GCC ministers still determined to end Yemen crisis
Source : Arab News,
By GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN,12/06/2011
RIYADH: Foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will discuss ways and means on Tuesday to restore peace in neighboring Yemen in their first meeting after Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, was airlifted to Riyadh for treatment on June 3.
“The GCC ministerial meeting, to be held in Jeddah, will also discuss other major regional developments,” said Ahmed Al-Kaabi, a spokesman of the GCC General Secretariat.
The foreign ministers, in a renewed effort to mediate in Yemen, will hold talks on the fate of the GCC-brokered deal in their meeting at a time when all top Yemeni leaders are recovering in Saudi Arabia after they were severely wounded in a blast recently in Sanaa, said Al-Kaabi. On the health condition of Saleh, a Yemeni diplomatic source, said that the president, who had surgery at Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital recently, is “recovering steadily.” “We expect the president to transition from the current stage to a normal stage soon,” he added. He said: “President Saleh’s overall medical condition continues to improve in a satisfactory manner with no major complications reported.” But, an AFP report said Saturday that Saleh was in poor health condition and was suffering from breathing problems. “Saleh suffers problems in the lungs and respiration,” said the report, quoting an informed source in Riyadh.
Referring to the agenda of the GCC foreign ministers meeting, Al-Kaabi said that this ministerial session comes at a critical time, when several countries in the region are witnessing political uprisings. The meeting also comes a day after the third GCC-EU Economic Dialogue that concluded its deliberations within the framework of the implementation of a joint action program. The EU and the US have also been backing GCC efforts for smooth transfer of power in Yemen.
He said that the GCC foreign ministers would review the joint GCC mediation effort to put an end to the crisis in Yemen. To this end, the GCC spokesman noted that the Gulf states had been shifting to “an era of closer coordination in foreign affairs” especially now when the Arab political landscape is rapidly changing. On the deliberations of the GCC-EU economic dialogue, Al-Kaabi said that the dialogue concluded with an agreement on a joint action plan.
The two sides discussed various issues including developments in the EU countries, such as the sovereign debts’ question of Greece and impact of this crisis on the single European currency, said a statement released by the GCC General Secretariat. The GCC-EU talks also dealt with inter-investments, development aid, the GCC plan for integration of the financial markets and amendments of the EU regulations for coping with the global financial crisis.
It was not immediately known whether the subject of the pending GCC-EU free trade agreement came up for discussions. In fact, the EU’s delay in signing a free trade agreement after 20 years of negotiations has led to a decline in trade between the two blocs. On GCC-EU relations, Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Uweishek, director general of the international economic relations at the GCC General Secretariat, said that there was a need to forge closer ties.
He expressed hopes and happiness, saying that the EU states, “have begun recovering from the economic crisis and are posted to realize growth in 2011.” As for the GCC countries, the situation is better and the GCC as a whole is forecasted to post an eight percent growth in 2011, he noted. Participants in the dialogue included GCC officials from the ministries of finance, monetary institutions, central banks and GCC General Secretariat, as well as a number of experts and senior officials from the EU and European Central Bank.
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Saturday, 11 June 2011
21 Al Qaeda Operatives killed in fierce battles
21 Al Qaeda Operatives killed in fierce battle
Source : CNN,11/06/2011
Twenty-one al Qaeda members have been killed in Yemen's Abyan province, where fighting has raged on Saturday, Yemeni state TV said, citing a military source.
Clashes between security forces and suspected militants have erupted in Lawdar and Zinjibar, towns in Abyan -- a militant stronghold with a presence of Yemen's al Qaeda wing.
A security official told CNN that five Yemeni soldiers and three suspected al Qaeda gunmen were killed in clashes on Saturday in Lawdar.
It is unclear whether these casualties were among the 21 cited by the TV report..
The official, who has asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Yemen's government is also conducting air raids on positions in Lawdar believed to be held by AQAP.
At least seven people were injured in the fighting, medics say, but it's not clear whether they were soldiers or militants. Eyewitnesses said militants torched three government tanks in the fighting, which they say started when the insurgents surrounded a military camp on Friday night.
Government forces have been fighting Islamic militants who seized the town of Zinjibar.
Heavy gunfire and explosions were heard through the city, and planes were seen flying overhead and conducting airstrikes, witnesses and residents said.
Yemen has been consumed with unrest for months as protesters demand an end to the rule of President Ali Abdullah
In recent weeks, government troops have battled both anti-government tribal forces and Islamic militants, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The chaos there intensified when Saleh and other senior officials were injured in a June 3 attack on the mosque at the presidential palace.
Saleh and other senior officials injured in the attack went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. A government spokesman on Thursday said Saleh was in good health and would be returning to Yemen "within days."
On Friday, Demonstrations erupted in several cities across Yemen, with protesters chanting "Saleh will fall" and "The end is near for Saleh," according to eyewitnesses.
A six-nation Gulf Arab alliance has tried to broker a government-opposition agreement that would lead to Saleh's departure, but that effort has so far been unsuccessful.
Source : CNN,11/06/2011
Twenty-one al Qaeda members have been killed in Yemen's Abyan province, where fighting has raged on Saturday, Yemeni state TV said, citing a military source.
Clashes between security forces and suspected militants have erupted in Lawdar and Zinjibar, towns in Abyan -- a militant stronghold with a presence of Yemen's al Qaeda wing.
