By Nasser Arrabyee/29/04/2010
A total 25 people were killed and injured in about 64 shootout operations implemented by Al Houthi rebels over the last week in Sa'ada despite the 77-day old fragile cease-fire, official sources Thursday.
Al Houthi rebels kidnapped 23 people including soldiers, carried out 14 operations of plundering properties of citizens loyal to the government, and deployed their fighters in 26 new positions over the last week, the defense ministry said in a statement.
One of the four committees in charge of supervising the implementation of the six conditions set by the government and accepted by the rebels last February 12th, to end the 6-year old sporadic war, returned to Sana'a after Al Houthi rebels attacked the team of removing mines and seized their car in Harf Suyan, said the statement.
A group of rebels led by Hadi Shaya Zainah killed three citizens and injured four others in an ambush made earlier this week in Al Sahwa area, said the statement.
Another group of the rebels killed three citizens from Al Sawma'a in Al Safra, the statement added.
In many areas of the war-torn Sa'ada, the rebels started to distribute papers calling for fighting the State, use loudspeakers for chanting their provocative slogans, take down the flags of the republic, still position in more than six schools and prevent students in other schools from using the national anthem, according to the official statement.
The statement considered those incidents obvious violations of the cease-fire truce and attempts to obstruct the efforts of bringing peace to Sa'ada, holding the rebels responsible for those violations.
Meanwhile, the tribal sheikh, Sadek Abdullah Al Ahmar, the most influential tribal sheikh in Yemen, warned from a new a round of war between the government and Al Houthi rebels.
"The agreement to end the war in Sa'ada is ambiguous, and we do not know what's going on, we are afraid that the seventh of round of war may break out," Al Ahmar said in a tribal gathering this week.
Earlier, Al Houthi rebels said the government did not fulfill their demands especially those related to the release of their detainees. They demand of releasing about 10,000 detainees. They said those were already released by the government earlier this month and last month (about 240 men) were not members of their armed rebellion movement.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Islamist MP encourages terrorism, right groups
By Nasser Arrabyee/28/04/2010
Three human right groups in Yemen demanded that the parliamentary immunity of an Islamist MP be stripped before bringing him to justice for encouraging terrorism and violence against human right activists.
The groups said in a statement sent to media on Wednesday, that the MP, Mohammed Al Hazmi, mosque speaker in Sana'a, leading member of the largest Islamist opposition party, Islah, accused the right groups of being agents to the West and of conspiring against the Islamic faith.
They demanded the general prosecutor to open investigations over the allegations of the mosque speaker and to protect them from religious extremists who blindly take the sheikh's inciting sermons as religious orders that must be implemented.
The groups considered Al Hazmi has been launching a campaign of inciting and hatred against freedoms and human rights, and women rights in particular in his pres statements and mosque sermons.
In a conservative society like Yemen where illiteracy remains very high, the extremist views of the Sheikh Al Hazmi can be used by radical groups and individuals as justifications to kill the human right activists who stand against these views.
"The statements and sermons of the Sheikh, and those behind him, feed the environment of terrorism and create justifications to target the State, the democracy, freedom, and the civil society," said the statement which was signed by, the National Committee on Women, Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights, and the Democratic School.
Al Hazmi leads a media campaign and a parliament lobby against a draft law that makes the minimum age of marriage at 18 years.
Al Hazmi and his supporters (Some Islamist MPs, some tribal and religious sheikhs) say putting a certain age for marriage is against Islam's law, the Shariah.
The three right groups supported by some MPs from all parties including Islamist MPs, lead a campaign for the draft law, which faces significantly religious and tribal opposition.
Three human right groups in Yemen demanded that the parliamentary immunity of an Islamist MP be stripped before bringing him to justice for encouraging terrorism and violence against human right activists.
The groups said in a statement sent to media on Wednesday, that the MP, Mohammed Al Hazmi, mosque speaker in Sana'a, leading member of the largest Islamist opposition party, Islah, accused the right groups of being agents to the West and of conspiring against the Islamic faith.
They demanded the general prosecutor to open investigations over the allegations of the mosque speaker and to protect them from religious extremists who blindly take the sheikh's inciting sermons as religious orders that must be implemented.
The groups considered Al Hazmi has been launching a campaign of inciting and hatred against freedoms and human rights, and women rights in particular in his pres statements and mosque sermons.
In a conservative society like Yemen where illiteracy remains very high, the extremist views of the Sheikh Al Hazmi can be used by radical groups and individuals as justifications to kill the human right activists who stand against these views.
"The statements and sermons of the Sheikh, and those behind him, feed the environment of terrorism and create justifications to target the State, the democracy, freedom, and the civil society," said the statement which was signed by, the National Committee on Women, Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights, and the Democratic School.
Al Hazmi leads a media campaign and a parliament lobby against a draft law that makes the minimum age of marriage at 18 years.
Al Hazmi and his supporters (Some Islamist MPs, some tribal and religious sheikhs) say putting a certain age for marriage is against Islam's law, the Shariah.
The three right groups supported by some MPs from all parties including Islamist MPs, lead a campaign for the draft law, which faces significantly religious and tribal opposition.
Al Qaeda in Yemen: Getting stronger or weaker?
By Nasser Arrabyee/27/04/2010
The failed suicide attack on the British ambassador in Sana'a on Monday April 26th, 2010 has shown that Al Qaeda is still posing a threat despite the open war declared by the west-supported Yemeni government five months ago.
The attack also refuted the press reports that about 20 Al Qaeda operatives including the top leaders had moved to the volatile neighboring country of Somalia.
However, the unsophisticated and failed operation suggests that Al Qaeda militants were weakened and confused by the strikes and crack down over the last few months.
A 22-year old student alone failed to ram his explosive-wrapped body into the armoured car of UK ambassador, Tim Tolort who was unharmed. The car was lightly damaged. The brainwashed high school dropout killed only himself and lightly injured three of the passers-by in the main road nearby the UK embassy in Sana'a.
The security officials identified him as Othaman Ali Al Selwi saying he had training on weapons and explosives in Mareb where Al Qaeda militants are believed to be hiding.
Some relatives described, the suicide bomber, Al Selwi, as eccentric and lonely. He's originally from Taiz province, but living with the family in Aser neighbourhood in the Yemeni capital Sana'a.
The father is working as a building contractor in Sana'a. The father, Ali Noman Al Selwi said what his son did was shameful and terrorist. "He was studying in a technical institute but, he sometimes used to go absent from home for two months," said the father sadly.
The father confirmed that his son was arrested for two years by the Yemeni intelligence and that he and the security officials tried repeatedly to convince him to get married but he refused. The father of the bomber advised the youth not to be deceived by the terrorists.
The security forces arrested dozens of Al Qaeda suspects from Musaik and other suspicious places immediately after the bombing.
Some observers believe that the Monday failed suicide attack was a retaliation for the last strikes and crackdown on Al Qaeda including the last operation of April 18th, 2010 when two Al Qaeda operatives were killed in a raid implemented in the coastal province of Hodeida west of the country.
"It is a retaliation act, but it was very weak, and this means that Al Qaeda is getting weaker and weaker as the war on them continues," said Abdul Ghani Al Eryani, a political analyst specialist on Yemeni and American relations.
Al Eryani excluded that Al Qaeda wanted to target the ambassador of the British government in particular because of the British efforts to mobilize international support to help Yemen combat terrorism, especially the London conference on Yemen which was called for by the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown late last January.
"I do not think they have the ability to think this way or to select, they look for any target they can do, so this attack has nothing to do with the London conference," Al Eryani added.
But, a British expert and specialist on Yemen, said UK-led international efforts to help Yemen get rid of Al Qaeda was likely behind the suicide attack against the British ambassador.
Ginny Hill of the Chatham House specialist on Yemen," the British officials are working closely with the Yemeni government to tackle terrorism. British military trainers have been supporting the coastguard and the counter-terrorism unit for several years."
"Since 2006, the British have also taken a strong lead on development and anti-corruption measures," said Ms. Hill who is currently in a visit to Yemen.
Nabil Al Bukairi, a Yemeni researcher on terrorism and radical groups, disagrees with Ms. Hill and Mr. Al Eryani on why the British ambassador in particular and that Al Qaeda have become weak.
"Al Qaeda is Al Qaeda as it is. They did not fail in this attack. They succeeded in what they want, they wanted to spread terror, terrify and deplete the western security systems by making them in a state of alert all the time. This is one of Al Qaeda top goals, just to make the world in a chaos and terror, or the so-called management savagery," Said Al Bukairi.
"US and UK is always the first target of Al Qaeda, and the other westerners are secondary."
The US raised its assistance to Yemen to 150 US million dollars in 2010 from about 70 million in 2009.
The Monday suicide attack also came less than one month after the US put the Yemeni- American extremist cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, in the CIA "kill or capture" list.
Al Awlaki, hiding in the mountainous areas of Shabwah where his clan boasts of protecting him or the 'hero sheikh', is accused of being behind many terrorist acts such as Fort Hood shooting, and the Christmas day failed attack, and of planning to do more and more. Al Awlaki, who was born raised and studied in US, recently called for Jihad against US.
In a video clip posted on April 16, 2010, in Al Qaeda monthly magazine Sada Al Malahem (echo of battles), denied the accusations, boasted of calling for Jihad against US, and accused the Yemeni government of betrayal and treason.
"Of course, I categorically rejected this, because I'm not accused of anything to begin with. What am I accused of? of calling for the truth? of calling for Jihad for the sake of Allah? of calling to defend the causes of the Islamic nation? It is the Yemeni government that stands accused of betrayal and treason," he said.
The failed suicide attack on the British ambassador in Sana'a on Monday April 26th, 2010 has shown that Al Qaeda is still posing a threat despite the open war declared by the west-supported Yemeni government five months ago.
The attack also refuted the press reports that about 20 Al Qaeda operatives including the top leaders had moved to the volatile neighboring country of Somalia.
However, the unsophisticated and failed operation suggests that Al Qaeda militants were weakened and confused by the strikes and crack down over the last few months.
A 22-year old student alone failed to ram his explosive-wrapped body into the armoured car of UK ambassador, Tim Tolort who was unharmed. The car was lightly damaged. The brainwashed high school dropout killed only himself and lightly injured three of the passers-by in the main road nearby the UK embassy in Sana'a.
The security officials identified him as Othaman Ali Al Selwi saying he had training on weapons and explosives in Mareb where Al Qaeda militants are believed to be hiding.
Some relatives described, the suicide bomber, Al Selwi, as eccentric and lonely. He's originally from Taiz province, but living with the family in Aser neighbourhood in the Yemeni capital Sana'a.
The father is working as a building contractor in Sana'a. The father, Ali Noman Al Selwi said what his son did was shameful and terrorist. "He was studying in a technical institute but, he sometimes used to go absent from home for two months," said the father sadly.
The father confirmed that his son was arrested for two years by the Yemeni intelligence and that he and the security officials tried repeatedly to convince him to get married but he refused. The father of the bomber advised the youth not to be deceived by the terrorists.
The security forces arrested dozens of Al Qaeda suspects from Musaik and other suspicious places immediately after the bombing.
Some observers believe that the Monday failed suicide attack was a retaliation for the last strikes and crackdown on Al Qaeda including the last operation of April 18th, 2010 when two Al Qaeda operatives were killed in a raid implemented in the coastal province of Hodeida west of the country.
"It is a retaliation act, but it was very weak, and this means that Al Qaeda is getting weaker and weaker as the war on them continues," said Abdul Ghani Al Eryani, a political analyst specialist on Yemeni and American relations.
Al Eryani excluded that Al Qaeda wanted to target the ambassador of the British government in particular because of the British efforts to mobilize international support to help Yemen combat terrorism, especially the London conference on Yemen which was called for by the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown late last January.
"I do not think they have the ability to think this way or to select, they look for any target they can do, so this attack has nothing to do with the London conference," Al Eryani added.
But, a British expert and specialist on Yemen, said UK-led international efforts to help Yemen get rid of Al Qaeda was likely behind the suicide attack against the British ambassador.
Ginny Hill of the Chatham House specialist on Yemen," the British officials are working closely with the Yemeni government to tackle terrorism. British military trainers have been supporting the coastguard and the counter-terrorism unit for several years."
"Since 2006, the British have also taken a strong lead on development and anti-corruption measures," said Ms. Hill who is currently in a visit to Yemen.
Nabil Al Bukairi, a Yemeni researcher on terrorism and radical groups, disagrees with Ms. Hill and Mr. Al Eryani on why the British ambassador in particular and that Al Qaeda have become weak.
"Al Qaeda is Al Qaeda as it is. They did not fail in this attack. They succeeded in what they want, they wanted to spread terror, terrify and deplete the western security systems by making them in a state of alert all the time. This is one of Al Qaeda top goals, just to make the world in a chaos and terror, or the so-called management savagery," Said Al Bukairi.
"US and UK is always the first target of Al Qaeda, and the other westerners are secondary."
The US raised its assistance to Yemen to 150 US million dollars in 2010 from about 70 million in 2009.
The Monday suicide attack also came less than one month after the US put the Yemeni- American extremist cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, in the CIA "kill or capture" list.
Al Awlaki, hiding in the mountainous areas of Shabwah where his clan boasts of protecting him or the 'hero sheikh', is accused of being behind many terrorist acts such as Fort Hood shooting, and the Christmas day failed attack, and of planning to do more and more. Al Awlaki, who was born raised and studied in US, recently called for Jihad against US.
In a video clip posted on April 16, 2010, in Al Qaeda monthly magazine Sada Al Malahem (echo of battles), denied the accusations, boasted of calling for Jihad against US, and accused the Yemeni government of betrayal and treason.
"Of course, I categorically rejected this, because I'm not accused of anything to begin with. What am I accused of? of calling for the truth? of calling for Jihad for the sake of Allah? of calling to defend the causes of the Islamic nation? It is the Yemeni government that stands accused of betrayal and treason," he said.
What my son did is terrorist and shameful: father of suicide bomber
By Nasser Arrabyee/27/04/2010
The father of the suicide bomber who failed to kill the UK ambassador in Sana'a condemned Tuesday what his son did as terrorist and shameful act.
The father Ali Noman Al Selwi, who is working a building contractor, confirmed that his son was put in the intelligence prison for two years for his activities with Al Qaeda.
The father advised the young people to stat away from the terrorist and not to be deceived by them.
"My son was studying in a technical institute after he finished the high school, but he used to go absent from home for two months sometimes," said the father, who seemed to be very sad and regret for the bad end of his son.
The father said that he and the Yemeni security officials tried repeatedly to convince the son to get married to make him forget his crazy ideas of Al Qaeda, but the son refused.
The son Othman tried to assassinate the UK ambassador when he blew himself up in a main road where the ambassador was in his way to the embassy in Sana'a. The car missed the bombing and the ambassador was unharmed.
The father of the suicide bomber who failed to kill the UK ambassador in Sana'a condemned Tuesday what his son did as terrorist and shameful act.
The father Ali Noman Al Selwi, who is working a building contractor, confirmed that his son was put in the intelligence prison for two years for his activities with Al Qaeda.
The father advised the young people to stat away from the terrorist and not to be deceived by them.
"My son was studying in a technical institute after he finished the high school, but he used to go absent from home for two months sometimes," said the father, who seemed to be very sad and regret for the bad end of his son.
The father said that he and the Yemeni security officials tried repeatedly to convince the son to get married to make him forget his crazy ideas of Al Qaeda, but the son refused.
The son Othman tried to assassinate the UK ambassador when he blew himself up in a main road where the ambassador was in his way to the embassy in Sana'a. The car missed the bombing and the ambassador was unharmed.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Al-Qaeda blamed for Yemen bomb attack on UK envoy
Source: BBC 26\4\2010
The suspected suicide bomber threw himself at the convoy of the British ambassador to Yemen as it drove through the capital, Sanaa.
Ambassador Tim Torlot is safe, UK officials confirmed. One person - believed to be the attacker - was killed, say Yemeni security sources.
The attack bore all the "hallmarks of al-Qaeda", the Yemeni interior ministry said in a statement.
The UK Foreign Office said it had closed the embassy to the public.
There are mounting fears that Yemen is becoming a leading al-Qaeda haven.
"The failed terrorist attack that targeted the British ambassador in Sanaa carries the fingerprints of al-Qaeda," the statement on the Yemeni interior ministry website said.
Previous attack
Mr Torlot was reported to have been on his way to the embassy when the attack happened, in an area of eastern Sanaa said to be popular with militants.
Witnesses said the bomber was a young man who was wearing a school uniform, apparently as a disguise, the Associated Press new agency reports.
The attacker, believed to be wearing an explosives belt, was said to have thrown himself at the convoy, but was too slow to hit his intended targets.
The interior ministry also named the suspect as Othman Ali Nouman al-Salawi, 22, from Taiz, south of Sanaa.
It said that the "terrorist Salawi has received training in Maarib province", an al-Qaeda stronghold 170km (around 105 miles) east of Sanaa.
"This operation reflects the state of despair which has hit the terrorists after the painful pre-emptive strikes which they received in their hide-outs at the hands of security services," the ministry said.
Reuters news agency reports that three other people were wounded - two security officials in a police car escorting the convoy and a bystander.
The attack appears to be similar to that carried out against a South Korean diplomatic convoy in Sanaa a year ago. A pedestrian suicide bomber targeted the vehicle on the main road from the city centre to the airport, but killed only himself.
Security threats
"We can confirm that there was an incident in Sanaa this morning," a Foreign Office spokesman in London said.
"There was a small explosion beside the British ambassador's car. He was unhurt. No other embassy staff or British nationals were injured."
The spokesman said the embassy would remain closed "for the time being" and urged British nationals in Yemen "to keep a low profile and remain vigilant".
Mr Torlot has been the British ambassador to Yemen since July 2007, and was formerly number two at the embassy in Baghdad, so is well accustomed to the threats posed to British interests in the region, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in the region.
