Monday 31 January 2011

President Saleh calls for exceptional meeting with parliament, after calls for day of rage in Yemen

By Nasser Arrabyee, 01/02/2011

The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh called for an urgent and common meeting with the two chambers of the Parliament on Wednesday February 2nd , 2011 to discuss important issues.

The meeting will be only one day before the “Yemen day of rage” on Thursday February 3rd, called for by young people through social media and also by the main opposition parties.

President Saleh said in his official invitation on Tuesday the meeting would be in the supreme interest of the homeland as he would raise very important issues to this common meeting of the House of Representatives and Shura Council.

Emboldened by the ongoing popular uprising against President Mubarak’s regime in Egypt and before that the uprising which ousted the Tunisian president Bin Ali, Yemeni young people from almost all parties have been calling through the face book and twitter for a big anti-regime protest in the Yemeni capital on Thursday.

The independent sociologist in Sana’a university, Fuad Al Salahi expected a bigger uprising in Yemen than in Egypt if serious political and economic reforms are not taken by the government.
“In Yemen, the explosion and revolution will be stronger if there is no serious and quick reforms,” said professor Al Salahi.

The main opposition parties which include the Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites, also called for the Thursday’s demonstrations not only in the capital Sana’a but also all over the country.

“Thursday’s demonstrations will be the last thing of the first stage of our activities which we started in the mid of last January, to refuse all unilateral steps taken by the ruling party for holding elections and constitutional amendments,” said Mohammed Al Kubati, the spokesman of the opposition coalition, Joint Meeting Parties, JMPs.

The opposition JMPs ignored a call by President Saleh to resume a deadlocked dialogue process over political reforms and halt of demonstrations and rival media campaigns.

Saleh’s call to resume the dialogue came after an exceptional meeting with his senior officials last Friday January, 28th, 2011.

Some opposition leaders say the Thursday’s demonstrations will not only in the framework of the program of oppositions parties to escalate the refusal of the unilateral steps by the ruling party on elections and constitutional amendments, but also to respond to the demands of the people.

“We’ll get out on Thursday to support the people, all the people, who want to change the regime,” said Mohammed Al Sabri, a prominent opposition leader.

On Monday the official media said that President Saleh instructed the government to establish a special fund to help the young people find jobs, and to employ 25 % of the universities graduates in 2011. Also President Saleh ordered the government to give financial assistance, also in 2011, to 500,000 poor families surveyed earlier last year by a government body for social care all over the country.

The monthly salaries of the civil and military and security personnel will be increased starting from this month by an amount which ranges from 2000 to 6000 Yemeni rials ( that’s 10-30 US dollars).

The steps are viewed by some observers as an attempt to absorb the anger of the people due to the economic deterioration and prices hikes.

Security developments in Yemen

Source: Reuters, 31/01/2011

Yemen is trying to quell a resurgent wing of al Qaeda which has stepped up attacks on Western and regional targets in the poor Arabian Peninsula state, a neighbour of oil giant Saudi Arabia.

The cash-strapped government is also trying to cement a truce with Shi'ite rebels to end a civil war in the north while working to subdue separatist rebellion in the south.

Following are security developments in Yemen in the past month (* denotes new or updated item):

* HABILAYN, JAN 31 - A Yemeni woman in the flashpoint southern city of Habilayn is wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade, a security official says.

* RADFAN, JAN 30 - A retired Yemeni soldier dies as he tries to plant a landmine near a military base in south Yemen. Security officials said he blew himself up as he was planting the mine. Other media reports said he was fired on by soldiers as he tried to plant the bomb.

* HABILAYN, JAN 30 - A group of armed men kidnaps two Yemeni soldiers as they drive to capital Sanaa, a local security official says. The kidnappers escape and are hiding somewhere in the mountains of Habilayn, he says.

* MARIB, Jan 29 - A group of armed men attack a police vehicle, killing one and injuring four, a local official says, adding that the group is believed to belong to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

* DUBAI, Jan 29 - The deputy leader of AQAP urges Sunnis in Yemen to take up arms against Shi'ite Houthis, saying they are a danger to Sunnis and urging them to take up arms to protect themselves, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

* JAWF, Jan 26 - A small group of armed tribesmen attack and wound the deputy governor of al-Jawf province, a Jawf tribal leader and two others as they drive to capital Sanaa, a security source said, citing tribal conflict as the motive behind the assasination attempt.

* HADRAMOUT, Jan 26 - Gunmen kill four Yemeni soldiers and one postal official as they ambush an army-escorted postal truck. The men, suspected of being from a local al Qaeda unit, escape with $50,000 dollars.

* LAWDAR, Jan 25 - Yemen security forces arrest five men after they attempted to attack a police patrol car in Lawdar, a city in the flashpoint Abyan province, the Interiori Ministry says, citing suspicions they have ties to "terrorist elements." The defence ministry website says one of the detained men, Amin al-Mukasar, is a leader in al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing.

* MA'ARIB, Jan 25 - The deputy head of forensics in the central province of Ma'arib dies from gunshot wounds on Tuesday, a day after being attacked by militants shooting automatic rifles from a vehicle, Yemen's interior ministry says. A soldier who chased the gunmen is wounded, and the attackers escape.

* ADEN, Jan 23 - Police shoot dead a protester in southern Aden, a regular site of separatist unrest that has been rocked by anti-government protests in the past week, residents say.

* LAWDAR, Jan 23 - A suspected al Qaeda gunman shoots dead a soldier in Lawdar, a district in the southern province of Abyan, a local security official says.

ADEN, Jan 11 - Gunmen attack a vehicle carrying a military commander and injure him in the southern province of Lahj.

SANAA, Jan 11 - The United States and Yemen face a common threat from al Qaeda but have a partnership that goes beyond security issues, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says during a visit to the Yemeni capital.

(Reporting by Mohammed Mokhashaf in Aden, and Mohammed Ghobari and Mohamed Sudam in Sanaa; Compiled by Gulf bureau)

Sunday 30 January 2011

In Yemen, calls for revolution but many hurdles

Source:Washington Post , By Sudarsan Raghavan
31/01/2011

SANAA, Yemen - The pro-democracy protesters marched through the dusty streets of this Middle Eastern capital, voicing hope that the revolution unfolding in the Arab world would soon reach them.

"Yesterday, Tunisia. Today, Egypt. Tomorrow, Yemen," they shouted, trying to make their way to the Egyptian embassy.

But the small march on Saturday never reached its intended target.

A line of police stopped the protesters; then a loud, unruly crowd of pro-government supporters emerged, and the two groups clashed. The protesters soon vanished, their voices muffled by pro-government chants.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled Yemen for 32 years, is clearly rattled by the anarchy unfolding in Egypt.
But what has happened here also shows that Yemen's situation is distinct from its neighbors, even as many Yemenis share the same grievances and frustrations driving the upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia.

Many among the Arab world's dispossessed hope for a domino effect that could see more of the region's autocratic regimes fall, like the swift collapse of the Soviet Union. But in Yemen, activists are facing numerous obstacles, straddling political, social and economic fault lines, even as they gain courage and inspiration from the momentous events unfolding in the region.

"The situation in different Arab countries is similar, but there's a big difference in the enthusiasm of the people in the streets as well as the ability to go to the streets," said Aidroos Al Naqeeb, head of the socialist party bloc in Yemen's parliament.

"In Yemen, the living conditions are far worse than Egypt. The services are far worse than Egypt,'' Naqeeb said. The anger and resentment is also larger than Egypt. But civil society is weaker here and the culture of popular opposition is far lesser here."

Unlike Egypt and Tunisia, impoverished Yemen has a small middle class and a large uneducated and illiterate population. Social networking sites such as Facebook that helped mobilize the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia are not widely used here.

Yemen's internal security apparatus is at least as sophisticated and deeply entrenched as in Egypt; the army is staunchly loyal to Saleh, as are powerful tribes in a country where tribal allegiance is more significant than national identity. The opposition, while strong in numbers, is divided in its goals.

"There is a popular movement and a political movement in Yemen," said Khaled al-Anesi, a lawyer and human rights activist who helped organized many of the recent protests. "But there is no support from the political parties for the popular movement, which is not organized. It is still weak and in the beginning stages."

Ever since the reunification of north and south Yemen in 1990, Saleh has marginalized political opposition groups and installed relatives and allies to key political, military and internal security posts.

Still, the popular uprisings that have ousted Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali from power and propeled Egypt into chaos have shaken Saleh's weak regime, marking the latest threat to a nation grappling already with a rebellion in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and a resurgent Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda.

In a televised speech last week, the 64-year-old Saleh, a vital U.S. ally in the war on terror, denied that his son would succeed him.

He also raised the salaries of soldiers, in an apparent effort to maintain their loyalty; slashed income taxes in half and ordered price controls.

Saleh was speaking in the aftermath of a rally earlier this month in which thousands of protesters took to the streets, with students and human rights activists calling for president to resign. But political opposition leaders have emphasized reform rather than regime change, alling on Saleh to honor a constitutionally mandated term limit that would end his presidency in 2013.

Many student activists and human rights activists disagree with the political opposition's tactics, arguing that attempts to share power with Saleh will never work and that they need to channel the momentum of the uprisings in the region.

"Their opinion is to take it step by step. In our opinion, there is no benefit," said Anesi. "This guy, Ali Abdullah Saleh, for him everything is a game. He tries to cheat political parties and international society. We are wasting time. We have to go to the streets. This is the best moment to demand change."

Other activists have alleged that many opposition leaders have lucrative investments and businesses that, in Yemen, are possible only through good relations with Saleh and his party.
Naqeeb conceded he and other oppositions leaders are trying to forge democratic reforms without resorting to violence. But he added that if Saleh continues to stonewall them, the situation in Yemen "will reach a point like Egypt," in a nation in which every household owns a Kalashnikov rifle.

In a meeting convened in advance of Saturday's rally, none of the organizers seemed to care that Yemeni plainclothes police had infiltrated the session and were aware of their plans. But by the time the protesters reached the police lines, their chants were being drowned out by those of pro-government supporters .

