Source: Foreign Policy,31/12:2011
Posted By David W. Alley, Abdulghani Al Iryani.
On Nov. 23, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh belatedly fulfilled his pledge to sign the GCC initiative. His signing potentially opened space for a peaceful transfer of power and far-reaching reforms. Yet, such a positive outcome is far from guaranteed and will largely depend on how domestic and international actors tackle three interrelated challenges: 1) preventing political infighting and spoilers from derailing the accord's implementation; 2) demonstrating tangible progress by providing security and basic services to Yemeni citizens; and 3) addressing two key weaknesses of the initiative, political inclusiveness and transitional justice.
First proposed in April 2011, the GCC initiative outlined a "30-60 Transition Plan" whereby the president would transfer power to his vice president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, after one month in exchange for immunity from prosecution. An opposition-led coalition government would then hold presidential elections two months after the president's resignation.
The agreement and accompanying implementation mechanisms signed on Nov. 23 retain this basic framework and timeline with important exceptions. The most notable among these is that Saleh will retain his position along with limited authorities until elections are held on Feb. 21, 2011. It also established a steering committee to oversee the restoration of security and the reintegration of military/security forces. Moreover, it greatly expanded on the original agreement by providing much needed clarification on questions of responsibility, sequencing, and oversight.
As currently defined, the transitional period is divided into two phases. The first lasts approximately three months, from the signing of the initiative until early elections on Feb. 21, 2011. During this time, the president delegates significant authority to Hadi, an opposition-led coalition government is established, and preparations are made for early presidential elections in which the vice president is the consensus candidate. Phase two begins after elections and consists of a two-year period devoted to national dialogue and constitutional reform.
All things considered, implementation is going relatively smoothly and political leaders are meeting key agreement benchmarks. Shortly following signature, the vice president issued a presidential decree calling for early elections. Then, on Dec. 10 , a national unity government was officially sworn in. The new government is headed by an opposition prime minister and ministerial portfolios are divided equally between the opposition and the president's party, the General People's Congress (GPC). In late November and early December, intense fighting in the flashpoint city of Taiz threatened to undermine the agreement, but by Dec. 4 local mediators secured a ceasefire. That same day, Hadi formed the Military Affairs Committee tasked with overseeing military/security de-escalation and restructuring. The committee began clearing streets of checkpoints in Sanaa and other cities on Dec. 17 and they plan to complete the task within one week. In short, the technicalities of the agreement are being implemented, yet many challenges remain, not least of which is a political environment with a lack of trust, desperate economic and humanitarian conditions, and significant inclusion and justice deficits in the agreement itself.
Political infighting and potential spoilers
The most critical challenge during phase one arguably will be keeping signatories moving in the same direction and holding potential spoilers at bay. This will be especially difficult in the military/security sector where progress has been comparatively slow and where the principle of "no victor, no vanquished" has left intact the two armed power-centers: the army and security forces controlled by Saleh's family on the one hand and a combination of defected army units controlled by General Ali Mohsen, tribesmen loyal to the al-Ahmar clan, and Islah-controlled militias, on the other.
Because both sides have maintained their positions, and each is deeply suspicious of the other, it would be imprudent to begin with fundamental military or security restructuring. Instead, the first priority should be on coordinated de-escalation. This appears to be happening, as the Military Affairs Committee has called for the removal of all checkpoints and roadblocks, the return of military units to their barracks and, a return of militias to their villages, all of which is to be completed by Dec. 24. If carried out, these measures will go far in restoring a sense of normalcy and security to the capital and other affected cities.
Assuming successful implementation, these steps could then set the stage for the kind of in-depth institutional restructuring that is necessary to establish civilian control over the military. This would entail standardized hiring, firing, and retirement practices as well as the regular rotation of military and security officers. By addressing such matters only after elections are held, the authorities can satisfy the widespread public desire to remove -- or at least clearly restrict the influence of -- certain military officers, while at the same time avoiding a precipitous approach that carries the potential of provoking a stalemate or, worse, armed confrontation, during the first phase.
So far, international scrutiny has focused almost exclusively on Saleh. That might have been understandable in the past, but it no longer can suffice. At one point or another, each of the armed groups mentioned above has been responsible for violence and contributed to an environment where human rights violations have occurred; going forward, either side could torpedo meaningful implementation of the agreement. Henceforth, the international community will need to closely monitor all parties and hold them accountable -- including publicly reprimanding and sanctioning those proven uncooperative.
In addition to military and security obstacles, the agreement could be undermined by political infighting both within the coalition government and among political parties. Already, the opposition has charged the GPC with a number of violations, including destroying documents in sensitive ministries like interior, finance, and justice. For its part, the GPC accuses the opposition of planning to violate the spirit of the initiative by, among other things, using its ministerial portfolios to proceed with investigations and prosecution of regime insiders. GPC supporters also complain that the opposition has yet to fulfill its commitment under the agreement to halt any direct support for the protests. To date, media outlets on both sides have made deeply inflammatory statements, stoking tensions and undermining the potential for cooperation.
Encouraging opposing parties to honor their commitments under the initiative and to work together will be a constant challenge. While international actors must play an important monitoring role in this respect, so too should domestic oversight agencies and civil society groups. Domestic tools exist, including the civil service law which governs hiring and firing within ministries. Enforcement of this law could minimize the risk of politicization of bureaucratic decisions and more clearly circumscribe political conflict. International monitors also could work closely with the Central Organization for Control and Audit in overseeing corruption. The abuse of public finance was a central grievance against the Saleh regime and many Yemenis are now concerned that the opposition will be tempted to commit similar abuses. As with the military/security sector, control over the public finances sector must be shared, transparent, and closely monitored to ensure balance and to reduce tensions during the transition. Independent youth activists, their strong misgivings about the GCC initiative notwithstanding, can play a role by pressuring the government as well as political parties to operate lawfully, transparently, and in keeping with their pledges of reform.
Delivering Security and Basic Services
A successful political transition will also depend on the government's capacity to produce tangible progress in the lives of ordinary citizens, notably in the realms of security and basic services. As noted, some improvement has been made on the security front through the Military Affairs Committee. Among other needs, the priorities should be returning electricity and water provision to pre-crisis levels as well as stabilizing the price of, and improving access to, diesel and petrol. Meeting these objectives will not be possible without substantial international financial assistance, which ought to be closely monitored by donors. Insofar as possible, donors should discourage reactivation of petrol and diesel subsidies, a step with potentially dire fiscal consequences.
Political Inclusiveness and Transitional Justice
The accord is not without critics, or flaws. At its core, it reflects a power-sharing arrangement between the president and his party, the GPC, on one hand and a coalition of political opposition parties, known as the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), on the other. Largely missing from the arrangement are several important stakeholders, including but not limited to: the Houthi rebels in the north; the southern movement; and an emerging constituency that was particularly active during the uprising, the independent youth. As they and others see it, the initiative is little more than a reshuffling of the deck, a new allocation of authority among elites that -- in one form or another -- have been implicated in the organization of power around Saleh. The principal beneficiaries, they point out, are the GPC and the most influential member of the JMP opposition, the Islamist Islah party, which also enjoys historical ties to the regime. Many also reject the immunity clause, arguing that those responsible for abuses should be investigated and brought to trial.
Establishment of a more inclusive process cannot wait until the onset of the national dialogue. Although reducing tensions among members of the political elite is both legitimate and necessary, a parallel track should be put in place to bring in the three aforementioned groups, lest their exclusion obstruct the government's ability to carry out early elections and a credible dialogue.
Fortunately, the implementation mechanism document mandates that the new government form a liaison committee to communicate with youth groups and it makes clear that the national dialogue in phase two must include all political actors and forces. Yet, thus far, inclusion efforts have taken a back seat to forging elite alliances at the political center between existing political parties. In many ways, the Houthi rebellion in the north, the southern movement, and the youth initiative uprising were a product of the failure of existing political parties and institutions to adequately aggregate and represent popular grievances and demands. As such, it is imperative that immediate action be taken to broaden meaningful inclusion.
Several steps could be taken in this respect. The government should open up direct lines of communication with these three constituencies in order to better understand their views on, as well as objections to, the structure and agenda of the national dialogue. It could also review the findings of existing government and or party-funded studies that have assessed the situation in the south and in Sadaa and consider implementing applicable recommendations. Important confidence-building measures for the south in particular may include: releasing remaining political prisoners (in a welcome step, the government released Hassan Ba-Aum, a prominent southern movement Hiraak leader who calls for southern independence, shortly after it was formed), investigating human rights abuses, removing certain controversial military and security officers, and more assertively facilitating humanitarian access to areas such as Abyan and Aden. Both the GPC and the opposition have been careful to ensure that southerners are well represented in the unity government. This is an important indication of good-will, but it is in no way a substitute for engaging with the southern movement and others regarding their priorities and preferences for the national dialogue.
The GCC initiative also suffers from the insufficient attention it pays to issues of transitional justice and reconciliation. Yemenis are sharply divided over the question of whether Saleh and his supporters ought to enjoy immunity. Many in the opposition insist that regime insiders must be investigated and prosecuted for crimes committed during the uprising; others believe that such an approach would distract the coalition government from its priorities, namely building a new state; still others (essentially Saleh backers), argue that the real criminals are on the opposition side and that individuals such as Ali Mohsen and Hameed al-Ahmar should be brought to trial.
Who should benefit from immunity and how to render justice are divisive, sensitive, and currently unsettled issues. Ignoring them, or putting them aside, risks undermining chances of a lasting political settlement. Still, signatories of the GCC initiative committed themselves to pass immunity legislation for the president and those who have worked with him. Qualms notwithstanding, the signatories should honor their pledge. However, this agreement does not in any way preclude thorough investigation of human rights violations and a serious national discussion regarding matters related to transitional justice. This discussion is essential to prevent cycles of revenge and to address the deeply-felt desire to expose unlawful behavior and compensate victims. In this respect, the country could build on a long national tradition that centers primarily on exposing the truth and compensating victims as opposed to punishing perpetrators. Ultimately, Yemenis will have to determine how to address their past, but it is best that this discussion begin now.
David W. Alley is a Lieutenant-Colonel in the U.S. Army (Retired), a retired Middle East Foreign Area Officer, and is currently the COO of Lime -- Abu Dhabi, a political risk advisory firm. Abdulghani al-Iryani is an independent political analyst based in Sanaa, Yemen.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Thursday, 29 December 2011
2011, Year of Change in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee,29/12/2011
Yemen witnessed unprecedented and great events during 2011 like some other Arab countries which were swept by the so-called Arab Spring.
The events changed almost every thing traditional in terms of thinking of the social and political life of people.
Dreams and aspirations and ambitions of almost every one were more than ever before over the recent history of Yemen.
Generally speaking, almost everyone wanted a new Yemen, new State, and new life with freedom,justice and dignity.
Though very little of these general things have been achieved,but the way of realizing dreams and reaching ambitions has become at least clearer and smoother than ever before in history also.
The determination and desire of people to keep going in the same way until all goals and objectives are achieved is still standing after one year of arguments and conflicts at all levels of life.
On November 23rd, 2011, almost all conflicting parties agreed to end the long standing political crisis and they immediately started a long and difficult but allegedly correct road to build the new Yemen where all dreams and ambitions of better life can come true.
On February 21st, 2012, the Yemenis will elect a new President instead of the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The new President will run the country only two years during which a comprehensive national dialogue will be conducted for paving the way for the modern State. A new constitution will be formulated, and referendum on ir will be held.
Then, new presidential elections will be held during 2014, and the elected president will set a date for parliamentary elections.
It's been more than one month now since they started implementing a step-by-step two year long road map for reaching the promised modern and civil State that almost every Yemeni is talking about, though with different views.
The road map, locally called the scheduled implementation plan, was based on an internationally supported deal initiated by the Saudi-led six gulf nations and the UN resolution 2014 on solving the Yemeni crisis.
But different people look differently to what happened during 2011, and what was achieved so far and what might happen and might be achieved during 2012 and after that.
The Weekly interviewed on Monday December 26, 2011, many Yemenis in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on what happened so far and what might happen more from the protests of one year.
Adel A Arrabeai, leading protester and political activist, said that the year 2011 divided the recent history to 'before' and 'after' this date.
" 2011 was the year of the birth of our historic change movement," said Mr Arrabeai.
" It was the year during which we faced major challenges and we achieved major achievements including overthrowing the regime," he added.
The 2012 will be the year of planting and sowing the seeds of the modern and civil State, the long standing dream of Yemenis, Arrabeai expected.
The activist Naif Al Buraiki, disagrees,however, with Mr. Arrabeai, saying the political solution will not work and the conflicts will continue.
"The GCC initiative will fail and more conflicts and more violence and blood shed will happen," said Mr Al Buraiki.
The political analyst, Abdul Khalik Alwan , on his part, said two things might happen during the 2012 in the Arab world in general.
If the Arab Spring was made by the Arab themselves not dictated to them, Mr. Alwan expected a stage of genuine democracy and human rights after removing the rest of the Arab rulers during 2012.
"But if the Arab Spring was not made by the Arab will, and Arab were only actors, then the year 2012 will be the end of hope that Arab can do something," Mr Alwan said.
Mr Baleek Mohammed, political activist,said what happened in Yemen during 2011, was unprecedented uprising against poverty and financial, administrative and political corruption.
Mr Mohammed expected that Islamists in Yemen would dominate because they have more organized members than the other parties.
However, the vice spokesmen of the Yemen ruling party, semi-secular party, Mr Abdul Hafeez Al Nehari excluded any domination of the Islamists in Yemen saying they are not like their counterparts in the other Arab countries like Tunisia and Egypt.
" I do not think the Islamists here in Yemen will dominate because they already tried but failed," said Al Nehari.
The main groups of Islamists in Yemen, especially the brotherhood, have always been participating in all political and democratic processes and never been directly banned like Tunisia or partially banned like Egypt.
"The people tried the Islamists in two coalition governments in the past," said Al
Nehari.
"During this crisis, the Islamists were not democratic enough with other forces like liberals and leftists,"
" So Islamist lost a lot."
Almost every day, Islamists from Islah party, which leads the opposition coalition, fight with others over who would speak in the stage and who would say what in the public squares of protests especially in Sanaa.
They also fight with others on women activities and their clothes.
On Sunday, December 25th, 2011, for instance, about 15 people were injured in big fight with hands and sticks and knives in the stage of the Change Square in Sanaa.
Yemen witnessed unprecedented and great events during 2011 like some other Arab countries which were swept by the so-called Arab Spring.
The events changed almost every thing traditional in terms of thinking of the social and political life of people.
Dreams and aspirations and ambitions of almost every one were more than ever before over the recent history of Yemen.
Generally speaking, almost everyone wanted a new Yemen, new State, and new life with freedom,justice and dignity.
Though very little of these general things have been achieved,but the way of realizing dreams and reaching ambitions has become at least clearer and smoother than ever before in history also.
The determination and desire of people to keep going in the same way until all goals and objectives are achieved is still standing after one year of arguments and conflicts at all levels of life.
On November 23rd, 2011, almost all conflicting parties agreed to end the long standing political crisis and they immediately started a long and difficult but allegedly correct road to build the new Yemen where all dreams and ambitions of better life can come true.
On February 21st, 2012, the Yemenis will elect a new President instead of the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The new President will run the country only two years during which a comprehensive national dialogue will be conducted for paving the way for the modern State. A new constitution will be formulated, and referendum on ir will be held.
Then, new presidential elections will be held during 2014, and the elected president will set a date for parliamentary elections.
It's been more than one month now since they started implementing a step-by-step two year long road map for reaching the promised modern and civil State that almost every Yemeni is talking about, though with different views.
The road map, locally called the scheduled implementation plan, was based on an internationally supported deal initiated by the Saudi-led six gulf nations and the UN resolution 2014 on solving the Yemeni crisis.
But different people look differently to what happened during 2011, and what was achieved so far and what might happen and might be achieved during 2012 and after that.
The Weekly interviewed on Monday December 26, 2011, many Yemenis in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on what happened so far and what might happen more from the protests of one year.
Adel A Arrabeai, leading protester and political activist, said that the year 2011 divided the recent history to 'before' and 'after' this date.
" 2011 was the year of the birth of our historic change movement," said Mr Arrabeai.
" It was the year during which we faced major challenges and we achieved major achievements including overthrowing the regime," he added.
The 2012 will be the year of planting and sowing the seeds of the modern and civil State, the long standing dream of Yemenis, Arrabeai expected.
The activist Naif Al Buraiki, disagrees,however, with Mr. Arrabeai, saying the political solution will not work and the conflicts will continue.
"The GCC initiative will fail and more conflicts and more violence and blood shed will happen," said Mr Al Buraiki.
The political analyst, Abdul Khalik Alwan , on his part, said two things might happen during the 2012 in the Arab world in general.
If the Arab Spring was made by the Arab themselves not dictated to them, Mr. Alwan expected a stage of genuine democracy and human rights after removing the rest of the Arab rulers during 2012.
"But if the Arab Spring was not made by the Arab will, and Arab were only actors, then the year 2012 will be the end of hope that Arab can do something," Mr Alwan said.
