France on Wednesday told the partners and children of its nationals in Yemen to leave because of the deteriorating security there and the growing al Qaeda threat. "This is a temporary precautionary measure taken in coordination with the main French companies present," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero stated.
According to AFP, the warning came just one day after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh held talks in Paris with his French peer Nicolas Sarkozy.
Over 800 French nationals are living in Yemen, where last week a Frenchman working for an Austrian oil company was shot dead.
