Source: New York Times, By ROBERT F. WORTH, 19/01/2011
WASHINGTON — A judge in Yemen sentenced the radical American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in absentia on Monday to 10 years in prison on charges of incitement to murder and belonging to a terrorist group.
American and Yemeni officials say Mr. Awlaki is working with Al Qaeda’s Arabian branch to plot terrorist attacks, and the Obama administration has authorized his targeted killing. He is believed to be hiding in the remote mountains of Shabwa Province in Yemen.
Mr. Awlaki was convicted in connection with the murder in October of a French citizen, Jacques Spagnolo, in the Yemeni capital, Sana. Prosecutors said that in e-mail exchanges, Mr. Awlaki incited the 19-year-old gunman, Hisham Muhammad Assem, to kill foreigners. A cousin of Mr. Awlaki’s who is also in hiding, Othman al-Awlaki, was accused of incitement in the case along with him, and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The accused killer, Mr. Assem, was sentenced to death at the same session of Yemen’s State Security Court, which specializes in terrorism cases.
Mr. Assem testified during his trial that he had no connection to Mr. Awlaki, that he killed Mr. Spagnolo for personal reasons, and that his confession implicating Mr. Awlaki was obtained under torture. Lawyers for the defendants said they had not seen any evidence linking Mr. Awlaki to Mr. Assem.
The trial was widely seen in Yemen as a gesture to placate the United States government and to legitimize Yemen’s own efforts to capture Mr. Awlaki, who belongs to a powerful tribe that is protecting him.
On Tuesday, the same State Security Court sentenced a Yemeni journalist, Abdulelah Hider Sha’ea, to five years in prison on terrorism charges, saying he had provided information about targets to Al Qaeda members while reporting on the group.
Mr. Awlaki has built a global following through his eloquent Internet sermons. He has been a high priority for American counterterrorism officials since 2009, when he was linked through e-mails to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., and to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner a year ago.
In recent months, Mr. Awlaki has called for the killing of Americans in videotapes and audiotapes. On Sunday, the latest issue of Inspire, the English-language magazine of Al Qaeda’s Arabian branch, appeared on the Internet, with an article under Mr. Awlaki’s name providing Islamic justification for the killing and “dispossessing” of Americans.
Reporting contributed by Nasser Arrabyee in Sana, Yemen
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Yemeni journalist sentenced to five years for terror links
By Nasser Arrabyee/18/01/2011
A Yemeni journalist was sentenced on Tuesday to five years in prisons for links with the Yemen-based Al Qaeda.
The journalist Abdul Elah Haidar Shaea, was sentenced to five years and his colleague Abdul Kareem Al Shami was sentenced to two years in prison.
The two men were convicted of forming an armed gang to work with the Yemen-based Al Qaeda branch, Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). After having served their terms, the two men will be underpolice monitoring and will be allowed to travel outside Sana'a for two years.
The journalist Shaea refused to appeal as he refused before to recognize the court and refused to allow any lawyers to defend him.
“I’m not before a court now to appeal, I’m only in front of a gang who kidnapped me,” Shaea told the Judge, Redhwan Al Namer, after he read the verdict in the State Security Court in Sana’a.
Earlier the prosecutor accused Shaea using the journalism as a cover to form an armed gang for implementing terrorist acts in Yemen.
He was also accused recruiting people from outside Yemen to work with Al Qaeda and providing them with information about the security places and urging them to implement operations.
During all the trials sessions, Shaea refused to say anything to the judge except demand .
“ I want judge first to order the arrest of those who kidnapped me and disappeared me for 35 days,” Shaea would always say whenever the judge asks him to comment.
The journalist Shaea appeared in good health with high morale as he was waving with his hands to tens of journalists and friends, relatives, who attended the session of pronouncing the verdict on him on Tuesday January 18th, 2011.
While smiling to photographers and joking with friends from behind the bars, Shaea was not wearing the prison's clothes, he was, instead, wearing his usual smart clothes with his hair beautifully combed.
Shaea tried to look confident and unworried unlike his friend Abdul Kareem Al Shami, who was accused mainly of helping Shaea in sending and coding decoding emails.
In the first hearing last October, the prosecutor said, that Abdul Elah Haidar Shaea, 34, and Abdul Kareem Dawod Al Shami 28, during the period from 2008 until 16th, August 2010, formed an illegal armed gang and worked for the interest of Al Qaeda.
The first accused, Shaea, recruited a number of mercenaries from outside Yemen and helped them to join Al Qaeda.
The prosecutor also said, that Shaea collected information about the security headquarters and foreign embassies, and provided these information to Al Qaeda with the aim of targeting them.
Shaea also, prosecutor said, published untrue news stories and statements in the media with the aim of promoting Al Qaeda and achieving their goals and damaging security and stability of the nation and its public interests.
The prosecutor said, that Shaea was working as a media advisor for Yemeni-American extremist cleric Anwar Al Awlaki, and that he had meetings with the leaders of Al Qaeda , Nasser AlWahaishy, Saeed Al Shihri, Qasem Al Raimi, and he urged them to strike strategic goals and Yemeni and foreign interests.
The journalist Shaea was arrested on August 16th, 2010 from his house in the Yemeni capital Sana’a by the Yemeni intelligence.
Without any kind of access to family or lawyers, he was kept in the intelligence prisons until he was referred to the prosecution on September 22nd, 2010 when the court agreed a request from the prosecution for keeping him in prison 30 days more for completing investigations.
The journalist Shaea became famous after he made an exclusive interview with the top leader of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Nasser Al Wahaishy, Abu Baseer, on January 2009.
And on November of the same year, he made an interview with the Yemeni-American extremist cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, who is now wanted for the CIA dead or alive.
A Yemeni journalist was sentenced on Tuesday to five years in prisons for links with the Yemen-based Al Qaeda.
The journalist Abdul Elah Haidar Shaea, was sentenced to five years and his colleague Abdul Kareem Al Shami was sentenced to two years in prison.
The two men were convicted of forming an armed gang to work with the Yemen-based Al Qaeda branch, Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). After having served their terms, the two men will be underpolice monitoring and will be allowed to travel outside Sana'a for two years.
The journalist Shaea refused to appeal as he refused before to recognize the court and refused to allow any lawyers to defend him.