Security has been stepped up at Western embassies in Yemen in recent months as the US, Britain and other European countries have signalled their intention to play a greater role in combating the extremist groups that threaten Yemen's stability, our correspondent adds.
This came in the wake of the Christmas Day attempt to blow up an airline bound for Detroit in the US. The Nigerian suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is said to have been trained by a Yemen-based group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Western embassies in Yemen are no strangers to attacks. Militants used car bombs and rocket-propelled grenades in a co-ordinated assault on the US embassy last year.
The UK and US temporarily closed their embassies in January amid security threats from al-Qaeda.
The British embassy was closed twice in 2005 due to threats to "Western interests".
British ambassador escapes assassination attempt
The Yemeni government identified the suicide bomber who tried to exploded the convey of the British ambassador to Yemen as Othman Ali AlSalwi.
No one from the British embassy was killed in the suicide bombing and the ambassador Tim Torlot who was in the way back to the British Embassy after a meeting is safe and sound, the security source said Monday.
The sources said the suicide bomber died in the blast and two men and a woman were injured as they passed near to the site of the bombing.
The bomber, Othman Ali AlSalwi who is in the high secondary school was born in 1988.
The media center of the ministry of interior said, the terrorist suicide attacker tried to explode the convey of the British ambassador, but no one from the convey was harmed.
The security sources said suicide bomber who was wearing an explosive belt was blown into pieces and they found his head 50 meters away from the scene of the bombing.
The security sources said the “this terrorist attempt bears the hallmark of AlQaeda.”
No one from the British embassy was killed in the suicide bombing and the ambassador Tim Torlot who was in the way back to the British Embassy after a meeting is safe and sound, the security source said Monday.
The sources said the suicide bomber died in the blast and two men and a woman were injured as they passed near to the site of the bombing.
The bomber, Othman Ali AlSalwi who is in the high secondary school was born in 1988.
The media center of the ministry of interior said, the terrorist suicide attacker tried to explode the convey of the British ambassador, but no one from the convey was harmed.
The security sources said suicide bomber who was wearing an explosive belt was blown into pieces and they found his head 50 meters away from the scene of the bombing.
The security sources said the “this terrorist attempt bears the hallmark of AlQaeda.”
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Yemen says opposition allied with armed foes of state
By Mohammed Ghobari
Reuters
SANAA (Reuters) - The Yemeni government accused the country's opposition party of allying with armed elements fighting the state in the north and south, reducing prospects for national dialogue in a fractious country.
Separately, the government put 18 southern separatists on trial on Sunday on charges of incitement and threatening national unity, a move that could further increase tensions a day after four others were sentenced to jail terms of 10 years.
"Those who call themselves the opposition ... have entered into suspicious alliances with groups outside of the system, the law and the constitution," Yemeni Prime Minister Ali Megawar told a pro-government rally on Saturday.
"Your cheers are a condemnation of those who take up arms in the southern provinces," he told the protesters, making a similar reference to northern Shi'ite rebels.
Yemen, strategically located next to the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after a Yemeni-based arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a December attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound passenger plane.
Yemen is trying to quell a northern war with Shi'ite rebels while also facing separatist demands in the south, and is under heavy international pressure to quiet these domestic conflicts in order to focus on quashing al Qaeda.
But a national dialogue, which would also result in agreement on terms of the first parliamentary election since 2003, has been delayed since last year when Sanaa declined to include northern rebels and southern secessionists in the talks.
Yemen's umbrella opposition party has renewed calls for reconciliation in recent street protests that also demanded an easing to a crackdown in the south. But Megawar said the opposition was "not serious about engaging in genuine dialogue."
North and south Yemen formally united in 1990 but many in the south, where most of impoverished Yemen's oil facilities are located, complain northerners exploit the south's resources and discriminate against southern citizens.
Separately in north Yemen, where a February truce with Shi'ite rebels has come under strain in recent weeks, insurgents took control of around 15 schools and sent younger students away to recruit and indoctrinate them, officials said in a statement.
Rebels denied that, saying that they were committed to maintaining the truce and normalizing life in the region, where an on-and-off war that has raged since 2004 has displaced 250,000 people.
Also on Sunday, northern rebels released a Yemeni man kidnapped in the Harf Sufyan district, security officials said in a statement. The man had been beaten and tortured prior to release, the statement said.
Reuters
SANAA (Reuters) - The Yemeni government accused the country's opposition party of allying with armed elements fighting the state in the north and south, reducing prospects for national dialogue in a fractious country.
Separately, the government put 18 southern separatists on trial on Sunday on charges of incitement and threatening national unity, a move that could further increase tensions a day after four others were sentenced to jail terms of 10 years.
"Those who call themselves the opposition ... have entered into suspicious alliances with groups outside of the system, the law and the constitution," Yemeni Prime Minister Ali Megawar told a pro-government rally on Saturday.
"Your cheers are a condemnation of those who take up arms in the southern provinces," he told the protesters, making a similar reference to northern Shi'ite rebels.
Yemen, strategically located next to the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after a Yemeni-based arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a December attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound passenger plane.
Yemen is trying to quell a northern war with Shi'ite rebels while also facing separatist demands in the south, and is under heavy international pressure to quiet these domestic conflicts in order to focus on quashing al Qaeda.
But a national dialogue, which would also result in agreement on terms of the first parliamentary election since 2003, has been delayed since last year when Sanaa declined to include northern rebels and southern secessionists in the talks.
Yemen's umbrella opposition party has renewed calls for reconciliation in recent street protests that also demanded an easing to a crackdown in the south. But Megawar said the opposition was "not serious about engaging in genuine dialogue."
North and south Yemen formally united in 1990 but many in the south, where most of impoverished Yemen's oil facilities are located, complain northerners exploit the south's resources and discriminate against southern citizens.
Separately in north Yemen, where a February truce with Shi'ite rebels has come under strain in recent weeks, insurgents took control of around 15 schools and sent younger students away to recruit and indoctrinate them, officials said in a statement.
Rebels denied that, saying that they were committed to maintaining the truce and normalizing life in the region, where an on-and-off war that has raged since 2004 has displaced 250,000 people.
Also on Sunday, northern rebels released a Yemeni man kidnapped in the Harf Sufyan district, security officials said in a statement. The man had been beaten and tortured prior to release, the statement said.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Three traffic accidents kill 50 people from three families
By Nasser Arrabyee/24/04/2010
A total of 14 people from one family were killed in a traffic accident in Taiz province, south of Yemen, said an official Saturday.
‘’ A lorry deviated from it’s line and collided with a pick up Hilux killing 8 men, two women, two boys and two girls, all fro one family, in Al Barah highway in the province of Taiz,’’ said the director of traffic in Taiz, Kais Al Eryani.
This accident comes only two days after 30 people including 15 women and 14 children, also from one family, were killed in a horrible traffic accident in Mala’a area, Haraib, Mareb province, where the family was on its way to attend a social occasion with their relatives.
The tribesmen of Mareb and Al Jawf described the accident as a catastrophe’ calling for providing assistance for those still alive of the stricken family of Hussein Abu Ayah, who also died in the accident.
The tribesmen also demanded the government to take procedures to raise the traffic safety in the cars and roads.
Last Wednesday, Six people from the one family, father mother and their four children were killed in a traffic accident in Taiz province while the family was on its way back from Saudi Arabia.
A total of 625 people were killed and 4578 were injured in traffic accidents from the beginning of this year all over the country , according to traffic statistics.
In 2009, 3063 people were killed and 20,000 were injured in various accidents which cost about 5 billion Yemeni Rials. ( 1 US dollar equals 200YR).
A total of 14 people from one family were killed in a traffic accident in Taiz province, south of Yemen, said an official Saturday.
‘’ A lorry deviated from it’s line and collided with a pick up Hilux killing 8 men, two women, two boys and two girls, all fro one family, in Al Barah highway in the province of Taiz,’’ said the director of traffic in Taiz, Kais Al Eryani.
This accident comes only two days after 30 people including 15 women and 14 children, also from one family, were killed in a horrible traffic accident in Mala’a area, Haraib, Mareb province, where the family was on its way to attend a social occasion with their relatives.
The tribesmen of Mareb and Al Jawf described the accident as a catastrophe’ calling for providing assistance for those still alive of the stricken family of Hussein Abu Ayah, who also died in the accident.
The tribesmen also demanded the government to take procedures to raise the traffic safety in the cars and roads.
Last Wednesday, Six people from the one family, father mother and their four children were killed in a traffic accident in Taiz province while the family was on its way back from Saudi Arabia.
A total of 625 people were killed and 4578 were injured in traffic accidents from the beginning of this year all over the country , according to traffic statistics.
In 2009, 3063 people were killed and 20,000 were injured in various accidents which cost about 5 billion Yemeni Rials. ( 1 US dollar equals 200YR).
Friday, 23 April 2010
Warnings from new fighting after rebels call for Jihad against government
By Nasser Arrabyee/23/04/2010
The Yemeni government warned Friday from returning to the war in Sa’ada after Al Houthi rebels called for Jihad against the government.
The government said the rebels distributed publications calling for Jihad after they held a meeting in Barat area east of Sa’ada.
“We warn Al Houthi rebels from playing with fire and returning to fighting,” said the government in a statement published the ministry of interior website Friday.
The spokesman for the rebels, Mohammed Abdul Salam, denied the call for Jihad, saying the government wanted only to escape from its commitments.
He demanded the release of 1000 detainees from the prisons of the government. Over the last few weeks, the government had released 300 Al Houthi prisoners but Al Houthi spokesman said those were not members of their armed rebellion movement.
“The government pledged to implement our demands in return for our accepting the six conditions for ending the war,” Abdul Salam told reporters Friday.
“We released all Yemeni and Saudi detainees, we went down from mountains, but the government did not do anything in return.”
To this end, the security sources said that the rebels kidnapped Friday a tribesman called Hammam Daris for suspicions that he was monitoring their movements in Harf Syfyan and reporting to the security and army.
The last few days witnessed exchange of accusations between the two conflicting parties over non-implementation of the six conditions set by the government and accepted by the rebels on February 12th 2010 for ending the 6-year old sporadic war.
The Yemeni government warned Friday from returning to the war in Sa’ada after Al Houthi rebels called for Jihad against the government.
The government said the rebels distributed publications calling for Jihad after they held a meeting in Barat area east of Sa’ada.
“We warn Al Houthi rebels from playing with fire and returning to fighting,” said the government in a statement published the ministry of interior website Friday.
The spokesman for the rebels, Mohammed Abdul Salam, denied the call for Jihad, saying the government wanted only to escape from its commitments.
He demanded the release of 1000 detainees from the prisons of the government. Over the last few weeks, the government had released 300 Al Houthi prisoners but Al Houthi spokesman said those were not members of their armed rebellion movement.
“The government pledged to implement our demands in return for our accepting the six conditions for ending the war,” Abdul Salam told reporters Friday.
“We released all Yemeni and Saudi detainees, we went down from mountains, but the government did not do anything in return.”
To this end, the security sources said that the rebels kidnapped Friday a tribesman called Hammam Daris for suspicions that he was monitoring their movements in Harf Syfyan and reporting to the security and army.
The last few days witnessed exchange of accusations between the two conflicting parties over non-implementation of the six conditions set by the government and accepted by the rebels on February 12th 2010 for ending the 6-year old sporadic war.
Frustration Mounts, as Yemeni Detainees Languish in Guantanamo
By Heather Murdock Sana'a 23 /04 2010
Last year, U.S. President Barack Obama said the prison at Guantanamo Bay would be closed before the end of January, 2010. Three months after the deadline, families of Yemeni detainees, which make up about half of the prisoners held in Guantanamo, are hopeless and angry.
It has been eight and a half years since Bashir Nasser disappeared in Pakistan. His family says he left Yemen to go back to school where he was working towards an advanced degree in nursing. Four months after he left Yemen they got a letter from the Red Cross. Bashir was in Guantanamo.
Bashir's younger brother, Bessam, says he does not really know how his brother is doing because prisoners are not allowed to tell their families about the conditions in Guantanamo.
As far as Bessam knows, his brother has never been charged with a crime.
About half of the remaining 200 detainees in Guantanamo are Yemenis. In January, after reports that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the failed Christmas bomber, was trained and armed in Yemen, U.S. officials said the already-scheduled release of many of the Yemeni prisoners would be delayed indefinitely.
Reports of increasing numbers of former Guantanamo prisoners traveling to Yemen to fight with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula complicate the matter. Saeed al-Shehri, a former Guantanamo prisoner was released to a rehabilitation center in Saudi Arabia in 2007. He is now believed to be leading al-Qaida's operations in Yemen with several other former detainees.
But activists say keeping Yemeni prisoners in Cuba without charges is strengthening anti-Western sentiment in Yemen. Khaled Alansi, the director of HOOD, a Yemeni human-rights organization, says the families of the detainees were crushed when the deadline for closing Guantanamo came and went without the return of their family members.
Alansi also says it is not just U.S. security concerns that have prevented prisoner return. He says Guantanamo prisoners are also a pawn in a political and financial game between the United States and Yemen.
He says when the United States offered to return prisoners last year, Yemen responded by demanding funding for a rehabilitation center.
"The Yemeni government uses terrorism and fighting terrorism as a tool to get political and financial benefit," said Khaled Alansi. "They did not have anything to market themselves to the world, especially the United States, except fighting terrorism."
Like Alansi, Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, also says most of the Guantanamo detainees were arrested without evidence against them.
But other U.S. officials warn some of the prisoners are too dangerous to release, and say that because they are being held as enemy combatants, they can legally remain in U.S. custody for the duration of the "War on Terror."
Some Yemeni officials say this "war" may never be truly over. Abdul Karim al-Iryani, a former prime minister, says the detainees should be returned to Yemen, and, if there is evidence against them, tried in Yemeni courts.
"You can never tell how anybody will behave after such enduring of suffering," said Abdul Karim al-Iryani. "Some people come out of suffering and behave well, some people come out more extremist. But is that a good excuse to keep them in jail forever? Is that justice or injustice?"
For years friends and families of Yemeni detainees have staged protests and solicited help from lawyers. But despite repeated promises for his safe return, Bashir's friends say their efforts have only gotten them in trouble.
Bessam says another one of his brothers and one of their friends were sentenced to 10 years in prison, after threatening to turn their peaceful protest movement violent. If his brother stays in Guantanamo, and Bessam continues speaking out against the detention - even without the threats - Bessam says he fully expects to be arrested too.
Last year, U.S. President Barack Obama said the prison at Guantanamo Bay would be closed before the end of January, 2010. Three months after the deadline, families of Yemeni detainees, which make up about half of the prisoners held in Guantanamo, are hopeless and angry.
It has been eight and a half years since Bashir Nasser disappeared in Pakistan. His family says he left Yemen to go back to school where he was working towards an advanced degree in nursing. Four months after he left Yemen they got a letter from the Red Cross. Bashir was in Guantanamo.
Bashir's younger brother, Bessam, says he does not really know how his brother is doing because prisoners are not allowed to tell their families about the conditions in Guantanamo.
As far as Bessam knows, his brother has never been charged with a crime.
About half of the remaining 200 detainees in Guantanamo are Yemenis. In January, after reports that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the failed Christmas bomber, was trained and armed in Yemen, U.S. officials said the already-scheduled release of many of the Yemeni prisoners would be delayed indefinitely.
Reports of increasing numbers of former Guantanamo prisoners traveling to Yemen to fight with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula complicate the matter. Saeed al-Shehri, a former Guantanamo prisoner was released to a rehabilitation center in Saudi Arabia in 2007. He is now believed to be leading al-Qaida's operations in Yemen with several other former detainees.
But activists say keeping Yemeni prisoners in Cuba without charges is strengthening anti-Western sentiment in Yemen. Khaled Alansi, the director of HOOD, a Yemeni human-rights organization, says the families of the detainees were crushed when the deadline for closing Guantanamo came and went without the return of their family members.
Alansi also says it is not just U.S. security concerns that have prevented prisoner return. He says Guantanamo prisoners are also a pawn in a political and financial game between the United States and Yemen.
He says when the United States offered to return prisoners last year, Yemen responded by demanding funding for a rehabilitation center.
"The Yemeni government uses terrorism and fighting terrorism as a tool to get political and financial benefit," said Khaled Alansi. "They did not have anything to market themselves to the world, especially the United States, except fighting terrorism."
Like Alansi, Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, also says most of the Guantanamo detainees were arrested without evidence against them.
But other U.S. officials warn some of the prisoners are too dangerous to release, and say that because they are being held as enemy combatants, they can legally remain in U.S. custody for the duration of the "War on Terror."
Some Yemeni officials say this "war" may never be truly over. Abdul Karim al-Iryani, a former prime minister, says the detainees should be returned to Yemen, and, if there is evidence against them, tried in Yemeni courts.
"You can never tell how anybody will behave after such enduring of suffering," said Abdul Karim al-Iryani. "Some people come out of suffering and behave well, some people come out more extremist. But is that a good excuse to keep them in jail forever? Is that justice or injustice?"
For years friends and families of Yemeni detainees have staged protests and solicited help from lawyers. But despite repeated promises for his safe return, Bashir's friends say their efforts have only gotten them in trouble.
Bessam says another one of his brothers and one of their friends were sentenced to 10 years in prison, after threatening to turn their peaceful protest movement violent. If his brother stays in Guantanamo, and Bessam continues speaking out against the detention - even without the threats - Bessam says he fully expects to be arrested too.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Conditions of ending Yemen’s war ‘not implemented’
By Nasser Arrabyee/22/04/2010
A Yemeni official accused Thursday Al Houthi rebels of not wanting to implement the six conditions they previously accepted for ending the war in Sa’ada north of the country.
“Al Houthi rebels are still positioning in the mountains and they sometimes block sub-roads between villages causing provocation of people,” said Mohammed Al Emad, deputy governor of Sa’ada Thursday.
“They still ask people to pay money to them as Zakat, and build positions in the public roads,” Al Emad said.
The official denied clashes reportedly happened between the security forces and Al Houthi rebels in Al Makash area around the Sa’ada city on Wednesday.