Mr Baleek Mohammed, political activist,said what happened in Yemen during 2011, was unprecedented uprising against poverty and financial, administrative and political corruption.
Mr Mohammed expected that Islamists in Yemen would dominate because they have more organized members than the other parties.
However, the vice spokesmen of the Yemen ruling party, semi-secular party, Mr Abdul Hafeez Al Nehari excluded any domination of the Islamists in Yemen saying they are not like their counterparts in the other Arab countries like Tunisia and Egypt.
" I do not think the Islamists here in Yemen will dominate because they already tried but failed," said Al Nehari.
The main groups of Islamists in Yemen, especially the brotherhood, have always been participating in all political and democratic processes and never been directly banned like Tunisia or partially banned like Egypt.
"The people tried the Islamists in two coalition governments in the past," said Al
Nehari.
"During this crisis, the Islamists were not democratic enough with other forces like liberals and leftists,"
" So Islamist lost a lot."
Almost every day, Islamists from Islah party, which leads the opposition coalition, fight with others over who would speak in the stage and who would say what in the public squares of protests especially in Sanaa.
They also fight with others on women activities and their clothes.
On Sunday, December 25th, 2011, for instance, about 15 people were injured in big fight with hands and sticks and knives in the stage of the Change Square in Sanaa.
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
2011, Year of Change in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee,29/12/2011
Yemen witnessed unprecedented and great events during 2011 like some other Arab countries which were swept by the so-called Arab Spring.
The events changed almost every thing traditional in terms of thinking of the social and political life of people.
Dreams and aspirations and ambitions of almost every one were more than ever before over the recent history of Yemen.
Generally speaking, almost everyone wanted a new Yemen, new State, and new life with freedom,justice and dignity.
Though very little of these general things have been achieved,but the way of realizing dreams and reaching ambitions has become at least clearer and smoother than ever before in history also.
The determination and desire of people to keep going in the same way until all goals and objectives are achieved is still standing after one year of arguments and conflicts at all levels of life.
On November 23rd, 2011, almost all conflicting parties agreed to end the long standing political crisis and they immediately started a long and difficult but allegedly correct road to build the new Yemen where all dreams and ambitions of better life can come true.
It's been more than one month now since they started implementing a step-by-step two year long road map for reaching the promised modern and civil State that almost every Yemeni is talking about, though with different views.
The road map, locally called the scheduled implementation plan, was based on an internationally supported deal initiated by the Saudi-led six gulf nations and the UN resolution 2014 on solving the Yemeni crisis.
But different people look differently to what happened during 2011, and what was achieved so far and what might happen and might be achieved during 2012 and after that.
The Weekly interviewed on Monday December 26, 2011, many Yemenis in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on what happened so far and what might happen more from the protests of one year.
Adel A Arrabeai, leading protester and political activist, said that the year 2011 divided the recent history to 'before' and 'after' this date.
" 2011 was the year of the birth of our historic change movement," said Mr Arrabeai.
" It was the year during which we faced major challenges and we achieved major achievements including overthrowing the regime," he added.
The 2012 will be the year of planting and sowing the seeds of the modern and civil State, the long standing dream of Yemenis, Arrabeai expected.
The activist Naif Al Buraiki, disagrees,however, with Mr. Arrabeai, saying the political solution will not work and the conflicts will continue.
"The GCC initiative will fail and more conflicts and more violence and blood shed will happen," said Mr Al Buraiki.
The political analyst, Abdul Khalik Alwan , on his part, said two things might happen during the 2012 in the Arab world in general.
If the Arab Spring was made by the Arab themselves not dictated to them, Mr. Alwan expected a stage of genuine democracy and human rights after removing the rest of the Arab rulers during 2012.
"But if the Arab Spring was not made by the Arab will, and Arab were only actors, then the year 2012 will be the end of hope that Arab can do something," Mr Alwan said.
Mr Baleek Mohammed, political activist,said what happened in Yemen during 2011, was unprecedented uprising against poverty and financial, administrative and political corruption.
Mr Mohammed expected that Islamists in Yemen would dominate because they have more organized members than the other parties.
However, the vice spokesmen of the Yemen ruling party, semi-secular party, Mr Abdul Hafeez Al Nehari excluded any domination of the Islamists in Yemen saying they are not like their counterparts in the other Arab countries like Tunisia and Egypt.
" I do not think the Islamists here in Yemen will dominate because they already tried but failed," said Al Nehari.
The main groups of Islamists in Yemen, especially the brotherhood, have always been participating in all political and democratic processes and never been directly banned like Tunisia or partially banned like Egypt.
"The people tried the Islamists in two coalition governments in the past," said Al
Nehari.
"During this crisis, the Islamists were not democratic enough with other forces like liberals and leftists,"
" So Islamist lost a lot."
Almost every day, Islamists from Islah party, which leads the opposition coalition, fight with others over who would speak in the stage and who would say what in the public squares of protests especially in Sanaa.
They also fight with others on women activities and their clothes.
On Sunday, December 25th, 2011, for instance, about 15 people were injured in big fight with hands and sticks and knives in the stage of the Change Square in Sanaa.
Yemen witnessed unprecedented and great events during 2011 like some other Arab countries which were swept by the so-called Arab Spring.
The events changed almost every thing traditional in terms of thinking of the social and political life of people.
Dreams and aspirations and ambitions of almost every one were more than ever before over the recent history of Yemen.
Generally speaking, almost everyone wanted a new Yemen, new State, and new life with freedom,justice and dignity.
Though very little of these general things have been achieved,but the way of realizing dreams and reaching ambitions has become at least clearer and smoother than ever before in history also.
The determination and desire of people to keep going in the same way until all goals and objectives are achieved is still standing after one year of arguments and conflicts at all levels of life.
On November 23rd, 2011, almost all conflicting parties agreed to end the long standing political crisis and they immediately started a long and difficult but allegedly correct road to build the new Yemen where all dreams and ambitions of better life can come true.
It's been more than one month now since they started implementing a step-by-step two year long road map for reaching the promised modern and civil State that almost every Yemeni is talking about, though with different views.
The road map, locally called the scheduled implementation plan, was based on an internationally supported deal initiated by the Saudi-led six gulf nations and the UN resolution 2014 on solving the Yemeni crisis.
But different people look differently to what happened during 2011, and what was achieved so far and what might happen and might be achieved during 2012 and after that.
The Weekly interviewed on Monday December 26, 2011, many Yemenis in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on what happened so far and what might happen more from the protests of one year.
Adel A Arrabeai, leading protester and political activist, said that the year 2011 divided the recent history to 'before' and 'after' this date.
" 2011 was the year of the birth of our historic change movement," said Mr Arrabeai.
" It was the year during which we faced major challenges and we achieved major achievements including overthrowing the regime," he added.
The 2012 will be the year of planting and sowing the seeds of the modern and civil State, the long standing dream of Yemenis, Arrabeai expected.
The activist Naif Al Buraiki, disagrees,however, with Mr. Arrabeai, saying the political solution will not work and the conflicts will continue.
"The GCC initiative will fail and more conflicts and more violence and blood shed will happen," said Mr Al Buraiki.
The political analyst, Abdul Khalik Alwan , on his part, said two things might happen during the 2012 in the Arab world in general.
If the Arab Spring was made by the Arab themselves not dictated to them, Mr. Alwan expected a stage of genuine democracy and human rights after removing the rest of the Arab rulers during 2012.
"But if the Arab Spring was not made by the Arab will, and Arab were only actors, then the year 2012 will be the end of hope that Arab can do something," Mr Alwan said.
Mr Baleek Mohammed, political activist,said what happened in Yemen during 2011, was unprecedented uprising against poverty and financial, administrative and political corruption.
Mr Mohammed expected that Islamists in Yemen would dominate because they have more organized members than the other parties.
However, the vice spokesmen of the Yemen ruling party, semi-secular party, Mr Abdul Hafeez Al Nehari excluded any domination of the Islamists in Yemen saying they are not like their counterparts in the other Arab countries like Tunisia and Egypt.
" I do not think the Islamists here in Yemen will dominate because they already tried but failed," said Al Nehari.
The main groups of Islamists in Yemen, especially the brotherhood, have always been participating in all political and democratic processes and never been directly banned like Tunisia or partially banned like Egypt.
"The people tried the Islamists in two coalition governments in the past," said Al
Nehari.
"During this crisis, the Islamists were not democratic enough with other forces like liberals and leftists,"
" So Islamist lost a lot."
Almost every day, Islamists from Islah party, which leads the opposition coalition, fight with others over who would speak in the stage and who would say what in the public squares of protests especially in Sanaa.
They also fight with others on women activities and their clothes.
On Sunday, December 25th, 2011, for instance, about 15 people were injured in big fight with hands and sticks and knives in the stage of the Change Square in Sanaa.
Yemen Government Workers Rally Against Corruption
Source:AP,28/12/2011
By AHMED AL-HAJ Associated Press
Labor strikes spread through Yemen Wednesday as workers demanded reforms and dismissal of managers over alleged corruption linked to the country's outgoing president.
Corruption was one of the grievances that ignited mass protests against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in February. After months of stalling, Saleh last month signed an agreement to transfer power.
The deal includes immunity for prosecution for the longtime leader, but protesters reject that. They are also demanding that his relatives and associates, also suspected of corruption, be removed from their posts in the government and military and put on trial.
Months of political turmoil in Yemen, pitting tribes and army units against each other during mass demonstrations as Saleh fought to stay in power, have given the dangerous al-Qaida branch in Yemen more freedom of action. The Islamist militants have taken over territory in Yemen's south, including several towns.
The strikes are following a pattern. Workers lock the gates to an institution, and then they storm the offices of their supervisors, demanding their replacement with bosses who are not tainted with corruption allegations. So far the scenario has played out in 18 state agencies.
"This is the real revolution, the institutions revolution," said Mohammed Gabaal, an 40-year-old accountant who is on strike. "The president has appointed a ring of corrupt people all over government agencies."
The case of the Military Economic Institution stands out. Hundreds of workers demonstrated in front of the building on Wednesday.
The key agency hauls in significant revenues from naval transport and other investments, but its budget is kept secret. Striking workers are demanding dismissal of the agency manager, Hafez Mayad, who is from Saleh's tribe and is seen as one of the regime's most powerful and corrupt figures.
Opponents of the Saleh regime charge that armed civilians who attacked protesters in the capital of Sanaa got their funds from Mayad.
Other strikes are under way at the state TV, Sanaa police headquarters and another institution affiliated with the military.
The wave of strikes began last week when employees of the national airline, Yemenia Airways, walked off their jobs demanding dismissal of the director, Saleh's son-in-law, charging him with plundering the company's assets and driving it into bankruptcy. The government gave in to the demands.
By AHMED AL-HAJ Associated Press
Labor strikes spread through Yemen Wednesday as workers demanded reforms and dismissal of managers over alleged corruption linked to the country's outgoing president.
Corruption was one of the grievances that ignited mass protests against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in February. After months of stalling, Saleh last month signed an agreement to transfer power.
The deal includes immunity for prosecution for the longtime leader, but protesters reject that. They are also demanding that his relatives and associates, also suspected of corruption, be removed from their posts in the government and military and put on trial.
Months of political turmoil in Yemen, pitting tribes and army units against each other during mass demonstrations as Saleh fought to stay in power, have given the dangerous al-Qaida branch in Yemen more freedom of action. The Islamist militants have taken over territory in Yemen's south, including several towns.
The strikes are following a pattern. Workers lock the gates to an institution, and then they storm the offices of their supervisors, demanding their replacement with bosses who are not tainted with corruption allegations. So far the scenario has played out in 18 state agencies.
"This is the real revolution, the institutions revolution," said Mohammed Gabaal, an 40-year-old accountant who is on strike. "The president has appointed a ring of corrupt people all over government agencies."
The case of the Military Economic Institution stands out. Hundreds of workers demonstrated in front of the building on Wednesday.
The key agency hauls in significant revenues from naval transport and other investments, but its budget is kept secret. Striking workers are demanding dismissal of the agency manager, Hafez Mayad, who is from Saleh's tribe and is seen as one of the regime's most powerful and corrupt figures.
Opponents of the Saleh regime charge that armed civilians who attacked protesters in the capital of Sanaa got their funds from Mayad.
Other strikes are under way at the state TV, Sanaa police headquarters and another institution affiliated with the military.
The wave of strikes began last week when employees of the national airline, Yemenia Airways, walked off their jobs demanding dismissal of the director, Saleh's son-in-law, charging him with plundering the company's assets and driving it into bankruptcy. The government gave in to the demands.
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Path is cleared for President Saleh to visit US
27/12/2011
By Mark Landler and Eric Schmitt
HONOLULU,US — The Obama administration has decided in principle to allow the embattled president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to enter the United States for medical treatment, subject to certain assurances, two administration officials said
But those conditions — including a proposed itinerary — have not yet been submitted to the American Embassy in Yemen, these officials said, and no visa has yet been issued to Mr. Saleh.
The decision of whether to admit Yemen’s longtime leader has stirred a vigorous debate within the administration, with some officials fearing sharp criticism for appearing to provide a safe haven for a reviled Arab figure accused of responsibility for the death of hundreds of antigovernment protesters.
The complex negotiations over Mr. Saleh’s visa request attest to the high stakes for the administration, which urgently wants to secure room for political progress in Yemen but does not want to allow Mr. Saleh to use a medical visit as a way to shore up his political position. Nor do they want to play into Mr. Saleh’s penchant for keeping people off kilter.
If allowed to enter, Mr. Saleh would be the first Arab leader to request, and to be granted, an extended stay in the United States since political unrest began convulsing the region a year ago.
One administration official said that there was no further “impediment” to issuing Mr. Saleh a visa, and that he could arrive at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital as soon as the end of this week for additional treatment of medical problems stemming from a near-fatal bomb blast in June at the mosque in his presidential complex.
Though the administration had been concerned that approval would anger the many Yemenis eager to see Mr. Saleh prosecuted for the killing of protesters by his security forces, some believe that giving him a way out of Yemen, even temporarily, could help smooth the way to elections next year and perhaps end a political crisis that has brought the government of the impoverished nation to the brink of collapse.
“In the end, we felt there was enough good to be gained that it was worth managing the criticism that we’d get, including any comparisons to past episodes,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the arrangement was still being completed.
The official was referring to President Jimmy Carter’s decision in 1979 to admit the ailing shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, into the United States for medical treatment. That so infuriated the Islamic revolutionaries who had overthrown the shah that they stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage.
Antigovernment activists in Yemen said in recent days that they were worried that the United States would grant Mr. Saleh refuge and that if it did, they would demand he be returned for prosecution at home.
In a statement on Sunday in Hawaii, where President Obama is vacationing this week, the administration said that if Mr. Saleh was granted a visa, it would be only for “legitimate medical treatment.”
On Monday, the White House denied that it had made a decision on whether to grant Mr. Saleh a visa. “U.S. officials are continuing to consider President Saleh’s request to enter the country for the sole purpose of seeking medical treatment,” said the White House’s deputy press secretary, Joshua R. Earnest, “but initial reports that permission has already been granted are not true.”
Still, it appeared that the administration was also looking for a way to help calm the political chaos that has undermined efforts to prevent terrorist groups from operating in Yemen.
“The main goal is to remove him physically from Yemen so there’s no way he can meddle in the political process there,” the official said. “Getting him medical treatment seemed a logical way to do this.”
Mr. Saleh would not be allowed to bring a large entourage or use his visit for political reasons, the official said.
Mr. Saleh contacted the American Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, about the visa, officials said. His lingering injuries from the bomb blast include shrapnel wounds and extensive burns. The most serious medical condition is a balance problem caused by inner-ear damage.
A spokeswoman for NewYork-Presbyterian, Myrna Manners, said she could not confirm whether Mr. Saleh would be going there. “As of now, we are not admitting him to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital,” she said.
After Mr. Saleh’s three decades in power, doubts remain about his motives for departing now. He signed an accord a month ago in Saudi Arabia, agreeing to step down and authorizing an election in February to choose a new president. But until then, he maintains his title and much of his authority. Fears that he might find a way to hang on to power have hampered Yemen’s transition and played a role in the chronic political violence gripping the country, the poorest in the Middle East.
On Saturday, government security forces opened fire on protesters in Sana, killing at least nine people. The demonstrators were protesting a deal that would grant Mr. Saleh legal immunity if he gave up his post.
The United States has found itself in a sometimes awkward position as the unrest in the Arab world has swept through Yemen. The administration conducts extensive counterterrorism operations with the Saleh government on suspected Qaeda cells. It was unclear whether the United States was Mr. Saleh’s first choice for a destination, and as officials weighed his request, some worried that he might stop in other countries and seek support for some kind of effort to stay in power.
“They don’t want him to get back into the game,” said another official, “and everything he’s done since he went to Riyadh suggests he hasn’t entirely given up.”
Part of the problem is divining what the president is thinking. Some American officials seem persuaded by Mr. Saleh’s frequent claims that he has no desire to return to power. Others are less certain.
The two key officials involved in the decision are John O. Brennan, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser, and the American ambassador in Yemen, Gerald M. Feierstein. Mr. Brennan almost certainly took the decision to Mr. Obama for final approval, an official said.