“I’m not before a court now to appeal, I’m only in front of a gang who kidnapped me,” Shaea told the Judge, Redhwan Al Namer, after he read the verdict in the State Security Court in Sana’a.
Earlier the prosecutor accused Shaea using the journalism as a cover to form an armed gang for implementing terrorist acts in Yemen.
He was also accused recruiting people from outside Yemen to work with Al Qaeda and providing them with information about the security places and urging them to implement operations.
During all the trials sessions, Shaea refused to say anything to the judge except demand .
“ I want judge first to order the arrest of those who kidnapped me and disappeared me for 35 days,” Shaea would always say whenever the judge asks him to comment.
The journalist Shaea appeared in good health with high morale as he was waving with his hands to tens of journalists and friends, relatives, who attended the session of pronouncing the verdict on him on Tuesday January 18th, 2011.
While smiling to photographers and joking with friends from behind the bars, Shaea was not wearing the prison's clothes, he was, instead, wearing his usual smart clothes with his hair beautifully combed.
Shaea tried to look confident and unworried unlike his friend Abdul Kareem Al Shami, who was accused mainly of helping Shaea in sending and coding decoding emails.
In the first hearing last October, the prosecutor said, that Abdul Elah Haidar Shaea, 34, and Abdul Kareem Dawod Al Shami 28, during the period from 2008 until 16th, August 2010, formed an illegal armed gang and worked for the interest of Al Qaeda.
The first accused, Shaea, recruited a number of mercenaries from outside Yemen and helped them to join Al Qaeda.
The prosecutor also said, that Shaea collected information about the security headquarters and foreign embassies, and provided these information to Al Qaeda with the aim of targeting them.
Shaea also, prosecutor said, published untrue news stories and statements in the media with the aim of promoting Al Qaeda and achieving their goals and damaging security and stability of the nation and its public interests.
The prosecutor said, that Shaea was working as a media advisor for Yemeni-American extremist cleric Anwar Al Awlaki, and that he had meetings with the leaders of Al Qaeda , Nasser AlWahaishy, Saeed Al Shihri, Qasem Al Raimi, and he urged them to strike strategic goals and Yemeni and foreign interests.
The journalist Shaea was arrested on August 16th, 2010 from his house in the Yemeni capital Sana’a by the Yemeni intelligence.
Without any kind of access to family or lawyers, he was kept in the intelligence prisons until he was referred to the prosecution on September 22nd, 2010 when the court agreed a request from the prosecution for keeping him in prison 30 days more for completing investigations.
The journalist Shaea became famous after he made an exclusive interview with the top leader of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Nasser Al Wahaishy, Abu Baseer, on January 2009.
And on November of the same year, he made an interview with the Yemeni-American extremist cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, who is now wanted for the CIA dead or alive.
Monday, 17 January 2011
Frenchman's killer sentenced to death
By Nasser Arrabyee/17/01/2011
A Yemeni young man was sentenced to death on Monday for shooting dead a Frenchman last October in the Yemeni capital Sana’a.
The State Security Court, chaired by Judge Muhsen Alwan, issued the death sentence against Hesham Asem, 19, for killing the French man Jacques Spagnolo.
The court also sentenced , in absentia, 10, and 8 years in prison respectively to the Yemeni- American cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki and his cousin Othman Al Awlaki for inciting the defendant Asem to kill the French man and other foreigners.
Asem asked the judge for an appeal, and the lawyer of the two Awlakis, Saleem Allaw, asked for an appeal for his clients who were tried in absentia.
On October 6th, 2010, Asem who was working as a guard in a Sana’a-based Austrian company for oil and gas (OMV), waited in the early morning until the director of the company, the French man, Mr Spagnolo, came to work and shot him dead and looked for another British man and shot him injured before he was arrested.
“ Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, God is greater, God is greater,” Asem was shouting while shooting as almost all the present staff said at the time.
The prosecutor accused Asem of implementing instructions of, Anwar Al Awlaki, to kill foreigners.
The prosecutor said that Asem contacted Anwar through his cousin Othman, seeking an advice what to do the foreigners he is working with. “Kill them because they are occupiers,” Al Awlaki, the most wanted for CIA, dead or alive, advised Asem in emails according to the minutes of investigations.
But in the trial sessions, Asem denied, saying he was only forced to say that.
Lawyers and relatives of Asem say that the defendant was sexually harassed by the French director of the company and this is why he killed him. The lawyers also said that the court refused to allow witnesses of the defendants.
Asem did not finish his high school and he spent about one year and a half looking for a job to support himself before he found his job as a guard in the OMV company.
A Yemeni young man was sentenced to death on Monday for shooting dead a Frenchman last October in the Yemeni capital Sana’a.
The State Security Court, chaired by Judge Muhsen Alwan, issued the death sentence against Hesham Asem, 19, for killing the French man Jacques Spagnolo.
The court also sentenced , in absentia, 10, and 8 years in prison respectively to the Yemeni- American cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki and his cousin Othman Al Awlaki for inciting the defendant Asem to kill the French man and other foreigners.
Asem asked the judge for an appeal, and the lawyer of the two Awlakis, Saleem Allaw, asked for an appeal for his clients who were tried in absentia.
On October 6th, 2010, Asem who was working as a guard in a Sana’a-based Austrian company for oil and gas (OMV), waited in the early morning until the director of the company, the French man, Mr Spagnolo, came to work and shot him dead and looked for another British man and shot him injured before he was arrested.
“ Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, God is greater, God is greater,” Asem was shouting while shooting as almost all the present staff said at the time.
The prosecutor accused Asem of implementing instructions of, Anwar Al Awlaki, to kill foreigners.
The prosecutor said that Asem contacted Anwar through his cousin Othman, seeking an advice what to do the foreigners he is working with. “Kill them because they are occupiers,” Al Awlaki, the most wanted for CIA, dead or alive, advised Asem in emails according to the minutes of investigations.
But in the trial sessions, Asem denied, saying he was only forced to say that.
Lawyers and relatives of Asem say that the defendant was sexually harassed by the French director of the company and this is why he killed him. The lawyers also said that the court refused to allow witnesses of the defendants.
Asem did not finish his high school and he spent about one year and a half looking for a job to support himself before he found his job as a guard in the OMV company.