Some attacked the pro-democracy faction with knives and sticks. The policemen watched and did not stop the melee. Soon the activists fled, and the pro-government supporters then marched on through the traffic, chanting and singing.

"I like the president. We don't understand why he should leave," said Abdullah Al-Mujali, one of the supporters. "We don't want the same as what happened in Egypt and Tunisia. It is different here."

Activists including Anesi say they are determined to press forward with their calls to oust Saleh. "We have no choice," he said.

A coup in Yemen could give al Qaeda a stronghold, experts say

Source: Washington Examiner,
By: Sara A. Carter, National security correspondent
30/01/2011

As the world focuses on turmoil in Egypt, a simmering insurrection is threatening to boil over in Yemen, with potentially dire consequences for the United States, analysts said.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Yemen's cities this week, imperiling the corrupt government of one of the world's poorest countries -- one that has become a haven for some of the most dangerous al Qaeda operatives.

The fall of Yemen would unravel years of efforts by American officials who have worked closely with Yemeni leaders to stop al Qaeda from turning the country into the kind of stronghold Afghanistan was before 9/11.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst who was an adviser to President Obama on Afghanistan-Pakistan review, said a collapse of the government in Yemen would be a major blow in the fight against terrorism.

"Yemen is already a weak state with a host of problems," Riedel said. "If it now faces mass protests the government will have even less resources to fight [al Qaeda.]"

Tens of thousands of Yemeni citizens took to the streets Thursday demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh resign. Saleh, whose been in power for 32 years, was discussing a constitutional amendment that would make his presidency a life term.

After the protests erupted, he made promises to slash income taxes in half and raised the pay of his military and security officials. Experts say he won't be able to sustain the changes or fulfill promises without help.

Christopher Boucek, a Yemen specialist with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the administration needs to look beyond the al Qaeda presence in Yemen and focus on the "bigger issues" of economic reform, corruption and malcontent among the civilian population in the Arab world.

Boucek said if events proceed without change in Yemen the government will collapse. He said there are stark similarities between what happened in Tunisia and what could easily unfold in Yemen.

Al Qaeda has waged a successful propaganda war in Yemen, experts said, using government corruption and Saleh's overtures to the United States to create unrest. "We need to support the Yemeni government while they make changes but they need to make changes," Boucek said. "If they don't make those changes the situation is going to get worse -- state failure or state collapse."

The terrorist group merged in Saudi Arabia and Yemen to form a single organization in early 2009. It calls itself al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has emerged as the group's leader. Al-Awlaki, an American of Yemeni decent, is believed to be hiding in Yemen. He is the only American on the CIA's list of important targets to apprehend or kill.

Boucek said the people of Yemen are justifiably angry at the Saleh government. "You look at Yemen and you have a very wealthy elite in control and everybody else. Most of the population gets by on a dollar a day," he said.

That creates a dilemma for the United States, experts said -- continue to back a corrupt government in an effort to deny al Qaeda a key base, or deal with the inevitable chaos if that government collapses.

The writer Sara A. Carter can be reached at scarter@washingtonexaminer.com

Yemen to transfer Yemenis from Egypt's unrest

Source: Saba, 30/01/2011

-President Ali Abdullah Saleh has issued his directives to the government to take charge of transferring Yemeni citizens and students in Egypt to Yemen at the expense of the State.

In this regard, President Saleh also instructed Yemen Airways Company to operate additional flights to transport Yemeni citizens and students in Egypt, who want to return to Yemen.Yemen Airways indeed started on Sunday to transport Yemeni passengers from the Egyptian Cairo to home in light of the current events in Egypt.


Speaking to Saba, Deputy Director-General of Commercial Affairs of Yemen Airways Moneer Gahosh said on Sunday that Egyptian authorities are cooperating with the company in order to allow extra flights to land in the Cairo airport.Meanwhile, Yemen's embassy in Cairo has formed an operations room directly linked to the Foreign Ministry to monitor the conditions of Yemenis including students, patients and other citizens around the clock.

A source at the ministry said the ministry had contacted the embassy to make sure the Yemeni people in Cairo and other cities were OK. The embassy said all Yemenis in Egyptian cities are safe and away from the protests.

Saturday 29 January 2011

Ruling party urges talks in Yemen to halt protests

Source: Reuters, 29/01/2011

Sana'a: Yemen's ruling party has called for dialogue with the opposition in a bid to end anti-government protests fuelled by popular unrest across the Arab world, according to state news agency.

Thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets of the capital Sana'a in recent days demanding a change of government, inspired by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisian President Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali and spillover to Egypt.

"We ... call for the halting of media propaganda and urge all political parties to work together to make the dialogue a success and arrange for upcoming elections," a committee of the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) party was quoted as saying on the website of the Saba state news agency.

"Furthermore, we urge an end to protests that ignite dissent to avoid dragging the country into conflict or sedition," it said.

The streets of Sana'a were quiet on Friday, after about 16,000 Yemenis demonstrated across the city on Thursday in the largest rally since a wave of protests erupted in Yemen last week.
Further protests were expected on Saturday.

The GPC said in October it would participate in an election scheduled for April 2011, dashing opposition hopes that the government would delay the poll to allow more time for talks on long-promised reforms.

Current unrest appears to be partly a reaction to a proposal last year by GPC members to end presidential term limits that would require President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down when his term ends in 2013.

Saleh's party backtracked last week in an effort to calm discontent, floating the idea of a new amendment that would limit a president to two terms of either five or seven years.

Saleh, a key ally of the United States in a war against a resurgent Al Qaida wing in Yemen, has ruled the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state for over 30 years.

Yemen is trying to quell a secessionist rebellion in its south and cement a truce with northern Shiite rebels.

Friday 28 January 2011

South Yemen official again escapes 'Qaeda' ambush

Source: AFP, 29/01/2011

ADEN, Yemen — The children of a senior Yemeni official were wounded when suspected Al-Qaeda militants ambushed his car in the southern province of Abyan, a security official told AFP on Friday.

"Gunmen, whom I think belong to Al-Qaeda, attacked the car of Ahmed Ghaleb Rahawi," sub-prefect of the town of Jaar and the third-ranking official in the restive province of Abyan, who was not in the vehicle at the time.

The gunmen opened fire on the car, "wounding his son Ghaleb and his eldest daughter Amani," said the official.

A medic said Amani was seriously wounded in the attack which took place late on Thursday.
Rahawi has escaped several similar assassination bids, the last of which took place on December 28 when gunmen he said belonged to Al-Qaeda also opened fire on his car in Jaar.

Later on Thursday, Al-Qaeda militants fired shots into the air to celebrate the release of two members in Moudia, another town in Al-Qaeda stronghold Abyan, witnesses said.

The group deployed dozens of heavily armed militants to receive Nader Mohammed Salem al-Jaru and Ali Ahmed Shaher, who were arrested in October and jailed in Al-Bayda province, near Abyan, the witnesses said.

The militants chanted "God is greatest" and "death to infidelity."
A police official said gunmen attacked the central security headquarters, and security forces "strongly" responded, but no casualties were reported.

Faced with a campaign by a secessionist movement as well as attacks by Al-Qaeda in the south, the Sanaa government has been struggling to maintain its authority in southern Yemen.

Yemen al-Qaida commander declares war against Shiites

Source: Xinhua, 29/01/2011
SANAA-Leader of al-Qaida militants in Yemen declared "holy war" against the Houthi-led northern Shiite rebels, in an audio message posted on the internet by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on Friday.

"To our Sunni fellows in northern Yemeni provinces of Saada, Al- Jouf and Amran, we (AQAP) announced jihad (holy war) against Iranian-backed Houthi Shiite advocates," Saeed Ali al-Shihri, deputy leader of the Yemen-based AQAP.

"The jihad against northern Shiites has been declared since the implementation of the AQAP's twin martyred car bombing attacks against convoys of the Shiite rebels' followers in northern provinces of Al-Jouf and Saada on Nov. 24 and Nov. 26 of the last year," he said.

In the 17-minute audiotape, the Saudi fugitive al-Shihri justified his group's war against the Shiite rebels by claiming that the sectarian-motivated Houthi rebels attacked and displaced many Sunni families in the north.

Last December, the Sunni-devoted AQAP claimed responsibility for twin suicide car bombings against convoys of the Shiite rebels ' followers in northern provinces of Al-Jouf and Saada on Nov. 24 and Nov. 26, 2010, which left over than 90 Shiite followers dead, including the group's Shiite spiritual leader Bader al-Deen al- Houthi.

Yemen has witnessed sporadic battles since 2004 between government troops and rebels. The government has been accusing the rebels of seeking to re-establish the clerical rule overthrown by the Yemeni revolution in 1962 that created the Yemeni republic

Waves of Unrest Spread to Yemen, Shaking a Region

Source : New York Times, By ANTHONY SHADID, NADA BAKRI and KAREEM FAHIM, 28/01/2011

Thousands of protestors on Thursday took to the streets of Yemen, one of the Middle East’s most impoverished countries, and secular and Islamist Egyptian opposition leaders vowed to join large protests expected Friday as calls for change rang across the Arab world.

The Yemeni protests were another moment of tumult in a region whose aging order of American-backed governments appears to be staggering. In a span of just weeks, Tunisia’s government has fallen, Egypt’s appears shaken and countries like Jordan and Yemen are bracing against demands of movements with divergent goals but similar means.

Protests led by young people entered a third day in Egypt, where Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate who has become an outspoken opponent of President Hosni Mubarak, returned in hopes of galvanizing the campaign. The Muslim Brotherhood, long Egypt’s largest organized opposition, ended days of official inaction and said it would join the Friday protests, declaring “a day of rage for the Egyptian nation.”

Dr. ElBaradei called on Mr. Mubarak to step down. “He has served the country for 30 years, and it is about time for him to retire,” he told Reuters. “Tomorrow is going to be, I think, a major demonstration all over Egypt and I will be there with them.”

Though a relative calm settled on Cairo, smoke rose over the city of Suez, as sometimes violent protests continued there.