On Sunday, Mr. Brennan called Yemen’s vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi, to urge the government to show restraint against protesters, Mr. Earnest said.
“Mr. Brennan emphasized strongly the need for Yemeni security forces to show maximum restraint when dealing with demonstrations, and called upon all sides to refrain from provocative acts that could spur further violence,” Mr. Earnest said.
Vice President Hadi, who is supposed to assume Mr. Saleh’s powers during the transition, told Mr. Brennan that the government would investigate the deaths and injuries, Mr. Earnest said. Shortly after the June bombing, Mr. Saleh was flown to a hospital in Saudi Arabia. But after three months, he returned to Yemen.
On Saturday, Mr. Saleh told reporters that he was leaving “not for treatment, but to get out of sight and the media, to calm the atmosphere for the unity government to hold the presidential election,” according to The Associated Press. Yet that statement seemed calculated for domestic consumption, a Yemeni official said, and Mr. Saleh added that he hoped to return to work as an “opposition figure.”
Mark Landler reported from Honolulu, and Eric Schmitt from Washington. Robert F. Worth contributed reporting from Washington, and Anemona Hartocollis from New York.
By Mark Landler and Eric Schmitt
HONOLULU,US — The Obama administration has decided in principle to allow the embattled president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to enter the United States for medical treatment, subject to certain assurances, two administration officials said
But those conditions — including a proposed itinerary — have not yet been submitted to the American Embassy in Yemen, these officials said, and no visa has yet been issued to Mr. Saleh.
The decision of whether to admit Yemen’s longtime leader has stirred a vigorous debate within the administration, with some officials fearing sharp criticism for appearing to provide a safe haven for a reviled Arab figure accused of responsibility for the death of hundreds of antigovernment protesters.
The complex negotiations over Mr. Saleh’s visa request attest to the high stakes for the administration, which urgently wants to secure room for political progress in Yemen but does not want to allow Mr. Saleh to use a medical visit as a way to shore up his political position. Nor do they want to play into Mr. Saleh’s penchant for keeping people off kilter.
If allowed to enter, Mr. Saleh would be the first Arab leader to request, and to be granted, an extended stay in the United States since political unrest began convulsing the region a year ago.
One administration official said that there was no further “impediment” to issuing Mr. Saleh a visa, and that he could arrive at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital as soon as the end of this week for additional treatment of medical problems stemming from a near-fatal bomb blast in June at the mosque in his presidential complex.
Though the administration had been concerned that approval would anger the many Yemenis eager to see Mr. Saleh prosecuted for the killing of protesters by his security forces, some believe that giving him a way out of Yemen, even temporarily, could help smooth the way to elections next year and perhaps end a political crisis that has brought the government of the impoverished nation to the brink of collapse.
“In the end, we felt there was enough good to be gained that it was worth managing the criticism that we’d get, including any comparisons to past episodes,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the arrangement was still being completed.
The official was referring to President Jimmy Carter’s decision in 1979 to admit the ailing shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, into the United States for medical treatment. That so infuriated the Islamic revolutionaries who had overthrown the shah that they stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage.
Antigovernment activists in Yemen said in recent days that they were worried that the United States would grant Mr. Saleh refuge and that if it did, they would demand he be returned for prosecution at home.
In a statement on Sunday in Hawaii, where President Obama is vacationing this week, the administration said that if Mr. Saleh was granted a visa, it would be only for “legitimate medical treatment.”
On Monday, the White House denied that it had made a decision on whether to grant Mr. Saleh a visa. “U.S. officials are continuing to consider President Saleh’s request to enter the country for the sole purpose of seeking medical treatment,” said the White House’s deputy press secretary, Joshua R. Earnest, “but initial reports that permission has already been granted are not true.”
Still, it appeared that the administration was also looking for a way to help calm the political chaos that has undermined efforts to prevent terrorist groups from operating in Yemen.
“The main goal is to remove him physically from Yemen so there’s no way he can meddle in the political process there,” the official said. “Getting him medical treatment seemed a logical way to do this.”
Mr. Saleh would not be allowed to bring a large entourage or use his visit for political reasons, the official said.
Mr. Saleh contacted the American Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, about the visa, officials said. His lingering injuries from the bomb blast include shrapnel wounds and extensive burns. The most serious medical condition is a balance problem caused by inner-ear damage.
A spokeswoman for NewYork-Presbyterian, Myrna Manners, said she could not confirm whether Mr. Saleh would be going there. “As of now, we are not admitting him to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital,” she said.
After Mr. Saleh’s three decades in power, doubts remain about his motives for departing now. He signed an accord a month ago in Saudi Arabia, agreeing to step down and authorizing an election in February to choose a new president. But until then, he maintains his title and much of his authority. Fears that he might find a way to hang on to power have hampered Yemen’s transition and played a role in the chronic political violence gripping the country, the poorest in the Middle East.
On Saturday, government security forces opened fire on protesters in Sana, killing at least nine people. The demonstrators were protesting a deal that would grant Mr. Saleh legal immunity if he gave up his post.
The United States has found itself in a sometimes awkward position as the unrest in the Arab world has swept through Yemen. The administration conducts extensive counterterrorism operations with the Saleh government on suspected Qaeda cells. It was unclear whether the United States was Mr. Saleh’s first choice for a destination, and as officials weighed his request, some worried that he might stop in other countries and seek support for some kind of effort to stay in power.
“They don’t want him to get back into the game,” said another official, “and everything he’s done since he went to Riyadh suggests he hasn’t entirely given up.”
Part of the problem is divining what the president is thinking. Some American officials seem persuaded by Mr. Saleh’s frequent claims that he has no desire to return to power. Others are less certain.
The two key officials involved in the decision are John O. Brennan, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser, and the American ambassador in Yemen, Gerald M. Feierstein. Mr. Brennan almost certainly took the decision to Mr. Obama for final approval, an official said.
On Sunday, Mr. Brennan called Yemen’s vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi, to urge the government to show restraint against protesters, Mr. Earnest said.
“Mr. Brennan emphasized strongly the need for Yemeni security forces to show maximum restraint when dealing with demonstrations, and called upon all sides to refrain from provocative acts that could spur further violence,” Mr. Earnest said.
Vice President Hadi, who is supposed to assume Mr. Saleh’s powers during the transition, told Mr. Brennan that the government would investigate the deaths and injuries, Mr. Earnest said. Shortly after the June bombing, Mr. Saleh was flown to a hospital in Saudi Arabia. But after three months, he returned to Yemen.
On Saturday, Mr. Saleh told reporters that he was leaving “not for treatment, but to get out of sight and the media, to calm the atmosphere for the unity government to hold the presidential election,” according to The Associated Press. Yet that statement seemed calculated for domestic consumption, a Yemeni official said, and Mr. Saleh added that he hoped to return to work as an “opposition figure.”
Mark Landler reported from Honolulu, and Eric Schmitt from Washington. Robert F. Worth contributed reporting from Washington, and Anemona Hartocollis from New York.
Monday, 26 December 2011
Yemeni intelligence officer gunned down in Aden
Source: Xinhua, 26/12/2011
ADEN, Yemen-- A high-ranking officer of the Yemeni military intelligence agency was gunned down Sunday evening by unidentified assailants in the southern port city of Aden, a security official told Xinhua.
The local security official said on condition of anonymity that three unknown attackers opened fire with barrage of bullets on the vehicle of colonel Hussein al-Bishi, killing him in a main street in Sheikh Othman district in Aden city.
The intelligence officer was hit in the head by a bullet and died at the scene, the official said, adding that the attackers managed to escape after the shooting.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. But the incident bore the hallmarks of the al-Qaida group, according to the official.
A police officer said that after the attack, local government authorities has tightened up the security measures across the port city to deter any armed terrorists to infiltrate into Aden from the neighboring province of Abyan.
Taking advantage of Yemen's unrest to bolster their presence in the country's southern and eastern regions, militants of the al- Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula have been launching sporadic shoot- outs and motorbike attacks on security and intelligence officials during the past few months.
ADEN, Yemen-- A high-ranking officer of the Yemeni military intelligence agency was gunned down Sunday evening by unidentified assailants in the southern port city of Aden, a security official told Xinhua.
The local security official said on condition of anonymity that three unknown attackers opened fire with barrage of bullets on the vehicle of colonel Hussein al-Bishi, killing him in a main street in Sheikh Othman district in Aden city.
The intelligence officer was hit in the head by a bullet and died at the scene, the official said, adding that the attackers managed to escape after the shooting.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. But the incident bore the hallmarks of the al-Qaida group, according to the official.
A police officer said that after the attack, local government authorities has tightened up the security measures across the port city to deter any armed terrorists to infiltrate into Aden from the neighboring province of Abyan.
Taking advantage of Yemen's unrest to bolster their presence in the country's southern and eastern regions, militants of the al- Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula have been launching sporadic shoot- outs and motorbike attacks on security and intelligence officials during the past few months.
Saturday, 24 December 2011
President Saleh said would travel soon to US
By Nasser Arrabyee, 24/12/2011
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh also said he would travel to United States soon but not only for treatment but also for political affairs.
And he said he would return to Yemen to join the opposition through his party after a new president is elected on February 21, 2012.
Saleh accused the Islamist tribal leader Hamid Al Ahmar of being behind the terrorist attack on him and his top aides on June 3, 2011.
Saleh also said in a press conference held in his Palace late Saturday, that Hamid Al Ahmar funded the march from Taiz to Sanaa.
Saleh said that the defected general Ali Muhsen has no more than 300 soldiers who still loyal to him now.
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh also said he would travel to United States soon but not only for treatment but also for political affairs.
And he said he would return to Yemen to join the opposition through his party after a new president is elected on February 21, 2012.
Saleh accused the Islamist tribal leader Hamid Al Ahmar of being behind the terrorist attack on him and his top aides on June 3, 2011.
Saleh also said in a press conference held in his Palace late Saturday, that Hamid Al Ahmar funded the march from Taiz to Sanaa.
Saleh said that the defected general Ali Muhsen has no more than 300 soldiers who still loyal to him now.
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Yemen peace and political process making progress, UN says
Source: UN News, 23/12/2011
Security Council calls on Yemeni parties to ensure political transition
New York– The Security Council today welcomed the progress made so far in implementing the agreement for a peaceful transition of power in Yemen, and called on the parties to ensure that they adhere to the timetable set out for the process.
A new Government of National Unity was sworn in earlier this month in Yemen after warring factions signed an agreement in November on a transitional settlement under which President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to hand over power to Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi.
Yesterday, the Secretary General’s Special Adviser for Yemen, Jamal Benomar, reported that the process is moving forward and the agreement is being implemented, with the Government already having taken action to restore peace and stability.Yesterday, the Secretary General’s Special Adviser for Yemen, Jamal Benomar, reported that the process is moving forward and the agreement is being implemented, with the Government already having taken action to restore peace and stability.
The Council, in a statement read out to the press by Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia, which holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member body for this month, stated that the political agreement should be implemented in “a transparent and timely manner, and in a spirit of inclusion and reconciliation.”
The agreement followed months of deadly clashes between supporters and opponents of Mr. Saleh and his regime, part of the so-called Arab Spring movement that has swept the Middle East and North Africa this year.
The Council expected the parties “to continue to honour the timetable set out in the agreement, including the presidential elections on 21 February, the national dialogue, the constitutional review and the programme of reforms to tackle the profound security, humanitarian, and economic challenges that Yemen faces,” the statement added.
It also urged all parties to reject violence, and reiterated that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable.
In addition, the Council emphasized the need for unimpeded humanitarian access to address the growing crisis in the country, where UN relief officials say large segments of the population are enduring chronic deprivation exacerbated by the breakdown of the delivery of essential social services as a result of civil unrest and widespread violence.
Security Council calls on Yemeni parties to ensure political transition
New York– The Security Council today welcomed the progress made so far in implementing the agreement for a peaceful transition of power in Yemen, and called on the parties to ensure that they adhere to the timetable set out for the process.
A new Government of National Unity was sworn in earlier this month in Yemen after warring factions signed an agreement in November on a transitional settlement under which President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to hand over power to Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi.
Yesterday, the Secretary General’s Special Adviser for Yemen, Jamal Benomar, reported that the process is moving forward and the agreement is being implemented, with the Government already having taken action to restore peace and stability.Yesterday, the Secretary General’s Special Adviser for Yemen, Jamal Benomar, reported that the process is moving forward and the agreement is being implemented, with the Government already having taken action to restore peace and stability.
The Council, in a statement read out to the press by Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia, which holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member body for this month, stated that the political agreement should be implemented in “a transparent and timely manner, and in a spirit of inclusion and reconciliation.”
The agreement followed months of deadly clashes between supporters and opponents of Mr. Saleh and his regime, part of the so-called Arab Spring movement that has swept the Middle East and North Africa this year.
The Council expected the parties “to continue to honour the timetable set out in the agreement, including the presidential elections on 21 February, the national dialogue, the constitutional review and the programme of reforms to tackle the profound security, humanitarian, and economic challenges that Yemen faces,” the statement added.
It also urged all parties to reject violence, and reiterated that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable.
In addition, the Council emphasized the need for unimpeded humanitarian access to address the growing crisis in the country, where UN relief officials say large segments of the population are enduring chronic deprivation exacerbated by the breakdown of the delivery of essential social services as a result of civil unrest and widespread violence.
Yemen ruling party threatens to change mind if mediators not blame the opposition
By Nasser Arrabyee, 22/12/2011
The yemen ruling party threatened to change its mind about the power transfer agreement if the opposition did stop reclaiming.
In a statement the ruling party accused the opposition of seeking to thwart the internationally-supported deal by financing more demonstrations.
The ruling party called the regional and international mediators to interfere for continuation of implementation of the power- transfer deal.
"Or we will take another position in the coming few hours," said the statement.
The opposition organized a demonstration marching from Taiz to Sanaa and the ruling party organized a similar one marching from Sanaa to Taiz.
These two marches show the escalation after relative calm since the conflicting parties signed the GCC initiative and scheduled implementation plan in the Saudi capital Riyadh on November 23, 2011.
The yemeni unity government is expected to submit its program to the Parliament next week.
The opposition members of the parliament( about 60 out of 301) returned to sessions on Tuesday December 20 after about 11 months of boycotting.
The law of immunity from prosecution for senior officials from both sides the ruling party and from the opposition will be issued by the Parliament after voting on the new government program over the few coming weeks according to the GCC deal and its scheduled implementation plan and the UN resolution 2014 on the solution of the Yemeni crisis.
The outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who will remain as an honorary president until a new president is elected on February 21st, 2012, will likely go for more medical treatments in United States according to Western diplomatic sources.
After treatment, Saleh will return to Yemen to act as a normal politician in his party.
Although the general political and security situation is getting better and better day by day since the internationally-supported deal of power transfer was signed in November23rd, 2011, a lot of protesters remain in the streets demanding the trial of those who were behind killing hundreds of Yemenis during the one-year political crisis.
The young protesters are still skeptical that the opposition-chaired government would be able to achieve their demands to have democratic and civil State, despite the fact that the majority of them belong to the opposition parties that agreed on the solution.
The young protesters are not represented in the new opposition-chaired government which was evenly divided between the ruling party and the main six opposition parties, locally known as the Joint Meeting Parties.
Some politicians now want the protesters to go home to help the government build the economy and provide the basic services for the people who suffered for almost one year.
And some other politicians want the young protesters to stay in their tents in the streets as a guarantee that all their demands will be met.
"The young protester should now form committees to monitor the performance of the unity government for establishing the democratic and modern state," said Dr.Adel Al Sharjabi, political analyst and university professor.
"The young people should not now care for themselves being represented in the government but they should care very much for the representation of their ideas and visions," said Al Sharjabi.
Implementation of the scheduled step-by-step plan for the power transfer has been continuing without stop or delay since the conflicting parties agreed to end the crisis last November 23 despite the difficulties.
In the Yemeni capital for instance, troops and armed tribesmen from both sides were withdrawn from many streets.
Sand bags and soil barriers were removed from these streets and relatively normal life is back now.
The sand bags and soil barriers in some of the most dangerous touching points like Aser traffic circle in the 60 ring road were removed. And the process is continuing to clean the capital from all military and weapons manifestations.
About 50 schools in Sanaa are still occupied by troops and armed tribesmen from both sides. The committee started to evacuate them on Tuesday December 20th , 2011.
However, the military committee in charge for restoring stability faced more difficulties in removing the huge pile of sand bags and barriers in the area of Al Hasaba, where the most influential opposition tribal leader Hamid Al Ahmar and his ten brothers have been in armed conflict with the government troops since last May.
But 10 international and Arab ambassadors seem to be determined to work day and night for helping the vice president, who is authorized from Saleh to act as president, and the new government to implement the step by step plan until a new president is elected on February 21st, 2011.
These 10 ambassadors are the five ambassadors of the permanent countries in UN Security Council, 4 ambassadors of the six gulf nations and the ambassador of the European Union.
The four gulf ambassadors are the Saudi, Emirates, Oman, and Kuwait.