Yemen’s hidden alcohol problem
Source: The Media Line
17\01\2011
Treatment for alcoholism is private as government brushes it under the rug
Yemen, Sana’a – It’s nine o’clock at night on a busy road on the outskirts of Sana’a and a man is waiting in the shadows.
Samir, a 22-year-old university student, has been cruising in his car with his mates and has been engaged in a constant mobile phone negotiation with this man until finally, a location for the deal is made.
Samir halts his car. The man emerges from the shadows and quickly passes him a plastic bag containing two bottles of Stolichnaya vodka, wrapped in local newspapers and asks for the money. Samir gives him 12,000 Rials ($60) for both bottles.
In an Islamist country where alcohol is largely forbidden, just a simple transaction for a couple bottles of vodka has a sinister nature of black alley contraband and fear.
As much as alcohol is taboo, treating alcoholism is even more challenging since it exposes its sufferers to stigmas.
Smir, who spoke on condition his last name not be revealed, says he does not consider himself to be an alcoholic. He just has “to drink a few beers in the evening to be able to sleep.”
A student at one of the Yemeni capital’s prestigious universities, Samir says he often skips classes to drink and was “stressed out” because of his father’s high expectations from him to get high marks and take over his family business. He both adores and fears his father and says his fear of not living up to his expectations makes him seek daily solace in alcohol.
He is not alone. According to Dr. Hisham Alnabhani, a psychiatrist at Al Amal psychiatric hospital, about six cases like Samir’s cross his door every month seeking treatment for alcohol abuse.
“They usually come after drinking for three of four years,” Alnabhani told The Media Line. “Most of them have high economic status, are the sons of military officers or businessmen have money and therefore access to alcohol.”
Alnabhani said most of them had lived in Saudi Arabia for extended periods.
“This is where they picked up the habit of using alcohol. I know it is even more forbidden there than in Yemen but people tend to hunt after forbidden things,” he added.
Yemeni law prohibits drinking alcohol in public or being drunk in public. If caught, violators are sent to prison and not to treatment centers like the Al Amal hospital. What happens in private homes, however, is another matter and police do not as a rule search houses for alcohol. Unlike in Saudi Arabia, there are no religious police enforcing Islamic ban on alcohol.
“If people drink at home, this is between them and Allah, not between them and the Yemeni law,” Dr. Hisham says.
Ironically, alcohol is relatively easy to obtain in Yemen. There is a locally brewed vodka, called Balladi, named after the Arabic word ‘bilad’ which means country.
Vodka, whisky, beer and gin is also smuggled in from Ethiopia or Djibouti and then sold through dealers. There are even towns such as Haima and Amran where whole streets are lined with little shops selling booze behind their iron doors.
At first glance the shops appear like the average Yemeni grocery with cans of beans, washing powder and cigarettes lining the walls. But they have a clandestine side room where crates of Heineken beer and bottles of whisky of assorted brands can be found.
The shops are known by many, including government officials. A recent Wikileaks report quoted President Ali Abdullah Saleh joking with US Gen.
David Petraeus that he loathed drugs and weapons coming from Djibouti, but whisky, on the other hand was fine, as long as it was good whiskey. Curiously, the report did not receive much media attention in Yemen despite fears in the foreign press that it could lead to a “Whiskey Controversy.”
(http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2033511,00.html)Yemen denied the quotes were made and the government-controlled newspapers and television channels ignored it.
Samir recalls how he and others seeking an alcoholic drink had ventured to the Russian Club, a nightclub in Saana playing outdated music but where alcohol flows freely, provided one is a foreigner. The club denied Samir and his mates entry since they were Yemenis.
“This is not up to the guy at the gate, it is up to us, for heaven’s sake,” Samir says angrily, recalling they went home and ordered a bottle of gin from a dealer.
Dr. Alnabhani believes that the ones coming to his clinic with an alcohol problem are only the tip of the iceberg and that the phenomenon is much more wide spread than the Yemeni public wants to admit.
“We only see the complicated issues where families bring the man to our hospital,” he says. “It is always men. I have never seen a woman here. They usually are brought after he starts beating up his wife, his sons, his neighbours and the family was desperate for treatment.”
“It is there so why deny it? The first step to treatment is acknowledgement but in our society this is taboo. Furthermore, everyone in Yemen who seeks psychological or psychiatric help is considered insane, so this does not motivate people to go to a psychiatric hospital either,” he says.
Al Amal hospital checks in alcoholics for a two-week treatment, during which they receive medication, group and behavioural therapy. After they leave, they continue to receive medication and psychological treatment.
“But it only works with people who come voluntarily,” Dr. Alnabhani laments. “Those who are forced here by their families usually fall back again.”
The Al Amal hospital is funded by the Charitable Society for Social Welfare, a Yemeni charity founded by Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, an influential Yemeni religious leader who is also on the United States lists of terrorists.
This doesn’t bother Dr. Alnabhani or his colleagues since their goal is to deal with alcoholism, and stay away from religious politics.
Because officially there is no alcohol, there are no campaigns or any other public awareness programs.
People only know about treatment programs such as the one at Al Amal hospital due to word of mouth. For years, Dr. Alnabhani and his colleagues have tried to publicise their care, but they are not supported by the government.
“So we can only sit here and wait for people to come to us,” he says, adding sardonically that knocking behind the closed doors of Sana’a would likely lead to a seven-fold increase in alcoholism patients.
Meanwhile, young men like Samir continue to titter on alcoholism which raises the question: Would it not be better to legalize it and just sell it in the supermarkets so things can be controlled? Dr. Alnabhani is not so sure.
“First of all, access would be easier so we will have more drinkers,” Dr. Alnabhani says. “Secondly, people think that if this were the case then Yemen would no longer be an Islamic country. As long as it is hidden, they simply think the problem does not exist.”
17\01\2011
Treatment for alcoholism is private as government brushes it under the rug
Yemen, Sana’a – It’s nine o’clock at night on a busy road on the outskirts of Sana’a and a man is waiting in the shadows.
Samir, a 22-year-old university student, has been cruising in his car with his mates and has been engaged in a constant mobile phone negotiation with this man until finally, a location for the deal is made.