Al Houthi rebels, on their part, seem to be unwilling to implement the conditions which include their going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons, before the government meets some certain demands of theirs.
“The government did not release the detainees, did not pay the salaries of the employees, did not return the fired employees to their jobs, did not reconstruct Sa’ada,” said Al Houthi rebels in a statement sent to media.
Earlier on Thursday Reuters said three people were killed when a gunfight broke out in northern Yemen, rebels and tribal sources said on Thursday, in the latest outbreak of violence that threatens to undermine a two-month-old truce.
Yemen's government agreed a truce with Shi'ite Muslim rebels led by Abdel Malek al-Houthi in February to halt a war that has raged on and off since 2004 and displaced 250,000 people.
The ceasefire has largely held, but unrest has risen in recent weeks, raising fears of growing instability in a country that neighbours the world's biggest oil exporters and sits on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb shipping channel.
Rebels and tribal sources gave conflicting accounts of Thursday's clash, highlighting the confusion that has long surrounded the conflict in the Saada area of north Yemen.
"The Houthis opened fire on a position of the central security forces, who responded in kind," a Yemeni tribal source said of the gunbattle, adding that three rebels were killed.
The rebels denied involvement, saying it was tribal gunmen who had clashed with security forces after they tried to shake them down for money at a checkpoint in Saada on Wednesday.
The rebels, on their website, said the three dead were civilians caught in the crossfire. A government official denied any violence had taken place at all.
But several people were wounded in a separate clash between Houthi rebels and pro-government fighters and dozens of pro-rebel gunmen held a peaceful protest to complain that Sanaa was not serious about ending the conflict.
Yemen jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional arm claimed responsibility for an attempted attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December.
Western governments and Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to use the Arabian peninsula state as a base for attacks in the region and beyond.
Yemen's allies want Sanaa to quell its domestic conflicts to turn its focus and resources to the battle against al Qaeda.
But previous ceasefires have not lasted and analysts say more trust must be built between the sides for this one to hold.
The government freed scores of Shi'ite prisoners this month to cement the truce after rebels freed 170 soldiers and pro-government tribal fighters in March. But the rebels complain that hundreds more from their ranks are still being held.
"The government is not serious about the peace process because it has not freed the prisoners or released the salaries of civil servants or started rebuilding what was destroyed in the war," one rebel official in the northern Jawf region said.
Sanaa says the rebels have violated the truce but Houthi's followers have denied involvement in any of the recent violence.
"These acts hinder the peace, but we can overcome it. But if the Houthis continue with violations they will bear the responsibility," a government official told Reuters.
A Yemeni official accused Thursday Al Houthi rebels of not wanting to implement the six conditions they previously accepted for ending the war in Sa’ada north of the country.
“Al Houthi rebels are still positioning in the mountains and they sometimes block sub-roads between villages causing provocation of people,” said Mohammed Al Emad, deputy governor of Sa’ada Thursday.
“They still ask people to pay money to them as Zakat, and build positions in the public roads,” Al Emad said.
The official denied clashes reportedly happened between the security forces and Al Houthi rebels in Al Makash area around the Sa’ada city on Wednesday.
Al Houthi rebels, on their part, seem to be unwilling to implement the conditions which include their going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons, before the government meets some certain demands of theirs.
“The government did not release the detainees, did not pay the salaries of the employees, did not return the fired employees to their jobs, did not reconstruct Sa’ada,” said Al Houthi rebels in a statement sent to media.
Earlier on Thursday Reuters said three people were killed when a gunfight broke out in northern Yemen, rebels and tribal sources said on Thursday, in the latest outbreak of violence that threatens to undermine a two-month-old truce.
Yemen's government agreed a truce with Shi'ite Muslim rebels led by Abdel Malek al-Houthi in February to halt a war that has raged on and off since 2004 and displaced 250,000 people.
The ceasefire has largely held, but unrest has risen in recent weeks, raising fears of growing instability in a country that neighbours the world's biggest oil exporters and sits on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb shipping channel.
Rebels and tribal sources gave conflicting accounts of Thursday's clash, highlighting the confusion that has long surrounded the conflict in the Saada area of north Yemen.
"The Houthis opened fire on a position of the central security forces, who responded in kind," a Yemeni tribal source said of the gunbattle, adding that three rebels were killed.
The rebels denied involvement, saying it was tribal gunmen who had clashed with security forces after they tried to shake them down for money at a checkpoint in Saada on Wednesday.
The rebels, on their website, said the three dead were civilians caught in the crossfire. A government official denied any violence had taken place at all.
But several people were wounded in a separate clash between Houthi rebels and pro-government fighters and dozens of pro-rebel gunmen held a peaceful protest to complain that Sanaa was not serious about ending the conflict.
Yemen jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional arm claimed responsibility for an attempted attack on a U.S.-bound plane in December.
Western governments and Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to use the Arabian peninsula state as a base for attacks in the region and beyond.
Yemen's allies want Sanaa to quell its domestic conflicts to turn its focus and resources to the battle against al Qaeda.
But previous ceasefires have not lasted and analysts say more trust must be built between the sides for this one to hold.
The government freed scores of Shi'ite prisoners this month to cement the truce after rebels freed 170 soldiers and pro-government tribal fighters in March. But the rebels complain that hundreds more from their ranks are still being held.
"The government is not serious about the peace process because it has not freed the prisoners or released the salaries of civil servants or started rebuilding what was destroyed in the war," one rebel official in the northern Jawf region said.
Sanaa says the rebels have violated the truce but Houthi's followers have denied involvement in any of the recent violence.
"These acts hinder the peace, but we can overcome it. But if the Houthis continue with violations they will bear the responsibility," a government official told Reuters.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Yemen police arrest three alleged Qaeda members
Source: AFP 21/04/2010
SANAA — Yemeni authorities arrested three alleged Al-Qaeda members accused of killing two policemen and blowing up an official's vehicle in the southern province of Abyan, the defence ministry said Wednesday.
The three men, identified as Mujib Hafsah, Mohammed al-Bakawi and Mohammed Ismail, were arrested in the southern province of Aden on Sunday, the ministry's news website 26sep.net said, citing a security source.
They are accused of blowing up the car of a local government official on April 19, while Bakawi and Ismail are also suspected of killing two policemen, the website said.
"During interrogations, the suspects admitted that they were appointed by Khaled Abdulnabi, a member of Al-Qaeda in Abyan province," it said.
Abdulnabi was a leading member of the Aden-Abyan Islamic army, an armed group which was active in the south before it went into oblivion a few years ago.
The region of Abyan, part of the former South Yemen republic, has over the past years become a regrouping base for Islamist militants, including Arab veterans of the 1980s war in Afghanistan against Soviet occupation.
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and has been the scene of several attacks claimed by the group on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil installations.
The group has suffered setbacks amid US pressure on Sanaa to crack down but its presence threatens to turn Yemen into a base for training and plotting attacks, a top US counter-terrorism official said in September.
The rugged terrain of Yemen, which stretches over 529,000 square kilometres (204,248 square miles), provides ideal cover for armed groups.
SANAA — Yemeni authorities arrested three alleged Al-Qaeda members accused of killing two policemen and blowing up an official's vehicle in the southern province of Abyan, the defence ministry said Wednesday.
The three men, identified as Mujib Hafsah, Mohammed al-Bakawi and Mohammed Ismail, were arrested in the southern province of Aden on Sunday, the ministry's news website 26sep.net said, citing a security source.
They are accused of blowing up the car of a local government official on April 19, while Bakawi and Ismail are also suspected of killing two policemen, the website said.
"During interrogations, the suspects admitted that they were appointed by Khaled Abdulnabi, a member of Al-Qaeda in Abyan province," it said.
Abdulnabi was a leading member of the Aden-Abyan Islamic army, an armed group which was active in the south before it went into oblivion a few years ago.
The region of Abyan, part of the former South Yemen republic, has over the past years become a regrouping base for Islamist militants, including Arab veterans of the 1980s war in Afghanistan against Soviet occupation.
Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and has been the scene of several attacks claimed by the group on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil installations.
The group has suffered setbacks amid US pressure on Sanaa to crack down but its presence threatens to turn Yemen into a base for training and plotting attacks, a top US counter-terrorism official said in September.
The rugged terrain of Yemen, which stretches over 529,000 square kilometres (204,248 square miles), provides ideal cover for armed groups.
Yemen to release staff members of banned daily
Source: AFP 21/04/2010
SANAA — Yemeni authorities have reached agreement with management of the banned Al-Ayyam daily to free three detained staff members, the newspaper's director told AFP on Wednesday.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh met with Al-Ayyam staff members Tuesday and promised to ensure the trio would be freed, said the director, Bashraheel Hisham Bashraheel.
He named the three as Hani Hisham Bashraheel, Mohammed Hisham Bashraheel and Arhab Hassan Yassin.
The president "has given orders to Aden's security director ... to release Hani, Mohammed, and Arhab. We are still waiting for orders from the attorney general to release our three colleagues," he said.
In return, the newspaper is obliged to respect the country's law and constitution, Bashraheel said, without revealing the terms of the agreement.
"There is an agreement which we cannot disclose at the moment until the release of our three colleagues," he said.
The 66-year-old director was arrested on January 6 along with two of his sons following clashes in Aden in which a policeman and a guard were killed and seven people were wounded.
He was released after three months in custody, but his sons remained in detention.
Police had laid siege to the offices of the newspaper, which was accused of sympathising with southern separatists.
The siege was lifted after 30 protesters and 20 guards who were holed up in the premises surrendered to authorities following negotiations.
Al-Ayyam, one of the largest dailies in the south, was one of eight publications closed in May last year over allegations that it incited separatism in the region amid deadly unrest there.
South Yemen was independent from the time of the British withdrawal in 1967 until 1990, when it united with the north. It seceded in 1994, sparking a short-lived civil war that ended with the area overrun by northern troops.
Residents of south Yemen who complain of discrimination and a lack of financial aid hold frequent protests to demand either increased autonomy or independence from the north
SANAA — Yemeni authorities have reached agreement with management of the banned Al-Ayyam daily to free three detained staff members, the newspaper's director told AFP on Wednesday.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh met with Al-Ayyam staff members Tuesday and promised to ensure the trio would be freed, said the director, Bashraheel Hisham Bashraheel.
He named the three as Hani Hisham Bashraheel, Mohammed Hisham Bashraheel and Arhab Hassan Yassin.
The president "has given orders to Aden's security director ... to release Hani, Mohammed, and Arhab. We are still waiting for orders from the attorney general to release our three colleagues," he said.
In return, the newspaper is obliged to respect the country's law and constitution, Bashraheel said, without revealing the terms of the agreement.
"There is an agreement which we cannot disclose at the moment until the release of our three colleagues," he said.
The 66-year-old director was arrested on January 6 along with two of his sons following clashes in Aden in which a policeman and a guard were killed and seven people were wounded.
He was released after three months in custody, but his sons remained in detention.
Police had laid siege to the offices of the newspaper, which was accused of sympathising with southern separatists.
The siege was lifted after 30 protesters and 20 guards who were holed up in the premises surrendered to authorities following negotiations.
Al-Ayyam, one of the largest dailies in the south, was one of eight publications closed in May last year over allegations that it incited separatism in the region amid deadly unrest there.
South Yemen was independent from the time of the British withdrawal in 1967 until 1990, when it united with the north. It seceded in 1994, sparking a short-lived civil war that ended with the area overrun by northern troops.
Residents of south Yemen who complain of discrimination and a lack of financial aid hold frequent protests to demand either increased autonomy or independence from the north
Yemen accuses 12 Arabs of trading of human organs
By Nasser Arrabyee/21/04/2010
A total of 300 Yemenis have lost one of their kidneys after being lured by Arab human organs traders to sell their kidneys in an Egyptian hospital in Cairo, said a Yemeni security official on Wednesday.
Brigadier Abu Bakr Saeed, director of the criminal investigations in Sana’a said Yemen is now contacting with the international police (InterPol) about 12 Arab men accused of buying and selling the kidneys of the 300 Yemenis.
The hospital of Wadi Al Nail in Cairo, where operations took place for the 300 victims, has gained a total of 30,000,000 million US dollars in return for taking all those kidneys and transplanting them to other sick people, the official said.
After removing the kidney, the hospital gave only 5,000 US dollars to each victim, the official clarified.
This information came from investigations and confessions of the Jordanian organ trader Ramzi Khalil who was recently arrested by the Yemeni security authorities, the official added.
Khalil confessed he was sent to Yemen by another human organ trader called Ameen Rami Jawdah, to convince people in the Yemeni cities of Sana’a, Taiz and Aden, to sell their kidneys.
Khali, who used former victims for convincing new people to sell their kidneys, arranged and funded the travel tickets and hotels before and after conducting the operations in the hospital of Wadi Al Nail, where many doctors including the director of the hospital Hussam Sharif, were involved.
A total of 300 Yemenis have lost one of their kidneys after being lured by Arab human organs traders to sell their kidneys in an Egyptian hospital in Cairo, said a Yemeni security official on Wednesday.
Brigadier Abu Bakr Saeed, director of the criminal investigations in Sana’a said Yemen is now contacting with the international police (InterPol) about 12 Arab men accused of buying and selling the kidneys of the 300 Yemenis.
The hospital of Wadi Al Nail in Cairo, where operations took place for the 300 victims, has gained a total of 30,000,000 million US dollars in return for taking all those kidneys and transplanting them to other sick people, the official said.
After removing the kidney, the hospital gave only 5,000 US dollars to each victim, the official clarified.
This information came from investigations and confessions of the Jordanian organ trader Ramzi Khalil who was recently arrested by the Yemeni security authorities, the official added.
Khalil confessed he was sent to Yemen by another human organ trader called Ameen Rami Jawdah, to convince people in the Yemeni cities of Sana’a, Taiz and Aden, to sell their kidneys.
Khali, who used former victims for convincing new people to sell their kidneys, arranged and funded the travel tickets and hotels before and after conducting the operations in the hospital of Wadi Al Nail, where many doctors including the director of the hospital Hussam Sharif, were involved.
Pentagon to boost Yemen's special operations forces
Source: Reuters 21/04/2010
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to boost U.S. military assistance to Yemen's special operations forces to lead an offensive targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, officials said on Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates in February authorized $150 million in security assistance for Yemen for fiscal 2010, up from $67 million last year, but the Pentagon has offered few details about the highly sensitive program.
Officials briefed on the matter said the Pentagon informed Congress that it would provide $34 million in "tactical assistance" to Yemen's special operations forces.
"Special Operations forces are uniquely qualified for counterterrorism missions," a U.S. defense official said of the funding. "The United States wants to work with partners in the region to address their terrorist threats."
In addition, $38 million will provide Yemen with a military transport aircraft, officials said. The Pentagon is drawing up detailed spending plans for the rest of the program, which is expected to focus on boosting Yemen's air transport capabilities.
U.S. military and intelligence agencies have sought to keep their expanding roles in Yemen quiet, in part to avert a public backlash against the government.
Several of Yemen's internal security and intelligence services have been named as human rights abusers by international rights groups and the U.S. State Department.
U.S. military and intelligence assistance in recent months has included satellite and surveillance imagery, as well as intercepted communications, to help Yemeni forces carry out air raids against al Qaeda targets, officials said.
Critics say the growing U.S. military involvement risks fueling anti-American sentiment and boosting al Qaeda's standing.
In an article for Foreign Affairs magazine released on Monday, Gates argued that operations against militant groups in Yemen "have shown how well-integrated training and assistance efforts can achieve real success."
"Building the governance and security capacity of other countries must be a critical element of U.S. national security strategy," Gates wrote.
Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for a failed plot to blow up a U.S. passenger jet as it prepared to land at Detroit on Christmas Day.
AQAP has emerged as one of al Qaeda's most active affiliates, and U.S. officials said earlier this month that the Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the CIA to kill or capture a leading figure linked to the group -- American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Some of the equipment may not be delivered until fiscal 2011, which begins October 1, they said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to boost U.S. military assistance to Yemen's special operations forces to lead an offensive targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, officials said on Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates in February authorized $150 million in security assistance for Yemen for fiscal 2010, up from $67 million last year, but the Pentagon has offered few details about the highly sensitive program.
Officials briefed on the matter said the Pentagon informed Congress that it would provide $34 million in "tactical assistance" to Yemen's special operations forces.
"Special Operations forces are uniquely qualified for counterterrorism missions," a U.S. defense official said of the funding. "The United States wants to work with partners in the region to address their terrorist threats."
In addition, $38 million will provide Yemen with a military transport aircraft, officials said. The Pentagon is drawing up detailed spending plans for the rest of the program, which is expected to focus on boosting Yemen's air transport capabilities.
U.S. military and intelligence agencies have sought to keep their expanding roles in Yemen quiet, in part to avert a public backlash against the government.
Several of Yemen's internal security and intelligence services have been named as human rights abusers by international rights groups and the U.S. State Department.
U.S. military and intelligence assistance in recent months has included satellite and surveillance imagery, as well as intercepted communications, to help Yemeni forces carry out air raids against al Qaeda targets, officials said.
Critics say the growing U.S. military involvement risks fueling anti-American sentiment and boosting al Qaeda's standing.
In an article for Foreign Affairs magazine released on Monday, Gates argued that operations against militant groups in Yemen "have shown how well-integrated training and assistance efforts can achieve real success."
"Building the governance and security capacity of other countries must be a critical element of U.S. national security strategy," Gates wrote.
Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for a failed plot to blow up a U.S. passenger jet as it prepared to land at Detroit on Christmas Day.
AQAP has emerged as one of al Qaeda's most active affiliates, and U.S. officials said earlier this month that the Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the CIA to kill or capture a leading figure linked to the group -- American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Some of the equipment may not be delivered until fiscal 2011, which begins October 1, they said.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Yemen ruling and opposition elites depend on foreign support
By Nasser Arrabyee/20/04/2010
Both of the Yemen ruling and opposition elites depend mainly on foreign support for their political conflicts, said a prominent politician and politics university professor Tuesday.