Qatar withdrew after the parties failed to sign last May. Bahrain Ambassodor is not attending the meetings.
"We follow up hour by hour what's happening in the ground in terms of implementation what Yemenis agreed to do for ending their crisis," said one of the 10 ambassadors.
"If any failure happens, we will know easily who is responsible for that failure and we will say to the world this is the responsible," the ambassador added.
Earlier last week, the Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi put a one week long road map to withdraw all government forces and opposition armed militants from the streets of the capital Sanaa and the other cities starting at 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday December 17th, 2011.
In a meeting with the military committee for achieving security and stability, which was formed from opposition and government, Mr. Hadi who is authorized by President Saleh to act as president till elections are held next February, said :
The government forces must return to their permanent camps and opposition armed people must return to their villages and houses.
The military and security situation in Sanaa and other cities witnessing tensions, must be as normal as it was before January 2011.
The meeting was attended by the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar who urged all parties to stop violating human rights and stop violence.
On December 21, 2011, Bin Omar is scheduled to brief the UN Security Council on the progress in solving the Yemeni crisis and implementation of its resolution 2014.
The yemen ruling party threatened to change its mind about the power transfer agreement if the opposition did stop reclaiming.
In a statement the ruling party accused the opposition of seeking to thwart the internationally-supported deal by financing more demonstrations.
The ruling party called the regional and international mediators to interfere for continuation of implementation of the power- transfer deal.
"Or we will take another position in the coming few hours," said the statement.
The opposition organized a demonstration marching from Taiz to Sanaa and the ruling party organized a similar one marching from Sanaa to Taiz.
These two marches show the escalation after relative calm since the conflicting parties signed the GCC initiative and scheduled implementation plan in the Saudi capital Riyadh on November 23, 2011.
The yemeni unity government is expected to submit its program to the Parliament next week.
The opposition members of the parliament( about 60 out of 301) returned to sessions on Tuesday December 20 after about 11 months of boycotting.
The law of immunity from prosecution for senior officials from both sides the ruling party and from the opposition will be issued by the Parliament after voting on the new government program over the few coming weeks according to the GCC deal and its scheduled implementation plan and the UN resolution 2014 on the solution of the Yemeni crisis.
The outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who will remain as an honorary president until a new president is elected on February 21st, 2012, will likely go for more medical treatments in United States according to Western diplomatic sources.
After treatment, Saleh will return to Yemen to act as a normal politician in his party.
Although the general political and security situation is getting better and better day by day since the internationally-supported deal of power transfer was signed in November23rd, 2011, a lot of protesters remain in the streets demanding the trial of those who were behind killing hundreds of Yemenis during the one-year political crisis.
The young protesters are still skeptical that the opposition-chaired government would be able to achieve their demands to have democratic and civil State, despite the fact that the majority of them belong to the opposition parties that agreed on the solution.
The young protesters are not represented in the new opposition-chaired government which was evenly divided between the ruling party and the main six opposition parties, locally known as the Joint Meeting Parties.
Some politicians now want the protesters to go home to help the government build the economy and provide the basic services for the people who suffered for almost one year.
And some other politicians want the young protesters to stay in their tents in the streets as a guarantee that all their demands will be met.
"The young protester should now form committees to monitor the performance of the unity government for establishing the democratic and modern state," said Dr.Adel Al Sharjabi, political analyst and university professor.
"The young people should not now care for themselves being represented in the government but they should care very much for the representation of their ideas and visions," said Al Sharjabi.
Implementation of the scheduled step-by-step plan for the power transfer has been continuing without stop or delay since the conflicting parties agreed to end the crisis last November 23 despite the difficulties.
In the Yemeni capital for instance, troops and armed tribesmen from both sides were withdrawn from many streets.
Sand bags and soil barriers were removed from these streets and relatively normal life is back now.
The sand bags and soil barriers in some of the most dangerous touching points like Aser traffic circle in the 60 ring road were removed. And the process is continuing to clean the capital from all military and weapons manifestations.
About 50 schools in Sanaa are still occupied by troops and armed tribesmen from both sides. The committee started to evacuate them on Tuesday December 20th , 2011.
However, the military committee in charge for restoring stability faced more difficulties in removing the huge pile of sand bags and barriers in the area of Al Hasaba, where the most influential opposition tribal leader Hamid Al Ahmar and his ten brothers have been in armed conflict with the government troops since last May.
But 10 international and Arab ambassadors seem to be determined to work day and night for helping the vice president, who is authorized from Saleh to act as president, and the new government to implement the step by step plan until a new president is elected on February 21st, 2011.
These 10 ambassadors are the five ambassadors of the permanent countries in UN Security Council, 4 ambassadors of the six gulf nations and the ambassador of the European Union.
The four gulf ambassadors are the Saudi, Emirates, Oman, and Kuwait.
Qatar withdrew after the parties failed to sign last May. Bahrain Ambassodor is not attending the meetings.
"We follow up hour by hour what's happening in the ground in terms of implementation what Yemenis agreed to do for ending their crisis," said one of the 10 ambassadors.
"If any failure happens, we will know easily who is responsible for that failure and we will say to the world this is the responsible," the ambassador added.
Earlier last week, the Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi put a one week long road map to withdraw all government forces and opposition armed militants from the streets of the capital Sanaa and the other cities starting at 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday December 17th, 2011.
In a meeting with the military committee for achieving security and stability, which was formed from opposition and government, Mr. Hadi who is authorized by President Saleh to act as president till elections are held next February, said :
The government forces must return to their permanent camps and opposition armed people must return to their villages and houses.
The military and security situation in Sanaa and other cities witnessing tensions, must be as normal as it was before January 2011.
The meeting was attended by the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar who urged all parties to stop violating human rights and stop violence.
On December 21, 2011, Bin Omar is scheduled to brief the UN Security Council on the progress in solving the Yemeni crisis and implementation of its resolution 2014.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Intelligence officer assassinated, Al Qaeda has hallmarks
By Nasser Arrabyee/21/12/2011
The colonel Mahmoud Saleh Al Tawus was assassinated nearby his house in Al Hawta, the capital of the southern province of Lahj, said local source early Wednesday.
Al Tawus was driving black Vitara car when a gunman believed to Al Qaeda member motorcycle shot him dead and escaped away, said the sources who know the family of the assassinated officer.
There is increasing concern with the people that Lahj may become like Abyan which witnessed many assassinations by motorcycles before it fell under the control of Al Qaeda last May.
Earlier on Tuesday, the government arrested 7 Al Qaeda operatives in the southern province of Shabwah before they implemented their plan to assassinate officials and attack installations in the capital of Shabwah, Atak.
The colonel Mahmoud Saleh Al Tawus was assassinated nearby his house in Al Hawta, the capital of the southern province of Lahj, said local source early Wednesday.
Al Tawus was driving black Vitara car when a gunman believed to Al Qaeda member motorcycle shot him dead and escaped away, said the sources who know the family of the assassinated officer.
There is increasing concern with the people that Lahj may become like Abyan which witnessed many assassinations by motorcycles before it fell under the control of Al Qaeda last May.
Earlier on Tuesday, the government arrested 7 Al Qaeda operatives in the southern province of Shabwah before they implemented their plan to assassinate officials and attack installations in the capital of Shabwah, Atak.
Monday, 19 December 2011
Yemen defected general supports unity government
Source:Xinhua,19/12:2011
SANAA-Yemeni defected General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar said on Sunday that he backs the country's new coalition government formed in line with a Gulf-brokered power transfer deal after months of anti-government protests.
"We completely support the new opposition-led coalition government and the process of the joint military committee, both of which are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative, " Mohsen told reporters at a news conference in Sanaa.
Mohsen's announcement came one day after the military committee began to withdraw forces and troops loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh from the capital Sanaa.
Meanwhile, the general met on Sunday with representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the European Union and the GCC countries as part of his efforts to help restore normalcy in the unrest-ridden country.
The initiative was signed by Saleh and opposition leaders in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 23 to end the 11-month-long turmoil that left thousands of people dead and brought the impoverished Arab state on the verge of civil war and economic collapse.
Under the deal, early presidential elections in Yemen are set to be held on Feb. 21, 2012, while Saleh retains the title of honorary president for 90 days before his resignation and enjoys immunity from prosecution afterwards.
SANAA-Yemeni defected General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar said on Sunday that he backs the country's new coalition government formed in line with a Gulf-brokered power transfer deal after months of anti-government protests.
"We completely support the new opposition-led coalition government and the process of the joint military committee, both of which are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative, " Mohsen told reporters at a news conference in Sanaa.
Mohsen's announcement came one day after the military committee began to withdraw forces and troops loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh from the capital Sanaa.
Meanwhile, the general met on Sunday with representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the European Union and the GCC countries as part of his efforts to help restore normalcy in the unrest-ridden country.
The initiative was signed by Saleh and opposition leaders in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 23 to end the 11-month-long turmoil that left thousands of people dead and brought the impoverished Arab state on the verge of civil war and economic collapse.
Under the deal, early presidential elections in Yemen are set to be held on Feb. 21, 2012, while Saleh retains the title of honorary president for 90 days before his resignation and enjoys immunity from prosecution afterwards.
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Process of withdrawing troops and armed tribesmen started for enhancing peace and normalizing life in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee, 18//12/2011
Sand bags and soil barriers were removed and armed tribesmen and troops and armored vehicles were withdrawn from some of the streets in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in an implementation of a plan to enhance on going peace process and the political solution of the one-year long political crisis.
The sand bags and soil barriers in Aser traffic circle in the 60 ring road were removed before noon Saturday and the process is continuing to clean the capital from all military and weapons manifestations.
Earlier, the Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi put a one week long road map to withdraw all government forces and opposition armed militants from the streets of the capital Sanaa and the other cities starting at 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday December 17th, 2011.
In a meeting with the military committee for achieving security and stability, which was formed from opposition and government, Mr. Hadi who is authorized by President Saleh to act as president till elections are held next February, said :
The government forces must return to their permanent camps and opposition armed people must return to their villages and houses.
The military and security situation in Sanaa and other cities witnessing tensions, must be as normal as it was before January 2011.
The meeting was attended by the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar who urged all parties to stop violating human rights and stop violence.
Big support for Yemen's political and peace process
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia promised to offer all urgent needs to the recently established government of Yemen under the leadership of the opposition.
The Saudi foreign minister called earlier this week the vice president,Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, and the prime minister Mohammed Basundwa and told them that the Saudi king had ordered the assistance to Yemen.
The international community appears to be very determined to help the 35-member government which is evenly divided between the opposition and the ruling party.
The most urgent needs for the Yemeni people now are the fuels and electricity.
The prime minster, Mohammed Salem Basundwa,who is also the chairman of the "National Council of Revolution" told the ministers to be one team and quickly stop the sufferings of the people.
The worsening economic situation is the biggest challenge facing the new interim government.
The security situation has become relatively better especially after the new ministers started to operate their ministries.
The opposition runs 17 ministries including, the interior ministry, the information ministry, and the finance ministry.
The UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar is also doing his best by directly supervising the implementation plan of the GCC deal and UN resolution 2014.
This week, Bin Omar, visited the three most troubled provinces, Taiz,( south of the north), Aden, capital of the south, and Saada (north of the north). He met all different parties in the three cities.
The ambassadors of the five permanent countries in the UN Council, as well as the ambassadors of the six gulf countries and EU ambassador, are also visiting these cities where tension is higher than other places in the whole country.
In Taiz,troops and armed opposition fighters started to withdraw from the streets earlier this weeks after months of fighting.
In Aden, the separatists still demand the separation of the south and ignore the internationally supported current solution for the crisis. In Saada, Al Houthi Shiite rebels still want to have their own government and refuse the solution. The UN envoy repeatedly said that the separatist movement, locally known as Hirak, and Al Houthi and the independent youth should be represented in the new government, but the three groups are not yet represented.
Observers say if the government would be helped to fix the economic problems then it will be successful in the other areas.
"the essential problem is economic more than political, so the new government should not be confused by what is being said that Yemeni economy is collapsed, it is not collapsed but it had only some stagnancy," said Dr, Mohammed Al Sabri, an expert in Yemeni economy.
"the Yemeni economy can rise again with the minimum cost," said Dr Al Sabri who was involved in the economic reforms before the political crisis erupted in Yemen earlier this year.
According to the implementation plan of the GCC deal, on February 21, 2012, early elections will be held and new president will be elected instead of president Saleh who signed the GCC on November 23 in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
After leaving the power, Ali Abdullah Saleh will continue his political activities through his party as he repeatedly said.
To appease the protesters who still in the streets, the new minister of interior, Abdul Qader Qahtan, ordered the release of detainees on political background especially those detained during the crisis.
The opposition-chaired government is thinking of a way to convince the protesters to go home as a step of removing the factors of tension in the streets.
The armed opposition tribesmen claim they defend the peaceful protesters and the government security will not withdraw without withdrawal of the opposition fighters from the streets.
Al Qaeda top leaders move to new hideouts and 6 operatives arrested
The Yemen two top leaders of Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) left their hideouts in the southern province of Shabwah to new hideouts in the north-east province Al Jawf, said local sources on Tuesday.
The sources said that the Yemeni Nasser Al Wahayshi (top leader of AQAP) and Saudi Saeed Al Shehri (deputy) left Shabwah early this month to unknown new hideouts in Al Jawaf and Mareb where recruiting and training young people has become easier than any other places.
The sources added that hundreds of young people were sent from Al Jawf and Mareb to Al Qaeda-held towns in the south like Jaar, Zinjubar, in Abyan and Al Huta in Shabwah over the last six months.
"We believe there is some kind of training now in the two desert provinces of Al Jawaf and Mareb , maybe this is why the leaders moved there," said the sources.
On September 30th, 2011, the Yemeni American cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, who was the most wanted terrorist for the US, was killed with three other operatives by a US drone in Al Jawf where important meetings were held.
Earlier Tuesday, a total of six Al Qaeda operatives including the Al Qaeda leader in Al Jawf province, were arrested according to an official statement by the ministry of interior.
The terrorist group were planning to assassinate senior officials and attack government installations and western embassies and interests.
Musaad Mohammed Ahmed Naji Al Barbari, the leader of Al Qaeda in Al Jawf province, 200km north-east of the capital Sanaa, was one of the six terrorists.
Al Barbari led an operation to attack the Sanaa international airport in January,19th, 2009.
The arrest was the first operation implemented against Al Qaeda by the ministry of interior under the leadership of the new minister, Abdul Qader Qahtan who is from the opposition side in the opposition-chaired new government.
The ministry of interior published their full names and photos. The group was also recruiting young people and sending them to fight with Al Qaeda against the government troops in the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwah.
The other five were identified as Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Musyab, Mohammed Abdul Qader Ahmed Al Shehri, Nader Ahmed Mohammed Al Qubati, Mohammed Muthana Ali Mohammed Al Ammari, and Abdul Munem Hamid Ali Abu Ghanim.
Sand bags and soil barriers were removed and armed tribesmen and troops and armored vehicles were withdrawn from some of the streets in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in an implementation of a plan to enhance on going peace process and the political solution of the one-year long political crisis.
The sand bags and soil barriers in Aser traffic circle in the 60 ring road were removed before noon Saturday and the process is continuing to clean the capital from all military and weapons manifestations.
Earlier, the Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi put a one week long road map to withdraw all government forces and opposition armed militants from the streets of the capital Sanaa and the other cities starting at 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday December 17th, 2011.
In a meeting with the military committee for achieving security and stability, which was formed from opposition and government, Mr. Hadi who is authorized by President Saleh to act as president till elections are held next February, said :
The government forces must return to their permanent camps and opposition armed people must return to their villages and houses.
The military and security situation in Sanaa and other cities witnessing tensions, must be as normal as it was before January 2011.
The meeting was attended by the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar who urged all parties to stop violating human rights and stop violence.
Big support for Yemen's political and peace process
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia promised to offer all urgent needs to the recently established government of Yemen under the leadership of the opposition.
The Saudi foreign minister called earlier this week the vice president,Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, and the prime minister Mohammed Basundwa and told them that the Saudi king had ordered the assistance to Yemen.
The international community appears to be very determined to help the 35-member government which is evenly divided between the opposition and the ruling party.
The most urgent needs for the Yemeni people now are the fuels and electricity.
The prime minster, Mohammed Salem Basundwa,who is also the chairman of the "National Council of Revolution" told the ministers to be one team and quickly stop the sufferings of the people.
The worsening economic situation is the biggest challenge facing the new interim government.
The security situation has become relatively better especially after the new ministers started to operate their ministries.
The opposition runs 17 ministries including, the interior ministry, the information ministry, and the finance ministry.
The UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar is also doing his best by directly supervising the implementation plan of the GCC deal and UN resolution 2014.
This week, Bin Omar, visited the three most troubled provinces, Taiz,( south of the north), Aden, capital of the south, and Saada (north of the north). He met all different parties in the three cities.
The ambassadors of the five permanent countries in the UN Council, as well as the ambassadors of the six gulf countries and EU ambassador, are also visiting these cities where tension is higher than other places in the whole country.
In Taiz,troops and armed opposition fighters started to withdraw from the streets earlier this weeks after months of fighting.