In Yemen, organizers vowed to continue protests on Friday and for weeks to come until the 32-year-old American-backed government of Ali Abdullah Saleh either fell or consented to reforms.

At least visually, the scenes broadcast across the region from Yemen were reminiscent of the events in Egypt and the month of protests that brought down the government in Tunisia. But as they climaxed by midday, they appeared to be carefully organized and mostly peaceful, save for some arrests. Pink — be it in the form of headbands, sashes or banners — was the dominant color; organizers described it as the symbol of the day’s protests.

“To Jidda, oh Ali!” some shouted, in reference to the city in Saudi Arabia where Tunisia’s president fled this month. “The people’s demand is the fall of the government!”

“We are telling them either he delivers real political reforms or we’re going to deliver him out of power,” said Shawki al-Qadi, an opposition lawmaker and organizer of the Yemeni protests. “He’s closed all the doors of hope. The only glimmer is in the streets.”

Unlike in Egypt, the peaceful protests in Yemen were not led by young people, but by the traditional opposition, largely Islamists. And the opposition remained divided over whether to topple the Saleh government or simply push for reforms.

But the potential for strife in the country is difficult to overstate. Yemen is troubled by a rebellion in the north and a struggle for secession in the once independent, Marxist south. In recent years, an affiliate of Al Qaeda has turned parts of the country, a rugged, often lawless region on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, into a refuge beyond the state’s reach. Added to the mix is a remarkably high proportion of armed citizens, some of whom treat Kalashnikovs as a fashion accessory.

“I fear Yemen is going to be ripped apart,” said Mohammed Naji Allaw, coordinator of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedom, which was one of the protests’ organizers. “The situation in Yemen is a lot more dangerous than in any other Arab country. It would be foolish for the regime to ignore our demands.”

He said a phrase often heard these days was that Yemen faced “sawmala” — the Somalization of a country that witnessed a civil war in the mid-1990s.

A portion of Mr. Allaw’s worries sprang from the inability of the opposition to forge a unified message. Some are calling for secession for the south, he said, while others are looking to oust the president. Yet the mainstream, he said, simply wanted Mr. Saleh to agree not to run for another term after 2013 and to guarantee that his son would not succeed him.

“The opposition is afraid of what would happen if the regime falls,” said Khaled Alanesi, who also works with the human rights group in Sana, the capital. “Afraid of the militant groups, Al Qaeda, the tribes and all the arms here.”

The government responded to the protests by sending a large number of security forces into the streets, said Nasser Arrabyee, a Yemeni journalist in Sana. “Very strict measures, anti-riot forces,” he called them. But the government suggested that it had not deployed large numbers of security forces, keeping them peaceful.

“The Government of the Republic of Yemen strongly respects the democratic right for a peaceful assembly,” Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemeni Embassy spokesman in Washington, said in a statement. “We are pleased to announce that no major clashes or arrests occurred, and police presence was minimal.”

A pro-government rally, in another district of Sana, organized by Mr. Saleh’s party, attracted far fewer demonstrators, Mr. Arrabyee said.

The protests sprang from political divisions that began building in the country last October, when a dialogue collapsed between the opposition and Mr. Saleh, a 64-year-old strongman who has ruled his fractured country for more than three decades and is a crucial ally of the United States in the fight against the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. Though Mr. Saleh’s term is supposed to end in 2013, proposed amendments to the Constitution could allow him to remain in power for two additional terms of 10 years.

Opposition lawmakers, an eclectic bloc dominated by Islamists, organized protests that swelled into one of the largest demonstrations during Mr. Saleh’s tenure. But unlike the antagonists in Tunisia and Egypt, both sides seemed at least willing to engage in dialogue over demands that are far less radical.

“Political parties are pushing for reforms more than they are pushing to oust the president,” Mr. Alanesi said. “The slogans say to leave, but we actually want change.”

In a televised speech on Sunday night, Mr. Saleh, a wily politician with a firm grasp of the power of patronage, tried to defuse the opposition’s demands. He denied claims that his son would succeed him — as happened in Syria and, some fear, might occur in Egypt. He said he would raise army salaries, a move seemingly intended to ensure soldiers’ loyalty. Mr. Saleh has also cut income taxes in half and ordered price controls.

Yemen’s fragile stability has been of increasing concern to the United States, which has provided $250 million in military aid in the past five years. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a visit to Sana this month, urged Mr. Saleh to establish a new dialogue with the opposition, saying it would help to stabilize the country.

The protests were the latest in a wave of unrest touched off by monthlong demonstrations in Tunisia that led to the ouster of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the authoritarian leader who ruled for 23 years and fled two weeks ago. On Thursday, Tunisia unveiled major changes in its interim government in a bid to end the protests.

The antigovernment gatherings in Yemen also followed three days of clashes between protesters and security forces in Egypt.

Dr. ElBaradei, the former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency who has sought to refashion himself as pro-democracy campaigner in his homeland, is viewed by some supporters as capable of uniting the country’s fractious opposition and offering an alternative to Mr. Mubarak. Critics view him as an opportunist who has spent too little time in the country to take control of a movement that began without his leadership.

Safwat el-Sherif, secretary general of Egypt’s ruling party, called for restraint from security forces and protesters and raised the possibility of a dialogue with the young people who have powered some of the biggest protests in a generation.

“We are confident of our ability to listen,” he said.

“But democracy has its rules and process,” he added. “The minority does not force its will on the majority.”

Thursday 27 January 2011

Pro-and anti- government demonstrations in Sana'a

Rival rallies ahead of elections
By Nasser Arrabyee,27/01/2011

Tens of thousands of Yemenis in the Yemeni capital Sana’a participated Thursday in eight rival rallies, four by the opposition parties and four others by the ruling party. Parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held next April, was the main topic for all rallies of both sides.

The main slogans of the opposition were: No for unilateral procedures taken by the ruling party, no for elections, no for constitutional amendments proposed by the ruling party. Slogans and placards demanded President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave power.

While speaking masses, a prominent politician demanded president Saleh to step down. “We are here to say enough, enough, the president should go,” said the opposition politician Mohammed Al Sabri, who attended the rally which was held nearby the house of Abdullah Al Ahmar, in Al Hasab area.

From their side, the ruling party rallies were chanting: Yes for elections on time, yes for constitutional amendments, no for violence and conspiracy against the homeland.
No violence, or riot cases were noticed, but security measures were exceptional in the city as anti-riot forces were deployed in almost all the places close to the rallies areas since early morning .

However, these rallies are not new, not strange. Both sides have been holding similar rallies over the last two weeks in the provinces outside Sana’a.

Maybe the new thing now is to have eight rallies in one city like Sana’a on the same time and almost at the same places.

The two sides, the ruling party and opposition, were against each other in their slogans and demands except for one slogan which was used by the two sides in their slogans and speeches and statements: That’s “yes for dialogue” . The two sides have been always calling for dialogue, but they failed and failed over and over again to make dialogue about the political and electoral reforms.

The ruling party seems to be determined to go to April’s polls even without participation of the coalition of the main opposition parties. The latter threatens to boycott the elections and take to streets instead.

The eight rallies of today, Wednesday, January 27th, 2011, in the same city, same time and almost same places, tell clearly that the street would be the theatre of all, opposition and ruling, to protest or clash, if they did not reach an agreement.

Next Saturday, January 29, 2011, the President Saleh would meet with council of ministers and the governors from all the country’s 22 provinces, to discuss the final preparation of the parliamentary elections next April.

The opposition parties announced early Wednesday, they would held the four rallies in the four specified places. The ruling party announced very late Wednesday, it would hold also four rallies at the same time and almost same places.


The opposition coalition which include the largest Islamist party, Islah, Socialist, and Nasserite parties, held their rallies in Al Hasab area, university area, Nukum area, and Al Sabeen area. The opposition parties called for their rallies earlier Wednesday.

The ruling party, held its rallies places not far from these places. It held in old university area, Bab, Shuab area Bab Al Yaman area (Martyrs Square), Baynoon Street (Shumailah).

Pro-government and anti-government rallies in Sana'a

Pro-government and anti-government rallies in Sana'a
By Nasser Arrabyee/27/01/2011
Thousands of Yemenis in the Yemeni capital Sana’a participated Thursday in eight rival rallies, four by the opposition parties and four others by the ruling party. Parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held next April, was the main topic for all rallies of both sides.

The main slogans of the opposition were: No for unilateral procedures taken by the ruling party, no for elections, no for constitutional amendments proposed by the ruling party.
The ruling party rallies were chanting: Yes for elections on time, yes for constitutional amendments, no for violence and conspiracy against the homeland.

No violence, or riot cases were noticed, but security measures were exceptional as anti-riot forces were deployed in many parts of the cities including the places close to the rallies areas since early morning .

The opposition coalition which include the largest Islamist party, Islah, Socialist, and Nasserite parties, held their rallies in Al Hasab area, university area, Nukum area, and Al Sabeen area.
))))
More detailes coming soon.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Al Qaeda suspects ambushed and killed five men in eastern Yemen

By Nasser Arrabyee, 26/01/2011

Gunmen believed to be Al Qaeda operatives killed four soldiers and a post officer and plundered about 50,000US$ from their cars before they ran away in the eastern province of Hudhrmout, local sources said Wednesday.

The financial officer of the Hudhrmout post office, Omar Al Amudi, was killed and four other soldiers who were escorting him, the sources said.

Al Amudi was transferring more than 10 million Yemeni Rials (50,000US$) as salaries from Mukalla, the capital of the province, to Al Shehr district, when the gunmen ambushed him and his guards.

The gunmen plundered the money from car of the post office before they ran away from the scene in Al Hema area between Mukalla and Al Shehr. The gunmen were riding a four-wheel drive land cruiser car, sources said according to eyewitnesses.

Three other people were injured in the incident, two employees of the post office and one soldier, and the three of them were admitted to Al Shehr hospital, the sources said.

Six soldiers on board of a military vehicle were escorting the post office cashier Al Amudi, the sources said.