Five wrong and backward conceptions have always been behind the political conflicts between Yemenis who used violent means to take power over the last few decades, said Dr. Mohammed Abdul Malik Al Mutawakel, assistant secretary general of the opposition party, federation of popular forces, an Islamic party not represented in the parliament.
The ruling elite monopolizes the power for itself and controls over the nation's wealth and deprives others and represses the opposition, said Al Mutawakel in an 8-page assessment on the political situation in Yemen.
The first and foremost concern of the opposition has been always to demolish the ruling elite and those loyal to them, and then they rule the country in the same previous way or even worse, said Al Mutawakel who was one of the founders of the current ruling party in Yemen before he turned to opposition.
When a group jumps to power, they completely controls the money and weapons and also dominate the rich and business people to prevent any financial support for the opposition which in turn start to look for support from abroad.
The ruling elite lose its sovereignty and independence of decisions by relying on foreign forces to continue in power.
The ruling elite, the fifth wrong conception, uses absolute centralization and marginalizes the local communities, said Al Mutawakel.
Among the right conceptions, in his opinion, the right of the people to choose the ruler, and hold him accountable, and not to obey him if he is not abiding by the constitution and laws.
Both of the Yemen ruling and opposition elites depend mainly on foreign support for their political conflicts, said a prominent politician and politics university professor Tuesday.
Five wrong and backward conceptions have always been behind the political conflicts between Yemenis who used violent means to take power over the last few decades, said Dr. Mohammed Abdul Malik Al Mutawakel, assistant secretary general of the opposition party, federation of popular forces, an Islamic party not represented in the parliament.
The ruling elite monopolizes the power for itself and controls over the nation's wealth and deprives others and represses the opposition, said Al Mutawakel in an 8-page assessment on the political situation in Yemen.
The first and foremost concern of the opposition has been always to demolish the ruling elite and those loyal to them, and then they rule the country in the same previous way or even worse, said Al Mutawakel who was one of the founders of the current ruling party in Yemen before he turned to opposition.
When a group jumps to power, they completely controls the money and weapons and also dominate the rich and business people to prevent any financial support for the opposition which in turn start to look for support from abroad.
The ruling elite lose its sovereignty and independence of decisions by relying on foreign forces to continue in power.
The ruling elite, the fifth wrong conception, uses absolute centralization and marginalizes the local communities, said Al Mutawakel.
Among the right conceptions, in his opinion, the right of the people to choose the ruler, and hold him accountable, and not to obey him if he is not abiding by the constitution and laws.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Rabbi criticizes allegedly imminent transfer of Yemen's Jews to Britain
By NasserArrabyee/19/04/2010
A Yemeni Jewish rabbi demanded the British government not to give asylum to Yemeni Jews who want to leave their country because of alleged persecution.
"The attempts to take the Jews from Yemeni are attempts to damage the reputation of Yemen as a country without tolerance," Rabbi, Yahya Yousif, told Gulf News Monday.
I do not agree with my brothers the Jews, who allow others to distort Yemen, our homeland, he added.
This comes after press reports that Britain is about to give asylums to a group of Yemeni Jews who applied for that because of alleged persecution in their country, Yemen.
"I have information that a group of Jews in Raidah have the desire to leave Yemen for Britain, but I think this is not justifiable," the rabbi said " This is our homeland, homeland of our grand, grand parents we are fine here, secured, and our rights are given."
The rabbi , Yahya Yousif, along with a gourp of about 70 Jews, have been living in a relatively luxurious government-run residential compound in the Yemeni capital Sana'a since 2006 when Al Houthi rebels forced them to leave their houses in Al Salem in Sa'ada, north of the country.
There are about 260 Jews still living in the most tribal and conservative province of Amran, town of Raidah, about 50 km north of the capital Sana'a.
The Yemeni government has been promising to transfer them to the capital Sanaá like the group from Al Salem, especially after one of them was killed by a religious extremist who asked them to convert to Islam or leave Yemen. Later the killer wassentenced to death.
It seems the government does not want to put them in one place in Sanaá in fear of becoming an easy target for religious extremists.
The Jews in Raida complain to journalists and human rights groups from individual harassments and persecution, but they can not leave their houses and lands and go to Sanaá. They even face difficulties in selling their houses and lands.
“ We want to move to Sanaá like our brothers from Al Salem, but we want compensation for our houses and lands first, the government kept promising us, but nothing happened,” one of the Jews in Raida told Gulf News.
“If our problem is not solved, we’ll go to the hell not only to Israel or Britain,” said the Jew who asked not to be named.
A source close to the Jews in Raida said, all the 260 Jews are only waiting the appropriate time for leaving Yemen to Britain.
A diplomat from the UK embassy in Sana'a declined to deny or confirm that the right of asylum was given to them.
A Yemeni Jewish rabbi demanded the British government not to give asylum to Yemeni Jews who want to leave their country because of alleged persecution.
"The attempts to take the Jews from Yemeni are attempts to damage the reputation of Yemen as a country without tolerance," Rabbi, Yahya Yousif, told Gulf News Monday.
I do not agree with my brothers the Jews, who allow others to distort Yemen, our homeland, he added.
This comes after press reports that Britain is about to give asylums to a group of Yemeni Jews who applied for that because of alleged persecution in their country, Yemen.
"I have information that a group of Jews in Raidah have the desire to leave Yemen for Britain, but I think this is not justifiable," the rabbi said " This is our homeland, homeland of our grand, grand parents we are fine here, secured, and our rights are given."
The rabbi , Yahya Yousif, along with a gourp of about 70 Jews, have been living in a relatively luxurious government-run residential compound in the Yemeni capital Sana'a since 2006 when Al Houthi rebels forced them to leave their houses in Al Salem in Sa'ada, north of the country.
There are about 260 Jews still living in the most tribal and conservative province of Amran, town of Raidah, about 50 km north of the capital Sana'a.
The Yemeni government has been promising to transfer them to the capital Sanaá like the group from Al Salem, especially after one of them was killed by a religious extremist who asked them to convert to Islam or leave Yemen. Later the killer wassentenced to death.
It seems the government does not want to put them in one place in Sanaá in fear of becoming an easy target for religious extremists.
The Jews in Raida complain to journalists and human rights groups from individual harassments and persecution, but they can not leave their houses and lands and go to Sanaá. They even face difficulties in selling their houses and lands.
“ We want to move to Sanaá like our brothers from Al Salem, but we want compensation for our houses and lands first, the government kept promising us, but nothing happened,” one of the Jews in Raida told Gulf News.
“If our problem is not solved, we’ll go to the hell not only to Israel or Britain,” said the Jew who asked not to be named.
A source close to the Jews in Raida said, all the 260 Jews are only waiting the appropriate time for leaving Yemen to Britain.
A diplomat from the UK embassy in Sana'a declined to deny or confirm that the right of asylum was given to them.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Two Al Qaeda suspects killed, as security measures beefed up
Source: Reuters, By Mohamed Sudam 19/04/2010
SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen has tightened security at oil facilities and government buildings, and two suspected al Qaeda members were killed in clash with security forces in western Yemen, a Yemeni official told Reuters on Sunday.
Yemen's government is struggling to stabilize the country where al Qaeda is trying to strengthen its influence.
The security official told Reuters that security measures were tightened around major "government, economic, oil and Western facilities" as of Saturday.
The measures included "the replacement of some normal central security forces with special units ... well qualified and trained by Arab military experts," he said.
Yemen, the poorest Arab country, has already carried out air strikes, with U.S. assistance, to target al Qaeda leaders.
"The two men were inside a car and refused to stop at a check point. An exchange of fire took place between them and security forces," the official said, adding the clash took place after midnight on Saturday.
"The two suspects were killed and two soldiers were injured, one of them seriously."
The two killed were being chased by the government after authorities distributed information about them to checkpoints, the official said.
Western countries fear that al Qaeda's resurgent regional wing is exploiting instability in Yemen to launch attacks in the region and beyond.
SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen has tightened security at oil facilities and government buildings, and two suspected al Qaeda members were killed in clash with security forces in western Yemen, a Yemeni official told Reuters on Sunday.
Yemen's government is struggling to stabilize the country where al Qaeda is trying to strengthen its influence.
The security official told Reuters that security measures were tightened around major "government, economic, oil and Western facilities" as of Saturday.
The measures included "the replacement of some normal central security forces with special units ... well qualified and trained by Arab military experts," he said.
Yemen, the poorest Arab country, has already carried out air strikes, with U.S. assistance, to target al Qaeda leaders.
"The two men were inside a car and refused to stop at a check point. An exchange of fire took place between them and security forces," the official said, adding the clash took place after midnight on Saturday.
"The two suspects were killed and two soldiers were injured, one of them seriously."
The two killed were being chased by the government after authorities distributed information about them to checkpoints, the official said.
Western countries fear that al Qaeda's resurgent regional wing is exploiting instability in Yemen to launch attacks in the region and beyond.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
US $4.5 million for helping displaced people in Sa'ada
By Nasser Arrabyee/18/04/2010
A total of $4.9 million was provided as a new financial assistance from the government of United States to the displaced people in Sa'ada, north of Yemen, said a statement by the US embassy in Yemen Sunday.
The money was handed over to the United Nations high Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for assistance programs in conflict-affected areas of Sa'ada, Hajjah and Amran governorates.
The United States is continuing to provide much needed assistance to over 250,000 individuals displaced by the recent conflict in northern Yemen, the statement said.
This assistance will facilitate internally displaced person (IDP) registration, enhance protection and shelter for affected populations, and help provide blankets, tents, and other non-food items to IDPs.
Since 2008, the United States has provided more than $24.5 million in humanitarian assistance to Yemen. This assistance has helped to meet the emergency needs of people affected by the conflict in northern Yemen and the floods in Hadhramout.
On February 12th, 2010, the Yemeni government announced the end of 6-year old on-and-off war after Al Houthi rebels accepted six conditions set by the government including their going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons.
The implementation of the six conditions in reality still faces many political, social and economic difficulties.
A total of $4.9 million was provided as a new financial assistance from the government of United States to the displaced people in Sa'ada, north of Yemen, said a statement by the US embassy in Yemen Sunday.
The money was handed over to the United Nations high Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for assistance programs in conflict-affected areas of Sa'ada, Hajjah and Amran governorates.
The United States is continuing to provide much needed assistance to over 250,000 individuals displaced by the recent conflict in northern Yemen, the statement said.
This assistance will facilitate internally displaced person (IDP) registration, enhance protection and shelter for affected populations, and help provide blankets, tents, and other non-food items to IDPs.
Since 2008, the United States has provided more than $24.5 million in humanitarian assistance to Yemen. This assistance has helped to meet the emergency needs of people affected by the conflict in northern Yemen and the floods in Hadhramout.
On February 12th, 2010, the Yemeni government announced the end of 6-year old on-and-off war after Al Houthi rebels accepted six conditions set by the government including their going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons.
The implementation of the six conditions in reality still faces many political, social and economic difficulties.
Yemen beefs up security over fear of attacks
Source: AFP 18/04/2010
SANAA — Yemen has beefed up security measures around embassies and the country's strategic infrastructure due to the threat of attacks, the interior ministry said on Saturday.
Without mentioning any specific threats, the ministry said it had instructed security officials both in Sanaa and elsewhere "to reinforce security around vital installations and embassies."
The ministry has asked officials to give daily reports on security precautions at the country's oil facilities, concentrated in the southeast and considered to be an Al-Qaeda stronghold.
The ministry also inspections of security units "to prevent any attacks" on the country's strategic infrastructure and "to prepare for any eventuality."
A source at the ministry said the units responsible for protecting oil facilities in Shabwa, Maarib and Hadramut provinces have been replaced by units that last week completed their training in counter-terrorist operations by Jordanian instructors.
Yemen has intensified operations against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group's local arm, since December, with the United States reportedly supplying intelligence and other support for the operations.
SANAA — Yemen has beefed up security measures around embassies and the country's strategic infrastructure due to the threat of attacks, the interior ministry said on Saturday.
Without mentioning any specific threats, the ministry said it had instructed security officials both in Sanaa and elsewhere "to reinforce security around vital installations and embassies."
The ministry has asked officials to give daily reports on security precautions at the country's oil facilities, concentrated in the southeast and considered to be an Al-Qaeda stronghold.
The ministry also inspections of security units "to prevent any attacks" on the country's strategic infrastructure and "to prepare for any eventuality."
A source at the ministry said the units responsible for protecting oil facilities in Shabwa, Maarib and Hadramut provinces have been replaced by units that last week completed their training in counter-terrorist operations by Jordanian instructors.
Yemen has intensified operations against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group's local arm, since December, with the United States reportedly supplying intelligence and other support for the operations.
Yemeni rebels kill soldier following truce breach
Source : Reuters 18/04/2010
Yemeni Shi'ite rebels killed a Yemeni soldier in the flashpoint city of Saada, security officials said late on Friday, the latest breach of a truce to end a northern war.
The soldier, Namran Suleiman Jaber Hadshan, was a bodyguard to a member of parliament, the government's security media office said in a statement.
His body was dumped in a well, the statement added.
On Friday, officials said Houthi rebels a day earlier had opened fire on a military plane flying above Saada, one of the most serious breaches of the truce. [ID:nLDE63F0F4]
The aircraft, which state media said was carrying military and government officials, was not hit. Houthis denied involvement in the incident, Yemeni media said.
The Yemeni government, struggling to stabilise a fractious country where al Qaeda is trying to strengthen its foothold, agreed a truce in February with the northern rebels to halt fighting that has raged on and off since 2004 and displaced 250,000 people.
The shooting was one of the most serious breaches yet of the truce, and came just days after rebels killed a school guard and lost one of their own in a gunfight on Tuesday.
Yemeni Shi'ite rebels killed a Yemeni soldier in the flashpoint city of Saada, security officials said late on Friday, the latest breach of a truce to end a northern war.
The soldier, Namran Suleiman Jaber Hadshan, was a bodyguard to a member of parliament, the government's security media office said in a statement.
His body was dumped in a well, the statement added.
On Friday, officials said Houthi rebels a day earlier had opened fire on a military plane flying above Saada, one of the most serious breaches of the truce. [ID:nLDE63F0F4]
The aircraft, which state media said was carrying military and government officials, was not hit. Houthis denied involvement in the incident, Yemeni media said.
The Yemeni government, struggling to stabilise a fractious country where al Qaeda is trying to strengthen its foothold, agreed a truce in February with the northern rebels to halt fighting that has raged on and off since 2004 and displaced 250,000 people.
The shooting was one of the most serious breaches yet of the truce, and came just days after rebels killed a school guard and lost one of their own in a gunfight on Tuesday.
18 killed in south Yemen violence this year
Source: AFP 18/04/2010
SANAA — Eighteen people were killed and 120 wounded in south Yemen violence during the first quarter of 2010, according to a report presented to parliament on Saturday by the deputy interior minister.
Ten members of the security forces were killed and 48 wounded while eight civilians were killed and 72 wounded, the defence ministry's 26sep.net news website quoted the report by Saleh Zuari as saying.
The unrest centred on the southern province of Daleh and some districts in Lahij and Abyan provinces, said the report, according to the website.
The report also said there were "245 protests and strikes" and "87 bombings and shootings" in the same areas during the first three months of the year.
Residents of south Yemen, who complain of discrimination and a lack of financial aid, hold frequent protests to demand either increased autonomy or independence from the north.
Protests sometimes result in clashes between security forces and demonstrators.
South Yemen became an independent state following the end of British rule in 1967. It was united with the north in 1990, when Yemen became the Arabian peninsula's only republic.
Southerners seceded in 1994, sparking a short-lived civil war that ended with the region overrun by northern troops.
SANAA — Eighteen people were killed and 120 wounded in south Yemen violence during the first quarter of 2010, according to a report presented to parliament on Saturday by the deputy interior minister.
Ten members of the security forces were killed and 48 wounded while eight civilians were killed and 72 wounded, the defence ministry's 26sep.net news website quoted the report by Saleh Zuari as saying.
The unrest centred on the southern province of Daleh and some districts in Lahij and Abyan provinces, said the report, according to the website.
The report also said there were "245 protests and strikes" and "87 bombings and shootings" in the same areas during the first three months of the year.
Residents of south Yemen, who complain of discrimination and a lack of financial aid, hold frequent protests to demand either increased autonomy or independence from the north.
Protests sometimes result in clashes between security forces and demonstrators.
South Yemen became an independent state following the end of British rule in 1967. It was united with the north in 1990, when Yemen became the Arabian peninsula's only republic.
Southerners seceded in 1994, sparking a short-lived civil war that ended with the region overrun by northern troops.
Death threat against terror expert
By Nasser Arrabyee/17/04/2010
An expert on terrorism affairs received a death threat in a public place from a religious extremist for talking to journalists and criticizing Al Qaeda.
The author of the book, Al Qaeda in Yemen, Saeed Obaid, said Saturday that he received a death threat from the brother of Anwar Al Awlaki who was recently put in the CIA "kill or capture" list for being involved in many terrorist incidents.
Obaid said he had reported the incident to the Yemeni general prosecutor and the ministry of interior calling them to do their job for protecting his life.
The incident took place on Friday after noon April 16th, 2010, when the young man, Omar Nasser Al Awlaki, came to the yard of the mosque of Al Mumeneen in Al Rebat Street in Sana'a and tried to attack Saeed Obaid in front of tens of worshipers. Al Mumeneen mosque is one of two mosques in this neighborhood of Al Rebat where Anwar Al Awlaki used to preach. The second mosque is called Al Ansar.
"The young man was very angry at me and if it were not for the worshipers who stopped and held him, he would have attacked me, and I do not know why," Obaid told me.
"He insulted me with words that I can not now say, they are very bad words," said Obaid who always receives local and international journalists in his house as an expert on terrorism.
Obaid's house is in the same street and only few meters from the house of Anwar Al Awlaki's family in Al Rebat Street in Sana'a.