A security official told CNN that five Yemeni soldiers and three suspected al Qaeda gunmen were killed in clashes on Saturday in Lawdar.
It is unclear whether these casualties were among the 21 cited by the TV report..
The official, who has asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Yemen's government is also conducting air raids on positions in Lawdar believed to be held by AQAP.
At least seven people were injured in the fighting, medics say, but it's not clear whether they were soldiers or militants. Eyewitnesses said militants torched three government tanks in the fighting, which they say started when the insurgents surrounded a military camp on Friday night.
Government forces have been fighting Islamic militants who seized the town of Zinjibar.
Heavy gunfire and explosions were heard through the city, and planes were seen flying overhead and conducting airstrikes, witnesses and residents said.
Yemen has been consumed with unrest for months as protesters demand an end to the rule of President Ali Abdullah
In recent weeks, government troops have battled both anti-government tribal forces and Islamic militants, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The chaos there intensified when Saleh and other senior officials were injured in a June 3 attack on the mosque at the presidential palace.
Saleh and other senior officials injured in the attack went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. A government spokesman on Thursday said Saleh was in good health and would be returning to Yemen "within days."
On Friday, Demonstrations erupted in several cities across Yemen, with protesters chanting "Saleh will fall" and "The end is near for Saleh," according to eyewitnesses.
A six-nation Gulf Arab alliance has tried to broker a government-opposition agreement that would lead to Saleh's departure, but that effort has so far been unsuccessful.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Saudis and Americans insist on resolving Yemen crisis very soon
Source: FT, By Abeer Allam,11/06/2011
Sana’a- Western countries, led by the US, are pressing Saudi Arabia to push for a swift transfer of power in Yemen, warning of a looming security, political and humanitarian crisis if the political standstill is not resolved.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, is in Saudi Arabia recovering from wounds sustained in a blast at his compound on June 3.
His sudden evacuation on June 4 after 33 years in power raised hopes of reaching a deal to end the crisis that has gripped Yemen for four months.
On Friday in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, thousands of protesters called for the “butcher” to be put on trial. “We want Saleh to go, we want to fix Yemen, we are afraid he might return, but we will not allow it,’’ said Bandar al-Dhabian, 35.
“We want a humble god-fearing president. If he comes back it is a disaster.” There was also a pro-Saleh demonstration in the capital.
But western governments have become increasingly exasperated with the lack of a timetable for talks on a transition of power amid government rumours Mr Saleh could return.
The Yemeni government is playing down the severity of the president’s condition, but a western diplomat told the Financial Times that he had “very serious burns, broken bones and shrapnel” that would take months to heal.
A Gulf Co-Operation Council initiative – rejected by Mr Saleh but welcomed by the opposition and the west – had called for a transition of power and an election. “Yemen cannot wait months for the formation of a government or for a political process,” the diplomat said.
“The important thing is that the president needs to take decisions, preferably to agree to the GCC initiative. It is dangerous for Yemen to wait and allow a political vacuum to form.”
The Saudi role was vital, the diplomat added. “They believe the GCC initiative is the best way forward. The international community agrees. But they have the president in their country. They are best placed to persuade him of this.”
Saudi Arabia, however, is treading carefully. Osama Nogali, the Saudi foreign minister’s spokesman, told the FT last week that Mr Saleh’s evacuation was not part of a political deal.
While the Saudi government was eager to see an orderly transfer of power in Yemen, it was up to the Yemenis to decide the pace or the shape of such transition, he said.
Some in Riyadh want Mr Saleh to stay and sign a deal, while others do not want to force an incumbent Arab president out of power.
Saudi Arabia has a long porous border with Yemen and shares the US fear that al-Qaeda militants could expand their control.
Mr Saleh had withdrawn most of his security forces in remote regions to quell protests, leading to a security vacuum that was being exploited by al-Qaeda militants in areas such as Zinjibar, experts said.
Meanwhile, the US wants Abdu Rabu Mansur Hadi, vice-president, to form a national unity government with the main opposition. But hardliners have rejected talks with the opposition before Mr Saleh’s return.
“No one is sure of what will happen. The Americans and Saudis could persuade Saleh to return to his palace and sign a power transition with dignity as he wished,” Nasser Arrabyee, a Yemeni writer, said. “But Saleh is crafty.
He could come back and exploit people’s anger and sympathy for him, after he was attacked inside a mosque, to ignite a full war.”
Mr Saleh’s family still controls key security and economic positions. His son Ahmed, who was seen as a likely successor, oversees the Republican Guard. He is holding to a ceasefire agreement with the al-Ahmar clans.
“The message to him [Ahmed] is: do not go down the road of violence and revenge because that leads to more losses to you and your family’s interests and not just the al-Ahmar,” the western diplomat said. “This is not just a conflict between the Saleh and al-Ahmar families. This is a crisis with international dimensions.”
Sana’a- Western countries, led by the US, are pressing Saudi Arabia to push for a swift transfer of power in Yemen, warning of a looming security, political and humanitarian crisis if the political standstill is not resolved.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, is in Saudi Arabia recovering from wounds sustained in a blast at his compound on June 3.
His sudden evacuation on June 4 after 33 years in power raised hopes of reaching a deal to end the crisis that has gripped Yemen for four months.
On Friday in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, thousands of protesters called for the “butcher” to be put on trial. “We want Saleh to go, we want to fix Yemen, we are afraid he might return, but we will not allow it,’’ said Bandar al-Dhabian, 35.