The incident might be the first after the American-Yemeni extremist cleric Anwar A Awlaki instructed Al Qaeda operatives to finance themselves from the money of the “enemies and Qafer”. The instructions came in an article published in the latest issue of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) magazine , Inspire, earlier this month.

Yemen needs more international support, UN official says

By Nasser Arrabyee 26/01/2011

A senior UN official said Wednesday Yemen needs more international support to overcome its challenges.

Wrapping up her visit to Yemen January 26th, 2011, the Chair of the United Nations Development Group and UNDP Administrator, Helen Clark, welcomed the increased international interest being shown in supporting Yemen to tackle the challenges it faces, and expressed her hope that it will be translated into increased support for Yemen’s development.

“Yemen is confronting a range of concurrent challenges which need urgent attention,” Mrs Clark said in a press release sent to media by the Sana’a-based UNDP office.

“With international support and with commitment in Yemen to drive a reform agenda, a step change in development is possible.”


Earlier in the week, Helen Clark met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, to discuss how the UN development system can play its part in supporting Yemen to overcome its development challenges and make progress on the MDGs.

At that meeting, she noted the importance of broad participation in the upcoming elections so that, like the 2006 elections, they are widely agreed to be credible. She added that continued political dialogue is needed to achieve that outcome.

She underscored UNDP’s technical support to the national commission responsible for overseeing the conduct of those elections.

In addition to meeting the President, Helen Clark met with the Prime Minister, the two Deputy Prime Ministers, and other ministers and officials, and the Supreme Commission on Elections and Referenda. She also met with donors, the UN country team, women from many walks of life, and civil society organizations.

With respect to tensions in the north and the south of the country, as well as general security issues, Helen Clark said that UNDP’s approach focuses on addressing the underlying drivers of tension and conflict, which include underdevelopment, and on promoting community based dialogue and conflict resolution.

While in Yemen, Helen Clark traveled to the island of Socotra, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site because of its rich biodiversity. She presented the Equator Prize to the community initiative in the Rosh Marine Protected Area for its work in combining biodiversity conservation with lifting community living standards.

Helen Clark also traveled to Tula’a to visit a health centre where the World Food Programme and UNICEF are working to improve nutrition for pregnant and lactating women and for children. The UN Country Team as a whole has agreed to develop a joint programme on Food Security and nutrition.

At Wadi Dahr, Helen Clark visited a demining training programme, supported by UNDP, which is regarded as a centre of excellence and has provided training in a number of other countries.
Yemen has successfully demined in many governorates, but there are still significant areas to be cleared where mines continue to kill and maim local people and inhibit recovery from conflict.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

EU calls on Yemen political forces to resume dialogue

Source: Xinhua, 26/01/2011

Ambassadors of the EU member states to Yemen on Tuesday called on the ruling party and opposition to return to dialogue to prepare holding parliamentary elections that scheduled for April 27, state media reported."The EU Missions Heads in Sanaa notes with concerns the lack of progress made in Yemen's national dialogue," the ambassadors said in a statement, cited by official Saba news agency.

"We call for all Yemeni political parties to return to dialogue to prepare holding the parliamentary elections that meet the international standards," they said, stressing that the EU stands ready to continue its support for the national dialogue and electoral process in Yemen.

Growing tensions between political forces have spilled over after parliamentary members of the ruling party approved " unilateral" constitutional amendments on Jan. 1, which angered the opposition coalition who carried out protests and pledged to boycott any future elections.

The would-be amendments, which will be finally approved on March 1, would eliminate the limited two consecutive presidential terms, and put the new presidential term for five years, in which president has the constitutional right to candidate himself for unlimited future terms, according the ruling party's website.

The amendment triggered protests of hundreds of the Yemeni people who went to the streets in Sanaa over the previous eight days, demanding ousting of the long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh.On Sunday, Saleh announced on the state TV that he will step down after his second presidential term expires in 2013, following the eight days of popular protests.

Security Developments in Yemen

Source: Reuters, 25/01/2011

Yemen is trying to quell a resurgent wing of al Qaeda which has stepped up attacks in the poor Arabian Peninsula state neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia.
The cash-strapped government is also trying to cement a truce with Shi'ite rebels to end a civil war in the north while working to subdue a separatist rebellion in the south.
Following are security developments in Yemen in the past month (* denotes new or updated item):

* LAWDAR, Jan 25 - Yemen's security forces arrest five men after they try to attack a police patrol car in Lawdar, a city in the flashpoint Abyan province, the interior ministry says, describing them as possible "terrorist elements." The defence ministry website says one of the men, Amin al-Mukasar, is a leader of al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing.

* MA'ARIB, Jan 25 - The deputy head of forensics in the central province of Ma'arib dies from gunshot wounds on Tuesday, a day after being attacked by militants shooting automatic rifles from a vehicle, the interior ministry says. A soldier who chased the gunmen was wounded, and the attackers escaped.

* ADEN, Jan 23 - Police shoot dead a protester in southern Aden, a regular site of separatist unrest that has been rocked by anti-government protests in the past week, residents say.
* LAWDAR, Jan 23 - A suspected al Qaeda gunman shoots dead a soldier in Lawdar, a district in the southern province of Abyan, a local security official says.

ADEN, Jan 11 - Gunmen attack a vehicle carrying a military commander and injure him in the southern province of Lahj.

SANAA, Jan 11 - The United States and Yemen face a common threat from al Qaeda but have a partnership that goes beyond security issues, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says during a visit to the Yemeni capital.

ADEN, Jan 10 - One soldier is killed and two others are wounded in a shootout with suspected separatist militants in southern Lahj province.

JAAR, Jan 9 - Masked gunmen on motorcycles attack an electricity office in south Yemen, killing three workers and wounding four, a local government official says. He blames al Qaeda for the assault.

ADEN, Jan 8 - Armed militants kill four Yemeni soldiers in an attack on a southern checkpoint.
ADEN, Jan 7 - Suspected al Qaeda militants ambush a military convoy in south Yemen, killing 12 soldiers and wounding three.

ADEN, Jan 1 - Authorities release southern opposition leader Hassan Baom on instructions from President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an official tells Reuters. Baom had been detained in November, months after being freed following a presidential amnesty.

WASHINGTON, Dec 31 - The United States urges Yemen to hold off on reported plans for a swift vote on proposed constitutional changes, calling for the government and opposition to negotiate the electoral reforms.

SANAA, Dec 30 - Yemen will release 400 Shi'ite rebels as part of a Qatar-mediated peace deal, a security official says.

SANAA-DEC 29- Authorities release opposition leader Mohammed Ghaleb Ahmed for lack of evidence, three days after detaining him for questioning on suspicion of offering $50,000 to separatists to disrupt a regional soccer tournament, his lawyer says.

SANAA, Dec 26 - Authorities detain Mohammed Ghaleb Ahmed, a leader of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party, for questioning on suspicion of offering $50,000 to separatist militants to disrupt a regional soccer tournament.

SANAA, Dec 25 - Yemen says it will set up special forces in four of its restless provinces to fight al Qaeda, a day after Washington said a top U.S. counterterrorism official had pressed Sanaa to step up its efforts against the militant group.

HABILAYN, Dec 19 - Government troops seal off the southern town of al-Habilayn as they hunt those behind an attack that killed three soldiers and an officer, a local official says.

ADEN, Dec 19 - Armed militants seize a Yemeni soldier in a southern town to press for the release of three detained men, the head of an opposition group tells Reuters. SANAA, Dec 17 - Police say they prevented a man from bombing a U.S. embassy car in Sanaa, and were investigating whether the Jordanian suspect had ties to al Qaeda.

ZINJIBAR, Dec 17 - Two soldiers are killed and two wounded in clashes with suspected al Qaeda militants, a local security official says.

HABILAYN, Dec 16 - Three soldiers, an army officer, and a unidentified gunman are killed in gun battle in a market in the southern province of Lahj, a local security official says.
LAWDAR, Dec 15 - One solider is killed and three wounded in a gun battle with suspected al Qaeda militants in Abyan.

ZINJIBAR, Dec 13 - Head of political security in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan is slightly wounded in a roadside bombing targeting his car, according to a local official, who says al Qaeda is suspected.

ADEN, Dec 13 - Five soldiers and one army officer kidnapped in a secessionist hotspot in south Yemen are released.

SANAA, Dec 11 - About 10 people are killed in fighting between northern Shi'ite rebels and pro-government tribesmen. A rebel spokesman declines to confirm the toll.

ADEN, Dec 11 - A court sentences a man to death for a bombing which killed four people at a sports club in Aden in October, sparking days of demonstrations.

LAHJ, Dec 11 - Unidentified gunmen kidnap two soldiers in the southern province of Lahj, local officials say.

ADEN, Dec 11 - A court in the southern province of Hadramout sentences 12 people to up to seven years in jail for links to al Qaeda, state media report. (Reporting by Mohammed Mokhashaf in Aden, and Mohammed Ghobari and Mohamed Sudam in Sanaa; Compiled by Gulf bureau)

Three Yemeni tribesmen appear in court for abducting Czech tourists

Three Yemeni tribesmen appear in court for abducting Czech tourists

Source: DPA, 25/01/2011

Sanaa - Three Yemeni tribesmen appeared at a state security court in Sana'a Tuesday to face charges of kidnapping four Czech tourists who were freed unharmed by police shortly after the abduction near the Yemeni capital last week.

The defendants - Ali Ahmad al-Khaledi, Ahmad Muhammad al-Walidi and Abdul-Salam Abdul-Khaliq al-Muafa - admitted to the charges as they made pleas to presiding judge Muhssein Alwan, saying they wanted to trade the hostages for a brother of al-Khaledi detained by police over a murder crime.

'We intended to host them as guests until my brother is released,' al-Khaledi told judges from behind bars.
Two other suspects are being tried in absentia in the same case.
Prosecutors told the court that the five men intercepted an off- road car carrying the four tourists, two women and two men, in Manakha, around 60 kilometres west of Sana'a on January 17, and forced the driver to step out before they drove off.