In Aden, the separatists still demand the separation of the south and ignore the internationally supported current solution for the crisis. In Saada, Al Houthi Shiite rebels still want to have their own government and refuse the solution. The UN envoy repeatedly said that the separatist movement, locally known as Hirak, and Al Houthi and the independent youth should be represented in the new government, but the three groups are not yet represented.
Observers say if the government would be helped to fix the economic problems then it will be successful in the other areas.
"the essential problem is economic more than political, so the new government should not be confused by what is being said that Yemeni economy is collapsed, it is not collapsed but it had only some stagnancy," said Dr, Mohammed Al Sabri, an expert in Yemeni economy.
"the Yemeni economy can rise again with the minimum cost," said Dr Al Sabri who was involved in the economic reforms before the political crisis erupted in Yemen earlier this year.
According to the implementation plan of the GCC deal, on February 21, 2012, early elections will be held and new president will be elected instead of president Saleh who signed the GCC on November 23 in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
After leaving the power, Ali Abdullah Saleh will continue his political activities through his party as he repeatedly said.
To appease the protesters who still in the streets, the new minister of interior, Abdul Qader Qahtan, ordered the release of detainees on political background especially those detained during the crisis.
The opposition-chaired government is thinking of a way to convince the protesters to go home as a step of removing the factors of tension in the streets.
The armed opposition tribesmen claim they defend the peaceful protesters and the government security will not withdraw without withdrawal of the opposition fighters from the streets.
Al Qaeda top leaders move to new hideouts and 6 operatives arrested
The Yemen two top leaders of Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) left their hideouts in the southern province of Shabwah to new hideouts in the north-east province Al Jawf, said local sources on Tuesday.
The sources said that the Yemeni Nasser Al Wahayshi (top leader of AQAP) and Saudi Saeed Al Shehri (deputy) left Shabwah early this month to unknown new hideouts in Al Jawaf and Mareb where recruiting and training young people has become easier than any other places.
The sources added that hundreds of young people were sent from Al Jawf and Mareb to Al Qaeda-held towns in the south like Jaar, Zinjubar, in Abyan and Al Huta in Shabwah over the last six months.
"We believe there is some kind of training now in the two desert provinces of Al Jawaf and Mareb , maybe this is why the leaders moved there," said the sources.
On September 30th, 2011, the Yemeni American cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, who was the most wanted terrorist for the US, was killed with three other operatives by a US drone in Al Jawf where important meetings were held.
Earlier Tuesday, a total of six Al Qaeda operatives including the Al Qaeda leader in Al Jawf province, were arrested according to an official statement by the ministry of interior.
The terrorist group were planning to assassinate senior officials and attack government installations and western embassies and interests.
Musaad Mohammed Ahmed Naji Al Barbari, the leader of Al Qaeda in Al Jawf province, 200km north-east of the capital Sanaa, was one of the six terrorists.
Al Barbari led an operation to attack the Sanaa international airport in January,19th, 2009.
The arrest was the first operation implemented against Al Qaeda by the ministry of interior under the leadership of the new minister, Abdul Qader Qahtan who is from the opposition side in the opposition-chaired new government.
The ministry of interior published their full names and photos. The group was also recruiting young people and sending them to fight with Al Qaeda against the government troops in the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwah.
The other five were identified as Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Musyab, Mohammed Abdul Qader Ahmed Al Shehri, Nader Ahmed Mohammed Al Qubati, Mohammed Muthana Ali Mohammed Al Ammari, and Abdul Munem Hamid Ali Abu Ghanim.
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Al Qaeda Rebranding Itself to Improve Image, and Recruit More Westerners
Source: Fox News,15/12/2011
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is rebranding itself to try to lose the negative "baggage" associated with the larger terror organization's identity, according to a senior Arab diplomat who says the Yemeni-based group is trying to attract more foreign fighters to its cause.
AQAP is increasingly going by the name "Ansar al Sharia," which means Army of Islamic Law, the diplomat told Fox News.
"After (Usama) bin Laden's death and the Arab Spring, the name (al Qaeda) seems to have negative connotations and baggage," said the diplomat, who would discuss the changes only on condition of anonymity.
The name swap was likened to a similar evolution experienced by al Qaeda in Iraq's military and political wings. The rebranding of AQAP is seen as an effort to create "a big tent" to attract foreign jihadists and give it a greater air of legitimacy as a political movement.
Since al Qaeda leader bin Laden's death in May at the hand of U.S. Navy SEALs, the number of foreign fighters traveling to Pakistan has dropped, but the number heading to Yemen is on an upswing.
A senior Yemeni official with access to the intelligence said the number of foreign fighters in Yemen now exceeds 1,000. If accurate, that is more than four times the number of al Qaeda members believed to be in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
Combined with the al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, which Kenyan officials is now the base for upwards of 750 foreign fighters now in training, the horn of Africa -- and by extension Yemen -- are now the central threat hubs.
Rick "Ozzie" Nelson, director of homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News that "moving away from the larger al Qaeda brand is something I think we're starting to see more of."
With the death of bin Laden, it makes sense for groups to become more diffused from centralized leadership so they can focus on regional issues rather than brand-building, he said.
Would-be recruits are "finding that the al Qaeda core is no longer beneficial to be associated with ... because their main leader is gone," Nelson said, noting that Usama bin Laden was a charismatic leader who offered a lot of financial backing and Ayman al-Zawahiri "is not an effective replacement."
Nelson added that there are pros and cons for al Qaeda's tentacles to switch to new names.
"One thing about AQAP is it's got remarkable name recognition, which can serve to help recruiting" and financial development. On the other hand, "it also helps to attract a lot of global counterterror initiatives."
U.S. officials acknowledge that al Qaeda in Yemen, which was behind the last two major plots targeting the U.S. airline industry, including Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber in 2009, is "digging in and internally focused" as it tries to establish a safe haven in the Abyan and Shabwa provinces.
"It is like shooting fish in a barrel," the Arab diplomat said without elaborating.
Much of southern Yemen is under control of AQAP, whose leader, Nasir al Wuhayshi, served as bin Laden's personal secretary. Wuhayshi, who reportedly survived an August 2011 counterterror attack, is believed to be the creator of Ansar al Sharia and a top voice contending to lead the global network.
On Tuesday, the Yemeni Embassy in Washington D.C. confirmed the capture of six senior members of al Qaeda in Yemen, including "Musaed Al-Barbari, Emir of AQAP, who allegedly planned and executed the an attack on Sana'a International Airport in 2009."
The Yemeni statement, obtained by Fox News, claimed the group was an active terror cell.
"The terrorism suspects have been carrying out surveillance, and planning missions aimed at targeting government and high ranking security officials. Furthermore, the cell was planning on orchestrating attacks on foreign missions and critical state installations."
In addition, the statement said the 15 prisoners who recently escaped a Yemeni prison in Al-Mansoura district in the southern port city of Aden were not members of al Qaeda as originally reported.
"Ministry of Interior has officially confirmed that the fleeing fugitives are not members of AQAP but were (imprisoned) and convicted for criminal charges. A joint security team is currently interviewing prison officials and staff on the incident. Law enforcement and military units have managed to recapture three of the fleeing fugitives," the statement added.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is rebranding itself to try to lose the negative "baggage" associated with the larger terror organization's identity, according to a senior Arab diplomat who says the Yemeni-based group is trying to attract more foreign fighters to its cause.
AQAP is increasingly going by the name "Ansar al Sharia," which means Army of Islamic Law, the diplomat told Fox News.
"After (Usama) bin Laden's death and the Arab Spring, the name (al Qaeda) seems to have negative connotations and baggage," said the diplomat, who would discuss the changes only on condition of anonymity.
The name swap was likened to a similar evolution experienced by al Qaeda in Iraq's military and political wings. The rebranding of AQAP is seen as an effort to create "a big tent" to attract foreign jihadists and give it a greater air of legitimacy as a political movement.
Since al Qaeda leader bin Laden's death in May at the hand of U.S. Navy SEALs, the number of foreign fighters traveling to Pakistan has dropped, but the number heading to Yemen is on an upswing.
A senior Yemeni official with access to the intelligence said the number of foreign fighters in Yemen now exceeds 1,000. If accurate, that is more than four times the number of al Qaeda members believed to be in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
Combined with the al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, which Kenyan officials is now the base for upwards of 750 foreign fighters now in training, the horn of Africa -- and by extension Yemen -- are now the central threat hubs.
Rick "Ozzie" Nelson, director of homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News that "moving away from the larger al Qaeda brand is something I think we're starting to see more of."
With the death of bin Laden, it makes sense for groups to become more diffused from centralized leadership so they can focus on regional issues rather than brand-building, he said.
Would-be recruits are "finding that the al Qaeda core is no longer beneficial to be associated with ... because their main leader is gone," Nelson said, noting that Usama bin Laden was a charismatic leader who offered a lot of financial backing and Ayman al-Zawahiri "is not an effective replacement."
Nelson added that there are pros and cons for al Qaeda's tentacles to switch to new names.
"One thing about AQAP is it's got remarkable name recognition, which can serve to help recruiting" and financial development. On the other hand, "it also helps to attract a lot of global counterterror initiatives."
U.S. officials acknowledge that al Qaeda in Yemen, which was behind the last two major plots targeting the U.S. airline industry, including Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber in 2009, is "digging in and internally focused" as it tries to establish a safe haven in the Abyan and Shabwa provinces.
"It is like shooting fish in a barrel," the Arab diplomat said without elaborating.
Much of southern Yemen is under control of AQAP, whose leader, Nasir al Wuhayshi, served as bin Laden's personal secretary. Wuhayshi, who reportedly survived an August 2011 counterterror attack, is believed to be the creator of Ansar al Sharia and a top voice contending to lead the global network.
On Tuesday, the Yemeni Embassy in Washington D.C. confirmed the capture of six senior members of al Qaeda in Yemen, including "Musaed Al-Barbari, Emir of AQAP, who allegedly planned and executed the an attack on Sana'a International Airport in 2009."
The Yemeni statement, obtained by Fox News, claimed the group was an active terror cell.
"The terrorism suspects have been carrying out surveillance, and planning missions aimed at targeting government and high ranking security officials. Furthermore, the cell was planning on orchestrating attacks on foreign missions and critical state installations."
In addition, the statement said the 15 prisoners who recently escaped a Yemeni prison in Al-Mansoura district in the southern port city of Aden were not members of al Qaeda as originally reported.
"Ministry of Interior has officially confirmed that the fleeing fugitives are not members of AQAP but were (imprisoned) and convicted for criminal charges. A joint security team is currently interviewing prison officials and staff on the incident. Law enforcement and military units have managed to recapture three of the fleeing fugitives," the statement added.
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Road map for removing troops and gunmen from streets to normalize life in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee,14/12/2011
The Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi put a one week long road map to withdraw all government forces and opposition armed militants from the streets of the capital Sanaa and the other cities starting at 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday December 17th, 2011.
In a meeting with the military committee for achieving security and stability, which was formed from opposition and government, Mr. Hadi who is authorized by President Saleh to act as president till elections are held next February, said :
The government forces must return to their permanent camps and opposition armed people must return to their villages and houses.
The military and security situation in Sanaa and other cities witnessing tensions, must be as normal as it was before January 2011.
The meeting was attended by the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar who urged all parties to stop violating human rights and stop violence.
Big support for Yemen's political and peace process
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia promised to offer all urgent needs to the recently established government of Yemen under the leadership of the opposition.
The Saudi foreign minister called earlier this week the vice president,Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, and the prime minister Mohammed Basundwa and told them that the Saudi king had ordered the assistance to Yemen.
The international community appears to be very determined to help the 35-member government which is evenly divided between the opposition and the ruling party.
The most urgent needs for the Yemeni people now are the fuels and electricity.
The prime minster, Mohammed Salem Basundwa,who is also the chairman of the "National Council of Revolution" told the ministers to be one team and quickly stop the sufferings of the people.
The worsening economic situation is the biggest challenge facing the new interim government.
The security situation has become relatively better especially after the new ministers started to operate their ministries.
The opposition runs 17 ministries including, the interior ministry, the information ministry, and the finance ministry.
The UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar is also doing his best by directly supervising the implementation plan of the GCC deal and UN resolution 2014.
This week, Bin Omar, visited the three most troubled provinces, Taiz,( south of the north), Aden, capital of the south, and Saada (north of the north). He met all different parties in the three cities.
The ambassadors of the five permanent countries in the UN Council, as well as the ambassadors of the six gulf countries and EU ambassador, are also visiting these cities where tension is higher than other places in the whole country.
In Taiz,troops and armed opposition fighters started to withdraw from the streets earlier this weeks after months of fighting.
In Aden, the separatists still demand the separation of the south and ignore the internationally supported current solution for the crisis. In Saada, Al Houthi Shiite rebels still want to have their own government and refuse the solution. The UN envoy repeatedly said that the separatist movement, locally known as Hirak, and Al Houthi and the independent youth should be represented in the new government, but the three groups are not yet represented.
Observers say if the government would be helped to fix the economic problems then it will be successful in the other areas.
"the essential problem is economic more than political, so the new government should not be confused by what is being said that Yemeni economy is collapsed, it is not collapsed but it had only some stagnancy," said Dr, Mohammed Al Sabri, an expert in Yemeni economy.
"the Yemeni economy can rise again with the minimum cost," said Dr Al Sabri who was involved in the economic reforms before the political crisis erupted in Yemen earlier this year.
According to the implementation plan of the GCC deal, on February 21, 2012, early elections will be held and new president will be elected instead of president Saleh who signed the GCC on November 23 in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
After leaving the power, Ali Abdullah Saleh will continue his political activities through his party as he repeatedly said.
To appease the protesters who still in the streets, the new minister of interior, Abdul Qader Qahtan, ordered the release of detainees on political background especially those detained during the crisis.
The opposition-chaired government is thinking of a way to convince the protesters to go home as a step of removing the factors of tension in the streets.
The armed opposition tribesmen claim they defend the peaceful protesters and the government security will not withdraw without withdrawal of the opposition fighters from the streets.
Al Qaeda top leaders move to new hideouts and 6 operatives arrested
The Yemen two top leaders of Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) left their hideouts in the southern province of Shabwah to new hideouts in the north-east province Al Jawf, said local sources on Tuesday.
The sources said that the Yemeni Nasser Al Wahayshi (top leader of AQAP) and Saudi Saeed Al Shehri (deputy) left Shabwah early this month to unknown new hideouts in Al Jawaf and Mareb where recruiting and training young people has become easier than any other places.
The sources added that hundreds of young people were sent from Al Jawf and Mareb to Al Qaeda-held towns in the south like Jaar, Zinjubar, in Abyan and Al Huta in Shabwah over the last six months.
"We believe there is some kind of training now in the two desert provinces of Al Jawaf and Mareb , maybe this is why the leaders moved there," said the sources.
On September 30th, 2011, the Yemeni American cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, who was the most wanted terrorist for the US, was killed with three other operatives by a US drone in Al Jawf where important meetings were held.
Earlier Tuesday, a total of six Al Qaeda operatives including the Al Qaeda leader in Al Jawf province, were arrested according to an official statement by the ministry of interior.
The terrorist group were planning to assassinate senior officials and attack government installations and western embassies and interests.
Musaad Mohammed Ahmed Naji Al Barbari, the leader of Al Qaeda in Al Jawf province, 200km north-east of the capital Sanaa, was one of the six terrorists.
Al Barbari led an operation to attack the Sanaa international airport in January,19th, 2009.
The arrest was the first operation implemented against Al Qaeda by the ministry of interior under the leadership of the new minister, Abdul Qader Qahtan who is from the opposition side in the opposition-chaired new government.
The ministry of interior published their full names and photos. The group was also recruiting young people and sending them to fight with Al Qaeda against the government troops in the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwah.
The other five were identified as Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Musyab, Mohammed Abdul Qader Ahmed Al Shehri, Nader Ahmed Mohammed Al Qubati, Mohammed Muthana Ali Mohammed Al Ammari, and Abdul Munem Hamid Ali Abu Ghanim.
The Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi put a one week long road map to withdraw all government forces and opposition armed militants from the streets of the capital Sanaa and the other cities starting at 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday December 17th, 2011.
In a meeting with the military committee for achieving security and stability, which was formed from opposition and government, Mr. Hadi who is authorized by President Saleh to act as president till elections are held next February, said :
The government forces must return to their permanent camps and opposition armed people must return to their villages and houses.
The military and security situation in Sanaa and other cities witnessing tensions, must be as normal as it was before January 2011.
The meeting was attended by the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar who urged all parties to stop violating human rights and stop violence.
Big support for Yemen's political and peace process
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia promised to offer all urgent needs to the recently established government of Yemen under the leadership of the opposition.
The Saudi foreign minister called earlier this week the vice president,Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, and the prime minister Mohammed Basundwa and told them that the Saudi king had ordered the assistance to Yemen.
The international community appears to be very determined to help the 35-member government which is evenly divided between the opposition and the ruling party.
The most urgent needs for the Yemeni people now are the fuels and electricity.