"He (Omar Al Awlaki) told me while shouting angrily in the yard of the mosque, if you want to be an agent or a mercenary, you can do that far from us," Obaid said.
"I will crack your head open, if you do not stop being an agent against us."
Al Awlaki, the younger brother of Anwar, was angry because Saeed Obaid always receives journalists including American journalists, in his house.
Al Awlaki's family refuse to talk to journalists especially the Americans, about their fugitive son, Anwar.
An expert on terrorism affairs received a death threat in a public place from a religious extremist for talking to journalists and criticizing Al Qaeda.
The author of the book, Al Qaeda in Yemen, Saeed Obaid, said Saturday that he received a death threat from the brother of Anwar Al Awlaki who was recently put in the CIA "kill or capture" list for being involved in many terrorist incidents.
Obaid said he had reported the incident to the Yemeni general prosecutor and the ministry of interior calling them to do their job for protecting his life.
The incident took place on Friday after noon April 16th, 2010, when the young man, Omar Nasser Al Awlaki, came to the yard of the mosque of Al Mumeneen in Al Rebat Street in Sana'a and tried to attack Saeed Obaid in front of tens of worshipers. Al Mumeneen mosque is one of two mosques in this neighborhood of Al Rebat where Anwar Al Awlaki used to preach. The second mosque is called Al Ansar.
"The young man was very angry at me and if it were not for the worshipers who stopped and held him, he would have attacked me, and I do not know why," Obaid told me.
"He insulted me with words that I can not now say, they are very bad words," said Obaid who always receives local and international journalists in his house as an expert on terrorism.
Obaid's house is in the same street and only few meters from the house of Anwar Al Awlaki's family in Al Rebat Street in Sana'a.
"He (Omar Al Awlaki) told me while shouting angrily in the yard of the mosque, if you want to be an agent or a mercenary, you can do that far from us," Obaid said.
"I will crack your head open, if you do not stop being an agent against us."
Al Awlaki, the younger brother of Anwar, was angry because Saeed Obaid always receives journalists including American journalists, in his house.
Al Awlaki's family refuse to talk to journalists especially the Americans, about their fugitive son, Anwar.
Friday, 16 April 2010
Car Bomb In South Yemen Kills Retired Army Officer
Source: REUTERS 17/04/2010
ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - A car bomb in Yemen killed a retired army officer and wounded his brother, a colonel, in a flashpoint southern province where separatist sentiment is strong, officials and local media said on Thursday.
Two separatist protesters were shot and wounded elsewhere in the south when authorities opened fire to disperse a protest, and thousands of Yemenis took part in demonstrations in two main towns in solidarity with the southern opposition.
Tensions between Yemeni security forces and southern secessionists protesting against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government have been on the rise in recent months, accompanied by deaths and widespread arrests on both sides.
North and South Yemen formally united in 1990 but many in the south, where most of impoverished Yemen's oil facilities are located, complain northerners have used unification to seize resources and discriminate against them.
The car bomb that killed the retired officer was the latest in a string of killings in Shabwa province, where a soldier was shot dead at a police post on April 4, the same day a separatist activist and his son were killed on their farm.
Yemeni officials told Reuters the retired officer was killed by a bomb placed under the driver's seat of his car on Wednesday night. He was retired but his brother worked with security forces.
Yemen, struggling to stabilise a fractious country, jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.
Western allies and neighbouring oil exporter Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting Yemen's instability to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond.
PROTESTS ACROSS YEMEN
Thousands of peaceful opposition protesters gathered in Sanaa's main stadium and marched in Taizz south of the capital to demand a national political dialogue and an end to a military clampdown on two southern provinces.
They also urged the state to end arrests of southern separatist activists and complained about rising prices in the poorest Arab country. Smaller demonstrations took place across the south.
Witnesses said a leader in the southern separatist movement, Shalal Ali Shaia, escaped an assassination attempt in the province of Dalea, where violence between secessionists and authorities has been heaviest.
They said he and two local journalists travelling with him came under heavy gunfire shortly after passing through a security checkpoint as he returned from a protest. Bullets struck their vehicle but no one was injured, the witnesses said.
Yemen risks a sustained separatist insurgency in the south, scene of increased tit-for-tat violence, analysts say, unless it seriously addresses grievances of southerners who say their region is neglected by the state.
There have already been signs, such as recent ambush-style attacks blamed on separatists, that the southern conflict is becoming more and more like an insurgency and less a peaceful protest movement, analysts say.
In addition to its struggle with the separatists, Yemen is trying to bring an end to a long-running war with Shi'ite rebels in the north. It sealed a truce with the rebels in February but analysts say it is only a matter of time before fighting starts again as grievances have not been adequately addressed.
(Additional reporting by Mohamed Sudam in Sanaa; Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton
ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - A car bomb in Yemen killed a retired army officer and wounded his brother, a colonel, in a flashpoint southern province where separatist sentiment is strong, officials and local media said on Thursday.
Two separatist protesters were shot and wounded elsewhere in the south when authorities opened fire to disperse a protest, and thousands of Yemenis took part in demonstrations in two main towns in solidarity with the southern opposition.
Tensions between Yemeni security forces and southern secessionists protesting against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government have been on the rise in recent months, accompanied by deaths and widespread arrests on both sides.
North and South Yemen formally united in 1990 but many in the south, where most of impoverished Yemen's oil facilities are located, complain northerners have used unification to seize resources and discriminate against them.
The car bomb that killed the retired officer was the latest in a string of killings in Shabwa province, where a soldier was shot dead at a police post on April 4, the same day a separatist activist and his son were killed on their farm.
Yemeni officials told Reuters the retired officer was killed by a bomb placed under the driver's seat of his car on Wednesday night. He was retired but his brother worked with security forces.
Yemen, struggling to stabilise a fractious country, jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.
Western allies and neighbouring oil exporter Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting Yemen's instability to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond.
PROTESTS ACROSS YEMEN
Thousands of peaceful opposition protesters gathered in Sanaa's main stadium and marched in Taizz south of the capital to demand a national political dialogue and an end to a military clampdown on two southern provinces.
They also urged the state to end arrests of southern separatist activists and complained about rising prices in the poorest Arab country. Smaller demonstrations took place across the south.
Witnesses said a leader in the southern separatist movement, Shalal Ali Shaia, escaped an assassination attempt in the province of Dalea, where violence between secessionists and authorities has been heaviest.
They said he and two local journalists travelling with him came under heavy gunfire shortly after passing through a security checkpoint as he returned from a protest. Bullets struck their vehicle but no one was injured, the witnesses said.
Yemen risks a sustained separatist insurgency in the south, scene of increased tit-for-tat violence, analysts say, unless it seriously addresses grievances of southerners who say their region is neglected by the state.
There have already been signs, such as recent ambush-style attacks blamed on separatists, that the southern conflict is becoming more and more like an insurgency and less a peaceful protest movement, analysts say.
In addition to its struggle with the separatists, Yemen is trying to bring an end to a long-running war with Shi'ite rebels in the north. It sealed a truce with the rebels in February but analysts say it is only a matter of time before fighting starts again as grievances have not been adequately addressed.
(Additional reporting by Mohamed Sudam in Sanaa; Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton
It's a Mistake to Assassinate Anwar al-Awlaki
By Mohamed Elibiary 17/04/2010
President Obama should rescind this assassination order for Anwar al-Awlaki and clarify publicly our country's position.
Recently policy makers in Washington, D.C. let it be publicly known that our government is trying to assassinate an American-born cleric now supporting the other team in the War on Terror. Anwar Al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico, studied in Colorado, preached in San Diego and Virginia before going overseas. He was briefly detained in Yemen and then resumed his preaching online with a new political theme, stressing that “America is at war with Islam.” The United States, according to Al-Awlaki, is at war with Islam due to its occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan must should be fought on its homeland by any militant means necessary. The news of Al-Awlaki’s pending assassination circled the globe and included long discussions in the media about whether or not such a murder is “constitutional,” if it even constitutes “murder” and on Al-Jazeera it was dissected as a possible window into the Obama administration’s decision making process.
All of this was preceeded by news in late January that our government had not only made the decision to assassinate Anwar Al-Awlaki but that it had already attempted once and failed. News reports since then have also revealed that the decision to assassinate an American citizen was came from the White House’s National Security Council after a simple consensus-building discussion process initiated by the NSC.
Intelligence analysts watching this unfold from outside the administration can detect a unique, systemic decision-making pattern regarding covert operations. While our enemies have built up a good deal of operational experience, culminating in the assassination of several CIA agents last year, we now run the risk of helping them capitalize even more effectively on their propaganda and recruitment efforts with the revelation of this assassination policy.
A simple committee of unelected individuals from one branch of government, no matter their subject matter expertise, should not have the power to assassinate an American citizen. The Founding Fathers set up a system of checks and balances, because they recognized that when a king has such powers it is only a matter of time before such power will be turned on political dissenters at home to suppress freedoms. We are a nation that upholds the rule of law in our federal court system and have a Military Commissions system as a backup for terror cases; so why weaken America’s hand by using this extra-judicial assassination policy on American citizens?
Anwar Al-Awlaki is a disingenuous cheerleader in the global jihad who’s preying on largely naive or troubled Western-educated youth attempting to form their identities in a global world. Al-Awlaki built his reputation by retelling the stories of the ancient companions of Prophet Muhammad and their roles in reforming the tyrannical state of affairs in pre-Islamic Arabia. His public rhetoric, including his sermon inside the U.S. Capitol, was largely benign and non-political until his detention in Yemen a few years ago.
Al-Awlaki is a one trick pony whose messaging capability was beginning to be cornered by various American and Western Muslim community efforts until this administration overreacted after the Christmas Day bomber tried to blow up a plane over Detroit and inflamed Anwar’s stature many fold. Alawaki’s message is largely one of righteous self-sacrifice to defend one’s religion, so the proper way of countering it is not to assassinate the messenger so that he achieves “martyr” status. That would only turn him into a ghost who is much more difficult to counter. Instead the more effective method would have been to have mainstream clerics from Anwar’s same Salafi version of Islam expose his disingenuousness and unsound Islamic logic to the youth in the population currently sitting on the sidelines watching geo-political struggles unfold around the globe and wondering what their role in it ought to be.
In field experience where research meets reality, I’ve witnessed first-hand what happens when a Western Muslim youth is properly engaged to separate Islamic jurisprudence from geo-politics; the youth picks Islam over the political activism Al-Awlaki pitches every time. Today Al-Awlaki is not celebrated by the core of Al Qaeda member, nor even trusted to be in direct communications with them. Second, due to his ambitious usurping of jihadi credentials he has earned disdain in numerous jihad-oriented Islamist circles including from Yemen’s top Islamist figure, Sheikh Abdul-Majeed Al-Zaindani, himself counter-productively placed on the Designated Terror List. Al-Zaindani ironically found it easier to condemn Al-Awlaki on Al Jazeera a couple of months ago than to condemn Usama Bin Laden.
Previous experience shows us where this assassination policy leads. In 1966 the Nasser Regime in Egypt decided to execute Syed Qutb, a noted Islamist ideologue who by that point had spent a decade and a half critiquing government policies in regards to church-state issues, Middle Eastern geo-politics and internal sociological schisms about civilizational affiliation amongst the Egyptian elite and middle class. The public perceived injustice, witnessing a military execution without any recognized due process inflicted upon a man for simply speaking and writing his mind. It led to the violent radicalization of tens of thousands in a generation that later gave us the leadership of Al Qaeda and the takfiri (excommunication) movements across the Middle East usurping Qutb’s legacy to this day.
We must ask ourselves whether our public chest thumping in calling for Anwar’s head ‘dead or alive’ is worth the ramifications of having to chase his ghost as a martyr for the next half century, having Al Qaeda’s propaganda department embrace Anwar in death to capitalize on his martyrdom, and encourage more Muslim youth to join Al Qaeda’s disingenuous jihad to hit the "tyrannical Americans."
President Obama should rescind this assassination order and clarify publicly our national position. We should support, if requested by the Yemeni government, the “capture” of Anwar Al-Awlaki and his prosecution under Yemeni law since there is no extradition treaty between our two nations.
We should also shift some of our counter-terrorism resources to efforts built up over the past few years to counter the online radicalization efforts of Al-Awlaki and others by civic groups and to remove government hurdles hampering their work. We’re Americans and we know that the solution to bad speech is not to shut it down but to counter it with more speech. Al-Awlaki knows this and has cornered the U.S. government so that if it assassinates him, he achieves immortality and proves that American foreign policy is disingenuous and does not see “Muslims” as deserving the political rights it says it professes. Our country deserves a strategic reassessment of this assassination policy, not a group think mentality satisfied with the short-term “tactical” achievement of killing one man.
Mohamed Elibiary is a National Security Policy Analyst advising several intelligence and law enforcement agencies and serves as one of three appointed civilians to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Advisory Board. He can be reached at melibiary@texasintel.org.
President Obama should rescind this assassination order for Anwar al-Awlaki and clarify publicly our country's position.
Recently policy makers in Washington, D.C. let it be publicly known that our government is trying to assassinate an American-born cleric now supporting the other team in the War on Terror. Anwar Al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico, studied in Colorado, preached in San Diego and Virginia before going overseas. He was briefly detained in Yemen and then resumed his preaching online with a new political theme, stressing that “America is at war with Islam.” The United States, according to Al-Awlaki, is at war with Islam due to its occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan must should be fought on its homeland by any militant means necessary. The news of Al-Awlaki’s pending assassination circled the globe and included long discussions in the media about whether or not such a murder is “constitutional,” if it even constitutes “murder” and on Al-Jazeera it was dissected as a possible window into the Obama administration’s decision making process.
All of this was preceeded by news in late January that our government had not only made the decision to assassinate Anwar Al-Awlaki but that it had already attempted once and failed. News reports since then have also revealed that the decision to assassinate an American citizen was came from the White House’s National Security Council after a simple consensus-building discussion process initiated by the NSC.
Intelligence analysts watching this unfold from outside the administration can detect a unique, systemic decision-making pattern regarding covert operations. While our enemies have built up a good deal of operational experience, culminating in the assassination of several CIA agents last year, we now run the risk of helping them capitalize even more effectively on their propaganda and recruitment efforts with the revelation of this assassination policy.
A simple committee of unelected individuals from one branch of government, no matter their subject matter expertise, should not have the power to assassinate an American citizen. The Founding Fathers set up a system of checks and balances, because they recognized that when a king has such powers it is only a matter of time before such power will be turned on political dissenters at home to suppress freedoms. We are a nation that upholds the rule of law in our federal court system and have a Military Commissions system as a backup for terror cases; so why weaken America’s hand by using this extra-judicial assassination policy on American citizens?
Anwar Al-Awlaki is a disingenuous cheerleader in the global jihad who’s preying on largely naive or troubled Western-educated youth attempting to form their identities in a global world. Al-Awlaki built his reputation by retelling the stories of the ancient companions of Prophet Muhammad and their roles in reforming the tyrannical state of affairs in pre-Islamic Arabia. His public rhetoric, including his sermon inside the U.S. Capitol, was largely benign and non-political until his detention in Yemen a few years ago.
Al-Awlaki is a one trick pony whose messaging capability was beginning to be cornered by various American and Western Muslim community efforts until this administration overreacted after the Christmas Day bomber tried to blow up a plane over Detroit and inflamed Anwar’s stature many fold. Alawaki’s message is largely one of righteous self-sacrifice to defend one’s religion, so the proper way of countering it is not to assassinate the messenger so that he achieves “martyr” status. That would only turn him into a ghost who is much more difficult to counter. Instead the more effective method would have been to have mainstream clerics from Anwar’s same Salafi version of Islam expose his disingenuousness and unsound Islamic logic to the youth in the population currently sitting on the sidelines watching geo-political struggles unfold around the globe and wondering what their role in it ought to be.
In field experience where research meets reality, I’ve witnessed first-hand what happens when a Western Muslim youth is properly engaged to separate Islamic jurisprudence from geo-politics; the youth picks Islam over the political activism Al-Awlaki pitches every time. Today Al-Awlaki is not celebrated by the core of Al Qaeda member, nor even trusted to be in direct communications with them. Second, due to his ambitious usurping of jihadi credentials he has earned disdain in numerous jihad-oriented Islamist circles including from Yemen’s top Islamist figure, Sheikh Abdul-Majeed Al-Zaindani, himself counter-productively placed on the Designated Terror List. Al-Zaindani ironically found it easier to condemn Al-Awlaki on Al Jazeera a couple of months ago than to condemn Usama Bin Laden.
Previous experience shows us where this assassination policy leads. In 1966 the Nasser Regime in Egypt decided to execute Syed Qutb, a noted Islamist ideologue who by that point had spent a decade and a half critiquing government policies in regards to church-state issues, Middle Eastern geo-politics and internal sociological schisms about civilizational affiliation amongst the Egyptian elite and middle class. The public perceived injustice, witnessing a military execution without any recognized due process inflicted upon a man for simply speaking and writing his mind. It led to the violent radicalization of tens of thousands in a generation that later gave us the leadership of Al Qaeda and the takfiri (excommunication) movements across the Middle East usurping Qutb’s legacy to this day.
We must ask ourselves whether our public chest thumping in calling for Anwar’s head ‘dead or alive’ is worth the ramifications of having to chase his ghost as a martyr for the next half century, having Al Qaeda’s propaganda department embrace Anwar in death to capitalize on his martyrdom, and encourage more Muslim youth to join Al Qaeda’s disingenuous jihad to hit the "tyrannical Americans."
President Obama should rescind this assassination order and clarify publicly our national position. We should support, if requested by the Yemeni government, the “capture” of Anwar Al-Awlaki and his prosecution under Yemeni law since there is no extradition treaty between our two nations.