“We want a humble god-fearing president. If he comes back it is a disaster.” There was also a pro-Saleh demonstration in the capital.
But western governments have become increasingly exasperated with the lack of a timetable for talks on a transition of power amid government rumours Mr Saleh could return.
The Yemeni government is playing down the severity of the president’s condition, but a western diplomat told the Financial Times that he had “very serious burns, broken bones and shrapnel” that would take months to heal.
A Gulf Co-Operation Council initiative – rejected by Mr Saleh but welcomed by the opposition and the west – had called for a transition of power and an election. “Yemen cannot wait months for the formation of a government or for a political process,” the diplomat said.
“The important thing is that the president needs to take decisions, preferably to agree to the GCC initiative. It is dangerous for Yemen to wait and allow a political vacuum to form.”
The Saudi role was vital, the diplomat added. “They believe the GCC initiative is the best way forward. The international community agrees. But they have the president in their country. They are best placed to persuade him of this.”
Saudi Arabia, however, is treading carefully. Osama Nogali, the Saudi foreign minister’s spokesman, told the FT last week that Mr Saleh’s evacuation was not part of a political deal.
While the Saudi government was eager to see an orderly transfer of power in Yemen, it was up to the Yemenis to decide the pace or the shape of such transition, he said.
Some in Riyadh want Mr Saleh to stay and sign a deal, while others do not want to force an incumbent Arab president out of power.
Saudi Arabia has a long porous border with Yemen and shares the US fear that al-Qaeda militants could expand their control.
Mr Saleh had withdrawn most of his security forces in remote regions to quell protests, leading to a security vacuum that was being exploited by al-Qaeda militants in areas such as Zinjibar, experts said.
Meanwhile, the US wants Abdu Rabu Mansur Hadi, vice-president, to form a national unity government with the main opposition. But hardliners have rejected talks with the opposition before Mr Saleh’s return.
“No one is sure of what will happen. The Americans and Saudis could persuade Saleh to return to his palace and sign a power transition with dignity as he wished,” Nasser Arrabyee, a Yemeni writer, said. “But Saleh is crafty.
He could come back and exploit people’s anger and sympathy for him, after he was attacked inside a mosque, to ignite a full war.”
Mr Saleh’s family still controls key security and economic positions. His son Ahmed, who was seen as a likely successor, oversees the Republican Guard. He is holding to a ceasefire agreement with the al-Ahmar clans.
“The message to him [Ahmed] is: do not go down the road of violence and revenge because that leads to more losses to you and your family’s interests and not just the al-Ahmar,” the western diplomat said. “This is not just a conflict between the Saleh and al-Ahmar families. This is a crisis with international dimensions.”
Opposition Is Split on How to Reshape Yemen
Source: THE NEW YORK TIMES, 11/06/2011
SANA, Yemen — The protesters, arrayed in the tens of thousands under a blazing sun, pumped their fists in unison as they stood on the hot tarmac on Friday and chanted triumphantly, “The people, at last, have defeated the regime!”
But inside the ragged tents where they have camped out for months, the revolutionaries seem far less certain that they have won. With Yemen’s president recovering in Saudi Arabia from an attack last week on his palace mosque, the opposition seems increasingly divided about how to move forward, with some favoring far-reaching changes and others urging a more moderate political resolution endorsed by the United States and Yemen’s Arab neighbors.
Many are anxious that the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, will destroy their movement if he is allowed to return.
“This is our chance, now Saleh is away,” said Muhammad al-Ha’et, an elderly lawyer, as he held up a gray umbrella against the sun, his voice full of anguish. “Yemen has always been run by the military. This is the first real revolution — the others were just military coups. We must not fail.”
As he spoke, another, more tentative chant broke out in the crowd: “The people must continue defeating the regime.”
Across town, Mr. Saleh’s supporters chanted their own slogans and held up his picture, as they have every Friday for months — though this time the numbers were a little low on both sides, perhaps because of the intense heat and the worsening scarcity of gasoline and water.
Most of those who form the original core of the protest movement say they want to preserve the transforming vision of civility and tolerance they have glimpsed in public squares since the uprising began, much like their peers in Egypt. They deeply oppose the political solution advocated by Saudi Arabia and the United States, which grants Mr. Saleh and his family immunity from prosecution and is likely to preserve more of the status quo.
They say the proposal — which Mr. Saleh repeatedly refused to sign before he was wounded last week — misses a golden opportunity for meaningful change and leaves Yemen’s direst problems unaddressed.
Their chief demand echoed across Sana and other Yemeni cities on Friday: “The people want a transitional council!”
It may not have the same ring as the old revolutionary mantras borrowed from Egypt. But for many protesters, creating a civilian council of technocrats, rather than the compromise political coalition called for by the Persian Gulf countries, represents the key to Yemen’s salvation.
“We will not accept to have a new president and the same system,” said Khaled al-Anisi, as he sat Indian-style on the floor of the tent where he has lived for the past four months, a cup of milky tea sitting uneasily on the lumpy rug beside him. “Oh, it is a long time, four months,” Mr. Anisi said with a weary smile, shifting his weight on the hard floor.
A human rights lawyer, Mr. Anisi has been one of the most passionate advocates of radical change, including prosecution of Mr. Saleh and a more democratic system of government. “The gulf countries are afraid of the influence of our revolution on their countries, so they want to engineer a political solution,” he said. “They want to kill our peaceful movement; this is their target.”