Samir halts his car. The man emerges from the shadows and quickly passes him a plastic bag containing two bottles of Stolichnaya vodka, wrapped in local newspapers and asks for the money. Samir gives him 12,000 Rials ($60) for both bottles.
In an Islamist country where alcohol is largely forbidden, just a simple transaction for a couple bottles of vodka has a sinister nature of black alley contraband and fear.
As much as alcohol is taboo, treating alcoholism is even more challenging since it exposes its sufferers to stigmas.
Smir, who spoke on condition his last name not be revealed, says he does not consider himself to be an alcoholic. He just has “to drink a few beers in the evening to be able to sleep.”
A student at one of the Yemeni capital’s prestigious universities, Samir says he often skips classes to drink and was “stressed out” because of his father’s high expectations from him to get high marks and take over his family business. He both adores and fears his father and says his fear of not living up to his expectations makes him seek daily solace in alcohol.
He is not alone. According to Dr. Hisham Alnabhani, a psychiatrist at Al Amal psychiatric hospital, about six cases like Samir’s cross his door every month seeking treatment for alcohol abuse.
“They usually come after drinking for three of four years,” Alnabhani told The Media Line. “Most of them have high economic status, are the sons of military officers or businessmen have money and therefore access to alcohol.”
Alnabhani said most of them had lived in Saudi Arabia for extended periods.
“This is where they picked up the habit of using alcohol. I know it is even more forbidden there than in Yemen but people tend to hunt after forbidden things,” he added.
Yemeni law prohibits drinking alcohol in public or being drunk in public. If caught, violators are sent to prison and not to treatment centers like the Al Amal hospital. What happens in private homes, however, is another matter and police do not as a rule search houses for alcohol. Unlike in Saudi Arabia, there are no religious police enforcing Islamic ban on alcohol.
“If people drink at home, this is between them and Allah, not between them and the Yemeni law,” Dr. Hisham says.
Ironically, alcohol is relatively easy to obtain in Yemen. There is a locally brewed vodka, called Balladi, named after the Arabic word ‘bilad’ which means country.
Vodka, whisky, beer and gin is also smuggled in from Ethiopia or Djibouti and then sold through dealers. There are even towns such as Haima and Amran where whole streets are lined with little shops selling booze behind their iron doors.
At first glance the shops appear like the average Yemeni grocery with cans of beans, washing powder and cigarettes lining the walls. But they have a clandestine side room where crates of Heineken beer and bottles of whisky of assorted brands can be found.
The shops are known by many, including government officials. A recent Wikileaks report quoted President Ali Abdullah Saleh joking with US Gen.
David Petraeus that he loathed drugs and weapons coming from Djibouti, but whisky, on the other hand was fine, as long as it was good whiskey. Curiously, the report did not receive much media attention in Yemen despite fears in the foreign press that it could lead to a “Whiskey Controversy.”
(http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2033511,00.html)Yemen denied the quotes were made and the government-controlled newspapers and television channels ignored it.
Samir recalls how he and others seeking an alcoholic drink had ventured to the Russian Club, a nightclub in Saana playing outdated music but where alcohol flows freely, provided one is a foreigner. The club denied Samir and his mates entry since they were Yemenis.
“This is not up to the guy at the gate, it is up to us, for heaven’s sake,” Samir says angrily, recalling they went home and ordered a bottle of gin from a dealer.
Dr. Alnabhani believes that the ones coming to his clinic with an alcohol problem are only the tip of the iceberg and that the phenomenon is much more wide spread than the Yemeni public wants to admit.
“We only see the complicated issues where families bring the man to our hospital,” he says. “It is always men. I have never seen a woman here. They usually are brought after he starts beating up his wife, his sons, his neighbours and the family was desperate for treatment.”
“It is there so why deny it? The first step to treatment is acknowledgement but in our society this is taboo. Furthermore, everyone in Yemen who seeks psychological or psychiatric help is considered insane, so this does not motivate people to go to a psychiatric hospital either,” he says.
Al Amal hospital checks in alcoholics for a two-week treatment, during which they receive medication, group and behavioural therapy. After they leave, they continue to receive medication and psychological treatment.
“But it only works with people who come voluntarily,” Dr. Alnabhani laments. “Those who are forced here by their families usually fall back again.”
The Al Amal hospital is funded by the Charitable Society for Social Welfare, a Yemeni charity founded by Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, an influential Yemeni religious leader who is also on the United States lists of terrorists.
This doesn’t bother Dr. Alnabhani or his colleagues since their goal is to deal with alcoholism, and stay away from religious politics.
Because officially there is no alcohol, there are no campaigns or any other public awareness programs.
People only know about treatment programs such as the one at Al Amal hospital due to word of mouth. For years, Dr. Alnabhani and his colleagues have tried to publicise their care, but they are not supported by the government.
“So we can only sit here and wait for people to come to us,” he says, adding sardonically that knocking behind the closed doors of Sana’a would likely lead to a seven-fold increase in alcoholism patients.
Meanwhile, young men like Samir continue to titter on alcoholism which raises the question: Would it not be better to legalize it and just sell it in the supermarkets so things can be controlled? Dr. Alnabhani is not so sure.
“First of all, access would be easier so we will have more drinkers,” Dr. Alnabhani says. “Secondly, people think that if this were the case then Yemen would no longer be an Islamic country. As long as it is hidden, they simply think the problem does not exist.”
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Yemen, America's Uneasy Ally in War on Terror
Source: CBS
17\01\2011
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid an unannounced visit to the Republic of Yemen this past week, a nominal U.S. ally that has been in and out of the news for the last decade: most of the news bad. It started with a bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Aden harbor back in 2000.
Today, half the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are from Yemen, and the last two al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. mainland have originated there. While the United States has been busy with military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, this remote, lawless country has now emerged as the main staging area for attacks against the west.
Wracked with internal strife and political instability, Yemen is presenting a complicated challenge for U.S. policymakers, with no easy fixes and few good options.
Yemen is one of the oldest civilizations in the Middle East, with 3,000 years of history. It is believed that Noah and the Queen of Sheba once lived there, and if they were to come back today they would find much of the countryside unchanged, except for the weapons.
It is a country of 23 million people and at least 23 million guns, many of them currently in use.