We should also shift some of our counter-terrorism resources to efforts built up over the past few years to counter the online radicalization efforts of Al-Awlaki and others by civic groups and to remove government hurdles hampering their work. We’re Americans and we know that the solution to bad speech is not to shut it down but to counter it with more speech. Al-Awlaki knows this and has cornered the U.S. government so that if it assassinates him, he achieves immortality and proves that American foreign policy is disingenuous and does not see “Muslims” as deserving the political rights it says it professes. Our country deserves a strategic reassessment of this assassination policy, not a group think mentality satisfied with the short-term “tactical” achievement of killing one man.
Mohamed Elibiary is a National Security Policy Analyst advising several intelligence and law enforcement agencies and serves as one of three appointed civilians to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Advisory Board. He can be reached at melibiary@texasintel.org.
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Yemen forces continue to hunt down Awlaki
Nasser Arrabyee 15/04/2010
The Hunt down for Anwar Awlaki is continuing for his connections with Al Qaeda, Yemen security sources said Thursday.
Awlaki is wanted by Yemen security for having links with Al Qaeda and inciting to carry out terrorist acts, the army 26 September newspaper quoted the security source as saying.
As for the decision to add Awlaki to the CIA target list, the sources said once Yemen receives any evidence convicting Awlaki from the US, Yemen would deal with evidence according to the Yemeni constitution and law.
In December, the government said Anwar Awlaki was among a group of AlQaeda figures who were targeted in airstrike on a meeting for senior Al Qaeda leaders in Shabwa province.
The Hunt down for Anwar Awlaki is continuing for his connections with Al Qaeda, Yemen security sources said Thursday.
Awlaki is wanted by Yemen security for having links with Al Qaeda and inciting to carry out terrorist acts, the army 26 September newspaper quoted the security source as saying.
As for the decision to add Awlaki to the CIA target list, the sources said once Yemen receives any evidence convicting Awlaki from the US, Yemen would deal with evidence according to the Yemeni constitution and law.
In December, the government said Anwar Awlaki was among a group of AlQaeda figures who were targeted in airstrike on a meeting for senior Al Qaeda leaders in Shabwa province.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Yemeni jailed for 12 years for trying to abduct Germans
Source: AFP 15/04/2010
SANAA — A Yemeni has been jailed for 12 years by a court in the capital Sanaa for the attempted kidnapping of four Germans in February last year, the defence ministry news website said on Wednesday.
Ahmed Salah Twayiman was convicted of carrying out the abduction bid against the four archaeologists, two of them women, in Maarib province east of Sanaa, the 26Sep.net website of the ministry's newspaper reported.
The sentence was handed down on Tuesday, the website added.
Only the intervention of escorting soldiers foiled the kidnap attempt against the four, the interior ministry said at the time.
Outside the major cities, Yemen's powerful tribes frequently carry out abductions of foreigners to try and secure bargaining counters in disputes with the central government. Of the 200 or so foreigners seized by the tribes over the past decade, all have been released without harm.
In June last year in the far north of Yemen, however, nine foreigners were seized by unknown parties amid sporadic fighting between the army and Zaidi Shiite rebels.
The bodies of two Germans and a South Korean were found soon afterwards. Five Germans and a Briton are still missing and the Sanaa government said on Monday that it was pressing efforts to secure the release of the six.
SANAA — A Yemeni has been jailed for 12 years by a court in the capital Sanaa for the attempted kidnapping of four Germans in February last year, the defence ministry news website said on Wednesday.
Ahmed Salah Twayiman was convicted of carrying out the abduction bid against the four archaeologists, two of them women, in Maarib province east of Sanaa, the 26Sep.net website of the ministry's newspaper reported.
The sentence was handed down on Tuesday, the website added.
Only the intervention of escorting soldiers foiled the kidnap attempt against the four, the interior ministry said at the time.
Outside the major cities, Yemen's powerful tribes frequently carry out abductions of foreigners to try and secure bargaining counters in disputes with the central government. Of the 200 or so foreigners seized by the tribes over the past decade, all have been released without harm.
In June last year in the far north of Yemen, however, nine foreigners were seized by unknown parties amid sporadic fighting between the army and Zaidi Shiite rebels.
The bodies of two Germans and a South Korean were found soon afterwards. Five Germans and a Briton are still missing and the Sanaa government said on Monday that it was pressing efforts to secure the release of the six.
Low funding for WFP threatens vital child feeding programs in Yemen
Source : PMGlobal Hunger Examiner by William Lambers
There is a severe hunger crisis facing Yemen. Low funding for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is causing ration cuts and in some cases, the complete cancellation of food aid programs. In a country where 1 in 3 people suffer from chronic hunger, this shortfall of donations is a disaster in the making.
Maria Santamarina of the World Food Programme in Yemen recently sent me stories of some of the people there who benefit from food programs. As Santamarina pointed out, 7.2 million people in Yemen live in a total poverty trap. Reading some of the stories below, you will see the many challenges people face there ranging from high food prices, lack of education, poor nutrition, or lack of employment opportunities.
To lift the people of Yemen out of poverty, there has to be a development program and food has to be the foundation. Last year, the U.S. Senate issued a resolution to keep Yemen from becoming a failed state. This escalating hunger crisis will move Yemen very quickly down that path.
The stories printed below, courtesy of Maria Santamarina of WFP, focus on nutrition support to mothers and children who are most vulnerable to high food prices.
Keep in mind when reading that if the low funding for the World Food Programme continues, it will means the reduction or outright cancellation of the food programs featured in these stories.
WFP Yemen
Anwar – Moderate Acute Malnourished Child – Thulla, Amran Governorate – Dec. 2009
Anwar Ahmed Nassar – a 15 month baby girl – was born to illiterate and impoverished parents in the village of Qusifi, some 60 km from the capital of Sana'a. Her father’s work as a casual labour in a nearby factory is not sufficient to feed his wife and four children, thus the family relies on borrowing and loans, as well as begging.
The diet of the family is extremely limited, consisting of bread and a water-based sauce; when Anwar’s family is able to afford vegetables, they purchase potatoes or onions – the least expensive items in the market. Meat – received through charity – is only eaten during religious holidays. Anwar’s brothers and sister do not remember the taste of other vegetables or fruits.
Anwar was breastfed by her mother; however when she reached the age of weaning, the family was unable to offer her food.
In September/October 2009 WFP began providing blanket supplementary feeding for children 6-24 months as part of its nutrition intervention under the High Food Price Emergency Operation. One October morning Anwar’s mother, Lutfia, overheard from the neighbors that the area’s health center had begun distribution of food for children, and she decided to take her daughter to the center to collect food assistance.
Upon arrival to the center, a midwife took Anwar’s measurements and found that her weight and height were equivalent to that of a new born baby, not a 15 month old child. Her daughter’s acute malnourishment was a surprise to her mother, who had never been educated or made aware of proper nutrition practices.
She was immediately enrolled in the blanket supplementary feeding programme – within the first month and a half she had already doubled her weight from 3 to 6 kg. Though still underweight, the change is a big improvement compared to when Anwar first arrived to the center.
Lutfia was extremely grateful to the programme: "I have benefited from the support of the supplementary feeding programme and trainings on the practices of good nutrition and food preparation. Thanks to the programme I was able to save my baby."
Imad – Moderate Acute Malnourished Child – Haradh, Hajjah Governorate – Dec. 2009
Abdul Alli Hassan and his wife Fatima have 4 children, including a newborn. They live in the surrounding of Haradh town in Hajjah governorate.
Fatima had come to the Haradh health center in the past to receive pre-natal care, however she was young and not fully aware regarding proper nutrition practices for her family. When WFP began providing food assistance to the center under the High Food Price EMOP, the entire family traveled to the center in order to benefit from the programme. When asked, Abdul Alli explained that they were aware of the operation and target groups, and in their case Fatima would receive assistance as a lactating mother, and their son Imad would also qualify as a 17 month old child for the blanket supplementary feeding.
Upon arrival to the center Imad was observed to be underdeveloped for a child of 17 months: he was emaciated; his head was swollen and he lacked the strength to hold it up on his own; and he was nearly without hair. Abdul Alli explained that the boy had also suffered a leg injury during childbirth and that his legs had never been able to gain strength; his hearing had also never fully developed. Imad’s mid-upper arm circumference indicated that the he was moderately acute malnourished, and when measured his weight was found to be abnormally low for his height and age.
The nurse at the center explained to Abdul Alli that Imad was ill and would have to be enrolled in a special targeted feeding programme in order to better treat his acute malnutrition. Imad would have to return to the center every two weeks for monitoring until his condition had improved.
Abdul Alli was trained on how to administer the Supplementary Plumpy. The feeding began tentatively, worried the boy would not have the strength or will to digest the entire treatment. However as Imad began to eat the peanut-butter like paste, a tiny smile spread across his face, he began to clench the packet in his small hands and eat with vigor, unwilling to let go until he had finished the entire packet .
Abdul Alli smiled, hopeful that his son would soon get better with the treatment.
Halood – Pregnant Mother – Haradh, Hajjah Governorate – Dec. 2009
At 25 years old, Halood Hussein Mohammed is the mother of five children, and is now pregnant with her sixth child. Married at a young age and uneducated, Halood had never come to the Haradh health center to receive care during any of her previous five pregnancies.
In December 2009, when she heard that WFP had begun implementing a programme providing food assistance to mothers and children at health centers, she walked with her five children from her village to nearby Haradh town in Hajjah governorate. Halood unabashedly stated to nurses that the reason she had come to the center that day was to collect food assistance.
Dr. Abdullah – former manager of the center – was on hand to explain that most women in Yemen are not aware of the importance of nutrition or pre/post natal care. However thanks to the food now provided by WFP, pregnant and lactating mothers are approaching the center – many for the first time. Though they come for the food incentive, once at the center the women and children receive vaccinations, pre and post natal care, as well as training on proper nutrition practices. “Food is the best tool to attract families to health centers. Once they are here, we can provide them with the care necessary for a healthy mother and child.”
Anout – Moderate Acute Malnourished Child – Thulla, Amran Governorate – Jan. 2010
Ten year old Bashir protectively carries his 2 year old sister Anout. His sister does not speak and is unable to walk. Bashir and his siblings had received health education training in the local mosque, when he realized that maybe his sister was sick so he asked his uncle, Yahya, to take her to the district health center because they had heard that WFP was providing nutrition support.
“The children make me come here every two week in order to collect the WFP assistance to measure Anout’s progress” said Yahya, whose wife is also benefiting from the programme.
“My sister really likes the [supplementary] plumpy food provided by WFP. I am happy because she is starting to get healthier now and is putting on some weight,” said Bashir, smiling.
Ali – Moderate Acute Malnourished Child – Thulla, Amran Governorate – Jan. 2010
Ali is 1.5 years old. He is sick, and tired all the time because of a micronutrient deficiency. He has never been able to stand up. Ever since WFP began providing assistance at the district health center Ali’s mother has brought him to receive assistance. “He is sick, but it is okay now because he is receiving the necessary treatment. Thanks to WFP I am sure he will become healthier and able to walk” said his mother.
Jamila – Pregnant/Lactating mother – Thulla, Amran Governorate – March 2010
Jamila is a mother of four children living in Thulla town. Her youngest son, Esmajja, is 2 and half months old. She tries to breastfeed him as much as possible, however sometimes she is required to give him powdered milk as her low levels of breastmilk are not enough to satisfy him.
Married at 16 years old, Jamila’s husband is a casual laborer on a farms, however when it does not rain and production is low, he is without employment. Other times he is required to travel to the capital and sell qat, a green leafy plant which is chewed socially as a mild narcotic substance, for a minimal profit.
The family relies almost solely on tea and bread for all three meals a day. When lucky, they are able to purchase an egg or some pulses in the market; rice, fruits and vegetables are rare. Meat is non-existant in their home. Only once a year during the Ramaddan season they may receive some meat from neighbors or friends as charity. “Meat is my favorite food,” said Amat, Jamila’s eldest daughter at 11 years old, “I really wish we could eat it more often. It has been months since we last had some, and I can barely remember the taste.”
Jamila’s children all attend school, however they must rely on their grandmother to provide any spare notebooks or pens as they can not afford them.
For the past six months Jamila has been collecting wheat soya blend (WSB), oil, and sugar from the district health center thanks to WFP. This has helped her maintain a more nutritious diet during the last months of pregnancy as well as during lactation. Moreover, it has allowed her to feel happy and more relaxed because if ever she runs out of food for her children, she is able to use some of the assistance provided by WFP to make WSB porridge or WSB cakes to ensure her children do not go hungry.
She is worried that if WFP stops the assistance programme – as the agency is facing serious funding problems – the health of her family will decline. In this case they will have to borrow from friends and family. Jamila in a sense is lucky. Her grandmother is an ill widow and therefore able to collect from the Government’s social welfare programme and so can help her daughter with some food assistance
There is a severe hunger crisis facing Yemen. Low funding for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is causing ration cuts and in some cases, the complete cancellation of food aid programs. In a country where 1 in 3 people suffer from chronic hunger, this shortfall of donations is a disaster in the making.
Maria Santamarina of the World Food Programme in Yemen recently sent me stories of some of the people there who benefit from food programs. As Santamarina pointed out, 7.2 million people in Yemen live in a total poverty trap. Reading some of the stories below, you will see the many challenges people face there ranging from high food prices, lack of education, poor nutrition, or lack of employment opportunities.
To lift the people of Yemen out of poverty, there has to be a development program and food has to be the foundation. Last year, the U.S. Senate issued a resolution to keep Yemen from becoming a failed state. This escalating hunger crisis will move Yemen very quickly down that path.
The stories printed below, courtesy of Maria Santamarina of WFP, focus on nutrition support to mothers and children who are most vulnerable to high food prices.
Keep in mind when reading that if the low funding for the World Food Programme continues, it will means the reduction or outright cancellation of the food programs featured in these stories.
WFP Yemen
Anwar – Moderate Acute Malnourished Child – Thulla, Amran Governorate – Dec. 2009
Anwar Ahmed Nassar – a 15 month baby girl – was born to illiterate and impoverished parents in the village of Qusifi, some 60 km from the capital of Sana'a. Her father’s work as a casual labour in a nearby factory is not sufficient to feed his wife and four children, thus the family relies on borrowing and loans, as well as begging.
The diet of the family is extremely limited, consisting of bread and a water-based sauce; when Anwar’s family is able to afford vegetables, they purchase potatoes or onions – the least expensive items in the market. Meat – received through charity – is only eaten during religious holidays. Anwar’s brothers and sister do not remember the taste of other vegetables or fruits.
Anwar was breastfed by her mother; however when she reached the age of weaning, the family was unable to offer her food.
In September/October 2009 WFP began providing blanket supplementary feeding for children 6-24 months as part of its nutrition intervention under the High Food Price Emergency Operation. One October morning Anwar’s mother, Lutfia, overheard from the neighbors that the area’s health center had begun distribution of food for children, and she decided to take her daughter to the center to collect food assistance.
Upon arrival to the center, a midwife took Anwar’s measurements and found that her weight and height were equivalent to that of a new born baby, not a 15 month old child. Her daughter’s acute malnourishment was a surprise to her mother, who had never been educated or made aware of proper nutrition practices.
She was immediately enrolled in the blanket supplementary feeding programme – within the first month and a half she had already doubled her weight from 3 to 6 kg. Though still underweight, the change is a big improvement compared to when Anwar first arrived to the center.
Lutfia was extremely grateful to the programme: "I have benefited from the support of the supplementary feeding programme and trainings on the practices of good nutrition and food preparation. Thanks to the programme I was able to save my baby."
Imad – Moderate Acute Malnourished Child – Haradh, Hajjah Governorate – Dec. 2009
Abdul Alli Hassan and his wife Fatima have 4 children, including a newborn. They live in the surrounding of Haradh town in Hajjah governorate.
Fatima had come to the Haradh health center in the past to receive pre-natal care, however she was young and not fully aware regarding proper nutrition practices for her family. When WFP began providing food assistance to the center under the High Food Price EMOP, the entire family traveled to the center in order to benefit from the programme. When asked, Abdul Alli explained that they were aware of the operation and target groups, and in their case Fatima would receive assistance as a lactating mother, and their son Imad would also qualify as a 17 month old child for the blanket supplementary feeding.
Upon arrival to the center Imad was observed to be underdeveloped for a child of 17 months: he was emaciated; his head was swollen and he lacked the strength to hold it up on his own; and he was nearly without hair. Abdul Alli explained that the boy had also suffered a leg injury during childbirth and that his legs had never been able to gain strength; his hearing had also never fully developed. Imad’s mid-upper arm circumference indicated that the he was moderately acute malnourished, and when measured his weight was found to be abnormally low for his height and age.
The nurse at the center explained to Abdul Alli that Imad was ill and would have to be enrolled in a special targeted feeding programme in order to better treat his acute malnutrition. Imad would have to return to the center every two weeks for monitoring until his condition had improved.
Abdul Alli was trained on how to administer the Supplementary Plumpy. The feeding began tentatively, worried the boy would not have the strength or will to digest the entire treatment. However as Imad began to eat the peanut-butter like paste, a tiny smile spread across his face, he began to clench the packet in his small hands and eat with vigor, unwilling to let go until he had finished the entire packet .
Abdul Alli smiled, hopeful that his son would soon get better with the treatment.
Halood – Pregnant Mother – Haradh, Hajjah Governorate – Dec. 2009
At 25 years old, Halood Hussein Mohammed is the mother of five children, and is now pregnant with her sixth child. Married at a young age and uneducated, Halood had never come to the Haradh health center to receive care during any of her previous five pregnancies.
In December 2009, when she heard that WFP had begun implementing a programme providing food assistance to mothers and children at health centers, she walked with her five children from her village to nearby Haradh town in Hajjah governorate. Halood unabashedly stated to nurses that the reason she had come to the center that day was to collect food assistance.
Dr. Abdullah – former manager of the center – was on hand to explain that most women in Yemen are not aware of the importance of nutrition or pre/post natal care. However thanks to the food now provided by WFP, pregnant and lactating mothers are approaching the center – many for the first time. Though they come for the food incentive, once at the center the women and children receive vaccinations, pre and post natal care, as well as training on proper nutrition practices. “Food is the best tool to attract families to health centers. Once they are here, we can provide them with the care necessary for a healthy mother and child.”