Mr. Anisi and his allies say they will name a transitional council in days, after first giving some of the country’s mainstream politicians a chance to join them. They then plan to call for huge demonstrations to press their cause, invoking “revolutionary legitimacy” as the grounds for abandoning precedent and the Yemeni Constitution.
A few protest leaders even hint at a more forceful tactic: urging the military leaders who have already defected to add their weight to the demands for a transitional council.
The more moderate opposition figures, including most of those with political experience, argue that a more gradualist and accommodating approach is the only sensible one, given Yemen’s many rival tribes and political factions and its violent past. If Mr. Saleh’s family members are not given immunity from prosecution, they could turn much more violent, the moderates say. The same thing could apply to the wider circle of the president’s political followers. Inclusion, the moderates say, is the sensible path forward.
The violence engendered by Iraq’s de-Baathification program, in which Saddam Hussein’s party members were punished and disenfranchised en masse, is invoked often here.
“What Yemen needs now is reconciliation,” said Muhammad Abu Lahoum, a former member of Mr. Saleh’s party who resigned to join the protests soon after they started. Mr. Abu Lahoum said he was optimistic about the current move toward a political settlement, which he called the second stage of the revolution.
With the country still deeply unsettled after the recent fighting in the capital between Mr. Saleh’s loyalists and opposition tribesmen, there is a desperate need for a compromise that will allow for a smooth transition, he said.
That transition, Mr. Abu Lahoum said, will create a peaceful opportunity for the hard-line protesters to begin pushing their more far-reaching goals: fighting corruption and regionalism, creating accountable state institutions, and building on the culture of nonviolence that was manifest in the sit-ins across Yemen in recent months. It will not happen all at once, he said, and the protesters must become reconciled.
“We’d like to see corruption drop from 99 percent to 40 percent,” he said. “We need to go from 80 percent lawless to 40 percent lawless. It takes time. But Yemenis are patient, as long as you are moving in the right direction.”
In the tents in the area the protesters have renamed Change Square, that kind of talk elicits scowls.
“We have seen a new Yemen in the making,” said one protester, who gave his name only as Murad. “This is a chance that will never come again.” Referring to the moderate transition plan advocated by Yemen’s Arab neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which would give Mr. Saleh and his family immunity, Murad said, “If the G.C.C. deal happens, the system will never change. It is just a management of the problem, not a resolution.”
One thing the entire opposition shares is the dread of Mr. Saleh’s return. “If Ali Abdullah Saleh returns and is president, people will blow themselves up,” said Tawakul Karman, another protest leader. “We will not care about our lives.”
SANA, Yemen — The protesters, arrayed in the tens of thousands under a blazing sun, pumped their fists in unison as they stood on the hot tarmac on Friday and chanted triumphantly, “The people, at last, have defeated the regime!”
But inside the ragged tents where they have camped out for months, the revolutionaries seem far less certain that they have won. With Yemen’s president recovering in Saudi Arabia from an attack last week on his palace mosque, the opposition seems increasingly divided about how to move forward, with some favoring far-reaching changes and others urging a more moderate political resolution endorsed by the United States and Yemen’s Arab neighbors.
Many are anxious that the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, will destroy their movement if he is allowed to return.
“This is our chance, now Saleh is away,” said Muhammad al-Ha’et, an elderly lawyer, as he held up a gray umbrella against the sun, his voice full of anguish. “Yemen has always been run by the military. This is the first real revolution — the others were just military coups. We must not fail.”
As he spoke, another, more tentative chant broke out in the crowd: “The people must continue defeating the regime.”
Across town, Mr. Saleh’s supporters chanted their own slogans and held up his picture, as they have every Friday for months — though this time the numbers were a little low on both sides, perhaps because of the intense heat and the worsening scarcity of gasoline and water.
Most of those who form the original core of the protest movement say they want to preserve the transforming vision of civility and tolerance they have glimpsed in public squares since the uprising began, much like their peers in Egypt. They deeply oppose the political solution advocated by Saudi Arabia and the United States, which grants Mr. Saleh and his family immunity from prosecution and is likely to preserve more of the status quo.
They say the proposal — which Mr. Saleh repeatedly refused to sign before he was wounded last week — misses a golden opportunity for meaningful change and leaves Yemen’s direst problems unaddressed.
Their chief demand echoed across Sana and other Yemeni cities on Friday: “The people want a transitional council!”
It may not have the same ring as the old revolutionary mantras borrowed from Egypt. But for many protesters, creating a civilian council of technocrats, rather than the compromise political coalition called for by the Persian Gulf countries, represents the key to Yemen’s salvation.
“We will not accept to have a new president and the same system,” said Khaled al-Anisi, as he sat Indian-style on the floor of the tent where he has lived for the past four months, a cup of milky tea sitting uneasily on the lumpy rug beside him. “Oh, it is a long time, four months,” Mr. Anisi said with a weary smile, shifting his weight on the hard floor.
A human rights lawyer, Mr. Anisi has been one of the most passionate advocates of radical change, including prosecution of Mr. Saleh and a more democratic system of government. “The gulf countries are afraid of the influence of our revolution on their countries, so they want to engineer a political solution,” he said. “They want to kill our peaceful movement; this is their target.”
Mr. Anisi and his allies say they will name a transitional council in days, after first giving some of the country’s mainstream politicians a chance to join them. They then plan to call for huge demonstrations to press their cause, invoking “revolutionary legitimacy” as the grounds for abandoning precedent and the Yemeni Constitution.