Police forces chased the car and stopped it on a highway leading to Dhamar province, some 100 kilometres south of Sana'a. They exchanged fire with the hostage takers and arrested three. Two of the abductors managed to flee.

A child passing the road and two policemen were injured in the clash, prosecutor Ali al-Samit told the court. The hostages were rescued unharmed, he said.

He said the kidnappers were carrying AK-47 rifles and hand grenades.
The court adjourned the case until February 1 to allow the prosecution time to issue warrants for the two suspects who are still at large.
The defendants face prison terms of between 10 to 25 years if convicted.
Tribal kidnapping of Westerners is a common practice by Yemeni tribes, but it often ends peacefully.

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.

In October, a Swedish engineer was briefly abducted by tribesmen in the southern province of Abyan demanding the release of a clan member arrested in 2008 for murder.

In May 2010, two young German girls were freed from an 11-month abduction in the restive northern province of Saada. They had been seized - along with their parents, younger brother, two other German women, a South Korean female teacher and a British engineer since June 2009.
The girl's brother and parents along with the British engineer remain missing. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, but the kidnappers are believed to be linked to al-Qaeda.

On May 24, two US tourists, a husband and wife, along with their driver, were kidnapped by armed tribesmen in the same area. They were released unharmed the next day.

Is Yemen like Tunisia?

By Nasser Arrabyee/25/01/2011

The political crisis in Yemen has worsened after the Tunisian uprising which led to the ouster of Zain Al Abdeen bin Ali earlier this month.

Student protests erupted in the Yemeni capital Sana’a over the last two weeks to support what was called the Tunisian Jasmine revolution and to demand the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The coalition of the main opposition parties, locally known as Joint Meeting Parties (JMPs), were leading the protests after they reached a deadlock with the Saleh’s ruling People’s General Congress (PGC) on political and electoral reforms.

When the Tunisian-inspired protests started last week, the ruling PGC said in a new initiative it was ready to meet the demands of the opposition JMPs for political and electoral reforms. The PGC wanted the JMPs to participate in the next April parliamentary elections, which the latter refused without genuine reforms.

For the most controversial article in the constitutional amendments, the presidential terms will be only two of five years each instead of letting them open without limits as the PGC previously proposed.

The proportional system, rather than the current single constituency system, in elections would be used as the opposition always demand.

The opposition commented on this suggestion by saying “it’s only a bribery for us to enter elections which will not be free and not fair” as the chairman of the JMPs high council Mohammed Abdul Malik Al Mutawakil said.

After more than one week of protests’ escalation and almost clashes between two rival demonstrations in the same place, at the gate of Sana’a university, President Saleh warned against violence and chaos saying “Yemen is not Like Tunisia”.

“Yemen is a country of freedom and democracy, but we warn from chaos and demagogy,” Saleh said in an annual conference for the army and security commanders held in Sana’a Sunday January 23,2011.

President Saleh called the opposition JMPs for a televised debate on the most controversial issues like the constitutional amendments and elections.

“Come up for a TV debate on my programs and your programs,” President Saleh.
“Yemen is not like Tunisia, where people were not allowed to enter mosques with IDs.”

He said he would ask for pardon from people if he made mistakes or if he fell short of his duties during his 32 years in power.

“I would ask for pardon from the people if I made mistakes or I fell short of my duties, only God is perfect,” he said.

President Saleh blasted those who say he wants to pass the power to his son saying he is against the hereditary rule.

“Talking about hereditary rule is an impudent symphony, we are a republican and democratic system and we are against the hereditary rule,” He said “We are against the hereditary rule of the village, of the tribe, of the power, of the unity, of the ministry, we are against hereditary rule.”

On the latest constitutional amendment, proposed by his party, which cancels the presidential term limits, President Saleh said he is supporting only two presidential terms, five years each and not leaving it open for ever.

“It’s only some MPs who suggested cancellation of the presidential term limits, but in my electoral program which I’m responsible for, it’s only two terms , five years each,” He said.
President Saleh’s current and last term ends in September 2013.

Saleh also told the military and security commanders of the conference to stop saying “ with soul, and blood we protect Ali”

“ With soul and blood we protect Yemen, with soul and blood we protect Yemen, this is what we should always say,” Saleh told the participants of the annual military and security conference who gave him a big applause.

Mohammed Al Kubati, the spokesman of the opposition JMPs commented on Saleh’s call for televised debate by saying , “If the debate will solve the problem, we are ready to do it, but what’s needed now is not only a debate or excuse, what we want now is to restore the right of the people to freedom , dignity, and liberation from corruption and tyranny.”

The independent political analyst , Ali Saif Hassan, chairman of the Political Development Forum, a local NGO, said he still believes the two sides would find a solution.

“No one of them has enough strength to achieve his own project alone , so both of them I think, still want to reach a solution, reach deal or compromise,” Hassan said.

On Monday, January, 24, 2011, the Yemeni authorities released, after two days in prison, a female activist who led the Tunisian-inspired student protests against President Saleh’s regime.

About 20 other activists and students were also released on the same day after they led demonstrations demanding the release of the woman activist Tawakul Karman.
The authorities said the release of Ms Karman came after her family had pledged that their daughter would never “violate the law and order” any more.

However, Ms Karman attended a big demonstration at the gate of the general prosecutor’s office in Sana’a immediately after she was released and said she would continue her peaceful struggle until the regime is dropped.

“ My release came because of your pressure , the pressure of the people and the protestors, and my family did not pledge to do any thing,” Ms Karman told the masses.

Earlier on Sunday, Ms Karman was arrested for leading student demonstrations demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Karman, chairwoman of the female Journalists without chains organization , a local NGO, was arrested from her house at about 1:00 am Sunday immediately after she arrived from a partisan meeting.

She and her husband were returning from a meeting with the secretary general of the Islamist party, Islah, Abdul Wahab Al Ansi, when three vehicles full of gunmen in military and civil clothes kidnapped her, the family said Sunday.

The ministry of interior said in a statement that Ms Karman was arrested according to an order from the prosecution for charges of making unlicensed demonstrations and inciting violence and chaos.

For almost one week, Ms Karman, who is also a leading member in the largest Islamist opposition party Islah, was leading daily demonstrations with hundreds of university students who were demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave the country like the Tunisian President Zain Al Abdeen Bin Ali.

On Saturday, January 22, 2011, one day before Ms Karman’s arrest, hundreds of students, loyal to President Saleh’s party, from the same university, organized demonstrations supporting Saleh.

Before being dispersed by the security forces, the two rival demonstrations, at the main gate of Sana’a University, were almost to clash as angry demonstrators were chanting slogans against each other.
The students loyal to the opposition parties led by Ms Karman were chanting “ Oh, Ali, Ali, go , go, after your friend Bin Ali” in reference to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the deposed Tunisian President Zain Al Abdeen bin Ali.

While the students loyal to the Saleh’s ruling party were chanting “ Ali or death, Ali or death” , “ Oh, Youth , Oh, youth , the Islah is the terrorist”


The chairman of the Union of the Sana’a University students, Redhwan Al Masodi, criticized Tawakul Karman for using the university students for her political purposes. “The students of Sana’a University refuse being exploited for the interest of one individual or one party,” Al Masodi said.

The Sana’a University issued a statement saying it has nothing to do with the demonstrations being held at its gate . “Political forces with political purposes” were behind the demonstrations, the statement said.

The Minister of Interior , Mutahar Rashad Al Mesri, said in a statement Sunday, that his country Yemen is democratic and it allows all kinds of demonstrations “but in the framework” of the constitution and laws.

Monday 24 January 2011

US and Yemen work for air cargo security

Source: AFP, 24/01/2011

SANAA — The United States is working with Sanaa to ensure security of air cargo, the US embassy said on Sunday, after last year's global security alert sparked by the discovery of explosives in two parcels posted from Yemen.

"The US government, through the US Embassy, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the government of Yemen are working together on our common goal of ensuring that air cargo transport is both efficient and safe," embassy spokeswoman Deborah Smith said in an email to AFP.

"Charge d?Affaires Elizabeth Richard met with Yemen?s Minister of Transportation, Khaled al-Wazir, on Saturday... (to talk) on topics of mutual interest" Smith said.

The two potentially lethal parcels were addressed to synagogues in Chicago and contained the explosive PETN hidden in ink toner cartridges. They were uncovered in Dubai and Britain on October 28.

German officials have said the explosive used was difficult to detect and easy to pack into seemingly innocuous devices. The discovery of the bombs led several countries to ban all air freight originating from Yemen.

The official Saba news agency said on Saturday that Richard and Wazir talked about lifting current restrictions on cargo shipments from Yemen to the US.

Saba reported that Wazir discussed "additional security measures that Yemen is taking" to strengthen airport and air cargo security.

These include "working on" scanning all cargo, employing explosives detectors, X-ray and hand searches, and holding all parcels and shipments for 48 hours before they are sent, Saba said.
"Currently, there are 'security requirements' in place that restrict cargo being shipped from Yemen to the United States," Smith said.

Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, faces a growing Al-Qaeda threat, a separatist movement in the south and a sporadic rebellion by Zaidi Shiite rebels in the north

The whole story from Yemen is not bad

Source: Yemen online, By M. Teresa Calkins-USA, 24/01/2011

Al Qaeda, terrorism or family and culture in Yemen. What makes a better read? No question about it, war and mayhem are what the media write about and what we want to read about, even if it is happening on the other side of the world from us.

But what if it isn’t the whole story, or even the greater part of the story? I don’t want our fighting men and women killed here or abroad and I want a safe and peaceful world like most people. But, I want the whole story.

I was working in Sana’a, Yemen, this past month and prior to leaving for this work trip, I was counseled long and hard by both family and friends about the dangers of going to Yemen, such a dangerous country. These warnings were offered, of course, based upon what everyone has read or viewed in the U.S. media. My perspective and my experiences remind me that good journalism covers the whole story.

The real story about the people who live, work, and cherish their culture, their religion, their homes and their families. Is all of that different? Yes, very different and very special. Yes, the media must also cover the bombings, the terrorist acts, and the radicalism being promoted, but where are the stories about the average Yemeni?