The prime minster, Mohammed Salem Basundwa,who is also the chairman of the "National Council of Revolution" told the ministers to be one team and quickly stop the sufferings of the people.
The worsening economic situation is the biggest challenge facing the new interim government.
The security situation has become relatively better especially after the new ministers started to operate their ministries.
The opposition runs 17 ministries including, the interior ministry, the information ministry, and the finance ministry.
The UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar is also doing his best by directly supervising the implementation plan of the GCC deal and UN resolution 2014.
This week, Bin Omar, visited the three most troubled provinces, Taiz,( south of the north), Aden, capital of the south, and Saada (north of the north). He met all different parties in the three cities.
The ambassadors of the five permanent countries in the UN Council, as well as the ambassadors of the six gulf countries and EU ambassador, are also visiting these cities where tension is higher than other places in the whole country.
In Taiz,troops and armed opposition fighters started to withdraw from the streets earlier this weeks after months of fighting.
In Aden, the separatists still demand the separation of the south and ignore the internationally supported current solution for the crisis. In Saada, Al Houthi Shiite rebels still want to have their own government and refuse the solution. The UN envoy repeatedly said that the separatist movement, locally known as Hirak, and Al Houthi and the independent youth should be represented in the new government, but the three groups are not yet represented.
Observers say if the government would be helped to fix the economic problems then it will be successful in the other areas.
"the essential problem is economic more than political, so the new government should not be confused by what is being said that Yemeni economy is collapsed, it is not collapsed but it had only some stagnancy," said Dr, Mohammed Al Sabri, an expert in Yemeni economy.
"the Yemeni economy can rise again with the minimum cost," said Dr Al Sabri who was involved in the economic reforms before the political crisis erupted in Yemen earlier this year.
According to the implementation plan of the GCC deal, on February 21, 2012, early elections will be held and new president will be elected instead of president Saleh who signed the GCC on November 23 in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
After leaving the power, Ali Abdullah Saleh will continue his political activities through his party as he repeatedly said.
To appease the protesters who still in the streets, the new minister of interior, Abdul Qader Qahtan, ordered the release of detainees on political background especially those detained during the crisis.
The opposition-chaired government is thinking of a way to convince the protesters to go home as a step of removing the factors of tension in the streets.
The armed opposition tribesmen claim they defend the peaceful protesters and the government security will not withdraw without withdrawal of the opposition fighters from the streets.
Al Qaeda top leaders move to new hideouts and 6 operatives arrested
The Yemen two top leaders of Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) left their hideouts in the southern province of Shabwah to new hideouts in the north-east province Al Jawf, said local sources on Tuesday.
The sources said that the Yemeni Nasser Al Wahayshi (top leader of AQAP) and Saudi Saeed Al Shehri (deputy) left Shabwah early this month to unknown new hideouts in Al Jawaf and Mareb where recruiting and training young people has become easier than any other places.
The sources added that hundreds of young people were sent from Al Jawf and Mareb to Al Qaeda-held towns in the south like Jaar, Zinjubar, in Abyan and Al Huta in Shabwah over the last six months.
"We believe there is some kind of training now in the two desert provinces of Al Jawaf and Mareb , maybe this is why the leaders moved there," said the sources.
On September 30th, 2011, the Yemeni American cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, who was the most wanted terrorist for the US, was killed with three other operatives by a US drone in Al Jawf where important meetings were held.
Earlier Tuesday, a total of six Al Qaeda operatives including the Al Qaeda leader in Al Jawf province, were arrested according to an official statement by the ministry of interior.
The terrorist group were planning to assassinate senior officials and attack government installations and western embassies and interests.
Musaad Mohammed Ahmed Naji Al Barbari, the leader of Al Qaeda in Al Jawf province, 200km north-east of the capital Sanaa, was one of the six terrorists.
Al Barbari led an operation to attack the Sanaa international airport in January,19th, 2009.
The arrest was the first operation implemented against Al Qaeda by the ministry of interior under the leadership of the new minister, Abdul Qader Qahtan who is from the opposition side in the opposition-chaired new government.
The ministry of interior published their full names and photos. The group was also recruiting young people and sending them to fight with Al Qaeda against the government troops in the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwah.
The other five were identified as Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Musyab, Mohammed Abdul Qader Ahmed Al Shehri, Nader Ahmed Mohammed Al Qubati, Mohammed Muthana Ali Mohammed Al Ammari, and Abdul Munem Hamid Ali Abu Ghanim.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Al Qaeda top leaders move to new hideouts and 6 operatives arrested
By Nasser Arrabyee,13/12/2011
The Yemen two top leaders of Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) left their hideouts in the southern province of Shabwah to new hideouts in the north-east province Al Jawf, said local sources on Tuesday.
The sources said that the Yemeni Nasser Al Wahayshi (top leader of AQAP) and Saudi Saeed Al Shehri (deputy) left Shabwah early this month to unknown new hideouts in Al Jawaf and Mareb where recruiting and training young people has become easier than any other places.
The sources added that hundreds of young people were sent from Al Jawf and Mareb to Al Qaeda-held towns in the south like Jaar, Zinjubar, in Abyan and Al Huta in Shabwah over the last six months.
"We believe there is some kind of training now in the two desert provinces of Al Jawaf and Mareb , maybe this is why the leaders moved there," said the sources.
On September 30th, 2011, the Yemeni American cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, who was the most wanted terrorist for the US, was killed with three other operatives by a US drone in Al Jawf where important meetings were held.
Earlier Tuesday, a total of six Al Qaeda operatives including the Al Qaeda leader in Al Jawf province, were arrested according to an official statement by the ministry of interior.
The terrorist group were planning to assassinate senior officials and attack government installations and western embassies and interests.
Musaad Mohammed Ahmed Naji Al Barbari, the leader of Al Qaeda in Al Jawf province, 200km north-east of the capital Sanaa, was one of the six terrorists.
Al Barbari led an operation to attack the Sanaa international airport in January,19th, 2009.
The arrest was the first operation implemented against Al Qaeda by the ministry of interior under the leadership of the new minister, Abdul Qader Qahtan who is from the opposition side in the opposition-chaired new government.
The ministry of interior published their full names and photos. The group was also recruiting young people and sending them to fight with Al Qaeda against the government troops in the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwah.
The other five were identified as Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Musyab, Mohammed Abdul Qader Ahmed Al Shehri, Nader Ahmed Mohammed Al Qubati, Mohammed Muthana Ali Mohammed Al Ammari, and Abdul Munem Hamid Ali Abu Ghanim.
The Yemen two top leaders of Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) left their hideouts in the southern province of Shabwah to new hideouts in the north-east province Al Jawf, said local sources on Tuesday.
The sources said that the Yemeni Nasser Al Wahayshi (top leader of AQAP) and Saudi Saeed Al Shehri (deputy) left Shabwah early this month to unknown new hideouts in Al Jawaf and Mareb where recruiting and training young people has become easier than any other places.
The sources added that hundreds of young people were sent from Al Jawf and Mareb to Al Qaeda-held towns in the south like Jaar, Zinjubar, in Abyan and Al Huta in Shabwah over the last six months.
"We believe there is some kind of training now in the two desert provinces of Al Jawaf and Mareb , maybe this is why the leaders moved there," said the sources.
On September 30th, 2011, the Yemeni American cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki, who was the most wanted terrorist for the US, was killed with three other operatives by a US drone in Al Jawf where important meetings were held.
Earlier Tuesday, a total of six Al Qaeda operatives including the Al Qaeda leader in Al Jawf province, were arrested according to an official statement by the ministry of interior.
The terrorist group were planning to assassinate senior officials and attack government installations and western embassies and interests.
Musaad Mohammed Ahmed Naji Al Barbari, the leader of Al Qaeda in Al Jawf province, 200km north-east of the capital Sanaa, was one of the six terrorists.
Al Barbari led an operation to attack the Sanaa international airport in January,19th, 2009.
The arrest was the first operation implemented against Al Qaeda by the ministry of interior under the leadership of the new minister, Abdul Qader Qahtan who is from the opposition side in the opposition-chaired new government.
The ministry of interior published their full names and photos. The group was also recruiting young people and sending them to fight with Al Qaeda against the government troops in the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwah.
The other five were identified as Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Musyab, Mohammed Abdul Qader Ahmed Al Shehri, Nader Ahmed Mohammed Al Qubati, Mohammed Muthana Ali Mohammed Al Ammari, and Abdul Munem Hamid Ali Abu Ghanim.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Grasping at Peace, War Zone of a City Tests Yemen
Source: The New York Times,12/12/2011
By KAREEM FAHIM
TAIZ, Yemen — Armed tribesmen had finally retreated from a pocket of this city, handing back to the state an education building they had occupied in recent weeks. The governor, elated, called it a breakthrough.
Dozens of people had been killed during weeks of violence. Cease-fires had come and gone. Now, the building handover again raised the possibility of a truce. For eight hours, the streets were quiet.
Then the tribesmen retook the building.
“I think we will succeed. Or not,” the governor, Hamoud al-Sofi, said Thursday, sounding exasperated. “We will see.”
Yemen has been caught in a cycle of protest, repression and factional fighting that simply will not let go, even though, as in Taiz, there are many moments that appear to signal a breakthrough, as when the president agreed to step down. The interim government that took power in Yemen last week amid guarded optimism faces an array of daunting challenges.
The economy is near collapse; an insurgency is raging in the country’s north; southern groups are pressing demands for their own state; and militants linked to Al Qaeda, capitalizing on the chaos, have seized some territory.
And the government will somehow have to put Taiz — a city now suffused with sharp divisions and deep resentments — back together. The task, complicated and pressing, will test the agreement that removed President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power, hailed by the opposition figures who signed it as a way out of a political crisis and dismissed by many protesters as a deal that changed little.
The agreement called for Mr. Saleh to hand over some of his powers to his deputy and for elections for a new president in February. It called for creating a military committee that is supposed to tackle Yemen’s thorniest problems, including removing militias from the streets and eventually restructuring the armed forces, where key units are still led by members of Mr. Saleh’s family.
Taiz will be a critical test of the committee’s effectiveness, analysts say, because the architecture of the city’s conflict — mirroring the nation’s at large — remains largely intact.
A proxy war has sprung up here around the protesters, pitting the government against its rivals in a contest of weapons and territory that has left parts of the city badly damaged.
The security forces are still led by the men whom the protesters blame for the deadly government response to the uprising. And the armed tribesmen who entered the fray on the side of the demonstrators say they are willing to withdraw but not to leave the city unprotected.
Since the agreement was signed Nov. 23, the list of victims has only grown longer.
They include Ruwaya al-Shaybani, a 20-year-old protester who studied Koranic recitation and was killed Dec. 4. Though the government denied its soldiers were responsible, protesters said Ms. Shaybani was shot in the chest by a pro-government sniper after soldiers opened fire on a demonstration in the middle of one of the failed cease-fires.
“There has been a breach of every agreement,” said Boshra al-Maqtari, one of Taiz’s most prominent protest leaders, who stood near Ms. Shaybani’s body in the Al-Rawdah hospital as her mother wept over the student.
The hospital’s upper floors were badly damaged during days of fierce shelling by the military, doctors said. “The youth are angry,” Ms. Maqtari said. “Violence brings violence.”
Abdulwahab Dhaifallah, a 31-year-old grocer who lived in Oakland, Calif., was killed on a visit here last month when tribesmen allied with the protesters fired on his car, for no reason, according to his brother, Hatem Mohammed. “We’re not with the government,” his brother said. “We’re not with these guys,” he said, referring to the tribesmen. “This is not a revolution like Egypt.”
Taiz, a city in southwestern Yemen known for its streak of resistance, helped drive the revolt against Mr. Saleh with highly organized protests that unnerved the government and drew a furious response. As protesters were killed, armed tribesmen joined the fight, bringing clashes that transformed the uprising and overshadowed the peaceful protests. The antigovernment activists continue to defend the intervention of the tribesmen, calling them “people protectors.”
Many bristled at the notion that the only legitimate resistance in the face of the government’s repression was peaceful marches, though in recent days, some activists have asked the tribesmen to stay away from the protesters’ encampment in Freedom Square.
“The square acted as a magnet that attracted all sorts of things,” said Abdulkader al-Guneid, a physician and pro-democracy activist. “Things we are proud of and things we are not.”
The agreement to remove Mr. Saleh calls for the military committee to ensure that the government’s armed units return to their camps and militias leave the streets of Yemen’s cities. The committee’s unenviable task, as the agreement puts it, is to “end all of the armed conflicts.” In Taiz, the committee members will work in a city stripped of trust. Security officials in Taiz forcefully blame Yemen’s Islamists for the violence and say that the demonstrations are being manipulated by opposition parties, a claim protest leaders deny.
Abdullah Qayran, the chief of security in Taiz, admitted that government troops had “made mistakes” and killed civilians and protesters, but he said the soldiers had acted to defend themselves and had not received orders to kill. He accused the tribesmen of using heavy weapons and read the names of the soldiers who had been killed during months of unrest.
The continued fighting in Taiz has led to charges by protesters that Mr. Saleh, hoping to punish the city for its resistance and thwart the agreement that removed him from power, is still directing the government’s response.
Mr. Qayran played down the role of the president, saying he took orders from the interior minister and Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi, the vice president tapped as Mr. Saleh’s successor.
“We have institutions in this country,” Mr. Qayran said. “Some people understand that things are being led by personalities,” he said, explaining that the media and the opposition foster that perception.
Stepping back from the city’s troubles, the security chief tried to strike a conciliatory note. He is loathed by many of the protesters, who say the government response to the demonstrations became more deadly after he was transferred to the city in March.
“If the peaceful protests continued as it was in the first days, I would have thought of becoming one of the supporters,” he said. “Why not? We believe in change.”
Many residents, though, were skeptical that a solution would be possible without more radical change, including the removal of Mr. Qayran and other top security officials.
Haroun al-Nasher, the owner of a stationery store across the street from the contested education building, said the presence of the tribesmen had made him feel safe.
“If they feel the regime is honest, they’ll go back to their villages,” he said Wednesday. The chances of that happening were about “2 percent,” he said.
Four days later, the governor, full of optimism, announced a new truce.
By KAREEM FAHIM
TAIZ, Yemen — Armed tribesmen had finally retreated from a pocket of this city, handing back to the state an education building they had occupied in recent weeks. The governor, elated, called it a breakthrough.
Dozens of people had been killed during weeks of violence. Cease-fires had come and gone. Now, the building handover again raised the possibility of a truce. For eight hours, the streets were quiet.
Then the tribesmen retook the building.
“I think we will succeed. Or not,” the governor, Hamoud al-Sofi, said Thursday, sounding exasperated. “We will see.”
Yemen has been caught in a cycle of protest, repression and factional fighting that simply will not let go, even though, as in Taiz, there are many moments that appear to signal a breakthrough, as when the president agreed to step down. The interim government that took power in Yemen last week amid guarded optimism faces an array of daunting challenges.
The economy is near collapse; an insurgency is raging in the country’s north; southern groups are pressing demands for their own state; and militants linked to Al Qaeda, capitalizing on the chaos, have seized some territory.
And the government will somehow have to put Taiz — a city now suffused with sharp divisions and deep resentments — back together. The task, complicated and pressing, will test the agreement that removed President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power, hailed by the opposition figures who signed it as a way out of a political crisis and dismissed by many protesters as a deal that changed little.
The agreement called for Mr. Saleh to hand over some of his powers to his deputy and for elections for a new president in February. It called for creating a military committee that is supposed to tackle Yemen’s thorniest problems, including removing militias from the streets and eventually restructuring the armed forces, where key units are still led by members of Mr. Saleh’s family.
Taiz will be a critical test of the committee’s effectiveness, analysts say, because the architecture of the city’s conflict — mirroring the nation’s at large — remains largely intact.
A proxy war has sprung up here around the protesters, pitting the government against its rivals in a contest of weapons and territory that has left parts of the city badly damaged.
The security forces are still led by the men whom the protesters blame for the deadly government response to the uprising. And the armed tribesmen who entered the fray on the side of the demonstrators say they are willing to withdraw but not to leave the city unprotected.
Since the agreement was signed Nov. 23, the list of victims has only grown longer.
They include Ruwaya al-Shaybani, a 20-year-old protester who studied Koranic recitation and was killed Dec. 4. Though the government denied its soldiers were responsible, protesters said Ms. Shaybani was shot in the chest by a pro-government sniper after soldiers opened fire on a demonstration in the middle of one of the failed cease-fires.
“There has been a breach of every agreement,” said Boshra al-Maqtari, one of Taiz’s most prominent protest leaders, who stood near Ms. Shaybani’s body in the Al-Rawdah hospital as her mother wept over the student.
The hospital’s upper floors were badly damaged during days of fierce shelling by the military, doctors said. “The youth are angry,” Ms. Maqtari said. “Violence brings violence.”
Abdulwahab Dhaifallah, a 31-year-old grocer who lived in Oakland, Calif., was killed on a visit here last month when tribesmen allied with the protesters fired on his car, for no reason, according to his brother, Hatem Mohammed. “We’re not with the government,” his brother said. “We’re not with these guys,” he said, referring to the tribesmen. “This is not a revolution like Egypt.”
