably behind the whole story.
Exactly a year ago, the Houthis kidnapped two Bulgarian sailors. The situation is delicate because their release is linked to the war between Israel and Hamas on the one hand, and the confrontation between Iran and Israel on the other. How do you negotiate in this situation?
Boris Borisov: It is very difficult to negotiate because these authorities, which are in Sana'a and about a third of the territory of the country in its northwestern part, are controlled by representatives of the Houthis, who are not internationally recognized authorities of any country in the world . Apart from these purely political demands that they have, related to the possible termination of the Israeli operation in Gaza and in Lebanon, the detention of the ship's crew is, in my opinion, an attempt to legitimize this power among the international community.
Would you go back to Yemen again?
Boris Borisov: I would return out of curiosity and out of love for this unique country. This people, especially the part of it that lives in the territory occupied by the Houthi movement, a kind of genocide has been carried out against this population. They were deprived for more than 8 years of the right to travel, to receive qualified medical care only because the territory is controlled by the Houthis. Efforts must be made by the international community to overcome this.