My two week work experience in Yemen does not an expert make. However, I have walked the streets of Sana’a and the outlying areas, alone, in the early mornings and at night with my backpack and camera. I only experienced smiles and welcoming comments from children, teens, and adults, all of whom tried out their English on me.

Few speak English, but almost everyone tried a few words as soon as they saw this grey haired older woman walking their streets. And everyone grinned and was very appreciative that I used my 40+ Arabic words on them. Many let me know that their country is, “safe” for people like me. And all wanted my visit and experience to be pleasant.

I visited the souk, or traditional market, several times. The last time, while in the company of an Egyptian co-trainer, I bought some stone beads. Well, I tried to buy them, but I had run out of Rials; so I asked for the owner’s business card so I could return the next day. “NO problem,” said the clerk, in English.

He offered to walk with me back to the hotel, wait while I exchanged US dollars for Rials and then walk the 15 minutes back to his shop. I might add, the clerk packaged the stones up and let me carry them. They were mine even though I hadn’t yet paid.

Yemenis are short people, on average, so I walked way ahead of this clerk, who was babbling rapidly in Arabic with my co-trainer, Hani. NO problem…the clerk met me in the lobby of my hotel, where he waited patiently until I had the money exchanged and in hand. Yes, I am a foreigner and he knew I was good for the money.

The level of customer service, consideration and kindness I experienced, just doesn’t make the pages of our newspapers. Crime is not accepted in Yemen, and in Sana’a, the nation’s capital, I am told that most of the homes do not have a lock on their front doors.

The women’s homes I did visit were not locked and these professional women did not have maids or men at home. It is difficult for a professional woman to find a Yemeni man who will permit their working. While women are not equal to men in so many ways in this culture, women are respected.

Several people, Yemenis and Egyptians, told me of kidnappings which occurred in the north of Yemen where there are issues with safety due to terrorism. Women who were kidnapped were immediately let go. And terrorism is NOT acceptable to these people…terrorists’ photos are on the gates, pasted for all to see and this is discussed openly as a horrible economic, political, religious and cultural violation.

This past Sunday, the TV program, 60 Minutes, focused on Yemen, showing video of Sana’a. Their creative editing painted a picture different than my daily experience in the capital city. Their shots of Bab Al-Yemen, the entrance gate to the local souk, appeared outdated at best and inaccurate at the worst.

They told the story their viewers expect to see and hear, not the whole story. The journalists did not shoot or mention the posters hung prominently and updated daily, offering huge rewards for information leading to the death or capture of these terrorists.

Like in our country, there is much wrong in Yemen. My message…don’t believe everything you read or hear. Like our families, the families in Yemen want a good life: a better life for their children and they want people to visit their country and not be afraid. Yemenis want us to visit and enjoy their food, their culture and their hospitality…and we should. Ask for and demand the whole story.

Will I return? Yes, next month to again work with the Yemeni media who are very interested to learn how to make their media business a profitable and credible one. I would contend, honesty makes a credible company and that means telling the whole story.

Yemen is not like Tunisia, President Saleh says

By Nasser Arrabyee/24/01/2011

The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh called the opposition parties in his country for a televised debate on the most controversial issues like constitutional amendments and elections.

“Come up for a TV debate on my program and your programs,” President Saleh.

Saleh warned from protests and demonstrations that call for violence and chaos. Over the last few days, the capital Sana’a witnessed students demonstrations calling for change and ouster of President Saleh.

“Yemen is a country of freedom and democracy, but we warn from chaos and demagogy,” Saleh said in an annual conference for army and security commanders held in Sana’a Sunday.

“Yemen is not like Tunisia, where people were not allowed to enter mosques with IDs.”
He said he would ask for pardon from people if he made mistakes or fell short of his duties during his 32 years in power.

“I would ask for pardon from the people if I made mistakes or I fell short of my duties, only god is perfect,” he said.

President Saleh blasted those who say he wants to pass the power to his son saying he is against the hereditary rule.

“Talking about hereditary rule is an impudent symphony, we are a republican and democratic system and we are against the hereditary rule,” He said “We are against the hereditary rule of the village, of the tribe, of the power, of the unity, of the ministry, we are against hereditary rule.”

On the latest proposed constitutional amendment which cancels the presidential term limits, President Saleh said he is supporting only two presidential terms, five years each and not leaving it open for ever.

“It’s only some MPs who suggested cancellation of the presidential term limits, but in my electoral program which I’m responsible for, it’s only two terms , five years each,” He said.

President Saleh’s last term ends in September 2013.
Saleh also told the military and security commanders of the conference to stop saying “ with soul, and blood we protect Ali”

“ With soul and blood we protect Yemen, with soul and blood we protect Yemen, this is what we should always say,” Saleh told the participants of the annual military and security conference who gave him a big applause.

Sunday 23 January 2011

Woman activist released after protests' escalation

By Nasser Arrabyee/24/01/2011
The Yemeni authorities released the woman activist Tawkul Karman after taking guarantees from the family she would never “violate the law and order”.

“My sister was released,” Tarek Karman, brother of Tawakul, told a number of journalists and activists who were gathering in the prosecution office early Monday.

Earlier on Sunday, Ms Karman was arrested for leading student demonstrations demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Karman, chairwoman of the female Journalists without chains organization , a local NGO, was arrested from her house at about 1:00 am Sunday from her house immediately after she arrived from a partisan meeting.

She and her husband were returning from a meeting with the secretary general of the Islamist party, Islah, Abdul Wahab Al Ansi, when three vehicles full of gunmen in military and civil clothes kidnapped her, sources close to family said Sunday.

The ministry of interior said in a statement that Miss Karman was arrested according to an order from the prosecution for charges of making unlicensed demonstrations and inciting violence and chaos.

For almost one week, Ms Karman, who is also a leading member in the largest Islamist opposition party Islah, was leading daily demonstrations with hundreds of university students who were demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave the country like the Tunisian President Zain Al Abdeen Bin Ali.

On Saturday, January 22, 2011, hundreds of students, loyal to President Saleh’s party, from the same university, organized demonstrations supporting Saleh.

Before being dispersed by the security forces, the two different demonstrations, at the main gate of Sana’a University, were almost to clash as angry demonstrators were chanting slogans against each other.
The students loyal to the opposition parties led by led by Miss Karman were chanting “ Oh, Ali, Ali, go , go, after your friend Bin Ali” in reference to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the deposed Tunisian President Zain Al Abdeen bin Ali.

While the students loyal to the Saleh’s ruling party were chanting “ Ali or death, Ali or death” , “ Oh, Youth , Oh, youth , the Islah is the terrorist”


The chairman of the Union of the Sana’a University students, Redhwan Al Masodi, criticized Tawakul Karman for using the university students for her political purposes. “The students of Sana’a University refuse being exploited for the interest of one individual or one party,” Al Masodi said.

The Sana’a University issued a statement saying it has nothing to do with the demonstrations being held at its gate . “Political forces with political purposes” were behind the demonstrations, the statement said.

Human rights group condemned the arrest of Ms Karman saying it was a violation of the laws.

The Minister of Interior , Mutahar Rashad Al Mesri, said in a statement Sunday, that his country Yemen is democratic and it allows all kinds of demonstrations “but in the framework” of the constitution and laws.

Yemen activists arrested, students protest

Source: Reuters, By Mohamed Sudam and Adel Al Khader
24/01/2011

SANAA-Yemen arrested 19 anti-government activists on Sunday, including a prominent woman who led student rallies against the president last week, in a clampdown which sparked a new wave of protests in the capital.

Demonstrations broke out across Yemen last week as citizens dissatisfied with the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh drew inspiration from the recent ouster of Tunisia's long-time president.

Tawakul Karman, a journalist and member of the Islamist party Islah who organised the protests through text messages and emails, was taken into custody by police on her way home early on Sunday and charged with unlawfully organising demonstrations, her husband told Reuters.

Later in the day, police in Sanaa arrested 18 other activists, including the heads of two of Yemen's largest human rights organisations, as they left a meeting to discuss Karman's arrest.

The arrests sparked a spontaneous protest of several hundred at Sanaa University on Sunday. The demonstrators, chanting "release the prisoners" and holding pictures of Karman, tried to march to the General Prosecution Office, which a security source said had ordered her arrest.
But roughly 50 riot police carrying batons beat them back. Police also beat up two TV cameramen filming the protests and confiscated their cameras, a Reuters witness said. One was briefly arrested.

I have no accurate information about her whereabouts," Karman's husband Mohamed Ismail al-Nehmi said by phone. "Maybe at the central prison, maybe somewhere else, I don't know."
In a speech aired on state television on Sunday, Saleh reiterated an offer of dialogue with opposition groups and said it was wrong to link Yemen to the events in Tunisia.
We are a democratic country and not Tunisia which had placed mosques under surveillance and shut everyone's mouth," he said.

In an apparent move to calm discontent, Saleh also announced plans to raise the salaries of government employees and military personnel by $47 to $234 a month -- a good bonus for poorly paid soldiers and civil servants in the Arab world's poorest country.


"IMPOSSIBLE" CONDITIONS
The overthrow of Tunisia's Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali shocked the Arab world and shattered the image that its oppressive, army-backed rulers were immune to popular discontent.
Protesters in Sanaa on Sunday made the same demands that they had last week in demonstrations led by Karman.

We demand Ali Abdullah Saleh leave, because we have no other option," said Hani al-Jonid, a Sanaa University student.

Saleh has ruled Yemen for over three decades. His cash-strapped government is not only plagued by rebellions in the north and south, but also by a resurgent al Qaeda wing.
“Yemen has been destroyed by a war in the north and secessionism in the south, and poverty, hunger, unemployment, ignorance and disease. The situation has made it impossible for us to remain silent," Jonid said.

Last week, Saleh offered constitutional reforms that included a limit to future presidential terms. But protesters deemed the offer insufficient and gathered by the thousands in the south to criticise the government. [ID:nLDE70J2BZ]

Yemen is struggling to lift itself out of entrenched poverty, held back by decreasing oil production. More than 40 percent of the country's 23 million people live on under $2 a day and almost a third suffer from chronic hunger.