Yemen's beleaguered government has been fighting a tribal war in the north, an armed secessionist movement in the south, and a growing insurgency from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
It is now the most active branch of the al Qaeda network. "In many ways they are the most pressing threat against the U.S. homeland," former U.S. Ambassador Edmund Hull told correspondent Steve Kroft.
Few Americans know more about Yemen than Hull, who served there in the years immediately following 9/11.
Asked if he has any idea how many people in Yemen are affiliated with al Qaeda, Hull told Kroft, "You have a relatively small number of kind of hardcore inner circle in the hundreds, then you have a next circle, probably in the thousands of people who can be relied on to help out in a pinch.
And then, a larger circle yet of people who are ideologically sympathetic to the organization." Despite relatively small numbers, they have made their presence felt far beyond Yemen.
The failed suicide bombing of this jetliner in Detroit a year ago Christmas was carried out by Umar Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian student was trained and equipped in Yemen with explosives sewn into his underwear.
And then there were the two Chicago-bound bombs that were supposed to blow up UPS and FedEx planes last October. They too originated in Yemen.
The highly sophisticated devices were concealed in printer cartridges and believed to be the handiwork of Ibrahim al-Asiri.
"Al-Asiri is the bomb maker. He's apparently a very creative type who is adept at seeing chinks in our armor and challenging them," Hull explained.
In many ways Yemen is the perfect safe haven for al Qaeda. There is a strong fraternity here of former jihadists who fought the Russians in Afghanistan.
There are the porous borders and ports that make it easy to smuggle people in and out, and hundreds of thousands of square miles of desert and mountains where they can hide, train and plan their missions with the acquiescence of local tribes, and little interference from the government, which has limited presence outside the major cities.
And finally there is the grinding poverty and political discontent that al Qaeda seems to be exploiting: Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world, there is a critical shortage of water, a third of its people are hungry, and resentment is building against the longtime autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
"How would you describe his government?" Kroft asked Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani. "Completely powerless," he replied.
Al-Iryani is a member of one of the most powerful families in Yemen. A development consultant and political analyst, he is one of the few insiders there willing to speak candidly.
"Our economy is in very bad shape. Overall the situation is very dangerous," he told Kroft. Asked if it could bring the government down, al-Iryani told Kroft, "It could." "To be replaced by what?" Kroft asked. "Chaos," al-Iryani said.
In the past nine months there have been two terrorist attacks against U.S. and British embassy personnel, and one against the British ambassador.
Travel by westerners outside the major cities is restricted, out of concern that they could be killed or kidnapped.
That was the atmosphere this past week when Secretary of State Clinton met with President Saleh, trying to prod him into stepping up the fight against al Qaeda with promises of more economic assistance.
Officially, the only U.S. military presence in Yemen is a contingent of about 50 trainers working with Yemen's counterterrorism forces. "60 Minutes" was not allowed to film the Americans, but were allowed to show Yemeni troops running through their exercises.
Counterterrorism forces are under the command of General Yahya Saleh, who is the nephew of the president.
He told us the country is grateful for the assistance but believes any more U.S. troops on the ground will only win new recruits for al Qaeda.
"The Americans should know that they are not welcome in this region, and they are not very popular," Gen. Saleh told Kroft. "You say the United States is very unpopular here," Kroft remarked. "I'm not saying in Yemen.
In the region," Saleh replied. "In the region, what about in Yemen?" Kroft asked. "It's part of the region," Saleh replied.
The government's official position is that the U.S. can't be involved militarily there and needs to let the Yemenis take on al Qaeda - a political decision intended to appease Muslim sensitivities. But there is no question U.S. military involvement goes far beyond the 50 trainers.
Whatever else the U.S. may be providing to Yemen in the in the way of military assistance is highly classified.
There are certainly drones overhead doing reconnaissance and gathering intelligence, as well as Navy cruise missiles offshore that have already been used to kill al Qaeda militants and unfortunately some innocent civilians.
Forty one civilians were killed in two American missile strikes in December 2009, and another one last May inadvertently killed a government official, creating an uproar and major protests in the northern provinces.
But leaked diplomatic cables show that Yemen has tolerated the attacks, and collateral damage is unlikely to deter the U.S. from going after high-value targets, one of which is an American.
Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical imam who was born in New Mexico and spent years preaching in the U.S., has a worldwide Internet following as an instigator of violence against the United States.
U.S. counterterrorist officials believe al-Awlaki has graduated from encouraging people to kill Americans to helping al Qaeda actually do it, and permission has been granted to assassinate him even though he is an American citizen.
"No doubt in your mind that he is al Qaeda?" Kroft asked former Ambassador Hull. "No doubt in my mind. I don't even think he would dispute that," he replied.
Al-Awlaki is one of the few al Qaeda leaders who speaks fluent English and his special skill has been recruiting Americans and westerners to the cause.
One of them may have been Sharif Mobley, an American from New Jersey, who worked at six nuclear power plants before moving to Yemen and making contact with al-Awlaki.
Mobley was picked up last year in a sweep of suspected militants and is currently jailed on murder charges after killing a guard during a failed escape.
Al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding somewhere in a remote tribal area. "Would you send troops in to try and get him?" Kroft asked Yemen's Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi. "For sure," Minister al-Qirbi replied.
"You are working very closely with the United States," Kroft remarked. "And your government is committed to fighting terrorism." "Yes," al-Qirbi replied.
"If there was somebody here inside that the American government though was an important terrorist…you would go out and arrest…him?" Kroft asked. "Of course," al-Qirbi replied.
"You arrest him and look at the evidence against him and prosecute him if he has undertaken any terrorist activities." But that has not been the case with Sheik Abdul Majid al-Zindani, a politically influential firebrand cleric who the United States has named a "specially designated global terrorist."
The U.N. Security Council says Sheik al-Zindani has a long history of working with Osama bin Laden.
He has actively recruited for al Qaeda training camps and he has also played a key role in the purchase of weapons on behalf of al Qaeda.
In addition to being the country's most powerful religious leader, al-Zindani also runs Al-Eman University, the alma mater of some very famous alumni.
John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban recruit, studied at the university, as did the underwear bomber Abdulmutallab. Sheik Anwar Al-Awlaki was a teacher there.
Both the university and al-Zindani operate openly in Yemen's capital with the blessing of the government.