A few protest leaders even hint at a more forceful tactic: urging the military leaders who have already defected to add their weight to the demands for a transitional council.
The more moderate opposition figures, including most of those with political experience, argue that a more gradualist and accommodating approach is the only sensible one, given Yemen’s many rival tribes and political factions and its violent past. If Mr. Saleh’s family members are not given immunity from prosecution, they could turn much more violent, the moderates say. The same thing could apply to the wider circle of the president’s political followers. Inclusion, the moderates say, is the sensible path forward.
The violence engendered by Iraq’s de-Baathification program, in which Saddam Hussein’s party members were punished and disenfranchised en masse, is invoked often here.
“What Yemen needs now is reconciliation,” said Muhammad Abu Lahoum, a former member of Mr. Saleh’s party who resigned to join the protests soon after they started. Mr. Abu Lahoum said he was optimistic about the current move toward a political settlement, which he called the second stage of the revolution.
With the country still deeply unsettled after the recent fighting in the capital between Mr. Saleh’s loyalists and opposition tribesmen, there is a desperate need for a compromise that will allow for a smooth transition, he said.
That transition, Mr. Abu Lahoum said, will create a peaceful opportunity for the hard-line protesters to begin pushing their more far-reaching goals: fighting corruption and regionalism, creating accountable state institutions, and building on the culture of nonviolence that was manifest in the sit-ins across Yemen in recent months. It will not happen all at once, he said, and the protesters must become reconciled.
“We’d like to see corruption drop from 99 percent to 40 percent,” he said. “We need to go from 80 percent lawless to 40 percent lawless. It takes time. But Yemenis are patient, as long as you are moving in the right direction.”
In the tents in the area the protesters have renamed Change Square, that kind of talk elicits scowls.
“We have seen a new Yemen in the making,” said one protester, who gave his name only as Murad. “This is a chance that will never come again.” Referring to the moderate transition plan advocated by Yemen’s Arab neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which would give Mr. Saleh and his family immunity, Murad said, “If the G.C.C. deal happens, the system will never change. It is just a management of the problem, not a resolution.”
One thing the entire opposition shares is the dread of Mr. Saleh’s return. “If Ali Abdullah Saleh returns and is president, people will blow themselves up,” said Tawakul Karman, another protest leader. “We will not care about our lives.”
Thursday, 9 June 2011
CIA head Says Yemen Still Cooperating in fighting terror
CIA head Says Yemen Still Cooperating in fighting terror
Source : ABC News,10/06/2011
By Luis Martinez
At his Senate confirmation hearing today to be the next Defense Secretary, CIA Director Leon Panetta said that despite the turmoil in Yemen, the United States is receiving cooperation for going after terror targets in that country.
The comments come on the heels of news today that the U.S. launched an airstrike last Friday in Yemen that resulted in the death of an operative of the terrorist group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
US officials tell ABC News that Abu Ali al-Arithi was killed in southern Yemen last Friday in the airstrike, which was from a US military drone. U.S. fighter aircraft were also part of the operation and were in the vicinity of the drone strike, but did not launch missiles. This is a similar situation to what happened in a drone strike in May that nearly missed AQAP leader Anwar al-Awlaki. The report of Friday’s airstrike in Yemen was first reported by the New York Times.
Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee today that the situation in Yemen is “dangerous and uncertain” as President Saleh’s government struggles to hold onto power. However, he said the United States is still receiving counterterrorism cooperation from Yemen.
Panetta said of Yemen, “It's obviously a dangerous and uncertain situation, but we continue to work with elements there to try to develop counterterrorism. “
Later he was more specific in saying Yemeni authorities were still cooperating in going after the AQAP terror network. “We are continuing to work with those individuals in their government to try to go after AQAP. And we are continuing to receive cooperation from them,” he said.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that the security situation in Yemen had led the approximately 100 American military trainers working with that country’s counterterrorism force to suspend their training.
Panetta said Awlaki is a threat because his computer-savvy has enable him to urge and recruit potential terrorists online “particularly in this country, to conduct attacks here. So that's a concern.”
During his comments about Yemen today, Panetta mentioned cooperation with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the military unit involved in secret counterterrorism operations around the world. He appeared to indicate that the CIA was also working with JSOC in operations in Somalia targeting the terror group al Shabab. Pentagon officials later said that Panetta was speaking about counterterrorism cooperation in broad terms and not specifically about JSOC operations in Somalia
Panetta indicated there is intelligence that al Shabab is looking at conducting terror operations beyond Somalia.
Source : ABC News,10/06/2011
By Luis Martinez
At his Senate confirmation hearing today to be the next Defense Secretary, CIA Director Leon Panetta said that despite the turmoil in Yemen, the United States is receiving cooperation for going after terror targets in that country.
The comments come on the heels of news today that the U.S. launched an airstrike last Friday in Yemen that resulted in the death of an operative of the terrorist group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
US officials tell ABC News that Abu Ali al-Arithi was killed in southern Yemen last Friday in the airstrike, which was from a US military drone. U.S. fighter aircraft were also part of the operation and were in the vicinity of the drone strike, but did not launch missiles. This is a similar situation to what happened in a drone strike in May that nearly missed AQAP leader Anwar al-Awlaki. The report of Friday’s airstrike in Yemen was first reported by the New York Times.
Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee today that the situation in Yemen is “dangerous and uncertain” as President Saleh’s government struggles to hold onto power. However, he said the United States is still receiving counterterrorism cooperation from Yemen.
Panetta said of Yemen, “It's obviously a dangerous and uncertain situation, but we continue to work with elements there to try to develop counterterrorism. “
Later he was more specific in saying Yemeni authorities were still cooperating in going after the AQAP terror network. “We are continuing to work with those individuals in their government to try to go after AQAP. And we are continuing to receive cooperation from them,” he said.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that the security situation in Yemen had led the approximately 100 American military trainers working with that country’s counterterrorism force to suspend their training.
Panetta said Awlaki is a threat because his computer-savvy has enable him to urge and recruit potential terrorists online “particularly in this country, to conduct attacks here. So that's a concern.”
During his comments about Yemen today, Panetta mentioned cooperation with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the military unit involved in secret counterterrorism operations around the world. He appeared to indicate that the CIA was also working with JSOC in operations in Somalia targeting the terror group al Shabab. Pentagon officials later said that Panetta was speaking about counterterrorism cooperation in broad terms and not specifically about JSOC operations in Somalia
Panetta indicated there is intelligence that al Shabab is looking at conducting terror operations beyond Somalia.
Nervous protesters press for Saleh’s ouster, and supporters celebrate his recovery
Nervous protesters press for Saleh’s ouster
Source: FT, 10/06/2011
By Abeer Allam in Sanaa
Change Square, Yemen’s equivalent of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, looks more like a street fair than the hotbed of the revolution. What is better described as a kilometre-long stretch of road is occupied by a line of yellow, red and blue plastic tents occupied by the peaceful protesters who have, since January, been demanding the ouster of president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
On a balmy Sana’a evening this week, dozens lingered on the pavements where street vendors roasted corn, peeled off cactus fruit and sold bags of khat, the mild narcotic. Others lined up prayer rugs ready for sunset prayers and many more remained in their cushioned tents drinking “change tea” while watching the news from televisions attached to small satellite dishes.
Protesters bragged that they had the record for the Arab Spring’s most resilient protests. They admitted, however, that their numbers have dropped dramatically in recent weeks since fighting erupted between Saleh loyalists and supporters of Sadiq al-Ahmar, the head of the powerful Hashid tribe, and the June 4 attack on Mr Saleh’s presidential compound that wounded the president and forced him to fly to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.
Last week’s heavy fighting forced thousands of Sana’a residents to flee to the countryside while others have simply abandoned the square and joined their tribes in the armed battles.
Those protesters left remain cautiously optimistic that the president’s stay in Saudi Arabia will be permanent.
But with the swirling rumours, fed mainly by state television about his recovery and imminent return, many are also nervous. “We will not allow him to return. His departure is the first step in the success of our revolution. If he returned, we would put him on trial,” declared Iman Adnan, a 21-year-old housewife, who had her two toddlers with her.
Another protester, Kawthar al-Salawi, 24, and Ms Adnan were coming to the square every day but the latest violence has forced them to visit only twice a week. “We want a civil state and end of corruption,’’ said Ms Salawi. “But it will never happen as long as the ruling party is in charge, we want them all out, not just Saleh.’’
Western and Gulf countries have accelerated efforts to convince Mr Saleh to formally step aside and lend his backing to a transitional administration. But until that happens Sana’a remains caught in a curious limbo.
In an apparent show of defiance and power residents of Sana’a were kept awake into the early hours on Thursday by long bursts of machinegun fire and fireworks that turned the dark sky into sparkling red and silver. The bursts were mingled with occasional sounds of women ululating, men chanting and cars honking in what state television described as a “celebratory fire” to mark the “success” of Mr Saleh’s surgery and imminent return.
While state television broadcast images of people carrying the Yemeni flag and posters of Mr Saleh while dancing in the streets, opposition activists took the gunfire as a warning of the potential shape of things to come if Mr Saleh is forced to sign an unsatisfactory deal.
“Ali Saleh wants to scare us off but we have seen worse,’’ said Hussein Abdel Wahed, who, four months ago, moved to Change Square from Al-Dalea, near the southern province of Ibb.
“We wanted secession of the south because he had marginalised and deprived us of freedom and our wealth. If he is gone, we do not think secession [is the answer]. But we want our revolution to be completed.”
Hussein al-Muhwaiti, a shopkeeper and Saleh supporter, said he would like to see an orderly transition to democracy through ballot boxes rather than street protests. “The al-Ahmar sheikhs [who lead the Hashid tribe] have stolen Change Square,’’ he said. “They want to force the president out, though they were his partners ... ’’
Others voiced concern that time is on Mr Saleh’s side and people are divided more than ever about the point of the protests.
Source: FT, 10/06/2011
By Abeer Allam in Sanaa
Change Square, Yemen’s equivalent of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, looks more like a street fair than the hotbed of the revolution. What is better described as a kilometre-long stretch of road is occupied by a line of yellow, red and blue plastic tents occupied by the peaceful protesters who have, since January, been demanding the ouster of president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
On a balmy Sana’a evening this week, dozens lingered on the pavements where street vendors roasted corn, peeled off cactus fruit and sold bags of khat, the mild narcotic. Others lined up prayer rugs ready for sunset prayers and many more remained in their cushioned tents drinking “change tea” while watching the news from televisions attached to small satellite dishes.