Anout – Moderate Acute Malnourished Child – Thulla, Amran Governorate – Jan. 2010
Ten year old Bashir protectively carries his 2 year old sister Anout. His sister does not speak and is unable to walk. Bashir and his siblings had received health education training in the local mosque, when he realized that maybe his sister was sick so he asked his uncle, Yahya, to take her to the district health center because they had heard that WFP was providing nutrition support.
“The children make me come here every two week in order to collect the WFP assistance to measure Anout’s progress” said Yahya, whose wife is also benefiting from the programme.
“My sister really likes the [supplementary] plumpy food provided by WFP. I am happy because she is starting to get healthier now and is putting on some weight,” said Bashir, smiling.
Ali – Moderate Acute Malnourished Child – Thulla, Amran Governorate – Jan. 2010
Ali is 1.5 years old. He is sick, and tired all the time because of a micronutrient deficiency. He has never been able to stand up. Ever since WFP began providing assistance at the district health center Ali’s mother has brought him to receive assistance. “He is sick, but it is okay now because he is receiving the necessary treatment. Thanks to WFP I am sure he will become healthier and able to walk” said his mother.
Jamila – Pregnant/Lactating mother – Thulla, Amran Governorate – March 2010
Jamila is a mother of four children living in Thulla town. Her youngest son, Esmajja, is 2 and half months old. She tries to breastfeed him as much as possible, however sometimes she is required to give him powdered milk as her low levels of breastmilk are not enough to satisfy him.
Married at 16 years old, Jamila’s husband is a casual laborer on a farms, however when it does not rain and production is low, he is without employment. Other times he is required to travel to the capital and sell qat, a green leafy plant which is chewed socially as a mild narcotic substance, for a minimal profit.
The family relies almost solely on tea and bread for all three meals a day. When lucky, they are able to purchase an egg or some pulses in the market; rice, fruits and vegetables are rare. Meat is non-existant in their home. Only once a year during the Ramaddan season they may receive some meat from neighbors or friends as charity. “Meat is my favorite food,” said Amat, Jamila’s eldest daughter at 11 years old, “I really wish we could eat it more often. It has been months since we last had some, and I can barely remember the taste.”
Jamila’s children all attend school, however they must rely on their grandmother to provide any spare notebooks or pens as they can not afford them.
For the past six months Jamila has been collecting wheat soya blend (WSB), oil, and sugar from the district health center thanks to WFP. This has helped her maintain a more nutritious diet during the last months of pregnancy as well as during lactation. Moreover, it has allowed her to feel happy and more relaxed because if ever she runs out of food for her children, she is able to use some of the assistance provided by WFP to make WSB porridge or WSB cakes to ensure her children do not go hungry.
She is worried that if WFP stops the assistance programme – as the agency is facing serious funding problems – the health of her family will decline. In this case they will have to borrow from friends and family. Jamila in a sense is lucky. Her grandmother is an ill widow and therefore able to collect from the Government’s social welfare programme and so can help her daughter with some food assistance
Monday, 12 April 2010
Four Yemenis on trial for spying with Iran
By Nasser Arrabyee/12/04/2010
Four Yemeni men were put on trial Monday on charges of spying for Iran for more than 10 years.
In the first session, the prosecutor demanded the death penalty against the four defendants ageed between 26-44 years: Moamar, Mohmammed Ahmed Saleh Al Abdali, Waleed Mohammed Ali Hamoud Sharaf Al Deen, Abdullah Ali Mutahar Al Dailami, Sadek Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Sharafi.
The prosecutor accused the four men of having worked for illegal interests of Iran during the period from 1994 to August 2009.
The defendant Waleed Sharaf Al Deen said he did not recognize the trial nor the court. The other three asked for lawyers to defend them.
The Judge, Muhsen Alwan, of the State Security Court, said the court would listen to the lawyers next hearing.
According to the charges statement, the four men received financial support to implement "thoughtful and political" projects serving the Iranian illegitimate interests in Yemen.
They also handed over to Iran information and pictures about military and security installations, and information on harbours, islands and maritime positions. Their activity was not confined to Sanaá but it was also in almost all the provinces of Yemen.
They were receiving direct financial support from the former Iranian ambassador in Sanaá. The defendants were holding some of their meetings in the house of the Iranian ambassador in Sanaá.
The four defendants also formed an armed gang to carry out sabotage acts in Yemen by orders from the leadership of the armed rebellion of Al Houthi, according to the charges statement.
Four Yemeni men were put on trial Monday on charges of spying for Iran for more than 10 years.
In the first session, the prosecutor demanded the death penalty against the four defendants ageed between 26-44 years: Moamar, Mohmammed Ahmed Saleh Al Abdali, Waleed Mohammed Ali Hamoud Sharaf Al Deen, Abdullah Ali Mutahar Al Dailami, Sadek Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Sharafi.
The prosecutor accused the four men of having worked for illegal interests of Iran during the period from 1994 to August 2009.
The defendant Waleed Sharaf Al Deen said he did not recognize the trial nor the court. The other three asked for lawyers to defend them.
The Judge, Muhsen Alwan, of the State Security Court, said the court would listen to the lawyers next hearing.
According to the charges statement, the four men received financial support to implement "thoughtful and political" projects serving the Iranian illegitimate interests in Yemen.
They also handed over to Iran information and pictures about military and security installations, and information on harbours, islands and maritime positions. Their activity was not confined to Sanaá but it was also in almost all the provinces of Yemen.
They were receiving direct financial support from the former Iranian ambassador in Sanaá. The defendants were holding some of their meetings in the house of the Iranian ambassador in Sanaá.
The four defendants also formed an armed gang to carry out sabotage acts in Yemen by orders from the leadership of the armed rebellion of Al Houthi, according to the charges statement.
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Rapist husband of dead Yemeni child bride should die: family
Rapist husband of dead Yemeni child bride should die: family
By Hammoud Mounassar (AFP) – 6 hours ago
AL-ASHA, Yemen — The family of a 13-year-old Yemeni girl who died after being sexually violated by her husband a few days into her arranged marriage is demanding his execution.
Ilham al-Ashi died Friday, five days after marrying Abed al-Hekmi, 24, in a case which has again brought into sharp focus the plight of Yemen's so-called "brides of death."
The medical report from the main hospital in the Hajja province, north of the capital, said she suffered a deep rupture in the genitals.
"I demand the implementation of Allah's law. I demand punishment," the mother of the girl, Nejma al-Ashi, told AFP, referring to execution, which is the penalty for murder in the Muslim country.
In the hut village of Al-Asha -- a striking example of abject poverty in one of the world's most impoverished countries, the mother said her daughter had been "fine and full of health" when she got married.
The husband's family in a neighbouring village told her a few days after the wedding that her daughter "was sick, suffering malaria, and that the spirits have possessed her in the wedding."
"I responded: Have fear for God. My daughter has no problems," she added.
But her daughter, the latest victim of the widespread custom of under-age marriage in the tribe-structured society, had been in trouble for days, according to medical staff who had seen her earlier in the week.
An Uzbek gynaecologist at a medical clinic, Zahra Makyayeva, said she saw Ashi on the second day of her marriage, after her husband brought her in asking to "tear her hymen" -- proving that they had not consummated their marriage.
The doctor said she refused because "it was forbidden" and advised the husband to go to a government hospital, pointing out that the girl, who was too shy to allow the doctor to check her, appeared frail.
But instead of going to a hospital, Hekmi stopped at the clinic's pharmacy asking for sleeping pills or tranquilisers, but when he failed to obtain such pills, he asked for a sexual performance enhancer, which he got.
"We realised he wanted to drug the girl," said Sheikh Ali al-Huda, the owner of the clinic.
Three days later, Hekmi took his wife back to the clinic, where she was diagnosed with urine retention and found to have vaginal injuries and infection, according to nurse Fathiya Haidar.
"We gave her medication and she left. The morning after we heard she died," she said.
The brother of the girl, Abdullah, who had married the sister of Hekmi on the same day as part of the traditional custom of Sheghar, or swap marriage, accused his brother in law and his family of killing his sister.
"They have killed her: her husband and his family. They tied down my sister and killed her," he said, standing next to his hut where he lived for less than a week with his bride, who is now back with her family.
His in-laws called back his wife, saying that her mother was ill, after they discovered that his sister was dead, he said.
Hekmi later went to the family of his bride telling them that she was ill.
"When we got to her, she was motionless," her mother said.
The family of Ashi is now refusing to take her body out of the hospital's morgue in Hajja, near Al-Asha, around 220 kilometres (137 miles) northwest of the capital. They want the husband to be punished.
"We will not take the body. What shall we do with it? We want punishment for the killer of my sister," said Ashi's other brother Mahdi.
Hekmi meanwhile remains in custody and according to a police report has admitted forcing himself onto his wife when she refused to have sex with him.
In September, a 12-year-old wife died along with her baby during a difficult delivery.
"This proves that the law and the state will not be able to protect the young girls from early marriage unless there is an awareness campaign combined with penalties for those who break the law that we demand to be ratified," lawyer Shaza Nasser told AFP.
A law setting a minimum age for marriage at 17 for women and 18 for men has stirred controversy in Yemen and failed to reach implementation despite passing in parliament after conservative MPs demanded that it be revised.
The lawyer, who in 2008 succeeded in obtaining divorce for Nojud Mohammed Ali, married at the age of eight to a man 20 years her senior, said she will take the case of Ahsi's family and "demand execution" for Hekmi.
By Hammoud Mounassar (AFP) – 6 hours ago
AL-ASHA, Yemen — The family of a 13-year-old Yemeni girl who died after being sexually violated by her husband a few days into her arranged marriage is demanding his execution.
Ilham al-Ashi died Friday, five days after marrying Abed al-Hekmi, 24, in a case which has again brought into sharp focus the plight of Yemen's so-called "brides of death."
The medical report from the main hospital in the Hajja province, north of the capital, said she suffered a deep rupture in the genitals.
"I demand the implementation of Allah's law. I demand punishment," the mother of the girl, Nejma al-Ashi, told AFP, referring to execution, which is the penalty for murder in the Muslim country.
In the hut village of Al-Asha -- a striking example of abject poverty in one of the world's most impoverished countries, the mother said her daughter had been "fine and full of health" when she got married.
The husband's family in a neighbouring village told her a few days after the wedding that her daughter "was sick, suffering malaria, and that the spirits have possessed her in the wedding."
"I responded: Have fear for God. My daughter has no problems," she added.
But her daughter, the latest victim of the widespread custom of under-age marriage in the tribe-structured society, had been in trouble for days, according to medical staff who had seen her earlier in the week.
An Uzbek gynaecologist at a medical clinic, Zahra Makyayeva, said she saw Ashi on the second day of her marriage, after her husband brought her in asking to "tear her hymen" -- proving that they had not consummated their marriage.
The doctor said she refused because "it was forbidden" and advised the husband to go to a government hospital, pointing out that the girl, who was too shy to allow the doctor to check her, appeared frail.
But instead of going to a hospital, Hekmi stopped at the clinic's pharmacy asking for sleeping pills or tranquilisers, but when he failed to obtain such pills, he asked for a sexual performance enhancer, which he got.
"We realised he wanted to drug the girl," said Sheikh Ali al-Huda, the owner of the clinic.
Three days later, Hekmi took his wife back to the clinic, where she was diagnosed with urine retention and found to have vaginal injuries and infection, according to nurse Fathiya Haidar.
"We gave her medication and she left. The morning after we heard she died," she said.
The brother of the girl, Abdullah, who had married the sister of Hekmi on the same day as part of the traditional custom of Sheghar, or swap marriage, accused his brother in law and his family of killing his sister.
"They have killed her: her husband and his family. They tied down my sister and killed her," he said, standing next to his hut where he lived for less than a week with his bride, who is now back with her family.
His in-laws called back his wife, saying that her mother was ill, after they discovered that his sister was dead, he said.
Hekmi later went to the family of his bride telling them that she was ill.
"When we got to her, she was motionless," her mother said.
The family of Ashi is now refusing to take her body out of the hospital's morgue in Hajja, near Al-Asha, around 220 kilometres (137 miles) northwest of the capital. They want the husband to be punished.
"We will not take the body. What shall we do with it? We want punishment for the killer of my sister," said Ashi's other brother Mahdi.
Hekmi meanwhile remains in custody and according to a police report has admitted forcing himself onto his wife when she refused to have sex with him.
In September, a 12-year-old wife died along with her baby during a difficult delivery.
"This proves that the law and the state will not be able to protect the young girls from early marriage unless there is an awareness campaign combined with penalties for those who break the law that we demand to be ratified," lawyer Shaza Nasser told AFP.
A law setting a minimum age for marriage at 17 for women and 18 for men has stirred controversy in Yemen and failed to reach implementation despite passing in parliament after conservative MPs demanded that it be revised.
The lawyer, who in 2008 succeeded in obtaining divorce for Nojud Mohammed Ali, married at the age of eight to a man 20 years her senior, said she will take the case of Ahsi's family and "demand execution" for Hekmi.
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Yemeni government knows where most-wanted terrorist is, tribal leader
By Nasser Arrabyee/10/04/2010
A Yemeni tribal leader said Saturday that the Yemeni government knows the whereabouts of Al Qaeda suspect who was put in the CIA "kill or capture" list last week.
"We do not know his whereabouts now, but the government knows, and the government can arrest him, and it's responsible for him," said the tribal leader Abu Bakr bin Fareed, one of the influential tribal leaders of Awlaki tribe in Shabwa.
The tribal leader denied the previous reports about a statement by his tribesmen saying they would retaliate if their son is harmed.
"We did not hold a meeting about Anwar Al Awlaki, and what was reported by media does not represent our tribe," he said over phone from Shabwa.
Abu Bakr, who is a close relative to Anwar, said," The position of our tribe is the same position of the government, we can not let the government down."
Yesterday Friday, a statement in the name of Al Awlaki tribesmen, warned the Yemeni and American governments from targeting their son who was put on the CIA 'kill or capture' list.
They described their fugitive son Anwar Al Awlaki, who is now wanted dead or alive for US, as a hero.
Al Awlaki tribes confirmed in the statement which was sent to media, that they would not leave their son alone, and "whoever would touch a hair of him, he would not escape from our guns and fire, we would not stand watching."
The tribes said they are like the hell, whoever enters it, and he will be burnt.
"We are Awlakis, we are fire of the Hell, whoever enters it, he will be burnt," the tribes threatened.
The tribes also warned from any intelligence cooperation from the Yemeni side with the US for killing their son.
The statement from the tribes came only hours after the father of Anwar Al Awlaki, asked the American administration through CNN to give him sometime for persuading his son to surrender.
Al Awlaki, who is believed to be hiding in the mountainous areas of Al Kur in Shabwa province south -east of Yemen, recently called for Jihad against US. He is also accused of being behind many terrorist attacks, and of plotting new ones against US.
Earlier in the week, the US officials said Obama administration has authorized operations to capture or kill a U.S.-born Muslim cleric based in Yemen, who is described by a key lawmaker as Americas's top terrorist threat.
The decision to add Anwar al-Awlaki, of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to the target list followed a National Security Council review prompted by his status as a U.S. citizen.
Officials said Awlaki directly threatened the United States. "Awlaki is a proven threat," said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He's being targeted."
Rep. Jane Harman, chairwoman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, described Awlaki as "probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us."
"He is very much in the sights of the Yemenis, with us helping them," said Harman, who recently visited Yemen to meet with U.S. and Yemeni officials.
She told Reuters that Awlaki's U.S. citizenship made going after him "certainly complicated."
But Harman said President Barack Obama and his administration "made very clear that people, including Americans who are trying to attack our country, are people we will definitely pursue... are targets of the United States."
The U.S. target list is secret and it was not immediately clear whether Awlaki was the first American added, as some experts had suggested he would be.
Yemen has carried out air strikes with U.S. assistance to target al Qaeda leaders, but there have been conflicting reports about whether Awlaki was present during any of those attacks. U.S. officials believe he remains in hiding in Yemen.
CHANGING ASSESSMENT
U.S. intelligence agencies had viewed Awlaki as chiefly an al Qaeda sympathizer and recruiter for Islamist causes with possible ties to some of the September 11, 2001, hijackers.
That assessment changed late last year with revelations about his contacts with a Nigerian suspect in the attempted bombing of a transatlantic passenger jet as it approached Detroit on December 25 and with a U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of shooting dead 13 people at a military base in Texas on November 5.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day bombing of the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The suspected bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has been cooperating with U.S. authorities, providing intelligence about the group, which allegedly supplied him with explosives that were sewn into his underwear, officials said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials described Awlaki as the main force behind AQAP's decision to transform itself from a regional threat into what U.S. spy agencies see as al Qaeda's most active affiliate outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Born in New Mexico, Awlaki was an imam at mosques in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia, just outside Washington. He returned to Yemen in 2004 where he taught at a university before he was arrested and imprisoned in 2006 for suspected links to al Qaeda and involvement in attacks.
Awlaki, part of a prominent Yemeni family, was released in December 2007 because he said he had repented, according to a Yemeni security official. But he was later charged again on similar counts and went into hiding.
After Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, U.S. authorities said he had frequently been in email contact with Awlaki.
And after the Christmas Day plot, U.S. and Yemeni officials said they learned that Awlaki had met with Abdulmutallab in Yemen.
In a recent interview with a Yemeni freelance journalist, posted on Al Jazeera television's website, Awlaki described Abdulmutallab as "one of my students" but said he did not encourage the attack.
A Yemeni tribal leader said Saturday that the Yemeni government knows the whereabouts of Al Qaeda suspect who was put in the CIA "kill or capture" list last week.
"We do not know his whereabouts now, but the government knows, and the government can arrest him, and it's responsible for him," said the tribal leader Abu Bakr bin Fareed, one of the influential tribal leaders of Awlaki tribe in Shabwa.