We wanted to know why, from the foreign minister.
"Sheik Zindani has been named by the U.S. government as a 'specially designated global terrorist.' You're aware of that?" Kroft asked.
"I know there is something like that, yes," al-Qirbi replied. "The U.S. Treasury Department told us at the end of October that Zindani advocates violence against Western countries and he remains involved in providing support to al Qaeda," Kroft pointed out.
"Well, we have no evidence of that," al-Qirbi said. "Well, a fairly impressive list of terrorists have come out of Sheik Zindani's university," Kroft remarked. "Well, this is something that I don't have any information on.
If it is shared with the security agencies in Yemen, I'm sure they will act on it," the foreign minister replied.
"Many of those who were involved in terrorist activity in Yemen were students of this university. And I consider it to be the cradle of extremism in Yemen," Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani told Kroft.
Al-Iryani, the Yemeni development expert and political analyst, says it is obvious to most people in Yemen why the government refuses to go after Sheik Zindani "That's impossible. Politically it's impossible.
Zindani has a huge following," he explained. Asked what the relationship is between al-Zindani and President Saleh, al-Iryani said, "They're political allies." "So, you have somebody here who the United State government and the United Nations think is a terrorist, and he is a political ally of the president?" Kroft asked.
"Yes," al-Iryani said. "He's living openly?" Kroft asked. "He not only lives openly, he is a former member of the presidential council.
So he receives all of the protection, security and financial benefits of a former leader of the country," al-Iryani replied.
Needless to say, there is a good deal of mistrust between the United States and Yemen, much of it going back to 2006 when 13 al Qaeda members escaped from a prison by supposedly tunneling their way into an adjacent mosque.
Not even the president's nephew, General Saleh, who is in charge of counterterrorism, seemed to buy the official version.
"There was this story that they dug out with spoons?" Kroft asked. "Yeah, that's it," Saleh replied.
"Do you believe that?" Kroft asked. "We have to believe it," Saleh replied, laughing. "You have to believe it. Do you think maybe they got some help from people in the system?" Kroft asked.
"Maybe," Saleh said. "I have no idea about that." Ambassador Hull told Kroft, "At a minimum there was incompetence. Whether there was collaboration, facilitation, I don't know. But it really was the launch point for the current al Qaeda organization in Yemen.
" Some of the escapees now comprise the top leadership of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which would like nothing better than to see the United States intervene militarily in Yemen.
But there is no appetite for it in Washington these days, and strong sentiment that it would only make the situation worse.
The plan is to improve intelligence and surgically remove al Qaeda's top leadership, while propping up the famously corrupt Saleh government with manageable amounts of development and economic aid that would address some of the country's underlying problems.
It's a long shot, but as we said earlier, there are no good options.
17\01\2011
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid an unannounced visit to the Republic of Yemen this past week, a nominal U.S. ally that has been in and out of the news for the last decade: most of the news bad. It started with a bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Aden harbor back in 2000.
Today, half the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are from Yemen, and the last two al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. mainland have originated there. While the United States has been busy with military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, this remote, lawless country has now emerged as the main staging area for attacks against the west.
Wracked with internal strife and political instability, Yemen is presenting a complicated challenge for U.S. policymakers, with no easy fixes and few good options.
Yemen is one of the oldest civilizations in the Middle East, with 3,000 years of history. It is believed that Noah and the Queen of Sheba once lived there, and if they were to come back today they would find much of the countryside unchanged, except for the weapons.
It is a country of 23 million people and at least 23 million guns, many of them currently in use.
Yemen's beleaguered government has been fighting a tribal war in the north, an armed secessionist movement in the south, and a growing insurgency from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
It is now the most active branch of the al Qaeda network. "In many ways they are the most pressing threat against the U.S. homeland," former U.S. Ambassador Edmund Hull told correspondent Steve Kroft.
Few Americans know more about Yemen than Hull, who served there in the years immediately following 9/11.
Asked if he has any idea how many people in Yemen are affiliated with al Qaeda, Hull told Kroft, "You have a relatively small number of kind of hardcore inner circle in the hundreds, then you have a next circle, probably in the thousands of people who can be relied on to help out in a pinch.
And then, a larger circle yet of people who are ideologically sympathetic to the organization." Despite relatively small numbers, they have made their presence felt far beyond Yemen.
The failed suicide bombing of this jetliner in Detroit a year ago Christmas was carried out by Umar Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian student was trained and equipped in Yemen with explosives sewn into his underwear.
And then there were the two Chicago-bound bombs that were supposed to blow up UPS and FedEx planes last October. They too originated in Yemen.
The highly sophisticated devices were concealed in printer cartridges and believed to be the handiwork of Ibrahim al-Asiri.
"Al-Asiri is the bomb maker. He's apparently a very creative type who is adept at seeing chinks in our armor and challenging them," Hull explained.
In many ways Yemen is the perfect safe haven for al Qaeda. There is a strong fraternity here of former jihadists who fought the Russians in Afghanistan.
There are the porous borders and ports that make it easy to smuggle people in and out, and hundreds of thousands of square miles of desert and mountains where they can hide, train and plan their missions with the acquiescence of local tribes, and little interference from the government, which has limited presence outside the major cities.
And finally there is the grinding poverty and political discontent that al Qaeda seems to be exploiting: Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world, there is a critical shortage of water, a third of its people are hungry, and resentment is building against the longtime autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
"How would you describe his government?" Kroft asked Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani. "Completely powerless," he replied.
Al-Iryani is a member of one of the most powerful families in Yemen. A development consultant and political analyst, he is one of the few insiders there willing to speak candidly.
"Our economy is in very bad shape. Overall the situation is very dangerous," he told Kroft. Asked if it could bring the government down, al-Iryani told Kroft, "It could." "To be replaced by what?" Kroft asked. "Chaos," al-Iryani said.
In the past nine months there have been two terrorist attacks against U.S. and British embassy personnel, and one against the British ambassador.
Travel by westerners outside the major cities is restricted, out of concern that they could be killed or kidnapped.
That was the atmosphere this past week when Secretary of State Clinton met with President Saleh, trying to prod him into stepping up the fight against al Qaeda with promises of more economic assistance.