Protesters bragged that they had the record for the Arab Spring’s most resilient protests. They admitted, however, that their numbers have dropped dramatically in recent weeks since fighting erupted between Saleh loyalists and supporters of Sadiq al-Ahmar, the head of the powerful Hashid tribe, and the June 4 attack on Mr Saleh’s presidential compound that wounded the president and forced him to fly to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.
Last week’s heavy fighting forced thousands of Sana’a residents to flee to the countryside while others have simply abandoned the square and joined their tribes in the armed battles.
Those protesters left remain cautiously optimistic that the president’s stay in Saudi Arabia will be permanent.
But with the swirling rumours, fed mainly by state television about his recovery and imminent return, many are also nervous. “We will not allow him to return. His departure is the first step in the success of our revolution. If he returned, we would put him on trial,” declared Iman Adnan, a 21-year-old housewife, who had her two toddlers with her.
Another protester, Kawthar al-Salawi, 24, and Ms Adnan were coming to the square every day but the latest violence has forced them to visit only twice a week. “We want a civil state and end of corruption,’’ said Ms Salawi. “But it will never happen as long as the ruling party is in charge, we want them all out, not just Saleh.’’
Western and Gulf countries have accelerated efforts to convince Mr Saleh to formally step aside and lend his backing to a transitional administration. But until that happens Sana’a remains caught in a curious limbo.
In an apparent show of defiance and power residents of Sana’a were kept awake into the early hours on Thursday by long bursts of machinegun fire and fireworks that turned the dark sky into sparkling red and silver. The bursts were mingled with occasional sounds of women ululating, men chanting and cars honking in what state television described as a “celebratory fire” to mark the “success” of Mr Saleh’s surgery and imminent return.
While state television broadcast images of people carrying the Yemeni flag and posters of Mr Saleh while dancing in the streets, opposition activists took the gunfire as a warning of the potential shape of things to come if Mr Saleh is forced to sign an unsatisfactory deal.
“Ali Saleh wants to scare us off but we have seen worse,’’ said Hussein Abdel Wahed, who, four months ago, moved to Change Square from Al-Dalea, near the southern province of Ibb.
“We wanted secession of the south because he had marginalised and deprived us of freedom and our wealth. If he is gone, we do not think secession [is the answer]. But we want our revolution to be completed.”
Hussein al-Muhwaiti, a shopkeeper and Saleh supporter, said he would like to see an orderly transition to democracy through ballot boxes rather than street protests. “The al-Ahmar sheikhs [who lead the Hashid tribe] have stolen Change Square,’’ he said. “They want to force the president out, though they were his partners ... ’’
Others voiced concern that time is on Mr Saleh’s side and people are divided more than ever about the point of the protests.
U.S. Is Intensifying a Secret Campaign of Yemen Airstrikes
U.S. Is Intensifying a Secret Campaign of Yemen Airstrikes
Source: New York Times
By MARK Mazzetti,09/06/2011
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.
The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power.
On Friday, American jets killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects in a strike in southern Yemen. According to witnesses, four civilians were also killed in the airstrike. Weeks earlier, drone aircraft fired missiles aimed at Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who the United States government has tried to kill for more than a year. Mr. Awlaki survived.
The recent operations come after a nearly year-long pause in American airstrikes, which were halted amid concerns that poor intelligence had led to bungled missions and civilian deaths that were undercutting the goals of the secret campaign.
Officials in Washington said that the American and Saudi spy services had been receiving more information — from electronic eavesdropping and informants — about the possible locations of militants. But, they added, the outbreak of the wider conflict in Yemen created a new risk: that one faction might feed information to the Americans that could trigger air strikes against a rival group.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday that using force against militants in Yemen was further complicated by the fact that Qaeda operatives have mingled with other rebels and antigovernment militants, making it harder for the United States to attack without the appearance of picking sides.
The American campaign in Yemen is led by the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command, and is closely coordinated with the Central Intelligence Agency. Teams of American military and intelligence operatives have a command post in Sana, the Yemeni capital, to track intelligence about militants in Yemen and plot future strikes.
Concerned that support for the campaign could wane if the government of Yemen’s authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, were to fall, the United States ambassador in Yemen has met recently with leaders of the opposition, partly to make the case for continuing American operations. Officials in Washington said that opposition leaders have told the ambassador, Gerald M. Feierstein, that operations against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula should continue regardless of who wins the power struggle in Sana.
The extent of America’s war in Yemen has been among the Obama administration’s most closely guarded secrets, as officials worried that news of unilateral American operations could undermine Mr. Saleh’s tenuous grip on power. Mr. Saleh authorized American missions in Yemen in 2009, but placed limits on their scope and has said publicly that all military operations had been conducted by his own troops.
Mr. Saleh fled the country last week to seek medical treatment in Saudi Arabia after rebel shelling of the presidential compound, and more government troops have been brought back to Sana to bolster the government’s defense.
“We’ve seen the regime move its assets away from counterterrorism and toward its own survival,” said Christopher Boucek, a Yemen expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “But as things get more and more chaotic in Yemen, the space for the Americans to operate in gets bigger,” he said.
But Mr. Boucek and others warned of a backlash from the American airstrikes, which over the past two years have killed civilians and Yemeni government officials. The benefits of killing one or two Qaeda-linked militants, he said, could be entirely eroded if airstrikes kill civilians and lead dozens of others to jihad.
Edmund J. Hull, ambassador to Yemen from 2001 to 2004 and the author of “High-Value Target: Countering Al Qaeda in Yemen,” called airstrikes a “necessary tool” but said that the United States had to “avoid collateral casualties or we will turn the tribes against us.”
