Sana'a, Yemen - A senior Yemeni local official began on Sunday a new round of negotiations with kidnappers of a Dutch couple after mediation led by tribal leaders foundered, a municipal official said.

"A new round of talks is under way after negotiations between tribal chieftains and the abductors broke down yesterday," said Jamil Shuraih, the secretary-general of the Bani-Dhabian district where the Dutch hostages are being held.

Shuraih told the German Press Agency dpa that the deputy governor of Dalea province Abdul-Qawi Obad is leading the government team in the talks.

Jan Hogendoorn, 54, an expert at a water project funded by the Dutch government in the southern Yemeni city of Taiz, and his wife Heleen Janszen, 49, were taken captive by six armed tribesmen as they were driving in a southern Sana'a suburb on March 31.

The kidnappers, who belong to the al-Siraj clan took the couple at gunpoint to the mountainous district of Bani-Dhabian, some 80 kilometres east the capital of Sana'a.

"They (the negotiators) arrived in the al-Sabghat area of Bani-Dhabian this afternoon, and they have just began talks with the kidnappers," Shuraih said. Al-Sabghat is a rugged mountainous area in Bani-Dhabian.

He added that three tribal leaders are also taking part in the talks.

One of the kidnappers confirmed to dpa by phone that a meeting was ongoing between the kidnappers' leader Ali Nasser Siraj and the negotiators.

Shuraih said previous negotiations broke down after the kidnappers insisted on their demands.

The Interior Ministry said six tribesmen from Bani-Dhabian linked to the kidnapping of the couple were arrested.

It said in a statement that 10 other men from the same are were also arrested over links to previous kidnap attacks.

The kidnappers have said they abducted the Dutch couple to put pressure on the 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 kidnapped Dutch expert appealed to the Yemeni government on Thursday to explore all peaceful means to secure their release.

"Our only concern is that the (Yemeni) government could use force to get us freed. I hope that the government will not use force," Hogendoorn, told dpa in Sana'a by telephone.

"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 said.

Hogendoorn said his abductors were treating him and his wife well.

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. 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.

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