Officially, the only U.S. military presence in Yemen is a contingent of about 50 trainers working with Yemen's counterterrorism forces. "60 Minutes" was not allowed to film the Americans, but were allowed to show Yemeni troops running through their exercises.
Counterterrorism forces are under the command of General Yahya Saleh, who is the nephew of the president.
He told us the country is grateful for the assistance but believes any more U.S. troops on the ground will only win new recruits for al Qaeda.
"The Americans should know that they are not welcome in this region, and they are not very popular," Gen. Saleh told Kroft. "You say the United States is very unpopular here," Kroft remarked. "I'm not saying in Yemen.
In the region," Saleh replied. "In the region, what about in Yemen?" Kroft asked. "It's part of the region," Saleh replied.
The government's official position is that the U.S. can't be involved militarily there and needs to let the Yemenis take on al Qaeda - a political decision intended to appease Muslim sensitivities. But there is no question U.S. military involvement goes far beyond the 50 trainers.
Whatever else the U.S. may be providing to Yemen in the in the way of military assistance is highly classified.
There are certainly drones overhead doing reconnaissance and gathering intelligence, as well as Navy cruise missiles offshore that have already been used to kill al Qaeda militants and unfortunately some innocent civilians.
Forty one civilians were killed in two American missile strikes in December 2009, and another one last May inadvertently killed a government official, creating an uproar and major protests in the northern provinces.
But leaked diplomatic cables show that Yemen has tolerated the attacks, and collateral damage is unlikely to deter the U.S. from going after high-value targets, one of which is an American.
Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical imam who was born in New Mexico and spent years preaching in the U.S., has a worldwide Internet following as an instigator of violence against the United States.
U.S. counterterrorist officials believe al-Awlaki has graduated from encouraging people to kill Americans to helping al Qaeda actually do it, and permission has been granted to assassinate him even though he is an American citizen.
"No doubt in your mind that he is al Qaeda?" Kroft asked former Ambassador Hull. "No doubt in my mind. I don't even think he would dispute that," he replied.
Al-Awlaki is one of the few al Qaeda leaders who speaks fluent English and his special skill has been recruiting Americans and westerners to the cause.
One of them may have been Sharif Mobley, an American from New Jersey, who worked at six nuclear power plants before moving to Yemen and making contact with al-Awlaki.
Mobley was picked up last year in a sweep of suspected militants and is currently jailed on murder charges after killing a guard during a failed escape.
Al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding somewhere in a remote tribal area. "Would you send troops in to try and get him?" Kroft asked Yemen's Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi. "For sure," Minister al-Qirbi replied.
"You are working very closely with the United States," Kroft remarked. "And your government is committed to fighting terrorism." "Yes," al-Qirbi replied.
"If there was somebody here inside that the American government though was an important terrorist…you would go out and arrest…him?" Kroft asked. "Of course," al-Qirbi replied.
"You arrest him and look at the evidence against him and prosecute him if he has undertaken any terrorist activities." But that has not been the case with Sheik Abdul Majid al-Zindani, a politically influential firebrand cleric who the United States has named a "specially designated global terrorist."
The U.N. Security Council says Sheik al-Zindani has a long history of working with Osama bin Laden.
He has actively recruited for al Qaeda training camps and he has also played a key role in the purchase of weapons on behalf of al Qaeda.
In addition to being the country's most powerful religious leader, al-Zindani also runs Al-Eman University, the alma mater of some very famous alumni.
John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban recruit, studied at the university, as did the underwear bomber Abdulmutallab. Sheik Anwar Al-Awlaki was a teacher there.
Both the university and al-Zindani operate openly in Yemen's capital with the blessing of the government.
We wanted to know why, from the foreign minister.
"Sheik Zindani has been named by the U.S. government as a 'specially designated global terrorist.' You're aware of that?" Kroft asked.
"I know there is something like that, yes," al-Qirbi replied. "The U.S. Treasury Department told us at the end of October that Zindani advocates violence against Western countries and he remains involved in providing support to al Qaeda," Kroft pointed out.
"Well, we have no evidence of that," al-Qirbi said. "Well, a fairly impressive list of terrorists have come out of Sheik Zindani's university," Kroft remarked. "Well, this is something that I don't have any information on.
If it is shared with the security agencies in Yemen, I'm sure they will act on it," the foreign minister replied.
"Many of those who were involved in terrorist activity in Yemen were students of this university. And I consider it to be the cradle of extremism in Yemen," Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani told Kroft.
Al-Iryani, the Yemeni development expert and political analyst, says it is obvious to most people in Yemen why the government refuses to go after Sheik Zindani "That's impossible. Politically it's impossible.
Zindani has a huge following," he explained. Asked what the relationship is between al-Zindani and President Saleh, al-Iryani said, "They're political allies." "So, you have somebody here who the United State government and the United Nations think is a terrorist, and he is a political ally of the president?" Kroft asked.
"Yes," al-Iryani said. "He's living openly?" Kroft asked. "He not only lives openly, he is a former member of the presidential council.
So he receives all of the protection, security and financial benefits of a former leader of the country," al-Iryani replied.
Needless to say, there is a good deal of mistrust between the United States and Yemen, much of it going back to 2006 when 13 al Qaeda members escaped from a prison by supposedly tunneling their way into an adjacent mosque.
Not even the president's nephew, General Saleh, who is in charge of counterterrorism, seemed to buy the official version.
"There was this story that they dug out with spoons?" Kroft asked. "Yeah, that's it," Saleh replied.
"Do you believe that?" Kroft asked. "We have to believe it," Saleh replied, laughing. "You have to believe it. Do you think maybe they got some help from people in the system?" Kroft asked.
"Maybe," Saleh said. "I have no idea about that." Ambassador Hull told Kroft, "At a minimum there was incompetence. Whether there was collaboration, facilitation, I don't know. But it really was the launch point for the current al Qaeda organization in Yemen.
" Some of the escapees now comprise the top leadership of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which would like nothing better than to see the United States intervene militarily in Yemen.
But there is no appetite for it in Washington these days, and strong sentiment that it would only make the situation worse.
The plan is to improve intelligence and surgically remove al Qaeda's top leadership, while propping up the famously corrupt Saleh government with manageable amounts of development and economic aid that would address some of the country's underlying problems.