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen is believed by the C.I.A. to pose the greatest immediate threat to the United States, more so than even Qaeda’s senior leadership believed to be hiding in Pakistan. The Yemen group has been linked to the attempt to blow up a transatlantic jetliner on Christmas Day 2009 and last year’s plot to blow up cargo planes with bombs hidden inside printer cartridges.
Mr. Harithi, the militant killed on Friday, was an important operational figure in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and was believed to be one of those responsible for the group’s ascendance in recent years. According to people in Yemen close to the militant group, Mr. Harithi travelled to Iraq in 2003 and fought alongside Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian operative who led the Qaeda affiliate in Iraq until he was killed in an American strike in 2006. Mr. Harithi returned to Yemen in 2004, those close to the militants said, where he was captured, tried and imprisoned in 2006 but released three years later.
Even as senior administration officials worked behind the scenes with Saudi Arabia for a transitional government to take power in Yemen, a State Department spokesman on Wednesday called on the embattled government in Sana to remain focused on dealing with the rebellion and Qaeda militants.
“With Saleh’s departure for Saudi Arabia, where he continues to receive medical treatment, this isn’t a time for inaction,” said the spokesman, Mark Toner. “There is a government that remains in place there, and they need to seize the moment and move forward.”
Source: New York Times
By MARK Mazzetti,09/06/2011
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.
The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power.
On Friday, American jets killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects in a strike in southern Yemen. According to witnesses, four civilians were also killed in the airstrike. Weeks earlier, drone aircraft fired missiles aimed at Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who the United States government has tried to kill for more than a year. Mr. Awlaki survived.
The recent operations come after a nearly year-long pause in American airstrikes, which were halted amid concerns that poor intelligence had led to bungled missions and civilian deaths that were undercutting the goals of the secret campaign.
Officials in Washington said that the American and Saudi spy services had been receiving more information — from electronic eavesdropping and informants — about the possible locations of militants. But, they added, the outbreak of the wider conflict in Yemen created a new risk: that one faction might feed information to the Americans that could trigger air strikes against a rival group.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday that using force against militants in Yemen was further complicated by the fact that Qaeda operatives have mingled with other rebels and antigovernment militants, making it harder for the United States to attack without the appearance of picking sides.
The American campaign in Yemen is led by the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command, and is closely coordinated with the Central Intelligence Agency. Teams of American military and intelligence operatives have a command post in Sana, the Yemeni capital, to track intelligence about militants in Yemen and plot future strikes.
Concerned that support for the campaign could wane if the government of Yemen’s authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, were to fall, the United States ambassador in Yemen has met recently with leaders of the opposition, partly to make the case for continuing American operations. Officials in Washington said that opposition leaders have told the ambassador, Gerald M. Feierstein, that operations against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula should continue regardless of who wins the power struggle in Sana.
The extent of America’s war in Yemen has been among the Obama administration’s most closely guarded secrets, as officials worried that news of unilateral American operations could undermine Mr. Saleh’s tenuous grip on power. Mr. Saleh authorized American missions in Yemen in 2009, but placed limits on their scope and has said publicly that all military operations had been conducted by his own troops.
Mr. Saleh fled the country last week to seek medical treatment in Saudi Arabia after rebel shelling of the presidential compound, and more government troops have been brought back to Sana to bolster the government’s defense.
“We’ve seen the regime move its assets away from counterterrorism and toward its own survival,” said Christopher Boucek, a Yemen expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “But as things get more and more chaotic in Yemen, the space for the Americans to operate in gets bigger,” he said.
But Mr. Boucek and others warned of a backlash from the American airstrikes, which over the past two years have killed civilians and Yemeni government officials. The benefits of killing one or two Qaeda-linked militants, he said, could be entirely eroded if airstrikes kill civilians and lead dozens of others to jihad.
Edmund J. Hull, ambassador to Yemen from 2001 to 2004 and the author of “High-Value Target: Countering Al Qaeda in Yemen,” called airstrikes a “necessary tool” but said that the United States had to “avoid collateral casualties or we will turn the tribes against us.”
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen is believed by the C.I.A. to pose the greatest immediate threat to the United States, more so than even Qaeda’s senior leadership believed to be hiding in Pakistan. The Yemen group has been linked to the attempt to blow up a transatlantic jetliner on Christmas Day 2009 and last year’s plot to blow up cargo planes with bombs hidden inside printer cartridges.
Mr. Harithi, the militant killed on Friday, was an important operational figure in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and was believed to be one of those responsible for the group’s ascendance in recent years. According to people in Yemen close to the militant group, Mr. Harithi travelled to Iraq in 2003 and fought alongside Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian operative who led the Qaeda affiliate in Iraq until he was killed in an American strike in 2006. Mr. Harithi returned to Yemen in 2004, those close to the militants said, where he was captured, tried and imprisoned in 2006 but released three years later.
Even as senior administration officials worked behind the scenes with Saudi Arabia for a transitional government to take power in Yemen, a State Department spokesman on Wednesday called on the embattled government in Sana to remain focused on dealing with the rebellion and Qaeda militants.
“With Saleh’s departure for Saudi Arabia, where he continues to receive medical treatment, this isn’t a time for inaction,” said the spokesman, Mark Toner. “There is a government that remains in place there, and they need to seize the moment and move forward.”
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