Tawfiq al-Makhethi, another protester, said on Sunday that the dire state of the economy was what lured him out on the streets: "I'm protesting today because of unemployment, because I'm a university graduate and I've been unemployed for six years."

Female activist arrested after calling President Saleh to leave power

By Nasser Arrabyee/23/01/2011
The Yemeni authorities arrested Sunday a female human right activist for leading student demonstrations demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Tawakul Karman, chairwoman of the female Journalists without chains organization , a local NGO, was arrested from her house at about 1:00 am Sunday from her house immediately after she arrived from a partisan meeting.

She and her husband were returning from a meeting with the secretary general of the Islamist party, Islah, Abdul Wahab Al Ansi, when three vehicles full of gunmen in military and civil clothes kidnapped her, sources close to family said Sunday.

The ministry of interior said in a statement that Miss Karman was arrested according to an order from the prosecution for charges of making unlicensed demonstrations and inciting violence and chaos.

For almost one week, Miss Karman, who is also a leading member in the largest Islamist opposition party Islah, was leading daily demonstrations with hundreds of university students who were demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave the country like the Tunisian President Zain Al Abdeen Bin Ali.

On Saturday, January 22, 2011, hundreds of students, loyal to President Saleh’s party, from the same university, organized demonstrations supporting Saleh.

Before being dispersed by the security forces, the two different demonstrations, at the main gate of Sana’a University, were almost to clash as angry demonstrators were chanting slogans against each other.

The students loyal to the opposition parties led by led by Miss Karman were chanting “ Oh, Ali, Ali, go , go, after your friend Bin Ali” in reference to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the deposed Tunisian President Zain Al Abdeen bin Ali.

While the students loyal to the Saleh’s ruling party were chanting “ Ali or death, Ali or death” , “ Oh, Youth , Oh, youth , the Islah is the terrorist”


The chairman of the Union of the Sana’a University students, Redhwan Al Masodi, criticized Tawakul Karman for using the university students for her political purposes. “The students of Sana’a University refuse being exploited for the interest of one individual or one party,” Al Masodi said.

The Sana’a University issued a statement saying it has nothing to do with the demonstrations being held at its gate . “Political forces with political purposes” were behind the demonstrations, the statement said.

Human rights group condemned the arrest of Miss Karman saying it was a violation of the laws.

The Minister of Interior , Mutahar Rashad Al Mesri, said in a statement Sunday, that his country Yemen is democratic and it allows all kinds of demonstrations “but in the framework” of the constitution and laws.

Saturday 22 January 2011

Yemeni students call for ouster of Saleh, others call for long life for him

By Nasser Arrabyee/22/01/2011

The Yemeni security forces dispersed Saturday two student demonstrations one calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the other supporting him.

The security forces intervened with the tear gas when the two groups were almost to clash with each other at the gate of the Sana’a university.

Hundreds of students loyal to the opposition parties led by prominent members from the Islamist Islah party, were chanting “ Ali, Ali go after your friend Bin Ali” in reference to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the deposed Tunisian President Zain Al Abdeen bin Ali.

The students loyal to the ruling party were chanting “ Ali or death, Ali or death” , “ Youth , youth , the Islah is the terrorist”

The demonstration by the students loyal to the ruling party was the first on Saturday, but the demonstrations of the opposition students started earlier last week.

International fund to help Yemen to be established

International experts to monitor where money of Yemen’s donors and friends goes
By Nasser Arrabyee/22/01/2011

An American official said Saturday that his country is supporting the idea of establishing an international fund for receiving money from donors and friends and spending it only on economic and development projects.

The Yemen official news agency Saba quoted the Assistant Secretary of US Treasury for International Affairs, Andy Baukol as saying his country is “strongly supporting the establishment of international fund” for supporting Yemen.

The American official was in a meeting in Sana’a with the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Abdul Kareem Al Arahabi and other donors.

Since the London Conference in 2006 on Yemen, the donors and friends of Yemen have been promising to finance essential development projects to rescue the country from collapsing in the hands of the extremists groups like Al Qaeda.

Very little was paid so far of the approximate 7 billion dollars the donors promised to give because they do not trust in the government’s weak institutions. The international fund being established might reassure the donors to give their money to those responsible for the fund, with Yemeni government will be only one of them.

Friday 21 January 2011

Protests erupt in Yemen, president offers reform

Demonstrations against economic conditions and president
* Government offers constitutional reforms
* Opposition says proposals do not go far enough

Source: Reuters, By Mohammed Ghobari and Mohamed Sudam
21/01/2011
SANAA/ADEN-Thousands protested in southern Yemen on Thursday to reject political reforms proposed by the government, including a limit on presidential terms, saying they did not go far enough.

The government announced its reform plans in the face of growing discontent that sparked sporadic protests this week.

Opposition parties said they would meet on Saturday to discuss the offer, as thousands of people demonstrated in the southern town of Taiz.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ruled Yemen for over three decades.

"We want constitutional amendments but we want amendments that don't lead to the continuance of the ruler and the inheritance of power to his children," said Mohammed al-Sabry, head of the opposition coalition and the Islamist party Islah.

"We won't permit these corrupt leaders to stay in power and we are ready to sleep in the streets for our country's sake, in order to liberate it from the hands of the corrupt," Sabry said.
The protests come as Tunisia grapples with fallout from the overthrow of its long-time president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled the country after weeks of violent unrest driven by social grievances.

Among the steps put forward by Saleh's ruling party, the General People's Congress, are amendments to guarantee presidential term limits of two seven- or five-year terms as well as voter registration for all Yemeni adults.

The opposition and protesters in Taiz said the reforms did not ensure that Saleh could not run again.

Protests in the south, where many cities are hotbeds of separatist sentiment, have been larger and more widespread than in the north. Several protests over unemployment and economic conditions took place in the southern port of Aden on Wednesday and demonstrators clashed with police.

Yemenis in the north said dwindling protest turnouts in the capital Sanaa meant widespread revolt was unlikely. Analyst Abdulkarim Salam in Sanaa said the tribal systems that dominate Yemeni life were the biggest impediment.

"Of course it's hard to know what will happen in the coming days, but the situation here is different because allegiances here lie first with tribes, clans or even families, " he said.
"LEAVE BEFORE YOU ARE FORCED TO LEAVE"

Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, is facing soaring unemployment and the oil reserves that buoy its economy are dwindling. Almost half of its population of 23 million lives on $2 a day or less.

Two protests this week at Sanaa University criticised autocratic Arab leaders, including Saleh. Protesters held signs with the warning: "Leave before you are forced to leave."

The pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported that an unemployed Yemeni youth set himself on fire in the southern province of Baidah on Wednesday, following the example of the young vegetable seller whose self-immolation inspired revolt in Tunisia and copycat acts in Egypt, Algeria and Mauritania.

The young man's father told state television that his son accidentally burned himself when their house caught fire, though some speculated the statement was made under pressure.
Yemen's government is also struggling to quell a resurgent wing of al Qaeda based in the country and cement a fragile truce with Shi'ite rebels in the north.

North and South Yemen united in 1990 under Saleh but the merger lead to a brief civil war in 1994. Many in the south, home to most of Yemen's oil wealth, say the state discriminates against them while exploiting their resources.

Thursday 20 January 2011

Troops, protesters clash in south Yemen: witnesses

Source: AFP, 20/01/2011

ADEN — A second night of clashes and gunbattles between the army and protesters in Yemen's main southern city of Aden left seven people wounded, three of them soldiers, witnesses and officials said.

Security forces used tear gas and gun fire to disperse the protesters who took to the streets until late Wednesday night in several Aden neighbourhoods, the witnesses said.

Chanting pro-secessionist slogans, the protesters set car tyres ablaze, blocked several roads and wounded a soldier when they hurled stones at the security forces, said one witness.
In Al-Saada neighbourhood, two soldiers and a civilian were wounded in gunbattles, a security official said.

During the protests, security forces arrested dozens of members of the Southern Movement, an activist, Ahmed al-Zubeiri, told AFP.
Dozens of other protesters were rounded up during similar clashes in Aden on Tuesday, witnesses said.

The main leaders of the Southern Movement, Ali Salem al-Baid, who is in exile, and Hassan Baoum -- freed by the authorities early this month -- had called for Tuesday to be a "day of rage" to protest against the government in Sanaa.

South Yemen was independent from 1967, when Britain withdrew from Aden, until the region united with the north in 1990.

The south attempted to secede in 1994, sparking a short-lived civil war that ended with it being overrun by northern troops.

Many residents of south Yemen complain of discrimination by the Sanaa government in the distribution of resources, sparking frequent protests, with calls ranging from economic and social improvements to full independence.

UN officials visit Yemen

Source: Sana'a-based UNDP office, 20/01/2011
Helen Clark, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator and United Nations Development Group (UNDG) Chair, arrived today in Yemen for a six-day official visit.

During this mission, Helen Clark is expected to meet with high-level government officials and visit UNDP projects. Miss Clark will also sign a number or agreements and projects to promote the developmental work between Yemen and the UN.

In addition to meeting with high-level officials and visiting projects, Miss Clark will meet with the UN country team, donor community, civil society, women’s groups, and community leaders. She is accompanied by Ms. Amat Al-Alim Alsoswa, UNDP Regional Director for Arab States, and other UNDP high officials.

Before she was appointed UNDP Administrator in 2009, Miss Clark served for nine years as New Zealand Prime Minister, from 1999 until 2008.

Yemeni former Jihadist burns US flag and 'dinosaurs' pictures

(updated)
By Nasser Arrabyee/20/01/2011
A controversial Yemeni politician from the south set fire on Wednesday to the American and Yemeni flags and picture of President Saleh, and pictures of the exiled socialist leaders, accusing all those of conspiring against the south.

The feudal lord, and former Jihadist with Osama bin Laden, Sheikh Tarek Al Fadhli said he would lead a revolution to liberate the south from the communists who ruled before unity and also from the “occupiers” of the north as call them.