Taiz, a city in southwestern Yemen known for its streak of resistance, helped drive the revolt against Mr. Saleh with highly organized protests that unnerved the government and drew a furious response. As protesters were killed, armed tribesmen joined the fight, bringing clashes that transformed the uprising and overshadowed the peaceful protests. The antigovernment activists continue to defend the intervention of the tribesmen, calling them “people protectors.”
Many bristled at the notion that the only legitimate resistance in the face of the government’s repression was peaceful marches, though in recent days, some activists have asked the tribesmen to stay away from the protesters’ encampment in Freedom Square.
“The square acted as a magnet that attracted all sorts of things,” said Abdulkader al-Guneid, a physician and pro-democracy activist. “Things we are proud of and things we are not.”
The agreement to remove Mr. Saleh calls for the military committee to ensure that the government’s armed units return to their camps and militias leave the streets of Yemen’s cities. The committee’s unenviable task, as the agreement puts it, is to “end all of the armed conflicts.” In Taiz, the committee members will work in a city stripped of trust. Security officials in Taiz forcefully blame Yemen’s Islamists for the violence and say that the demonstrations are being manipulated by opposition parties, a claim protest leaders deny.
Abdullah Qayran, the chief of security in Taiz, admitted that government troops had “made mistakes” and killed civilians and protesters, but he said the soldiers had acted to defend themselves and had not received orders to kill. He accused the tribesmen of using heavy weapons and read the names of the soldiers who had been killed during months of unrest.
The continued fighting in Taiz has led to charges by protesters that Mr. Saleh, hoping to punish the city for its resistance and thwart the agreement that removed him from power, is still directing the government’s response.
Mr. Qayran played down the role of the president, saying he took orders from the interior minister and Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi, the vice president tapped as Mr. Saleh’s successor.
“We have institutions in this country,” Mr. Qayran said. “Some people understand that things are being led by personalities,” he said, explaining that the media and the opposition foster that perception.
Stepping back from the city’s troubles, the security chief tried to strike a conciliatory note. He is loathed by many of the protesters, who say the government response to the demonstrations became more deadly after he was transferred to the city in March.
“If the peaceful protests continued as it was in the first days, I would have thought of becoming one of the supporters,” he said. “Why not? We believe in change.”
Many residents, though, were skeptical that a solution would be possible without more radical change, including the removal of Mr. Qayran and other top security officials.
Haroun al-Nasher, the owner of a stationery store across the street from the contested education building, said the presence of the tribesmen had made him feel safe.
“If they feel the regime is honest, they’ll go back to their villages,” he said Wednesday. The chances of that happening were about “2 percent,” he said.
Four days later, the governor, full of optimism, announced a new truce.
Friday, 9 December 2011
Yemeni rival forces quit streets and ruling party stops demonstrations and calls opposition to do the same
Source: Reuters, 09/12/201
SANAA- Yemeni forces loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposition gunmen are withdrawing from the streets of Taiz city, an official said on Friday.
Dozens have been killed in Taiz, Yemen's commercial capital, since Saleh signed a deal last month to give up power. Months of anti-government protests have pushed the impoverished country to the brink of civil war.
The official said a committee set up to restore normality to Taiz was clearing away road blocks set up by Saleh opponents and loyalists during street battles, and overseeing their withdrawal from occupied buildings.
Protesters continue to take to the streets in anger at the opposition parties' endorsement of the power transfer deal, which grants immunity from prosecution to Saleh over the killing of demonstrators by security forces.
Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party said it would stop holding pro-government rallies after Friday prayers to show its commitment to a political solution.
"The decision by the party's leadership is a new sign of the GPC's eager desire to act in the higher interest of the nation and to begin ending the political crisis," said a statement from the party that urged opposition parties to do the same.
A member of the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) said it was not for them to call off street protests.
"We in the JMP do not have the authority to cancel protests and sit-ins. It's the youth movement that controls the protesters," the assistant secretary-general of the socialist party told Reuters.
Under the transfer plan negotiated by Yemen's wealthy Gulf neighbours, the GPC and opposition parties divide up cabinet posts between them and form a national unity government to steer the country ahead of a presidential election in February.
The cabinet, which is due to be sworn in on Saturday, faces a host of challenges including a southern separatist movement, a rebellion in the north and a regional wing of al Qaeda that has exploited the upheaval to strengthen its foothold in Yemen.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the United States, both targets of foiled attacks by al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, fear the global militant network could use a security vacuum to plot and perhaps carry out attacks on the region and beyond.
The interior ministry said it was making arrangements for the United Nations envoy who helped broker the power transfer deal to visit the north and south of the country, where central government control has been severely weakened.
Opposition leader Mohammed Basindwa, who is now prime minister, said his first foreign visit would be to oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ask for urgent support for Yemen's fuel and electricity needs.
SANAA- Yemeni forces loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposition gunmen are withdrawing from the streets of Taiz city, an official said on Friday.
Dozens have been killed in Taiz, Yemen's commercial capital, since Saleh signed a deal last month to give up power. Months of anti-government protests have pushed the impoverished country to the brink of civil war.
The official said a committee set up to restore normality to Taiz was clearing away road blocks set up by Saleh opponents and loyalists during street battles, and overseeing their withdrawal from occupied buildings.
Protesters continue to take to the streets in anger at the opposition parties' endorsement of the power transfer deal, which grants immunity from prosecution to Saleh over the killing of demonstrators by security forces.
Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party said it would stop holding pro-government rallies after Friday prayers to show its commitment to a political solution.
"The decision by the party's leadership is a new sign of the GPC's eager desire to act in the higher interest of the nation and to begin ending the political crisis," said a statement from the party that urged opposition parties to do the same.
A member of the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) said it was not for them to call off street protests.
"We in the JMP do not have the authority to cancel protests and sit-ins. It's the youth movement that controls the protesters," the assistant secretary-general of the socialist party told Reuters.
Under the transfer plan negotiated by Yemen's wealthy Gulf neighbours, the GPC and opposition parties divide up cabinet posts between them and form a national unity government to steer the country ahead of a presidential election in February.
The cabinet, which is due to be sworn in on Saturday, faces a host of challenges including a southern separatist movement, a rebellion in the north and a regional wing of al Qaeda that has exploited the upheaval to strengthen its foothold in Yemen.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the United States, both targets of foiled attacks by al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, fear the global militant network could use a security vacuum to plot and perhaps carry out attacks on the region and beyond.
The interior ministry said it was making arrangements for the United Nations envoy who helped broker the power transfer deal to visit the north and south of the country, where central government control has been severely weakened.
Opposition leader Mohammed Basindwa, who is now prime minister, said his first foreign visit would be to oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ask for urgent support for Yemen's fuel and electricity needs.
Thursday, 8 December 2011
Yemen's new government should stop child marriage,HRW says
Child Marriage in Yemen Spurs Abuse of Girls and Women
Yemen’s Next Government Should Set Minimum Age at 18
Source: Human Rights Watch, 08/12/2011
Beirut- Widespread child marriage jeopardizes Yemeni girls’ access to education, harms their health, and keeps them second-class citizens, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The government of Yemen should set 18 as the minimum age for marriage to improve girls’ opportunities and protect their human rights.
The 54-page report, “‘How Come You Allow Little Girls to Get Married?’: Child Marriage in Yemen,” documents the lifelong damage to girls who are forced to marry young. Yemeni girls and women told Human Rights Watch about being forced into child marriages by their families, and then having no control over whether and when to bear children and other important aspects of their lives.
They said that marrying early had cut short their education, and some said they had been subjected to marital rape and domestic abuse. There is no legal minimum age for girls to marry in Yemen. Many girls are forced into marriage, and some are as young as 8.
“Yemen’s political crisis has left issues such as child marriage at the bottom of the political priority list,” said Nadya Khalife, women’s rights researcher for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch.
“But now is the time to move on this issue, setting the minimum age for marriage at 18, to ensure that girls and women who played a major role in Yemen’s protest movement will also contribute to shaping Yemen’s future.”
Over the past months, demonstrators called for a range of reforms, including measures to guarantee equality between women and men. Banning child marriage – a major cause of discrimination and abuse against girls and women – should be a priority for reform, Human Rights Watch said.
Yemeni government and United Nations data show that approximately 14 percent of girls in Yemen are married before age 15, and 52 percent are married before age 18. In some rural areas, girls as young as 8 are married. Girls are sometimes forced to marry much older men. Boys are seldom forced into child marriages.
The report is based on field research in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, between August and September 2010, including interviews with more than 30 girls and women who were married as children, members of nongovernmental organizations, and staff members at the Health and Education Ministries.
Magda T., whose name has been changed for her protection, told Human Rights Watch: “I reached sixth grade, and left school to get married. Now, when I see my daughter, I say to myself, ‘Who’s going to teach her?’ Because I can’t. I understood [the value of education] when I got older.”
A 16-year-old girl told Human Rights Watch: “My father insisted that I get married. I wanted to go to college, to become a lawyer, but there’s no chance now because I’m going to have a baby.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed girls who said they were forced to marry young and several who had been removed from school as soon as they reached puberty.
A Yemeni study found that many parents remove girls in rural areas from school at age 9 to help in the house, raise their younger siblings, and sometimes to get married. Almost all of the girls and women interviewed said that once they were married, they were unable to continue or complete their education, and many had children soon after marriage.
Research conducted by children’s rights organizations and others such as Save the Children has found that girls with limited education and power in their marriages have little chance of controlling the number and spacing of their children. This increases their risk of reproductive health problems.
Girls and women interviewed also said that they were often exposed to gender-based violence, including domestic abuse and sexual violence. Some girls and women told Human Rights Watch that their husbands, in-laws, and other members of the husband’s household verbally or physically assaulted them. Married girls and women in Yemen often live with their husband’s extended family.
Tawakkol Karman, the Yemeni activist who will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on December 10, 2011, along with two Liberian women leaders for their work to advance women’s rights, has criticized the Yemeni government’s failure to ban child marriage. In an opinion piece published in 2010, Karman wrote, “There is a vast space in our Islamic Law heritage for reaching consensus on adopting the age of 18 as a minimum age for marriage.”
Yemen’s future government has a genuine opportunity to show its commitment to gender equality and to protecting the rights of all its citizens by addressing the issue, Human Rights Watch said.
The government should take steps legislatively to set the minimum age for marriage at 18 and promote public awareness of the harm child marriage causes. The Yemeni government and its international donors should also boost girls’ and women’s access to education, reproductive health information and services, and protection from domestic violence.
“International donors invest millions of dollars on education and health reform in Yemen,” Khalife said. “Without a ban on child marriage, none of the international aid will prevent girls from being forced to leave school and from the health risks of child marriage.”
The Yemeni government actually has regressed in addressing the issue, Human Rights Watch said. In 1999 Yemen’s parliament, citing religious grounds, abolished the legal minimum age for marriage for girls and boys, which was then 15. In 2009, a majority in parliament voted to set 17 as the minimum age.
However, a group of lawmakers, contending that reinstating a minimum age would be contrary to Sharia (Islamic law), used a parliamentary procedure to stall the draft law indefinitely.
Many other countries in the Middle East and North Africa recognize Sharia as a source of law, but nearly all have set a minimum age for marriage for both boys and girls; many setting the marriage age at 18 or higher, conforming to international standards and treaties that define a child as anyone under 18.
United Nations treaty monitoring bodies that oversee implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) have recommended a minimum age of 18 for marriage.
Yemen is party to a number of international treaties and conventions that explicitly prohibit child marriage and commit states parties to take measures to eliminate the practice. These include the CRC, CEDAW, the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriage, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
“Girls should not be forced to be wives and mothers,” Khalife said. “As Yemen undergoes political change, leaders should seize the opportunity to correct an injustice that does enormous harm and set the country on a new course of social justice, including equality for women and girls.”
Yemen’s Next Government Should Set Minimum Age at 18
Source: Human Rights Watch, 08/12/2011
Beirut- Widespread child marriage jeopardizes Yemeni girls’ access to education, harms their health, and keeps them second-class citizens, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The government of Yemen should set 18 as the minimum age for marriage to improve girls’ opportunities and protect their human rights.
The 54-page report, “‘How Come You Allow Little Girls to Get Married?’: Child Marriage in Yemen,” documents the lifelong damage to girls who are forced to marry young. Yemeni girls and women told Human Rights Watch about being forced into child marriages by their families, and then having no control over whether and when to bear children and other important aspects of their lives.
They said that marrying early had cut short their education, and some said they had been subjected to marital rape and domestic abuse. There is no legal minimum age for girls to marry in Yemen. Many girls are forced into marriage, and some are as young as 8.
“Yemen’s political crisis has left issues such as child marriage at the bottom of the political priority list,” said Nadya Khalife, women’s rights researcher for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch.
“But now is the time to move on this issue, setting the minimum age for marriage at 18, to ensure that girls and women who played a major role in Yemen’s protest movement will also contribute to shaping Yemen’s future.”
Over the past months, demonstrators called for a range of reforms, including measures to guarantee equality between women and men. Banning child marriage – a major cause of discrimination and abuse against girls and women – should be a priority for reform, Human Rights Watch said.
Yemeni government and United Nations data show that approximately 14 percent of girls in Yemen are married before age 15, and 52 percent are married before age 18. In some rural areas, girls as young as 8 are married. Girls are sometimes forced to marry much older men. Boys are seldom forced into child marriages.
The report is based on field research in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, between August and September 2010, including interviews with more than 30 girls and women who were married as children, members of nongovernmental organizations, and staff members at the Health and Education Ministries.
Magda T., whose name has been changed for her protection, told Human Rights Watch: “I reached sixth grade, and left school to get married. Now, when I see my daughter, I say to myself, ‘Who’s going to teach her?’ Because I can’t. I understood [the value of education] when I got older.”
A 16-year-old girl told Human Rights Watch: “My father insisted that I get married. I wanted to go to college, to become a lawyer, but there’s no chance now because I’m going to have a baby.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed girls who said they were forced to marry young and several who had been removed from school as soon as they reached puberty.
A Yemeni study found that many parents remove girls in rural areas from school at age 9 to help in the house, raise their younger siblings, and sometimes to get married. Almost all of the girls and women interviewed said that once they were married, they were unable to continue or complete their education, and many had children soon after marriage.
Research conducted by children’s rights organizations and others such as Save the Children has found that girls with limited education and power in their marriages have little chance of controlling the number and spacing of their children. This increases their risk of reproductive health problems.
Girls and women interviewed also said that they were often exposed to gender-based violence, including domestic abuse and sexual violence. Some girls and women told Human Rights Watch that their husbands, in-laws, and other members of the husband’s household verbally or physically assaulted them. Married girls and women in Yemen often live with their husband’s extended family.
Tawakkol Karman, the Yemeni activist who will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on December 10, 2011, along with two Liberian women leaders for their work to advance women’s rights, has criticized the Yemeni government’s failure to ban child marriage. In an opinion piece published in 2010, Karman wrote, “There is a vast space in our Islamic Law heritage for reaching consensus on adopting the age of 18 as a minimum age for marriage.”
Yemen’s future government has a genuine opportunity to show its commitment to gender equality and to protecting the rights of all its citizens by addressing the issue, Human Rights Watch said.
The government should take steps legislatively to set the minimum age for marriage at 18 and promote public awareness of the harm child marriage causes. The Yemeni government and its international donors should also boost girls’ and women’s access to education, reproductive health information and services, and protection from domestic violence.
“International donors invest millions of dollars on education and health reform in Yemen,” Khalife said. “Without a ban on child marriage, none of the international aid will prevent girls from being forced to leave school and from the health risks of child marriage.”
The Yemeni government actually has regressed in addressing the issue, Human Rights Watch said. In 1999 Yemen’s parliament, citing religious grounds, abolished the legal minimum age for marriage for girls and boys, which was then 15. In 2009, a majority in parliament voted to set 17 as the minimum age.
However, a group of lawmakers, contending that reinstating a minimum age would be contrary to Sharia (Islamic law), used a parliamentary procedure to stall the draft law indefinitely.
Many other countries in the Middle East and North Africa recognize Sharia as a source of law, but nearly all have set a minimum age for marriage for both boys and girls; many setting the marriage age at 18 or higher, conforming to international standards and treaties that define a child as anyone under 18.
United Nations treaty monitoring bodies that oversee implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) have recommended a minimum age of 18 for marriage.
Yemen is party to a number of international treaties and conventions that explicitly prohibit child marriage and commit states parties to take measures to eliminate the practice. These include the CRC, CEDAW, the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriage, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
“Girls should not be forced to be wives and mothers,” Khalife said. “As Yemen undergoes political change, leaders should seize the opportunity to correct an injustice that does enormous harm and set the country on a new course of social justice, including equality for women and girls.”
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Yemeni Journalist receives two death threats from Al Qaeda in one day
By Nasser Arrabyee,08/12/2011
The Yemeni journalist Anis Mansour said that he received two death threats from Al Qaeda on Thursday December 8th, 2011.
Mansour, who reports about Al Qaeda activities from the southern city of Aden, said the first death threat came to him over phone when a woman named Huda Al Abeidi called him early morning Thursday saying " You will be killed if you do not stop helping and facilitating the operations against Al Mujahedeen."
And the second death threat came to him in a written letter handed personally to him by a masked man in the area of Khur Maksar in Aden city early morning on Thursday, December 8th, 2011.
The journalist Anis Mansour who is a freelancer with many internal and external media outlets, called on the Yemeni authorities to protect him and he called the human rights group to support his right to writing and speaking about any activity without fear.
The Yemeni journalist Anis Mansour said that he received two death threats from Al Qaeda on Thursday December 8th, 2011.
Mansour, who reports about Al Qaeda activities from the southern city of Aden, said the first death threat came to him over phone when a woman named Huda Al Abeidi called him early morning Thursday saying " You will be killed if you do not stop helping and facilitating the operations against Al Mujahedeen."
And the second death threat came to him in a written letter handed personally to him by a masked man in the area of Khur Maksar in Aden city early morning on Thursday, December 8th, 2011.
The journalist Anis Mansour who is a freelancer with many internal and external media outlets, called on the Yemeni authorities to protect him and he called the human rights group to support his right to writing and speaking about any activity without fear.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Solution for Yemeni crisis goes on despite difficulties
By Nasser Arrabyee/07/12/2011
Yemenis are continuing the implementation of an agreed solution to end their one-year long political crisis, despite big obstacles.
One of the most important step taken this week was formation a military and security committee that will restore the stability of the country.
Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi is the chairman of this committee which is made of 14 military and security commanders, 7 from opposition and 7 from the ruling party.
The regional and international support for solution was obviously behind the continuation of achieving progress despite the tremendous difficulties.
The 34-member opposition-chaired government of national consensus is supposed to start working from the beginning of next week.
The opposition, which includes the six main opposition parties, have agreed to take 17 portfolios including the ministry of interior, ministry finance,and ministry of information, which means also half of the most important six ministries.
The ruling party, still chaired by the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took the other 17 portfolios including the ministry of defense, the ministry of oil, and the ministry of foreign affairs.
According to the GCC and its implementation plan signed by all parties on November 23, 2011 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the opposition divided the 34 cabinet portfolios into two lists and the ruling party chose one of them, that's the one which included the ministries of defense, foreign affairs,and oil.
Vice President Hadi must be the candidate of both the opposition and the ruling party in early presidential elections to be held on February 21, 2012.
Independent candidates will be allowed to compete Mr Hadi.
After this election, president Saleh will leave power, but would remain as chairman of his party.
On Wednesday, December 7, 2011, the ruling party would announce Mr Hadi , who is now the secretary general of the party, as its candidate for the February presidential elections, according to the mechanism plan of the Saudi-led Gulf initiative for power transfer.
In the same meeting of the ruling party on Wednesday,the outgoing prime minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, will be elected as a secretary general of the ruling party instead of the current one, Mr Hadi, according to senior officials who are participate in the meeting.
THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND
The opposition armed tribesmen and government troops started Tuesday December 6 to withdraw from the city of Taiz after four days of fierce fighting in which dozens were killed and injured from both sides.
The ministry of interior said Tuesday in an official statement that 110 defected soldiers and officers were arrested in the city of Taiz including their commander Sadek Sarhan.
Earlier this year, the defected general Ali Mohsen, sent the military commander Sarhan to fight against government troops in the city of Taiz.
The arrest of Sarhan and his soldiers came after attempts from western diplomats in Sanaa to convince general Muhsen to bring Sarhan back to Sanaa.
Yemenis and western monitors are now in the central southern city of Taiz to see who violate the agreements and kill civilians.
In Saada, the north of the north, more than 30 people were killed and dozens others injured in fierce fighting between Al Houthi Shiite followers and the Sunni Salafi group based in the same province of Saada over the last two weeks.
The top leader of Shiite,Abdul Malik Al Houthi,vowed in a speech delivered on Tuesday December 6, 2011, on the annual Shiite occasion of Ashura, he vowed to continue fighting against what he called the "American and Israeli conspiracy".
Al Hourhi refused the GCC initiative to solve the Yemeni political crisis saying it was made by the American Ambassodor in Sanaa.
In a phone interview with the spokesman of the Salafi group in Saada, Abu Ismail, who said Al Houthi is exploiting the absence of the government in Saada and launch sectarian war against the Sunnis.
Abu Ismail told the Weekly that two American, one French, one Russian, one Malaysian and two Indonesian Salafi students in Dammaj Salafi school in Saada were killed in the ongoing battles between the Al Houthi Shiite fighters and Sunni Salafi fighters.
Al Hourhi fighters imposed a siege on about 15,000 people including about 6,000 students of the Salafi school in Dammag area about 50 days ago.
Moreover, Al Qaeda in Lawdar in the southern province of Abyan, assassinated this week, the most active tribal leader in Lawdar, Tafik Al Junaidi who formed popular anti-Qaeda committees in the Al Qaeda-stricken areas in the south.
And militants of the Islamist opposition party, Islah , (brotherhood) assassinated a senior ruling party official who was the deputy governor of Dhammar province, Abdul Kareem Thafan, while he was getting out from his office on Saturday December 3, 2011.
Two of Thafan's bodyguards were also killed in the operation which sparked a lot of anger and fear of more similar and retaliatory acts.
Yemenis are continuing the implementation of an agreed solution to end their one-year long political crisis, despite big obstacles.
One of the most important step taken this week was formation a military and security committee that will restore the stability of the country.
Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi is the chairman of this committee which is made of 14 military and security commanders, 7 from opposition and 7 from the ruling party.
The regional and international support for solution was obviously behind the continuation of achieving progress despite the tremendous difficulties.
The 34-member opposition-chaired government of national consensus is supposed to start working from the beginning of next week.
The opposition, which includes the six main opposition parties, have agreed to take 17 portfolios including the ministry of interior, ministry finance,and ministry of information, which means also half of the most important six ministries.
The ruling party, still chaired by the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took the other 17 portfolios including the ministry of defense, the ministry of oil, and the ministry of foreign affairs.
According to the GCC and its implementation plan signed by all parties on November 23, 2011 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the opposition divided the 34 cabinet portfolios into two lists and the ruling party chose one of them, that's the one which included the ministries of defense, foreign affairs,and oil.
Vice President Hadi must be the candidate of both the opposition and the ruling party in early presidential elections to be held on February 21, 2012.
Independent candidates will be allowed to compete Mr Hadi.
After this election, president Saleh will leave power, but would remain as chairman of his party.
On Wednesday, December 7, 2011, the ruling party would announce Mr Hadi , who is now the secretary general of the party, as its candidate for the February presidential elections, according to the mechanism plan of the Saudi-led Gulf initiative for power transfer.
In the same meeting of the ruling party on Wednesday,the outgoing prime minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, will be elected as a secretary general of the ruling party instead of the current one, Mr Hadi, according to senior officials who are participate in the meeting.
THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND
The opposition armed tribesmen and government troops started Tuesday December 6 to withdraw from the city of Taiz after four days of fierce fighting in which dozens were killed and injured from both sides.
The ministry of interior said Tuesday in an official statement that 110 defected soldiers and officers were arrested in the city of Taiz including their commander Sadek Sarhan.
Earlier this year, the defected general Ali Mohsen, sent the military commander Sarhan to fight against government troops in the city of Taiz.
The arrest of Sarhan and his soldiers came after attempts from western diplomats in Sanaa to convince general Muhsen to bring Sarhan back to Sanaa.
Yemenis and western monitors are now in the central southern city of Taiz to see who violate the agreements and kill civilians.
In Saada, the north of the north, more than 30 people were killed and dozens others injured in fierce fighting between Al Houthi Shiite followers and the Sunni Salafi group based in the same province of Saada over the last two weeks.
The top leader of Shiite,Abdul Malik Al Houthi,vowed in a speech delivered on Tuesday December 6, 2011, on the annual Shiite occasion of Ashura, he vowed to continue fighting against what he called the "American and Israeli conspiracy".
Al Hourhi refused the GCC initiative to solve the Yemeni political crisis saying it was made by the American Ambassodor in Sanaa.
In a phone interview with the spokesman of the Salafi group in Saada, Abu Ismail, who said Al Houthi is exploiting the absence of the government in Saada and launch sectarian war against the Sunnis.
Abu Ismail told the Weekly that two American, one French, one Russian, one Malaysian and two Indonesian Salafi students in Dammaj Salafi school in Saada were killed in the ongoing battles between the Al Houthi Shiite fighters and Sunni Salafi fighters.
Al Hourhi fighters imposed a siege on about 15,000 people including about 6,000 students of the Salafi school in Dammag area about 50 days ago.
Moreover, Al Qaeda in Lawdar in the southern province of Abyan, assassinated this week, the most active tribal leader in Lawdar, Tafik Al Junaidi who formed popular anti-Qaeda committees in the Al Qaeda-stricken areas in the south.
And militants of the Islamist opposition party, Islah , (brotherhood) assassinated a senior ruling party official who was the deputy governor of Dhammar province, Abdul Kareem Thafan, while he was getting out from his office on Saturday December 3, 2011.
Two of Thafan's bodyguards were also killed in the operation which sparked a lot of anger and fear of more similar and retaliatory acts.
Solution for Yemeni crisis goes on despite difficulties
By Nasser Arrabyee/07/12/2011
Yemenis are continuing the implementation of an agreed solution to end their one-year long political crisis, despite big obstacles.
One of the most important step taken this week was formation a military and security committee that will restore the stability of the country.
Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi is the chairman of this committee which is made of 14 military and security commanders, 7 from opposition and 7 from the ruling party.
The regional and international support for solution was obviously behind the continuation of achieving progress despite the tremendous difficulties.
The 34-member opposition-chaired government of national consensus is supposed to start working from the beginning of next week.
The opposition, which includes the six main opposition parties, have agreed to take 17 portfolios including the ministry of interior, ministry finance,and ministry of information, which means also half of the most important six ministries.
The ruling party, still chaired by the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took the other 17 portfolios including the ministry of defense, the ministry of oil, and the ministry of foreign affairs.
According to the GCC and its implementation plan signed by all parties on November 23, 2011 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the opposition divided the 34 cabinet portfolios into two lists and the ruling party chose one of them, that's the one which included the ministries of defense, foreign affairs,and oil.
Vice President Hadi must be the candidate of both the opposition and the ruling party in early presidential elections to be held on February 21, 2012.
Independent candidates will be allowed to compete Mr Hadi.
After this election, president Saleh will leave power, but would remain as chairman of his party.
On Wednesday, December 7, 2011, the ruling party would announce Mr Hadi , who is now the secretary general of the party, as its candidate for the February presidential elections, according to the mechanism plan of the Saudi-led Gulf initiative for power transfer.
In the same meeting of the ruling party on Wednesday,the outgoing prime minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, will be elected as a secretary general of the ruling party instead of the current one, Mr Hadi, according to senior officials who are participate in the meeting.
THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND
The opposition armed tribesmen and government troops started Tuesday December 6 to withdraw from the city of Taiz after four days of fierce fighting in which dozens were killed and injured from both sides.
The ministry of interior said Tuesday in an official statement that 110 defected soldiers and officers were arrested in the city of Taiz including their commander Sadek Sarhan.
Earlier this year, the defected general Ali Mohsen, sent the military commander Sarhan to fight against government troops in the city of Taiz.
The arrest of Sarhan and his soldiers came after attempts from western diplomats in Sanaa to convince general Muhsen to bring Sarhan back to Sanaa.
Yemenis and western monitors are now in the central southern city of Taiz to see who violate the agreements and kill civilians.
In Saada, the north of the north, more than 30 people were killed and dozens others injured in fierce fighting between Al Houthi Shiite followers and the Sunni Salafi group based in the same province of Saada over the last two weeks.
The top leader of Shiite,Abdul Malik Al Houthi,vowed in a speech delivered on Tuesday December 6, 2011, on the annual Shiite occasion of Ashura, he vowed to continue fighting against what he called the "American and Israeli conspiracy".
Al Hourhi refused the GCC initiative to solve the Yemeni political crisis saying it was made by the American Ambassodor in Sanaa.
In a phone interview with the spokesman of the Salafi group in Saada, Abu Ismail, who said Al Houthi is exploiting the absence of the government in Saada and launch sectarian war against the Sunnis.
Abu Ismail told the Weekly that two American, one French, one Russian, one Malaysian and two Indonesian Salafi students in Dammaj Salafi school in Saada were killed in the ongoing battles between the Al Houthi Shiite fighters and Sunni Salafi fighters.
Al Hourhi fighters imposed a siege on about 15,000 people including about 6,000 students of the Salafi school in Dammag area about 50 days ago.
Moreover, Al Qaeda in Lawdar in the southern province of Abyan, assassinated this week, the most active tribal leader in Lawdar, Tafik Al Junaidi who formed popular anti-Qaeda committees in the Al Qaeda-stricken areas in the south.
And militants of the Islamist opposition party, Islah , (brotherhood) assassinated a senior ruling party official who was the deputy governor of Dhammar province, Abdul Kareem Thafan, while he was getting out from his office on Saturday December 3, 2011.
Two of Thafan's bodyguards were also killed in the operation which sparked a lot of anger and fear of more similar and retaliatory acts.
Yemenis are continuing the implementation of an agreed solution to end their one-year long political crisis, despite big obstacles.
One of the most important step taken this week was formation a military and security committee that will restore the stability of the country.
Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi is the chairman of this committee which is made of 14 military and security commanders, 7 from opposition and 7 from the ruling party.
The regional and international support for solution was obviously behind the continuation of achieving progress despite the tremendous difficulties.
The 34-member opposition-chaired government of national consensus is supposed to start working from the beginning of next week.
The opposition, which includes the six main opposition parties, have agreed to take 17 portfolios including the ministry of interior, ministry finance,and ministry of information, which means also half of the most important six ministries.
The ruling party, still chaired by the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took the other 17 portfolios including the ministry of defense, the ministry of oil, and the ministry of foreign affairs.
According to the GCC and its implementation plan signed by all parties on November 23, 2011 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the opposition divided the 34 cabinet portfolios into two lists and the ruling party chose one of them, that's the one which included the ministries of defense, foreign affairs,and oil.
Vice President Hadi must be the candidate of both the opposition and the ruling party in early presidential elections to be held on February 21, 2012.
Independent candidates will be allowed to compete Mr Hadi.
After this election, president Saleh will leave power, but would remain as chairman of his party.
On Wednesday, December 7, 2011, the ruling party would announce Mr Hadi , who is now the secretary general of the party, as its candidate for the February presidential elections, according to the mechanism plan of the Saudi-led Gulf initiative for power transfer.
In the same meeting of the ruling party on Wednesday,the outgoing prime minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, will be elected as a secretary general of the ruling party instead of the current one, Mr Hadi, according to senior officials who are participate in the meeting.
THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND
The opposition armed tribesmen and government troops started Tuesday December 6 to withdraw from the city of Taiz after four days of fierce fighting in which dozens were killed and injured from both sides.
The ministry of interior said Tuesday in an official statement that 110 defected soldiers and officers were arrested in the city of Taiz including their commander Sadek Sarhan.
Earlier this year, the defected general Ali Mohsen, sent the military commander Sarhan to fight against government troops in the city of Taiz.
The arrest of Sarhan and his soldiers came after attempts from western diplomats in Sanaa to convince general Muhsen to bring Sarhan back to Sanaa.
Yemenis and western monitors are now in the central southern city of Taiz to see who violate the agreements and kill civilians.
In Saada, the north of the north, more than 30 people were killed and dozens others injured in fierce fighting between Al Houthi Shiite followers and the Sunni Salafi group based in the same province of Saada over the last two weeks.
The top leader of Shiite,Abdul Malik Al Houthi,vowed in a speech delivered on Tuesday December 6, 2011, on the annual Shiite occasion of Ashura, he vowed to continue fighting against what he called the "American and Israeli conspiracy".
Al Hourhi refused the GCC initiative to solve the Yemeni political crisis saying it was made by the American Ambassodor in Sanaa.
In a phone interview with the spokesman of the Salafi group in Saada, Abu Ismail, who said Al Houthi is exploiting the absence of the government in Saada and launch sectarian war against the Sunnis.
Abu Ismail told the Weekly that two American, one French, one Russian, one Malaysian and two Indonesian Salafi students in Dammaj Salafi school in Saada were killed in the ongoing battles between the Al Houthi Shiite fighters and Sunni Salafi fighters.
Al Hourhi fighters imposed a siege on about 15,000 people including about 6,000 students of the Salafi school in Dammag area about 50 days ago.
Moreover, Al Qaeda in Lawdar in the southern province of Abyan, assassinated this week, the most active tribal leader in Lawdar, Tafik Al Junaidi who formed popular anti-Qaeda committees in the Al Qaeda-stricken areas in the south.
And militants of the Islamist opposition party, Islah , (brotherhood) assassinated a senior ruling party official who was the deputy governor of Dhammar province, Abdul Kareem Thafan, while he was getting out from his office on Saturday December 3, 2011.
Two of Thafan's bodyguards were also killed in the operation which sparked a lot of anger and fear of more similar and retaliatory acts.
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