The tribal leader denied the previous reports about a statement by his tribesmen saying they would retaliate if their son is harmed.
"We did not hold a meeting about Anwar Al Awlaki, and what was reported by media does not represent our tribe," he said over phone from Shabwa.
Abu Bakr, who is a close relative to Anwar, said," The position of our tribe is the same position of the government, we can not let the government down."
Yesterday Friday, a statement in the name of Al Awlaki tribesmen, warned the Yemeni and American governments from targeting their son who was put on the CIA 'kill or capture' list.
They described their fugitive son Anwar Al Awlaki, who is now wanted dead or alive for US, as a hero.
Al Awlaki tribes confirmed in the statement which was sent to media, that they would not leave their son alone, and "whoever would touch a hair of him, he would not escape from our guns and fire, we would not stand watching."
The tribes said they are like the hell, whoever enters it, and he will be burnt.
"We are Awlakis, we are fire of the Hell, whoever enters it, he will be burnt," the tribes threatened.
The tribes also warned from any intelligence cooperation from the Yemeni side with the US for killing their son.
The statement from the tribes came only hours after the father of Anwar Al Awlaki, asked the American administration through CNN to give him sometime for persuading his son to surrender.
Al Awlaki, who is believed to be hiding in the mountainous areas of Al Kur in Shabwa province south -east of Yemen, recently called for Jihad against US. He is also accused of being behind many terrorist attacks, and of plotting new ones against US.
Earlier in the week, the US officials said Obama administration has authorized operations to capture or kill a U.S.-born Muslim cleric based in Yemen, who is described by a key lawmaker as Americas's top terrorist threat.
The decision to add Anwar al-Awlaki, of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to the target list followed a National Security Council review prompted by his status as a U.S. citizen.
Officials said Awlaki directly threatened the United States. "Awlaki is a proven threat," said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He's being targeted."
Rep. Jane Harman, chairwoman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, described Awlaki as "probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us."
"He is very much in the sights of the Yemenis, with us helping them," said Harman, who recently visited Yemen to meet with U.S. and Yemeni officials.
She told Reuters that Awlaki's U.S. citizenship made going after him "certainly complicated."
But Harman said President Barack Obama and his administration "made very clear that people, including Americans who are trying to attack our country, are people we will definitely pursue... are targets of the United States."
The U.S. target list is secret and it was not immediately clear whether Awlaki was the first American added, as some experts had suggested he would be.
Yemen has carried out air strikes with U.S. assistance to target al Qaeda leaders, but there have been conflicting reports about whether Awlaki was present during any of those attacks. U.S. officials believe he remains in hiding in Yemen.
CHANGING ASSESSMENT
U.S. intelligence agencies had viewed Awlaki as chiefly an al Qaeda sympathizer and recruiter for Islamist causes with possible ties to some of the September 11, 2001, hijackers.
That assessment changed late last year with revelations about his contacts with a Nigerian suspect in the attempted bombing of a transatlantic passenger jet as it approached Detroit on December 25 and with a U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of shooting dead 13 people at a military base in Texas on November 5.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day bombing of the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The suspected bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has been cooperating with U.S. authorities, providing intelligence about the group, which allegedly supplied him with explosives that were sewn into his underwear, officials said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials described Awlaki as the main force behind AQAP's decision to transform itself from a regional threat into what U.S. spy agencies see as al Qaeda's most active affiliate outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Born in New Mexico, Awlaki was an imam at mosques in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia, just outside Washington. He returned to Yemen in 2004 where he taught at a university before he was arrested and imprisoned in 2006 for suspected links to al Qaeda and involvement in attacks.
Awlaki, part of a prominent Yemeni family, was released in December 2007 because he said he had repented, according to a Yemeni security official. But he was later charged again on similar counts and went into hiding.
After Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, U.S. authorities said he had frequently been in email contact with Awlaki.
And after the Christmas Day plot, U.S. and Yemeni officials said they learned that Awlaki had met with Abdulmutallab in Yemen.
In a recent interview with a Yemeni freelance journalist, posted on Al Jazeera television's website, Awlaki described Abdulmutallab as "one of my students" but said he did not encourage the attack.
Dead Yemeni child bride tied up, raped, says mother
ٍٍSource : AP 10/04/2010
SHUEBA, Yemen (AP) — A 13-year-old Yemeni child bride who died shortly after marriage was tied down and raped by her husband, her mother said.
Nijma Ahmed, 50, told the Associated Press late Friday that just before her daughter lost consciousness she described how her 23-year-old husband had tied her up and forced himself on her. She bled to death hours later.
Elham Assi died April 2, four days after she was married. A forensic report said her vagina and rectum were deeply ripped, causing her to hemorrhage.
The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in impoverished Yemen. Traditional families prefer young brides and poor families can be lured with hundreds of dollars in gifts.
The UN child agency, UNICEF, says one of three girls in Yemen is married before the age of 18.
"Early marriage places girls at increased risk of dropping out of school, being exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, and even losing their lives from pregnancy, childbirth and other complications," said regional director Sigrid Kaag, in a statement Wednesday condemning the death.
Tribal custom also plays a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into an obedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.
Last month, a group of the country's highest Islamic authorities declared those supporting a ban on child marriages to be apostates.
A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed and sent back to parliament's constitutional committee for review after some lawmakers called it un-Islamic. The committee is expected to make a final decision on the legislation this month.
The issue of Yemen's child brides got widespread attention three years ago when an 8-year-old girl boldly went by herself to a courtroom and demanded a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. She eventually won a divorce, and legislators began looking at ways to curb the practice.
In September, a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labor to give birth, a local human rights organization said
SHUEBA, Yemen (AP) — A 13-year-old Yemeni child bride who died shortly after marriage was tied down and raped by her husband, her mother said.
Nijma Ahmed, 50, told the Associated Press late Friday that just before her daughter lost consciousness she described how her 23-year-old husband had tied her up and forced himself on her. She bled to death hours later.
Elham Assi died April 2, four days after she was married. A forensic report said her vagina and rectum were deeply ripped, causing her to hemorrhage.
The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in impoverished Yemen. Traditional families prefer young brides and poor families can be lured with hundreds of dollars in gifts.
The UN child agency, UNICEF, says one of three girls in Yemen is married before the age of 18.
"Early marriage places girls at increased risk of dropping out of school, being exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, and even losing their lives from pregnancy, childbirth and other complications," said regional director Sigrid Kaag, in a statement Wednesday condemning the death.
Tribal custom also plays a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into an obedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.
Last month, a group of the country's highest Islamic authorities declared those supporting a ban on child marriages to be apostates.
A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed and sent back to parliament's constitutional committee for review after some lawmakers called it un-Islamic. The committee is expected to make a final decision on the legislation this month.
The issue of Yemen's child brides got widespread attention three years ago when an 8-year-old girl boldly went by herself to a courtroom and demanded a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. She eventually won a divorce, and legislators began looking at ways to curb the practice.
In September, a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labor to give birth, a local human rights organization said
Friday, 9 April 2010
Yemeni tribes warn US over killing their 'top terrorist' son
By Nasser Arrabyee/09/04/2010
Yemeni tribes warned Friday the governments of Yemen and America from targeting their son who was put on the CIA 'kill or capture' list.
They described their fugitive son, Anwar Al Awlaki, who is now wanted dead or alive for US, as a 'hero'.
Al Awlaki tribes confirmed in a statement sent to media, that they would not leave their son alone, and "whoever would touch a hair of him, he would not escape from our guns and fire, we would not stand watching."
The tribes threatened that they are like the Hell, whoever enters it, he will be burnt.
"We are Awlakis, we are fire of the Hell, whoever enters it, he will be burnt," the tribes threatened.
Al Awlakis, one of the influential tribe, also warned from any intelligence cooperation from the Yemeni side with the US for killing their son.
The statement came only hours after the father of Anwar Al Awlaki, asked the American administration through CNN to give him sometime for persuading his son to surrender.
Al Awlaki, who is believed to be hiding in the mountainous areas of Al Kur in Shabwa province south -east of Yemen, recently called for Jihad against US. He is also accused of being behind many terrorist attacks, and of plotting new ones against US.
Earlier in the week, the US officials said Obama administration has authorized operations to capture or kill a U.S.-born Muslim cleric based in Yemen, who is described by a key lawmaker as Americas's top terrorist threat.
The decision to add Anwar al-Awlaki, of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to the target list followed a National Security Council review prompted by his status as a U.S. citizen.
Officials said Awlaki directly threatened the United States. "Awlaki is a proven threat," said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He's being targeted."
Rep. Jane Harman, chairwoman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, described Awlaki as "probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us."
"He is very much in the sights of the Yemenis, with us helping them," said Harman, who recently visited Yemen to meet with U.S. and Yemeni officials.
She told Reuters that Awlaki's U.S. citizenship made going after him "certainly complicated."
But Harman said President Barack Obama and his administration "made very clear that people, including Americans who are trying to attack our country, are people we will definitely pursue... are targets of the United States."
The U.S. target list is secret and it was not immediately clear whether Awlaki was the first American added, as some experts had suggested he would be.
Yemen has carried out air strikes with U.S. assistance to target al Qaeda leaders, but there have been conflicting reports about whether Awlaki was present during any of those attacks. U.S. officials believe he remains in hiding in Yemen.
CHANGING ASSESSMENT
U.S. intelligence agencies had viewed Awlaki as chiefly an al Qaeda sympathizer and recruiter for Islamist causes with possible ties to some of the September 11, 2001, hijackers.
That assessment changed late last year with revelations about his contacts with a Nigerian suspect in the attempted bombing of a transatlantic passenger jet as it approached Detroit on December 25 and with a U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of shooting dead 13 people at a military base in Texas on November 5.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day bombing of the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The suspected bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has been cooperating with U.S. authorities, providing intelligence about the group, which allegedly supplied him with explosives that were sewn into his underwear, officials said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials described Awlaki as the main force behind AQAP's decision to transform itself from a regional threat into what U.S. spy agencies see as al Qaeda's most active affiliate outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Born in New Mexico, Awlaki was an imam at mosques in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia, just outside Washington. He returned to Yemen in 2004 where he taught at a university before he was arrested and imprisoned in 2006 for suspected links to al Qaeda and involvement in attacks.
Awlaki, part of a prominent Yemeni family, was released in December 2007 because he said he had repented, according to a Yemeni security official. But he was later charged again on similar counts and went into hiding.
After Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, U.S. authorities said he had frequently been in email contact with Awlaki.
And after the Christmas Day plot, U.S. and Yemeni officials said they learned that Awlaki had met with Abdulmutallab in Yemen.
In a recent interview with a Yemeni freelance journalist, posted on Al Jazeera television's website, Awlaki described Abdulmutallab as "one of my students" but said he did not encourage the attack.
Yemeni tribes warned Friday the governments of Yemen and America from targeting their son who was put on the CIA 'kill or capture' list.
They described their fugitive son, Anwar Al Awlaki, who is now wanted dead or alive for US, as a 'hero'.
Al Awlaki tribes confirmed in a statement sent to media, that they would not leave their son alone, and "whoever would touch a hair of him, he would not escape from our guns and fire, we would not stand watching."
The tribes threatened that they are like the Hell, whoever enters it, he will be burnt.
"We are Awlakis, we are fire of the Hell, whoever enters it, he will be burnt," the tribes threatened.
Al Awlakis, one of the influential tribe, also warned from any intelligence cooperation from the Yemeni side with the US for killing their son.
The statement came only hours after the father of Anwar Al Awlaki, asked the American administration through CNN to give him sometime for persuading his son to surrender.
Al Awlaki, who is believed to be hiding in the mountainous areas of Al Kur in Shabwa province south -east of Yemen, recently called for Jihad against US. He is also accused of being behind many terrorist attacks, and of plotting new ones against US.
Earlier in the week, the US officials said Obama administration has authorized operations to capture or kill a U.S.-born Muslim cleric based in Yemen, who is described by a key lawmaker as Americas's top terrorist threat.
The decision to add Anwar al-Awlaki, of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to the target list followed a National Security Council review prompted by his status as a U.S. citizen.
Officials said Awlaki directly threatened the United States. "Awlaki is a proven threat," said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He's being targeted."
Rep. Jane Harman, chairwoman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, described Awlaki as "probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us."
"He is very much in the sights of the Yemenis, with us helping them," said Harman, who recently visited Yemen to meet with U.S. and Yemeni officials.
She told Reuters that Awlaki's U.S. citizenship made going after him "certainly complicated."
But Harman said President Barack Obama and his administration "made very clear that people, including Americans who are trying to attack our country, are people we will definitely pursue... are targets of the United States."
The U.S. target list is secret and it was not immediately clear whether Awlaki was the first American added, as some experts had suggested he would be.
Yemen has carried out air strikes with U.S. assistance to target al Qaeda leaders, but there have been conflicting reports about whether Awlaki was present during any of those attacks. U.S. officials believe he remains in hiding in Yemen.
CHANGING ASSESSMENT
U.S. intelligence agencies had viewed Awlaki as chiefly an al Qaeda sympathizer and recruiter for Islamist causes with possible ties to some of the September 11, 2001, hijackers.
That assessment changed late last year with revelations about his contacts with a Nigerian suspect in the attempted bombing of a transatlantic passenger jet as it approached Detroit on December 25 and with a U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of shooting dead 13 people at a military base in Texas on November 5.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day bombing of the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The suspected bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has been cooperating with U.S. authorities, providing intelligence about the group, which allegedly supplied him with explosives that were sewn into his underwear, officials said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials described Awlaki as the main force behind AQAP's decision to transform itself from a regional threat into what U.S. spy agencies see as al Qaeda's most active affiliate outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Born in New Mexico, Awlaki was an imam at mosques in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia, just outside Washington. He returned to Yemen in 2004 where he taught at a university before he was arrested and imprisoned in 2006 for suspected links to al Qaeda and involvement in attacks.
Awlaki, part of a prominent Yemeni family, was released in December 2007 because he said he had repented, according to a Yemeni security official. But he was later charged again on similar counts and went into hiding.
After Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, U.S. authorities said he had frequently been in email contact with Awlaki.
And after the Christmas Day plot, U.S. and Yemeni officials said they learned that Awlaki had met with Abdulmutallab in Yemen.
In a recent interview with a Yemeni freelance journalist, posted on Al Jazeera television's website, Awlaki described Abdulmutallab as "one of my students" but said he did not encourage the attack.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Four people injured in clashes between separatists and security
By Nasser Arrabyee/08/04/2010
Four people including two soldiers were injured when security forces dispersed angry demonstrators calling for separation in the southern city of Al Dhale'e, independent and security sources said Thursday.
Director of criminal investigation in Al Dhale'e, colonel Abdul Khaleq Shaya, survived an assassination attempt when armed secessionists threw a hand grenade to his car causing damage to it, according to the security statements.
Another hand grenade was thrown to a vehicle carrying security men injuring two of them, the security statements added.
Independent sources said four people were injured including two soldiers in fire exchange between armed demonstrators and security forces after the hand grenade exploded on the car of Shaya, which was parking next to his office.
The separatists say the explosion was fabricated by the security to foil the demonstration they hold every Thursday to demand the release of detainees on charges of participating in secessionist activities.
Meanwhile, President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered on Thursday, the release of all people arrested for charges of secessionist activities in Hudhrmout province.
Efforts of ending Sa'ada war stop over violations
By Nasser Arrabyee/08/04/2010
Efforts of ending Al Houthi armed rebellion north of Yemen have stopped after alleged violations by the rebels including kidnapping 11 soldiers, mediators said Thursday.
"We have become convinced that the Al Houthi rebels are not serious in peace process, so we have suspended our work," said a statement by one the four committees in charge of supervising the implementation of the six conditions set by the government and accepted by the rebels to end the war in Sa'ada.
The committee, the one working in Harf Sufyan, said it had stopped because Al Houthi rebels kept delaying and procrastinating the implementation of the six conditions by breaking promises and committing violations in the ground.
Al Houthi rebels held 8 soldiers with a military vehicle and an ambulance in the area Burkan on March 30, 2010, the statement said.
Five more soldiers were held in Al Amashyah on April 2, 2010.
Three people were injured in an explosion of a mine planted by the rebels in an area, which was already cleaned of the mines. The explosion, on April 5th, targeted the car of head of the district of Harf Sufyan, the statement said.
The rebels refused to reopen the road of Barat- Al Jawf, and refused to lift the checkpoints from this road.
On April 7th, the rebels prevented engineers in charge of removing mines from continuing their work in the remaining areas of Harf Sufyan, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Abdullah Thabet, the executive manager of the Fund of Sa'ada Reconstruction, said the reconstruction process is linked to the implementation of the six conditions, which include the rebels going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons.
Efforts of ending Al Houthi armed rebellion north of Yemen have stopped after alleged violations by the rebels including kidnapping 11 soldiers, mediators said Thursday.
"We have become convinced that the Al Houthi rebels are not serious in peace process, so we have suspended our work," said a statement by one the four committees in charge of supervising the implementation of the six conditions set by the government and accepted by the rebels to end the war in Sa'ada.
The committee, the one working in Harf Sufyan, said it had stopped because Al Houthi rebels kept delaying and procrastinating the implementation of the six conditions by breaking promises and committing violations in the ground.
Al Houthi rebels held 8 soldiers with a military vehicle and an ambulance in the area Burkan on March 30, 2010, the statement said.
Five more soldiers were held in Al Amashyah on April 2, 2010.
Three people were injured in an explosion of a mine planted by the rebels in an area, which was already cleaned of the mines. The explosion, on April 5th, targeted the car of head of the district of Harf Sufyan, the statement said.
The rebels refused to reopen the road of Barat- Al Jawf, and refused to lift the checkpoints from this road.
On April 7th, the rebels prevented engineers in charge of removing mines from continuing their work in the remaining areas of Harf Sufyan, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Abdullah Thabet, the executive manager of the Fund of Sa'ada Reconstruction, said the reconstruction process is linked to the implementation of the six conditions, which include the rebels going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons.
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