It's a long shot, but as we said earlier, there are no good options.
Yemeni activists stage demonstration in solidarity with Tunisian uprise
Source: Yemen Post, 16/01/2011
Hundreds of Yemeni people, mostly college students, marched Saturday to send a message to the great Tunisian people and the Yemeni corrupt regime, though it seems that the revolution that forced out of office Tunisia's President days ago can't move the people in the Arab World.
"Go before your are forced out, our corrupt regime," the march, which ended in a sitting at the Tunisian embassy in Algeria Street in downtown the capital Sana'a, chanted.
"Our message was to send a message to the great Tunisian people that they inspired the Yemeni people and made them regain confidence in themselves, and a message to the Yemeni regime that it should go now and peacefully before they are forced out by the revolution of the people," said Tawakul Karman, the organizer who is a human rights activist.
She addressed the marchers at the embassy saying "your message has been delivered and thank you for effort that I hope will enlarge in the future".
"President Saleh should go along with his corrupt government and corrupt family right now before the people go further determined for change," said Karman.
"Our slogan is that corruption must be eradicated and no to be the family's own, the family of President Saleh".
We should remind our regime of what Tunisian President said before his people forced him out of office and out of the country, she said, quoting President Zein Al-Abidin Bin Ali as saying in his final speech to the people" I understood…. I got your message, hours before he left the country in a shameful way".
Karman was inspiring the people along the way of the march that started at Sana'a University, guiding them and telling them the slogans they chanted. She focused on slogans of revolution and unity, change and no to corrupt and liar ruler and regime.
The marchers chanted slogans urging the Yemeni people to walk, walk and walk for change and to take to the streets to send a message to the regime that corruption should come to an end.
They also carried placards that read" Oh! the Freedom Tunisia, You Are Our Liberation", " the Peaceful Democratic Change is Our Slogan to Build the New Yemen", " Revolution, Revolution the Youth against the Liar Ruler," and " Our Duty is to Eradicate Corruption".
The main slogans were: Go before your Out by the People's Revolution and Where are the Unity and the Revolution…We Have Become Your Family's Own.
Some MPs and activists walked in the rally covered by local and foreign media and that comes amid other tiny rallies in Sana'a and other provinces after the impressive and unexpected Tunisian revolution that forced Tunisian President to leave the country last week.
Hundreds of Yemeni people, mostly college students, marched Saturday to send a message to the great Tunisian people and the Yemeni corrupt regime, though it seems that the revolution that forced out of office Tunisia's President days ago can't move the people in the Arab World.
"Go before your are forced out, our corrupt regime," the march, which ended in a sitting at the Tunisian embassy in Algeria Street in downtown the capital Sana'a, chanted.
"Our message was to send a message to the great Tunisian people that they inspired the Yemeni people and made them regain confidence in themselves, and a message to the Yemeni regime that it should go now and peacefully before they are forced out by the revolution of the people," said Tawakul Karman, the organizer who is a human rights activist.
She addressed the marchers at the embassy saying "your message has been delivered and thank you for effort that I hope will enlarge in the future".
"President Saleh should go along with his corrupt government and corrupt family right now before the people go further determined for change," said Karman.
"Our slogan is that corruption must be eradicated and no to be the family's own, the family of President Saleh".
We should remind our regime of what Tunisian President said before his people forced him out of office and out of the country, she said, quoting President Zein Al-Abidin Bin Ali as saying in his final speech to the people" I understood…. I got your message, hours before he left the country in a shameful way".
Karman was inspiring the people along the way of the march that started at Sana'a University, guiding them and telling them the slogans they chanted. She focused on slogans of revolution and unity, change and no to corrupt and liar ruler and regime.
The marchers chanted slogans urging the Yemeni people to walk, walk and walk for change and to take to the streets to send a message to the regime that corruption should come to an end.
They also carried placards that read" Oh! the Freedom Tunisia, You Are Our Liberation", " the Peaceful Democratic Change is Our Slogan to Build the New Yemen", " Revolution, Revolution the Youth against the Liar Ruler," and " Our Duty is to Eradicate Corruption".
The main slogans were: Go before your Out by the People's Revolution and Where are the Unity and the Revolution…We Have Become Your Family's Own.
Some MPs and activists walked in the rally covered by local and foreign media and that comes amid other tiny rallies in Sana'a and other provinces after the impressive and unexpected Tunisian revolution that forced Tunisian President to leave the country last week.
Saturday, 15 January 2011
EU boosts refugee aid to Yemen
Source:AFP
16\01\2011
The European Commission raised Saturday its humanitarian aid to Yemen to 15 million euros ($19.5 million) to help the country cope with an influx of refugees escaping strife at home and in Africa.
The aid will be directed at providing food, shelter, drinking water, latrines and showers, as well as health services and solid waster management to internally displaced persons and refugees, the commission said.
The European Union's executive arm had provided 10 million euros in humanitarian assistance last year.
"The country generously hosts a large refugee population, coming mainly from conflict-ridden Somalia," European commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement.
"But there also hundreds of thousands of Yemeni who are internally displaced by the conflict in the North, and who are also in dire need of assistance. For us, Yemen is not a forgotten crisis," she said.
The statement was issued in Brussels as Georgieva visited Yemen with the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres.
The EU aid commissioner opened a humanitarian office in the country to work with humanitarian organisations and improve the coordination of international aid.
16\01\2011
The European Commission raised Saturday its humanitarian aid to Yemen to 15 million euros ($19.5 million) to help the country cope with an influx of refugees escaping strife at home and in Africa.
The aid will be directed at providing food, shelter, drinking water, latrines and showers, as well as health services and solid waster management to internally displaced persons and refugees, the commission said.
The European Union's executive arm had provided 10 million euros in humanitarian assistance last year.
"The country generously hosts a large refugee population, coming mainly from conflict-ridden Somalia," European commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement.
"But there also hundreds of thousands of Yemeni who are internally displaced by the conflict in the North, and who are also in dire need of assistance. For us, Yemen is not a forgotten crisis," she said.
The statement was issued in Brussels as Georgieva visited Yemen with the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres.
The EU aid commissioner opened a humanitarian office in the country to work with humanitarian organisations and improve the coordination of international aid.
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