Al Fadhli burned the American flag, united Yemen flag, former south Yemen flag, green flag of the southern separatist movement, and also the pictures of the three exiled communist leaders, Ali Salem Al Baidh, Ali Nasser Mohammed, and Haidar Abu Bakr Al Attas. Al Fadhli raised the American flag on his house last year.

The burning process took place late Wednesday January 19th, 2011, in the courtyard of Al Fadhli’s huge palace in Zunjubar, the capital of the southern province of Abyan.
“Our tan arms will remain (to fight) and our foreheads will be our flags,” said Al Fadhli in a speech to his supporters after he burnt all those symbols.

He said he did that because America killed children and women of the south, in reference to previous air strikes, and Yemeni government fights the southerners, and the separatist movement leaders did not do anything in favor of the south, and the exiled communist leaders are only “thieves” of the revolution.

He said Ali Salem Al Baidh, Ali Nasser Mohammed, and Haidar Abu Bakr Al Attas are “Dinosaurs, and Idols”.

“The comrades are still living in the 70s of the last century, and they never changed after they placed the people in dark tunnel in 1967,” said Al Fadhli.

In his strongly worded-speech to his supporters in the ceremony of burning , Al Fadhli said, “ To America, and to the unjust (meaning President Saleh), and to the dinosaurs: Al Majalah was destroyed with a cruise missile worth 600,000 US dollars, if this money was spent to develop the area, we would have had a wonderful town where no even a terrorist housefly would dare to enter.”

Al Fadhli’s father, as feudal lord and many other bourgeoisies were forced to leave the country after the communists ruled the south in 1967 after the British colonialism left.

According to sources who attended the burning of flags on Wednesday, some of Sheikh Al Fadhli’s aides tried to convince him not to burn the American flag, but he insisted to do that, saying he put the American flag on his house only to help the exiled leaders to have support from US.

“ I raised the foreign flags only for the sake of the comrades so that they come up on tanks to liberate the south, but they didn’t,” he said “but now the people itself would be able to do that and remove injustice.”

Al Fadhli, along with hundreds of those who came back from Afghanistan early 1990s including some Arab, fought with President Saleh’s forces in 1994 civil war against socialists who tried to secede four years after they united with the north.

Al Fadhli received many privileges from President Saleh including being appointed as a member of Saleh’s advisory council. Early 2009, all of a sudden, Al Fadhli joined the southern separatist movement. Later he raised the American and British flags on his palace to tell the west he is no longer Jihadist or terrorist as he was accused by the Yemeni officials after he left them.

Al Fadhli in his speech on Wednesday after burning the flags and pictures in the courtyard of his palace, said the former top leaders of the south who try from abroad to support the separatist movement, are still in their past conflict. “ Ali Salem Al Baidh calls me from abroad and warns me from Ali Nasser Mohammed,” He said “The dinosaurs are still in their past conflict, and they want to drag the southerners to their useless and futile conflicts.”

The exiled Ali Nasser Mohammed and Ali Salem Al Baidh led a civil war in the south against each other in 1986 after they divided their socialist party into two factions.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Yemeni former Jihadist downs American flag from his house and burns it

By Nasser Arrabyee/19/01/2011
A controversial Yemeni politician from the south set fire on Wednesday to the American and Yemeni flags and pictures of exiled socialist leaders accusing all those of conspiring against the south.

The feudal lord, and former Jihadist with Osama bin Laden, Sheikh Tarek Al Fadhli said he would lead a revolution to liberate the south from the communists who ruled before unity and also from the “occupiers” of the north.

Al Fadhli burned the American flag, united Yemen flag, former south Yemen flag, green flag of the southern separatist movement, and also the pictures of the three exiled communist leaders, Ali Salem Al Baidh, Ali Nasser Mohammed, and Haidar Abu Bakr Al Attas. Al Fadhli raised the American flag on his house last year.

The burning process took place late Wednesday January 19th, 2011, in the courtyard of Al Fadhli’s huge palace in Zunjubar, the capital of the southern province of Abyan.
“Our tan arms remain (to fight) and our foreheads will be our flags,” said Al Fadhli after he burnt all those symbols.

He said he did that because America killed children and women of the south, in reference to previous air strikes, and Yemeni government fights the southerners, and the separatist movement leaders did not do anything in favor of the south, and the exiled communist leaders are thieves of the revolution.

He said Ali Salem Al Baidh, Ali Nasser Mohammed, and Haidar Abu Bakr Al Attas are “Dinosaurs, and Idols”. “The comrades are still living in the 70s of the last century, and they never changed after they placed the people in dark tunnel in 1967,” said Al Fadhli. Al Fadhli’s father, as feudal lord and many other bourgeoisies were forced to leave the country after the communists ruled the south in 1967 after the British colonialism left.

According to sources who attended the burning of flags on Wednesday, some of Sheikh Al Fadhli’s aides tried to convince him not to burn the American flag, but he insisted to do that, saying he put the American flag on his house only to help the exiled leaders to have support from US.

“ I raised the foreign flags only for the sake of the comrades so that they come up on tanks to liberate the south, but they didn’t,” he said “but now the people itself would be able to do that and remove injustice.”

Al Fadhli, along with hundreds of those who came back from Afghanistan early 1990s, fought with President Saleh forces in 1994 civil war against socialists who tried to secede less than four years after they united with the north.

Al Fadhli received many privileges from President Saleh including being appointed as a member of Saleh’s advisory council. Early 2009, all of a sudden, Al Fadhli joined the southern separatist movement. Later he raised the American and British flags on his palace to tell the west he is no longer Jihadist or terrorist as he was accused by the Yemeni officials after he left them.

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Supreme Court turns down Guantanamo detainee's plea for freedom

Source: AP, 19/01/2011

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to take a new case involving a Guantanamo Bay detainee who was ordered released by a federal judge before an appeals court said he could continue to be held.

The court turned down an appeal Tuesday from Mohammed al-Adahi, a Yemeni who has spent more than eight years in the jail of the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

In 2009, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said there was not "reliable evidence" to justify al-Adahi's continued detention, despite his family ties to Osama bin Laden, his admission that he met with the terrorist mastermind in the weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States and his attendance at an al-Qaida training camp.

Last year, the federal appeals court in Washington voted 3-0 to reverse Kessler's decision, saying she displayed insufficient skepticism about al-Adahi.

The appeals court opinion was written by Judge A. Raymond Randolph, whose decisions against the detainees have fared poorly at the court.

The justices have overruled him three times and sided with detainees who were seeking access to U.S. courts to argue that they should not be detained.

Randolph has been openly critical of the high court rulings, even delivering a lecture on the topic in October to the conservative Heritage Foundation.

His talk argued that the court's decision in 2008 that extended some constitutional protections to the detainees created a "legal mess" that the justices were leaving for other judges to clean up.
In the 3-0 decision, the appeals court said there is ample evidence that Mohammed al-Adahi was more likely than not part of al-Qaida.

The appeals court said the judge in the U.S. District Court case displayed little skepticism about Al-Adahi, despite his having met twice with bin Laden and having attended al-Qaida's Al Farouq training camp, where many of the Sept. 11 terrorists trained.

"One of the oddest things about this case is that despite an extensive record and numerous factual disputes," the judge "never made any findings about whether Al-Adahi was generally a credible witness," wrote Randolph, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush.

Randolph said that "put bluntly, the instructions to detainees are to make up a story and lie."
The other appeals judges on the case were Brett Kavanaugh, an appointee of former President George W. Bush; and Karen LeCraft Henderson, an appointee of Bush's father.

Kessler had ruled that al-Adahi was to be released after seven years at the U.S. detention facility in Cuba.

In his appeals court opinion, Randolph said the district court wrongly required each piece of the government's evidence "to bear weight without regard to all or indeed any other evidence in the case." Randolph called the judge's approach "a fundamental mistake that infected the court's entire analysis."

Pakistani authorities captured Al-Adahi in 2001. In 2004 at Guantanamo Bay, a Combatant Status Review Tribunal determined that the evidence showed he was part of al-Qaida.
A Yemeni man's family ties to bin Laden and admission that he met with the terrorist mastermind in the weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks are not enough to continue holding him at Guantanamo Bay, a judge wrote in an order released Friday.

Al-Adahi testified that in July 2001 he took his sister to Afghanistan for a celebration of her arranged marriage to a man the United States alleges was a bin Laden bodyguard. The wedding was at bin Laden's house, and al-Adahi said he was introduced to bin Laden there for the first time and then met briefly with him again a few days later. He said bin Laden summoned him and for about five to 10 minutes asked about the religious community in Yemen.

Justice Department attorneys argued the associations demonstrate that al-Adahi was an al-Qaida insider whose brother-in-law was facilitating his rise up the ranks of the terror organization. After the wedding, al-Adahi allegedly spent the night at an al-Qaida guest house and trained at the Al Farouq terrorist camp for seven to 10 days before he was ordered to leave for disobeying orders.

"This training represents the strongest basis that the government has for detaining al-Adahi," Kessler wrote. She said al-Adahi's "brief attendance at Al Farouq and eventual expulsion simply do not bring him within the ambit of the executive's power to detain."

Al-Adahi's testimony in the case was made via videoconference from Guantanamo Bay. Kessler had ordered that an unclassified version of the video be released, but Justice Department attorneys revealed a month later that no recording was made because of oversight and miscommunication. A lightly edited transcript was released.

Government lawyers apologized to al-Adahi and the court. But al-Adahi's attorneys have asked for sanctions, including his release, because of the violation of the court order. Kessler wrote in a footnote to her order that she's still considering the request for sanctions but did not otherwise mention the videotape in her reasons for ordering his release.

Al-Adahi is one of scores of Guantanamo detainees suing in U.S. District Court in Washington for their release. Judges there so far have ordered the release of at least 29 detainees, although many still remain at the prison since no country will agree to take them.

The judges have denied requests for release by at least six others — most recently another Yemeni named Adham Mohammed Al Awad who the United States argued became an al-Qaida fighter in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks.