By Nasser Arrabyee,31/10/2011
A fundamentalist cleric described the Yemeni noble peace prize winner as a " criminal, and traitor" calling her for repentance.
" Tawakul Karman was given the prize of Jews and Christians as a reward for her major treason of Islam, State and the People," said The Salafi cleric Mohammed Al Emam in a lengthy lecture on Ms Karman.
" This woman corrupted the women and men, and she and those like her need to repent to Allah Almighty before they die," said Al Emam in his lecture which was widely distributed in Yemen by followers this week.
Mohammed Al Emam, heads one of the largest and most famous and extremist Salafi schools in Yemen.
In addition to his School, located in town of Mabar, some 70 km south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, there are about 4,000 other similar Salafi schools scattered all over the poor country.
Gulf Salafi businessmen and other religious groups, especially from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, financially and logistically support these schools.
"This woman called for rebellion against Allah, and his Messenger and Hejab, and this a criminal call," said the Salafi cleric who has tens of thousands of followers in Yemen.
Al Emam also blasted Tawakul's party, the Islamist party, Islah and called its leaders to repent to Allah Almighty as well for dealing with the enemies, in clear reference to Americans and Westerners in general.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Yemen Nobel peace prize winner described as criminal and traitor
By Nasser Arrabyee,31/10/2011
A fundamentalist cleric described the Yemeni noble peace prize winner as a " criminal, and traitor" calling her for repentance.
" Tawakul Karman was given the prize of Jews and Christians as a reward for her major treason of Islam, State and the People," said The Salafi cleric Mohammed Al Emam in a lengthy lecture on Ms Karman.
" This woman corrupted the women and men, and she and those like her need to repent to Allah Almighty before they die," said Al Emam in his lecture which was widely distributed in Yemen by followers this week.
Mohammed Al Emam, heads one of the largest and most famous and extremist Salafi schools in Yemen.
In addition to his School, located in town of Mabar, some 70 km south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, there are about 4,000 other similar Salafi schools scattered all over the poor country.
Gulf Salafi businessmen and other religious groups, especially from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, financially and logistically support these schools.
"This woman called for rebellion against Allah, and his Messenger and Hejab, and this a criminal call," said the Salafi cleric who has tens of thousands of followers in Yemen.
Al Emam also blasted Tawakul's party, the Islamist party, Islah and called its leaders to repent to Allah Almighty as well for dealing with the enemies, in clear reference to Americans and Westerners in general.
A fundamentalist cleric described the Yemeni noble peace prize winner as a " criminal, and traitor" calling her for repentance.
" Tawakul Karman was given the prize of Jews and Christians as a reward for her major treason of Islam, State and the People," said The Salafi cleric Mohammed Al Emam in a lengthy lecture on Ms Karman.
" This woman corrupted the women and men, and she and those like her need to repent to Allah Almighty before they die," said Al Emam in his lecture which was widely distributed in Yemen by followers this week.
Mohammed Al Emam, heads one of the largest and most famous and extremist Salafi schools in Yemen.
In addition to his School, located in town of Mabar, some 70 km south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, there are about 4,000 other similar Salafi schools scattered all over the poor country.
Gulf Salafi businessmen and other religious groups, especially from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, financially and logistically support these schools.
"This woman called for rebellion against Allah, and his Messenger and Hejab, and this a criminal call," said the Salafi cleric who has tens of thousands of followers in Yemen.
Al Emam also blasted Tawakul's party, the Islamist party, Islah and called its leaders to repent to Allah Almighty as well for dealing with the enemies, in clear reference to Americans and Westerners in general.
Yemeni Airport Re-Opens After Blasts at Nearby Military Base
Source: Bloomberg,31/10/2011
Sana'a-Yemen’s international airport in the capital, Sana’a, reopened after closing yesterday following explosions at the nearby al-Dailami air force base.
Flights including one from Beirut that was preparing to land at the time of the blasts were redirected to the coastal city of Aden, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) to the south, the independent online publication al-Masdar reported yesterday, citing unidentified aviation officials. Two military aircraft could be seen on fire, Al Jazeera television said.
Protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s, a U.S. ally who has held power for more than three decades, started in January and escalated into violent conflict as tribal and military leaders joined the opposition. The United Nations Security Council, in an Oct. 21 resolution, condemned the violence and urged Saleh to sign a Gulf Cooperation Council- brokered proposal under which he would leave office and elections would be held.
Shelling in Sana’a has continued after the announcement by the government last week that a cease-fire was reached between Saleh’s forces and those of Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, head of the country’s most influential tribal group, and General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, leader of an armored division that defected.
Saleh returned to Yemen on Sept. 23 after receiving treatment in Saudi Arabia for injuries sustained in a June attack on his compound
Yemen's armed opposition shells base of air defense and airport
Source: Xinhua,31/10/2011
SANAA-The Air Force base in the Yemeni capital Sanaa was hit by mortar shells on Sunday evening and two fighter jets were set on fire, the Yemeni Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Earlier, military officials said the Air Force base was stricken by two mortar shells and the nearby airport was shut down, but no one was killed or injured.
Witnesses near the military base said that they saw big fire and smoke inside Al-Dailami Air Force Base after a series of loud explosions in northern Sanaa.
"One of the shells exploded near a small weapon depot, causing further explosions and fire, but there were no casualties, while the nearby civil airport (Sanaa International Airport) was undamaged," a military official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
However, another military official at the base said "Sanaa International Airport and the base were shelled and there were no major structural damages."
"The shells were fired by opposition armed tribesmen, and security forces are searching for suspects around the base and Sanaa airport," he told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
"The civil airport was shut down and the coming flights were diverted to southern Aden airport," he added.
Meanwhile, soldiers at the military base said a security investigation team have defused 10 explosive devices planted inside 10 fighter jets, blaming the defected army of the First Armored Division.
An official at the Interior Ministry said security at the two military airports was beefed up.
"The departure travelers were allowed now to get onboard planes, " he said.
"The shells were possibly fired either from Arhab district outside the capital or from Hassaba area in downtown Sanaa," he added.
Arhab and Hassaba are the scenes of almost daily clashes since May between the government troops and pro-opposition armed tribesmen led by the powerful opposition tribal leader Sadiq al- Ahmar and backed by troops of defected General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has confronted nine-month-long protests across the country calling for an end to his 33-year rule.
The government and the opposition coalition are reportedly considering a compromise based on a resolution of United Nations Security Council and a power transition deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council.
SANAA-The Air Force base in the Yemeni capital Sanaa was hit by mortar shells on Sunday evening and two fighter jets were set on fire, the Yemeni Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Earlier, military officials said the Air Force base was stricken by two mortar shells and the nearby airport was shut down, but no one was killed or injured.
Witnesses near the military base said that they saw big fire and smoke inside Al-Dailami Air Force Base after a series of loud explosions in northern Sanaa.
"One of the shells exploded near a small weapon depot, causing further explosions and fire, but there were no casualties, while the nearby civil airport (Sanaa International Airport) was undamaged," a military official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
However, another military official at the base said "Sanaa International Airport and the base were shelled and there were no major structural damages."
"The shells were fired by opposition armed tribesmen, and security forces are searching for suspects around the base and Sanaa airport," he told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
"The civil airport was shut down and the coming flights were diverted to southern Aden airport," he added.
Meanwhile, soldiers at the military base said a security investigation team have defused 10 explosive devices planted inside 10 fighter jets, blaming the defected army of the First Armored Division.
An official at the Interior Ministry said security at the two military airports was beefed up.
"The departure travelers were allowed now to get onboard planes, " he said.
"The shells were possibly fired either from Arhab district outside the capital or from Hassaba area in downtown Sanaa," he added.
Arhab and Hassaba are the scenes of almost daily clashes since May between the government troops and pro-opposition armed tribesmen led by the powerful opposition tribal leader Sadiq al- Ahmar and backed by troops of defected General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has confronted nine-month-long protests across the country calling for an end to his 33-year rule.
The government and the opposition coalition are reportedly considering a compromise based on a resolution of United Nations Security Council and a power transition deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Yemen's Al-Qaeda denies death of its media chief
Source: 31/10/2011
ADEN — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula denied on Sunday the death of its media chief in a suspected US drone strike earlier this month, a statement distributed to the public in Yemen's southern Shabwa province said.
Yemen's defence ministry announced on October 15 that Ibrahim al-Banna was among at least seven militants killed in a triple raid that also claimed the life of the teenage son of slain US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi.
The ministry at the time said Al-Banna, who was in charge of AQAP's media arm, was wanted "internationally for planning attacks both inside and outside Yemen" and was considered one of the group's "most dangerous operatives."
Al-Qaeda's Sunday statement said that the ministry's claims about Al-Banna's death were all "lies".
"These lies and allegations announced by the government... are not unusual... the government has falsely declared the death of mujahedeens many times," the statement said.
Also in the statement, the militant network claimed responsibility for an October 15 attack on a gas pipeline in Yemen's restive southeastern provinces.
Local officials had said that the pipeline was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, in an attack that forced a temporary suspension of gas exports from the Balhaf terminal on the Gulf of Aden.
The damaged segment of the 320-kilometre (200 miles) gas pipeline, which links fields in the eastern Marib province with Balhaf, the primary gas terminal in the southern province of Shabwa, was restored last week.
Both provinces are strongholds of Al-Qaeda, where militants have strengthened their hold on several cities in the wake of the nine-month uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose weakened government has lost control over several regions in the country.
ADEN — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula denied on Sunday the death of its media chief in a suspected US drone strike earlier this month, a statement distributed to the public in Yemen's southern Shabwa province said.
Yemen's defence ministry announced on October 15 that Ibrahim al-Banna was among at least seven militants killed in a triple raid that also claimed the life of the teenage son of slain US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi.
The ministry at the time said Al-Banna, who was in charge of AQAP's media arm, was wanted "internationally for planning attacks both inside and outside Yemen" and was considered one of the group's "most dangerous operatives."
Al-Qaeda's Sunday statement said that the ministry's claims about Al-Banna's death were all "lies".
"These lies and allegations announced by the government... are not unusual... the government has falsely declared the death of mujahedeens many times," the statement said.
Also in the statement, the militant network claimed responsibility for an October 15 attack on a gas pipeline in Yemen's restive southeastern provinces.
Local officials had said that the pipeline was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, in an attack that forced a temporary suspension of gas exports from the Balhaf terminal on the Gulf of Aden.
The damaged segment of the 320-kilometre (200 miles) gas pipeline, which links fields in the eastern Marib province with Balhaf, the primary gas terminal in the southern province of Shabwa, was restored last week.
Both provinces are strongholds of Al-Qaeda, where militants have strengthened their hold on several cities in the wake of the nine-month uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose weakened government has lost control over several regions in the country.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Car bomb kills anti-terror chief in south Yemen
Source:AP,28/10/2011
SANAA- A car bomb killed the head of the anti-terror force in Yemen's restive southern Abyan province Friday, a Yemeni security official said.
Three others, including two children, were wounded in the blast that killed Ali al-Haddi near the coastal city of Aden. The bomb was planted in al-Haddi's car, the official said.
Security has broken down across Yemen during the nine-month popular uprising against autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled the country for more than 30 years. Demonstrations raged around the country on Friday.
Al-Qaida-linked militants have taken over a number of towns in Abyan, along the country's south coast, where they regularly engage in deadly clashes with security forces. Yemeni authorities also accuse them of targeting security officials.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk brief the media.
Tens of thousands marched in anti-government demonstrations across Yemen Friday. Protesters have been on the streets nearly every day since January, despite a bloody government crackdown.
In the central city of Taiz, security forces opened fire on marchers carrying the bodies of protesters killed in recent days, wounding five people, activists said.
Thousands also marched in the capital Sanaa, where government troops have been clashing with army defectors who have joined the protests and armed men loyal to Yemen's most powerful tribal chief, who supports the opposition.
A medical official said a 28-year-old woman was killed in crossfire Friday in Sanaa during a gunbattle between the two sides. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
SANAA- A car bomb killed the head of the anti-terror force in Yemen's restive southern Abyan province Friday, a Yemeni security official said.
Three others, including two children, were wounded in the blast that killed Ali al-Haddi near the coastal city of Aden. The bomb was planted in al-Haddi's car, the official said.
Security has broken down across Yemen during the nine-month popular uprising against autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled the country for more than 30 years. Demonstrations raged around the country on Friday.
Al-Qaida-linked militants have taken over a number of towns in Abyan, along the country's south coast, where they regularly engage in deadly clashes with security forces. Yemeni authorities also accuse them of targeting security officials.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk brief the media.
Tens of thousands marched in anti-government demonstrations across Yemen Friday. Protesters have been on the streets nearly every day since January, despite a bloody government crackdown.
In the central city of Taiz, security forces opened fire on marchers carrying the bodies of protesters killed in recent days, wounding five people, activists said.
Thousands also marched in the capital Sanaa, where government troops have been clashing with army defectors who have joined the protests and armed men loyal to Yemen's most powerful tribal chief, who supports the opposition.
A medical official said a 28-year-old woman was killed in crossfire Friday in Sanaa during a gunbattle between the two sides. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Yemen LNG 'back in business' despite Al Qaeda attacks
Source: UPI,27/10/2011
Yemen-A natural gas company in Yemen said Wednesday it was "back in business" following repairs to natural gas facilities that were attacked this month.
Engineers at Yemen LNG said they completed repairs on the pipeline, adding annual maintenance was also completed. Francois Rafin, general manager at LNG, said liquefied natural gas production from the Balhaf facility in southern Yemen restarted Wednesday.
"We are back in business," he said in a statement.
Yemen LNG said cargo that was canceled in October would be delivered by early January.
Opposition groups and al-Qaida were blamed for attacking one of the company's natural gas pipelines in Shaba province earlier this month.
The energy company said surveillance and protection of pipelines were upgraded following the attack.
Violence in Yemen is on this rise as the country's president clings to power. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has stepped up its attacks in Yemen after two of its key figures were killed, allegedly by missiles fired from CIA drones.
Yemen-A natural gas company in Yemen said Wednesday it was "back in business" following repairs to natural gas facilities that were attacked this month.
Engineers at Yemen LNG said they completed repairs on the pipeline, adding annual maintenance was also completed. Francois Rafin, general manager at LNG, said liquefied natural gas production from the Balhaf facility in southern Yemen restarted Wednesday.
"We are back in business," he said in a statement.
Yemen LNG said cargo that was canceled in October would be delivered by early January.
Opposition groups and al-Qaida were blamed for attacking one of the company's natural gas pipelines in Shaba province earlier this month.
The energy company said surveillance and protection of pipelines were upgraded following the attack.
Violence in Yemen is on this rise as the country's president clings to power. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has stepped up its attacks in Yemen after two of its key figures were killed, allegedly by missiles fired from CIA drones.
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Balanced resolution and balanced solution
By Nasser Araabyee,25/10/2011
Finally a solution for Yemen's 10-month long political crisis is almost found.
The President Ali Abdullah Saleh would stay with symbolic powers until a new president is elected in late February or early March of 2012.
Almost all presidential powers will be in the hand of Vice President, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the man who has almost national consensus to run the country during the expected 3-6 month transition period.
Earlier this week, President Saleh welcomed a UN Security Council urging him to transfer power according to a deal brokered by the Saudi-led six nations of the Arabian Gulf and supported by the international community.
The UN resolution equally urged all armed conflicting parties to stop war and return to dialogue for political solution.
According to reliable sources close to President Saleh and opposition , all parties have agreed on a mechanism to implement the GCC deal in a way that equally satisfies almost all parties.
President Saleh is expected to announce this week a new authorization for his deputy Mr Hadi to issue republican decrees for implementing the GCC deal.
This authorization will mean that Saleh will stay until a new President is elected and Hadi will run all public affairs during the transitional period.
By this, the most complicated two issues that were always behind the failure of negations and dialogue between Saleh and the Islamist-led opposition forces, will be solved.
The negotiators agreed on 85 per cent of the issues until September 23rd, 2011, when President Saleh returned from Saudi Arabia where he had more than three months treatment from injuries he suffered from a failed assassination attempt.
The remaining 15 per cent was simply: Saleh does never want to resign before early presidential elections. The opposition wants him only to resign first.
The second issue is, if they agreed on conducting elections, will the son and nephews of Saleh who now lead the army and security, remain in their positions or not before and during the elections?
Now it seems that these two issues will be solved.
The authorized vice president Hadi, will entrust a man from the opposition to form a national unity government shared fifty, fifty by Saleh's ruling party and the opposition coalition.
The members of the new opposition- chaired government will take the constitutional oath before the authorized vice president Hadi. Taking the oath before Saleh was one of the points that some of the opposition leaders refused in the past.
The symbolic President Saleh will then call for presidential elections in which, of course, he is not going to stand as his current constitutional term is the last.
Saleh's son Ahmed, who heads the most well-equipped and qualified and trained troops of the republican guards, and the three other nephews, Yahya, Ammar, and Tarek, who are in charge of the central security, national security, and special guards respectively, will remain in their positions until a new president is elected.
The big concern of the opposition about holding presidential elections with the army and security still controlled by Saleh, will be removed by forming a military and security committee chaired by the authorized vice president Hadi. The army and security will be under the control of this committee in which the opposition forces will be represented.
The ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, EU, and GCC were briefed on this new mechanism of implementing the GCC deal by the Yemeni government on Monday October 24th, 2011.
The political advisor of President Saleh, Dr Abdul Kareem Al Eryani, who briefed the diplomats on the new solution of the 10-month long political crisis in Yemen said, " We are very interested in finding out a political solution with the opposition based on the GCC deal and the UN Security Council resolution."
The UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar, and GCC chief Abdul Latif Al Zayani are expected to return to Yemen next week to monitor the implementation of the GCC deal with the new mechanism.
Finally a solution for Yemen's 10-month long political crisis is almost found.
The President Ali Abdullah Saleh would stay with symbolic powers until a new president is elected in late February or early March of 2012.
Almost all presidential powers will be in the hand of Vice President, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the man who has almost national consensus to run the country during the expected 3-6 month transition period.
Earlier this week, President Saleh welcomed a UN Security Council urging him to transfer power according to a deal brokered by the Saudi-led six nations of the Arabian Gulf and supported by the international community.
The UN resolution equally urged all armed conflicting parties to stop war and return to dialogue for political solution.
According to reliable sources close to President Saleh and opposition , all parties have agreed on a mechanism to implement the GCC deal in a way that equally satisfies almost all parties.
President Saleh is expected to announce this week a new authorization for his deputy Mr Hadi to issue republican decrees for implementing the GCC deal.
This authorization will mean that Saleh will stay until a new President is elected and Hadi will run all public affairs during the transitional period.
By this, the most complicated two issues that were always behind the failure of negations and dialogue between Saleh and the Islamist-led opposition forces, will be solved.
The negotiators agreed on 85 per cent of the issues until September 23rd, 2011, when President Saleh returned from Saudi Arabia where he had more than three months treatment from injuries he suffered from a failed assassination attempt.
The remaining 15 per cent was simply: Saleh does never want to resign before early presidential elections. The opposition wants him only to resign first.
The second issue is, if they agreed on conducting elections, will the son and nephews of Saleh who now lead the army and security, remain in their positions or not before and during the elections?
Now it seems that these two issues will be solved.
The authorized vice president Hadi, will entrust a man from the opposition to form a national unity government shared fifty, fifty by Saleh's ruling party and the opposition coalition.
The members of the new opposition- chaired government will take the constitutional oath before the authorized vice president Hadi. Taking the oath before Saleh was one of the points that some of the opposition leaders refused in the past.
The symbolic President Saleh will then call for presidential elections in which, of course, he is not going to stand as his current constitutional term is the last.
Saleh's son Ahmed, who heads the most well-equipped and qualified and trained troops of the republican guards, and the three other nephews, Yahya, Ammar, and Tarek, who are in charge of the central security, national security, and special guards respectively, will remain in their positions until a new president is elected.
The big concern of the opposition about holding presidential elections with the army and security still controlled by Saleh, will be removed by forming a military and security committee chaired by the authorized vice president Hadi. The army and security will be under the control of this committee in which the opposition forces will be represented.
The ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, EU, and GCC were briefed on this new mechanism of implementing the GCC deal by the Yemeni government on Monday October 24th, 2011.
The political advisor of President Saleh, Dr Abdul Kareem Al Eryani, who briefed the diplomats on the new solution of the 10-month long political crisis in Yemen said, " We are very interested in finding out a political solution with the opposition based on the GCC deal and the UN Security Council resolution."
The UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Bin Omar, and GCC chief Abdul Latif Al Zayani are expected to return to Yemen next week to monitor the implementation of the GCC deal with the new mechanism.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
UN calls President Saleh to hand power according to GCC deal
Source; AP, 22/10/2011
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council called Friday for Yemen's president to immediately accept a deal to transfer power to his deputy and end escalating violence in the strategically located Middle East nation.
The council unanimously adopted a resolution expressing serious concern at the worsening security and deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation in Yemen "due to the lack of progress on a political settlement and the potential for the further escalation of violence."
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has so far balked at a U.S.-backed plan proposed by Saudi Arabia and its five smaller allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council to hand over power to his deputy and step down in exchange for immunity. He is accused by many Yemenis of pushing the country toward civil war by clinging to power despite massive protests, the defection to the opposition of key tribal and military allies, and mounting international pressure to step down.
The resolution was the first adopted by the U.N.'s most powerful body since the Arab Spring uprising in Yemen began eight months ago. It was clearly aimed at stepping up international pressure on Saleh, who was president of North Yemen from 1978 until 1990 when he became the first president of a unified Yemen.
Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with two Liberian women earlier this month, welcomed the resolution but said it didn't go far enough.
"We are asking for a trial" for Saleh, Karman told reporters at U.N. headquarters. "We are asking to send him to the international tribunal as a war criminal."
Mohammed al-Sabri, an opposition spokesman in Sanaa, Yemen, told The Associated Press the resolution was "largely positive" but it remains for the Yemeni people to force Saleh to sign the initiative.
"This is the beginning of putting Saleh and his sons and family out in the cold," he said. "At the end, it is up to the Yemeni people to force Saleh to sign the initiative. It must remain in the hands of the Yemenis."
Philippe Bolopion, U.N. director for Human Rights Watch, said the organization welcomed "the long overdue condemnation of Yemeni government abuses," but believed the council should have distanced itself from the council's impunity deal.
"By signaling that there would be no consequence for the killing of Yemenis, the immunity deal has contributed to prolonging the bloodshed," he said.
The White House said in a statement that the deal sends "a united and unambiguous signal to President Saleh that he must respond to the aspirations of the Yemeni people by transferring power immediately."
The resolution calls for Saleh, or those authorized to act on his behalf, to immediately sign the Gulf Cooperation Council deal "to achieve a peaceful political transition of power ... without further delay."
Although the deal would give Saleh immunity, the resolution also underlines the need for an independent investigation into alleged human rights abuses "with a view to avoiding impunity."
Saleh was gravely wounded in an explosion at his presidential palace in June and went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. During his absence, mediators and opposition groups sought to persuade him to stay away and transfer power, but he declined and returned abruptly to Yemen late last month.
Unlike the resolution on Syria that was vetoed by Russia and China on Oct. 4, the Yemen resolution makes no mention of sanctions or any other measures.
With fighting intensifying, there are concerns that a civil war would significantly hurt efforts by the United States and Saudi Arabia to fight Yemen's dangerous al-Qaida branch, and could turn the mountainous nation into a global haven for militants a short distance away from the vast oil fields of the Gulf and the key shipping lanes in the Arabian and Red seas.
The resolution raises fresh concerns "at the increased threat from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and the risk of new terror attacks in parts of Yemen."
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni branch is known, is considered by the U.S. to be the most dangerous of the terror network's affiliates after it plotted two recent failed attacks on American soil.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council called Friday for Yemen's president to immediately accept a deal to transfer power to his deputy and end escalating violence in the strategically located Middle East nation.
The council unanimously adopted a resolution expressing serious concern at the worsening security and deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation in Yemen "due to the lack of progress on a political settlement and the potential for the further escalation of violence."
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has so far balked at a U.S.-backed plan proposed by Saudi Arabia and its five smaller allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council to hand over power to his deputy and step down in exchange for immunity. He is accused by many Yemenis of pushing the country toward civil war by clinging to power despite massive protests, the defection to the opposition of key tribal and military allies, and mounting international pressure to step down.
The resolution was the first adopted by the U.N.'s most powerful body since the Arab Spring uprising in Yemen began eight months ago. It was clearly aimed at stepping up international pressure on Saleh, who was president of North Yemen from 1978 until 1990 when he became the first president of a unified Yemen.
Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with two Liberian women earlier this month, welcomed the resolution but said it didn't go far enough.
"We are asking for a trial" for Saleh, Karman told reporters at U.N. headquarters. "We are asking to send him to the international tribunal as a war criminal."
Mohammed al-Sabri, an opposition spokesman in Sanaa, Yemen, told The Associated Press the resolution was "largely positive" but it remains for the Yemeni people to force Saleh to sign the initiative.
"This is the beginning of putting Saleh and his sons and family out in the cold," he said. "At the end, it is up to the Yemeni people to force Saleh to sign the initiative. It must remain in the hands of the Yemenis."
Philippe Bolopion, U.N. director for Human Rights Watch, said the organization welcomed "the long overdue condemnation of Yemeni government abuses," but believed the council should have distanced itself from the council's impunity deal.
"By signaling that there would be no consequence for the killing of Yemenis, the immunity deal has contributed to prolonging the bloodshed," he said.
The White House said in a statement that the deal sends "a united and unambiguous signal to President Saleh that he must respond to the aspirations of the Yemeni people by transferring power immediately."
The resolution calls for Saleh, or those authorized to act on his behalf, to immediately sign the Gulf Cooperation Council deal "to achieve a peaceful political transition of power ... without further delay."
Although the deal would give Saleh immunity, the resolution also underlines the need for an independent investigation into alleged human rights abuses "with a view to avoiding impunity."
Saleh was gravely wounded in an explosion at his presidential palace in June and went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. During his absence, mediators and opposition groups sought to persuade him to stay away and transfer power, but he declined and returned abruptly to Yemen late last month.
Unlike the resolution on Syria that was vetoed by Russia and China on Oct. 4, the Yemen resolution makes no mention of sanctions or any other measures.
With fighting intensifying, there are concerns that a civil war would significantly hurt efforts by the United States and Saudi Arabia to fight Yemen's dangerous al-Qaida branch, and could turn the mountainous nation into a global haven for militants a short distance away from the vast oil fields of the Gulf and the key shipping lanes in the Arabian and Red seas.
The resolution raises fresh concerns "at the increased threat from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and the risk of new terror attacks in parts of Yemen."
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni branch is known, is considered by the U.S. to be the most dangerous of the terror network's affiliates after it plotted two recent failed attacks on American soil.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
President Saleh's son has the right to stand for Presidential elections after his father steps down, says Opposition figure
Al Qaeda and tribesmen threaten to strike Americans and kill French hostages
By Nasser Arrabyee,19/10/2011
The Yemeni conflicting parties reached a deadlock and are now waiting for a resolution from the UN Security Council which is expected today, said a senior opposition figure Wednesday.
" The main reason of the deadlock was the disagreement on how to re-structure and neutralize the army before any early presidential elections," said Dr. Mohammed Al Mutawakel, Secretary General of the Popular Forces Party, and former rotating chairman of the supreme council of the opposition coalition.
Al Mutawakel said President Saleh will not stand for the coming elections because his constitutional term is the last but his son Ahmed or any one else have all the right to stand for the elections.
"There is no accused until proved guilty, so Ahmed Ali, and Ali Muhsen, and Hamid Al Ahmar, and Ali Salem Al Baidh, and Haidar Al Attas, and Ali Nasser , all those have the right to stand for Presidential elections," said Al Mutawakel.
Al Qaeda and tribesmen threatened to retaliate for the US drone attacks recently implemented in Yemen where the 9-month long political crisis remains unsolved.
The UN Security Council is expected this week to issue a resolution binding the conflicting parties to stop hostilities and President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer the power according to an internationally backed deal brokered by the Saudi-led six nations of the Arabian Gulf.
President Saleh,however, insists that the power must be transferred only through early elections in which he is not participating nor anyone of his family members.
Or the army will take the final decision as Saleh said earlier this week in a meeting with his military and security commanders.
Al Qaeda and tribesmen vowed to implement painful strikes against the Yemeni and American government in retaliation for recent airstrikes which killed their significant leaders including the most-wanted for CIA, the Yemeni-American extremist cleric Anwar Al Awlaki.
"We will retaliate, for sure, for Anwar Al Awlaki and his son and the other Mujahideen who were killed by American planes in full cooperation with the Yemeni government," said a tribal leader from Al Awlaki's tribe in a phone interview with the Weekly .
The tribal leader who spoke from Shabwa, asked not to be named because some other tribal leaders disagree with him on declaring their plans, as he said.
" If they killed Anwar, I would assure them there would be thousand Anwars, and if they kill Fahd Al Qusu, there will be thousand Fahds," said the tribal leader who is at least ideologically close to Al Qaeda operatives.
"There will be retaliatory operations inside the United States," he threatened.
The tribal leader, who is from the same tribe and same village of the slain Al Awlaki, said that 86 people from Al Awalik, name of his tribe, were killed by US drone attacks since the first drone attack of December 17th, 2009, on Majalah, to the last attack of October 15th, 2011 on Azzan.
Anwar Al Awlaki,who was accused of orchestrating at least three terrorist attacks on US, was killed on September 30th, 2011 with three other terrorists in a US drone attack in the eastern province of Al Jawf. Al Qaeda confirmed his death.
His oldest son,Abdul Rehman, 16, was killed in the airstrike of October 15th, 2011 in Azzan.
At dawn of Saturday October15th, 2011, eight Al Qaeda operatives were killed in an airstrike on the town of Azzan in Shabwa province, a remote town which was declared earlier this year as a Taliban-style Islamic Emirate after it was overrun by Al Qaeda militants.
Two leading members at least were among the eight who died in the attack.
They were identified as Abu Abdul Rehman Al Saeedi, and Ibrahim Al Bana'a.
Al Bana'a is an Egyptian who has been fighting with Al Qaeda since late 1990s. He is wanted for Yemeni , Saudi and Egyptian authorities
The airstrike was implemented on the group who were trying to bomb a gas pipeline which is extended from Mareb province to Belhaf area in Shabwah.
The local sources said Al Qaeda operatives bombed part of the gas pipe line close to the control area number 9.
Meanwhile, kidnappers of three French people in abduction since last May threatened to kill the three hostages if their demands are not met in five days.
" I was told by the kidnappers to declare their ultimatum of five days only, if their demands are not met, then they would slaughter the three hostages," A source close to the kidnappers told the Weekly on Sunday October 16th, 2011.
The demands of the kidnappers are either money or release of detainees in the Yemeni government's jails, according the source who did not give anymore details.
When asked for more details about the details, he said " Their demands were declared many times everybody knows them."
He said the kidnappers asked him only to declare the ultimatum to press before he called the Weekly.
He described the detainees to be released as " brothers who were doing Jihad when they were arrested" .
On September 12th, 2011, the kidnappers posted in a Yemeni website a video showing the three hostages (two women and man), with the man saying the French government had done little to win their release.
On the ground, dozens of Yemeni people. were killed and injured in bloody demonstrations after President Saleh said earlier this week, he would only hand power through early elections or the decision will be to the army.
Observers view what's happening in Yemen now as a war between two factions3 within the regime itself and not a "revolution" within the so-called Arab Spring.
But one faction, led by defected military and tribal leaders, is obviously using the peaceful protesters who struggle for change and better future, to defeat the other faction.
The second faction, led by President Saleh, sticks to the constitutional legitimacy which was obtained through elections recognized by the opposition and international community.
"It's a war between two powerful teams within the regime, not a revolution for change that we need," said the political analyst and politics professor at Sanaa university, Najeeb Ghallab.
The defected faction seems to betting on more bloodshed in violent demonstrations to exercise more external and internal pressure on Saleh and his team.
"if they bet on more bloodshed to win on us, we bet on peace and democracy to win on them," said Abdul Janadi, the deputy minister of information and the official. spokesman of the government.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Al Qaeda and tribesmen threaten to strike Americans
Terrorist and political threats in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee,18/10/2011
Al Qaeda and tribesmen threatened to retaliate for the US drone attacks recently implemented in Yemen where the 9-month long political crisis remains unsolved.
The UN Security Council is expected this week to issue a resolution binding the conflicting parties to stop hostilities and President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer the power according to an internationally backed deal brokered by the Saudi-led six nations of the Arabian Gulf.
President Saleh,however, insists that the power must be transferred only through early elections in which he is not participating nor anyone of his family members.
Or the army will take the final decision as Saleh said earlier this week in a meeting with his military and security commanders.
Al Qaeda and tribesmen vowed to implement painful strikes against the Yemeni and American government in retaliation for recent airstrikes which killed their significant leaders including the most-wanted for CIA, the Yemeni-American extremist cleric Anwar Al Awlaki.
"We will retaliate, for sure, for Anwar Al Awlaki and his son and the other Mujahideen who were killed by American planes in full cooperation with the Yemeni government," said a tribal leader from Al Awlaki's tribe in a phone interview with the Weekly .
The tribal leader who spoke from Shabwa, asked not to be named because some other tribal leaders disagree with him on declaring their plans, as he said.
" If they killed Anwar, I would assure them there would be thousand Anwars, and if they kill Fahd Al Qusu, there will be thousand Fahds," said the tribal leader who is at least ideologically close to Al Qaeda operatives.
"There will be retaliatory operations inside the United States," he threatened.
The tribal leader, who is from the same tribe and same village of the slain Al Awlaki, said that 86 people from Al Awalik, name of his tribe, were killed by US drone attacks since the first drone attack of December 17th, 2009, on Majalah, to the last attack of October 15th, 2011 on Azzan.
Anwar Al Awlaki,who was accused of orchestrating at least three terrorist attacks on US, was killed on September 30th, 2011 with three other terrorists in a US drone attack in the eastern province of Al Jawf. Al Qaeda confirmed his death.
His oldest son,Abdul Rehman, 16, was killed in the airstrike of October 15th, 2011 in Azzan.
At dawn of Saturday October15th, 2011, eight Al Qaeda operatives were killed in an airstrike on the town of Azzan in Shabwa province, a remote town which was declared earlier this year as a Taliban-style Islamic Emirate after it was overrun by Al Qaeda militants.
Two leading members at least were among the eight who died in the attack.
They were identified as Abu Abdul Rehman Al Saeedi, and Ibrahim Al Bana'a.
Al Bana'a is an Egyptian who has been fighting with Al Qaeda since late 1990s. He is wanted for Yemeni , Saudi and Egyptian authorities
The airstrike was implemented on the group who were trying to bomb a gas pipeline which is extended from Mareb province to Belhaf area in Shabwah.
The local sources said Al Qaeda operatives bombed part of the gas pipe line close to the control area number 9.
Meanwhile, kidnappers of three French people in abduction since last May threatened to kill the three hostages if their demands are not met in five days.
" I was told by the kidnappers to declare their ultimatum of five days only, if their demands are not met, then they would slaughter the three hostages," A source close to the kidnappers told the Weekly on Sunday October 16th, 2011.
The demands of the kidnappers are either money or release of detainees in the Yemeni government's jails, according the source who did not give anymore details.
When asked for more details about the details, he said " Their demands were declared many times everybody knows them."
He said the kidnappers asked him only to declare the ultimatum to press before he called the Weekly.
He described the detainees to be released as " brothers who were doing Jihad when they were arrested" .
On September 12th, 2011, the kidnappers posted in a Yemeni website a video showing the three hostages (two women and man), with the man saying the French government had done little to win their release.
On the ground, dozens of Yemeni people. were killed and injured in bloody demonstrations after President Saleh said earlier this week, he would only hand power through early elections or the decision will be to the army.
Observers view what's happening in Yemen now as a war between two factions3 within the regime itself and not a "revolution" within the so-called Arab Spring.
But one faction, led by defected military and tribal leaders, is obviously using the peaceful protesters who struggle for change and better future, to defeat the other faction.
The second faction, led by President Saleh, sticks to the constitutional legitimacy which was obtained through elections recognized by the opposition and international community.
"It's a war between two powerful teams within the regime, not a revolution for change that we need," said the political analyst and politics professor at Sanaa university, Najeeb Ghallab.
The defected faction seems to betting on more bloodshed in violent demonstrations to exercise more external and internal pressure on Saleh and his team.
"if they bet on more bloodshed to win on us, we bet on peace and democracy to win on them," said Abdul Janadi, the deputy minister of information and the official. spokesman of the government.
By Nasser Arrabyee,18/10/2011
Al Qaeda and tribesmen threatened to retaliate for the US drone attacks recently implemented in Yemen where the 9-month long political crisis remains unsolved.
The UN Security Council is expected this week to issue a resolution binding the conflicting parties to stop hostilities and President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer the power according to an internationally backed deal brokered by the Saudi-led six nations of the Arabian Gulf.
President Saleh,however, insists that the power must be transferred only through early elections in which he is not participating nor anyone of his family members.
Or the army will take the final decision as Saleh said earlier this week in a meeting with his military and security commanders.
Al Qaeda and tribesmen vowed to implement painful strikes against the Yemeni and American government in retaliation for recent airstrikes which killed their significant leaders including the most-wanted for CIA, the Yemeni-American extremist cleric Anwar Al Awlaki.
"We will retaliate, for sure, for Anwar Al Awlaki and his son and the other Mujahideen who were killed by American planes in full cooperation with the Yemeni government," said a tribal leader from Al Awlaki's tribe in a phone interview with the Weekly .
The tribal leader who spoke from Shabwa, asked not to be named because some other tribal leaders disagree with him on declaring their plans, as he said.
" If they killed Anwar, I would assure them there would be thousand Anwars, and if they kill Fahd Al Qusu, there will be thousand Fahds," said the tribal leader who is at least ideologically close to Al Qaeda operatives.
"There will be retaliatory operations inside the United States," he threatened.
The tribal leader, who is from the same tribe and same village of the slain Al Awlaki, said that 86 people from Al Awalik, name of his tribe, were killed by US drone attacks since the first drone attack of December 17th, 2009, on Majalah, to the last attack of October 15th, 2011 on Azzan.
Anwar Al Awlaki,who was accused of orchestrating at least three terrorist attacks on US, was killed on September 30th, 2011 with three other terrorists in a US drone attack in the eastern province of Al Jawf. Al Qaeda confirmed his death.
His oldest son,Abdul Rehman, 16, was killed in the airstrike of October 15th, 2011 in Azzan.
At dawn of Saturday October15th, 2011, eight Al Qaeda operatives were killed in an airstrike on the town of Azzan in Shabwa province, a remote town which was declared earlier this year as a Taliban-style Islamic Emirate after it was overrun by Al Qaeda militants.
Two leading members at least were among the eight who died in the attack.
They were identified as Abu Abdul Rehman Al Saeedi, and Ibrahim Al Bana'a.
Al Bana'a is an Egyptian who has been fighting with Al Qaeda since late 1990s. He is wanted for Yemeni , Saudi and Egyptian authorities
The airstrike was implemented on the group who were trying to bomb a gas pipeline which is extended from Mareb province to Belhaf area in Shabwah.
The local sources said Al Qaeda operatives bombed part of the gas pipe line close to the control area number 9.
Meanwhile, kidnappers of three French people in abduction since last May threatened to kill the three hostages if their demands are not met in five days.
" I was told by the kidnappers to declare their ultimatum of five days only, if their demands are not met, then they would slaughter the three hostages," A source close to the kidnappers told the Weekly on Sunday October 16th, 2011.
The demands of the kidnappers are either money or release of detainees in the Yemeni government's jails, according the source who did not give anymore details.
When asked for more details about the details, he said " Their demands were declared many times everybody knows them."
He said the kidnappers asked him only to declare the ultimatum to press before he called the Weekly.
He described the detainees to be released as " brothers who were doing Jihad when they were arrested" .
On September 12th, 2011, the kidnappers posted in a Yemeni website a video showing the three hostages (two women and man), with the man saying the French government had done little to win their release.
On the ground, dozens of Yemeni people. were killed and injured in bloody demonstrations after President Saleh said earlier this week, he would only hand power through early elections or the decision will be to the army.
Observers view what's happening in Yemen now as a war between two factions3 within the regime itself and not a "revolution" within the so-called Arab Spring.
But one faction, led by defected military and tribal leaders, is obviously using the peaceful protesters who struggle for change and better future, to defeat the other faction.
The second faction, led by President Saleh, sticks to the constitutional legitimacy which was obtained through elections recognized by the opposition and international community.
"It's a war between two powerful teams within the regime, not a revolution for change that we need," said the political analyst and politics professor at Sanaa university, Najeeb Ghallab.
The defected faction seems to betting on more bloodshed in violent demonstrations to exercise more external and internal pressure on Saleh and his team.
"if they bet on more bloodshed to win on us, we bet on peace and democracy to win on them," said Abdul Janadi, the deputy minister of information and the official. spokesman of the government.
Monday, 17 October 2011
LNG leaves Yemen after pipeline attack
Source: UPI,17/10/2011
SANAA,-Liquefied natural gas left a Yemeni port bound for India during the weekend, 24 hours after al-Qaida attacked a key gas pipeline, a company said.
The official Saba news agency in Yemen blamed opposition groups and al-Qaida for attacking a natural gas pipeline in Shaba province. The report adds firefighters were able to get the blaze under control after a 12-hour battle.
Yemen LNG said, in a statement, that a carrier left an LNG terminal in the Gulf of Aden bound for India.
Valves on the pipeline were closed shortly after the attack and the damaged section was fully depressurized. Yemen LNG said it ordered an early start to annual maintenance at the LNG port to "mitigate the loss of LNG production arising from the pipeline sabotage."
Violence in Yemen is on this rise as the country's president clings to power. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, meanwhile, has stepped up its attacks in Yemen after two of its key figures were killed, allegedly by missiles fired by CIA drones.
Yemen LNG said that despite the violence in the country, it's only had two days of shutdown this year.
Nobody was injured during the attack, the company added.
SANAA,-Liquefied natural gas left a Yemeni port bound for India during the weekend, 24 hours after al-Qaida attacked a key gas pipeline, a company said.
The official Saba news agency in Yemen blamed opposition groups and al-Qaida for attacking a natural gas pipeline in Shaba province. The report adds firefighters were able to get the blaze under control after a 12-hour battle.
Yemen LNG said, in a statement, that a carrier left an LNG terminal in the Gulf of Aden bound for India.
Valves on the pipeline were closed shortly after the attack and the damaged section was fully depressurized. Yemen LNG said it ordered an early start to annual maintenance at the LNG port to "mitigate the loss of LNG production arising from the pipeline sabotage."
Violence in Yemen is on this rise as the country's president clings to power. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, meanwhile, has stepped up its attacks in Yemen after two of its key figures were killed, allegedly by missiles fired by CIA drones.
Yemen LNG said that despite the violence in the country, it's only had two days of shutdown this year.
Nobody was injured during the attack, the company added.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Kidnappers threaten to kill French hostages in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee,15/10/2011
The kidnappers of the French people in Yemen threatened to kill the three hostages if their demands are not met in five days, said a source close to kidnappers on Sunday.
" I was told by the kidnappers to declare their ultimatum of five days only, if their demands are not met, then they would slaughter the three hostages," said the source who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The demands of the kidnappers are either money or release of detainees in the Yemeni government's jails, according the source without giving anymore details.
" Their demands were declared many times everybody knows them," said the source who was asked by the kidnappers to declare the ultimatum only.
The source described the detainees to be released are " brothers of the kidnappers, who were doing Jihad when they were arrested" .
On September 12th, 2011, a Yemeni website carried a video showing three people it said were French aid workers kidnapped in Yemen in May, with one of them saying the French government had done little to win their release.
“We have been held hostage for 102 days and the French and Yemeni governments don’t appear to be concerned about our situation and do nothing to end our captivity, while they are aware of the (captors’) demands,” a man who identified himself as one of the hostages said in French on the brief video.
“Why this abandonment? We address ourselves to the French people, to human rights organisations,” said the man.
The authenticity of the video posted on YouTube by the independent news website Al-Masdar Online could not be verified.
In Paris, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “The assessment of a video is currently being carried out to authenticate and analyse it.”
Samir Jubran, Al-Masdar Online’s editor, told Reuters the video had been emailed by an unknown person who said it was only sent to the website.
Jubran said a French diplomat in Yemen confirmed that the three on the video were the hostages.
The video showed the two women captives wearing Islamic headscarves and seated on the floor on either sides of the male hostage.
The aid workers disappeared in the southeastern province of Hadramout. Yemeni and French authorities have previously said the three were probably kidnapped.
The three work for Triangle Generation Humanitaire, a Lyon-based charity operating in the Arabian Peninsula country which has been in the grip of civil unrest for months.
Kidnappings of Western tourists or workers by tribes seeking ransom or concessions from the government have been frequent in Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries. Most hostages have been freed unharmed.
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Eight Al Qaeda operatives killed in airstrike
By Nasser Arrabyee 15/10/2011
At least eight Al Qaeda operatives were killed in an airstrike on a town overrun by Al Qaeda militants in the southern province of Shabwah, local sources said Saturday.
The leading member of Al Qaeda Abu Abdul Rehman Al Saeedi was among those who were killed said the sources who saw and identified some of the dead bodies.
The airstrike was implemented on the group who were trying to bomb a gas pipeline which is extended from Mareb province to Belhaf area in Shabwah.
The sources said Al Qaeda operatives bombed part of the gas pipe line close to the control area number 9.
The flames and cloud of smoke could be seen from far places early morning Saturday.
Other sources said that Al Qaeda ( Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsular ) media man Ibrahim Al Bana'a was among those who were killed in the airstrike. Al Bana'a is an Egyptian who has been fighting with Al Qaeda since late 1990s. He is wanted for Yemeni Saudi and Egyptian authorities.
The local people could not say for sure whether the airstrikes were implemented by Yemeni fighter jets or by American drones.
Friday, 14 October 2011
No sanctions in the expected UN Security Council resolution on Yemen
Source: Agencies,14/10/2011
UNITED NATIONS: Key members of the UN Security Council are considering a Yemen resolution that would call for an immediate cease-fire and transfer of power amid reports the security situation in the Middle Eastern nation is deteriorating rapidly.
The British-drafted resolution, obtained yesterday by The Associated Press, demands that Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down in return for immunity from any prosecution.
The resolution is being discussed by the five veto-wielding permanent council members, and earlier this week, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow preferred a weaker presidential statement.
But Churkin told reporters that he was now beginning to look at a legally binding resolution.
France's United Nations Ambassador Gerard Araud said he was pessimistic Wednesday about council adoption of a resolution, but was more positive Thursday saying "the Russians are permanently moving into the direction of a resolution."
Supporters of the resolution are hoping to circulate the text to the entire 15-member Security Council, possibly Friday, and would like to see a vote next week.
Unlike the resolution on Syria which was vetoed by Russia and China last week, the Yemen draft makes no mention of sanctions or any other measures.
It backs the initiative by the Gulf Cooperation Council the alliance of Saudi Arabia and five other energy-rich nations which calls for an immediate cease-fire and demands that President Saleh transfer power to his vice president in return for immunity from any prosecution.
Saleh endorsed the deal several times only to balk at signing at the last minute. He was gravely wounded in an explosion at his presidential palace in June and went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. During his absence, mediators and opposition groups sought to convince him to stay away and transfer power to his deputy, but he declined and returned abruptly to Yemen late last month.
The Security Council was briefed Tuesday by the UN special adviser on Yemen, Jamal Benomar, who told reporters afterwards that "the security situation has deteriorated very dramatically."
UNITED NATIONS: Key members of the UN Security Council are considering a Yemen resolution that would call for an immediate cease-fire and transfer of power amid reports the security situation in the Middle Eastern nation is deteriorating rapidly.
The British-drafted resolution, obtained yesterday by The Associated Press, demands that Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down in return for immunity from any prosecution.
The resolution is being discussed by the five veto-wielding permanent council members, and earlier this week, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow preferred a weaker presidential statement.
But Churkin told reporters that he was now beginning to look at a legally binding resolution.
France's United Nations Ambassador Gerard Araud said he was pessimistic Wednesday about council adoption of a resolution, but was more positive Thursday saying "the Russians are permanently moving into the direction of a resolution."
Supporters of the resolution are hoping to circulate the text to the entire 15-member Security Council, possibly Friday, and would like to see a vote next week.
Unlike the resolution on Syria which was vetoed by Russia and China last week, the Yemen draft makes no mention of sanctions or any other measures.
It backs the initiative by the Gulf Cooperation Council the alliance of Saudi Arabia and five other energy-rich nations which calls for an immediate cease-fire and demands that President Saleh transfer power to his vice president in return for immunity from any prosecution.
Saleh endorsed the deal several times only to balk at signing at the last minute. He was gravely wounded in an explosion at his presidential palace in June and went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. During his absence, mediators and opposition groups sought to convince him to stay away and transfer power to his deputy, but he declined and returned abruptly to Yemen late last month.
The Security Council was briefed Tuesday by the UN special adviser on Yemen, Jamal Benomar, who told reporters afterwards that "the security situation has deteriorated very dramatically."
Thursday, 13 October 2011
In Yemeni capital,students back to university despite war
By Nasser Arrabyee 13/10/2011
Next Sunday is happy day for tens of thousands of university students.
The government finally has found new places for them to study in instead of the buildings of Sanaa university which is still occupied by defected troops and Islamic militants who wish to establish " Islamic State" if they succeed to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh's a regime.
Life must continue,and my university must be open,says Ashraq Rashed who refused to stay at home after the armed opposition and defected troops and Islamic militants closed and occupied her Sana'a university early last month.
Ishraq, who studies medicine, fifth year,is one of tens of thousands of female and male students who were deprived from going to university because the opposition protests have been camping out at the gate of university since last February.
Ashraq said that she and hundreds of her colleagues swore they would study this year in the halls of university or even in tents or under trees.
"We must study this year by hook or by crook, we are not ready to lose this year after we lost the previous year," Said Ashraq as she goes to a temporary class room in the hospital of Al Thawrah in the capital Sanaa.
Jamal Abdu, another medicine student said if the government would fail to protect them in the new places as it failed to protect them in Sanaa university, they would coordinate classes at their own houses.
" The majority of students are now fed up with politics, they want to study even under trees," he said.
The Sanaa university is completely occupied by defected troops supported by armed Islamic extremists who want to establish what they call Islamic Caliphate after collapse of President Saleh regime.
When students went to Sanaa university this year on September 17th, the day announced by the government as the beginning of the academic year, they were forced to go out from classes and some students and professors were attacked and beaten by the defected troops and the militants.
The defected troops belong to the defected general Ali Muhsen who declared his support for anti-Saleh protests last March.
The majority of militants belong to the cleric Abdul Majid Al Zandani, who also supported the protesters last March and promised them to establish the Islamic Caliphate. The headquarters of Muhsen's first armored division and the Zandani's Eman religious university are located around the occupied Sanaa university.
The government announced Tuesday that study for all colleges of Sanaa university would resume starting from October 16th, 2011 in hired halls of hotels and tents.
"We set up tents and hired halls in sone hotels in places far from violence and tension," Said Khaled Tamim, head of the occupied Sanaa university Tuesday.2
" I am very happy, very happy that I am going to study on Sunday, I can not wait," said Afnan who studies dentistry.
Meanwhile tension remains high in the capital and other places especially after statements by general Muhsen.
The defected general Muhsen said Monday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh did not win the presidential elections of 2006.
In the 2006 presidential elections, President Saleh had 78 per cent of the vote while his main rival, the opposition coalition candidate, Faisal Bin Shamlan had 21 per cent of the vote.
The elections were recognized by the opposition and the international community as " reasonably free, fair and competitive".
" At the end of the day of election, I went to President Saleh in his palace, he was very sad, he told me the computer made a mistake, and he would correct it," general Muhsen told a group of journalists in his office.
Then , they spent three days to correct that " mistake" and Saleh was announced as the winner and Bin Shamlan the loser.
" Saleh is still alive, Allah Almighty may preserve him and give him long life, you can make sure of what I am saying by asking him," said the general to the journalists who were only demanding him to release their colleague Mohammed Sudam, Reuter's reporter, who was kidnapped by the general's soldiers two days ago.
" this is the real story of the 2006 elections, so what constitutional legitimacy he is talking about," the general wonders.
"it's only today I know that Mohammed Sudam is a journalist, I know him only as the translator of the president," he said about the kidnapped journalist, before he released him.
Surprisingly, the opposition activist, lawyer Jamal Al Jubi,who worked as the head of the legal team of Bin Shamlan in 2006 presidential elections said the opposition candidate lost and Saleh won.
"There was some forgery but it does not mean we would have won," said the lawyer Al Jubi.
"I was the head of the legal team of Bin Shamlan, we did not claim we won, we were expecting between 30 to 35 of the vote not only 21," he said.
" I am wondering now why general Muhsen says now Saleh did not win," he added.
Father of Nobel prize winner blames daughter and defends President Saleh
Father of Tawakul Karman, the Yemeni female activist who shared the Nobel prize for peace last week with two other Liberian women, criticized her daughter for being rude to President.
Abdul Salam Karman, one of Saleh's advisors,said his daughter's win of Nobel prize was an honor to Yemen.
" But I am sad that my daughter did not listen to my talk, yes she has the right to oppose, but politely," he said.
"the exaggeration and extremism would lead Yemen to the he'll"
"President Saleh is not with someone against someone, I know him since more than 33 years since he was the military commander of Taiz," said Mr Karman on Sunday October 9th, while voting for a new chairman for the Saleh's advisory council , Shura council.
Mr Karman voted for Abdul Reham Ali Othman who became chairman of Shura council after Abdul Azeez Abdul Ghani who died late last August from injuries he suffered in the failed assassination attempt against Saleh last June.
Next Sunday is happy day for tens of thousands of university students.
The government finally has found new places for them to study in instead of the buildings of Sanaa university which is still occupied by defected troops and Islamic militants who wish to establish " Islamic State" if they succeed to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh's a regime.
Life must continue,and my university must be open,says Ashraq Rashed who refused to stay at home after the armed opposition and defected troops and Islamic militants closed and occupied her Sana'a university early last month.
Ishraq, who studies medicine, fifth year,is one of tens of thousands of female and male students who were deprived from going to university because the opposition protests have been camping out at the gate of university since last February.
Ashraq said that she and hundreds of her colleagues swore they would study this year in the halls of university or even in tents or under trees.
"We must study this year by hook or by crook, we are not ready to lose this year after we lost the previous year," Said Ashraq as she goes to a temporary class room in the hospital of Al Thawrah in the capital Sanaa.
Jamal Abdu, another medicine student said if the government would fail to protect them in the new places as it failed to protect them in Sanaa university, they would coordinate classes at their own houses.
" The majority of students are now fed up with politics, they want to study even under trees," he said.
The Sanaa university is completely occupied by defected troops supported by armed Islamic extremists who want to establish what they call Islamic Caliphate after collapse of President Saleh regime.
When students went to Sanaa university this year on September 17th, the day announced by the government as the beginning of the academic year, they were forced to go out from classes and some students and professors were attacked and beaten by the defected troops and the militants.
The defected troops belong to the defected general Ali Muhsen who declared his support for anti-Saleh protests last March.
The majority of militants belong to the cleric Abdul Majid Al Zandani, who also supported the protesters last March and promised them to establish the Islamic Caliphate. The headquarters of Muhsen's first armored division and the Zandani's Eman religious university are located around the occupied Sanaa university.
The government announced Tuesday that study for all colleges of Sanaa university would resume starting from October 16th, 2011 in hired halls of hotels and tents.
"We set up tents and hired halls in sone hotels in places far from violence and tension," Said Khaled Tamim, head of the occupied Sanaa university Tuesday.2
" I am very happy, very happy that I am going to study on Sunday, I can not wait," said Afnan who studies dentistry.
Meanwhile tension remains high in the capital and other places especially after statements by general Muhsen.
The defected general Muhsen said Monday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh did not win the presidential elections of 2006.
In the 2006 presidential elections, President Saleh had 78 per cent of the vote while his main rival, the opposition coalition candidate, Faisal Bin Shamlan had 21 per cent of the vote.
The elections were recognized by the opposition and the international community as " reasonably free, fair and competitive".
" At the end of the day of election, I went to President Saleh in his palace, he was very sad, he told me the computer made a mistake, and he would correct it," general Muhsen told a group of journalists in his office.
Then , they spent three days to correct that " mistake" and Saleh was announced as the winner and Bin Shamlan the loser.
" Saleh is still alive, Allah Almighty may preserve him and give him long life, you can make sure of what I am saying by asking him," said the general to the journalists who were only demanding him to release their colleague Mohammed Sudam, Reuter's reporter, who was kidnapped by the general's soldiers two days ago.
" this is the real story of the 2006 elections, so what constitutional legitimacy he is talking about," the general wonders.
"it's only today I know that Mohammed Sudam is a journalist, I know him only as the translator of the president," he said about the kidnapped journalist, before he released him.
Surprisingly, the opposition activist, lawyer Jamal Al Jubi,who worked as the head of the legal team of Bin Shamlan in 2006 presidential elections said the opposition candidate lost and Saleh won.
"There was some forgery but it does not mean we would have won," said the lawyer Al Jubi.
"I was the head of the legal team of Bin Shamlan, we did not claim we won, we were expecting between 30 to 35 of the vote not only 21," he said.
" I am wondering now why general Muhsen says now Saleh did not win," he added.
Father of Nobel prize winner blames daughter and defends President Saleh
Father of Tawakul Karman, the Yemeni female activist who shared the Nobel prize for peace last week with two other Liberian women, criticized her daughter for being rude to President.
Abdul Salam Karman, one of Saleh's advisors,said his daughter's win of Nobel prize was an honor to Yemen.
" But I am sad that my daughter did not listen to my talk, yes she has the right to oppose, but politely," he said.
"the exaggeration and extremism would lead Yemen to the he'll"
"President Saleh is not with someone against someone, I know him since more than 33 years since he was the military commander of Taiz," said Mr Karman on Sunday October 9th, while voting for a new chairman for the Saleh's advisory council , Shura council.
Mr Karman voted for Abdul Reham Ali Othman who became chairman of Shura council after Abdul Azeez Abdul Ghani who died late last August from injuries he suffered in the failed assassination attempt against Saleh last June.
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Yemen's opposition parties divided and cancel each other out, says former US ambassador to Yemen
Source: The daily Princetonian,
By REGINA WANG,12/10/2011
Wilson School lecturer and former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine discussed development in Yemen over the past three decades and the country’s future possibilities in a lecture in Robertson Hall on Tuesday night.
Bodine started her lecture by discussing the popular media phrase for the current revolution, “Yemen at the crossroads,” which she described as catchy and appropriate but not exactly new.
Thirty years ago, Bodine said, the phrase was in use and referred to the struggles between North and South Yemen and the rise of “an obscure junior officer, a transitional president at best.”
That obscure junior officer, Bodine said, was Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is currently serving as Yemen’s president more than 30 years later. While the problems facing the country are similar to those in existence at the time the phrase was coined, Bodine explained, they have also evolved.
“Yemen has not been stagnant, and these are not the same crossroads,” she said.
Bodine also explained the effects that the “Arab Spring” — which she described as misnamed — have had on Yemen, comparing Yemeni experiences to those in neighboring countries. The revolutionary waves in all the countries stand out for sharing the same threads of demographics, technology, economy and democracy, Bodine said, but Yemen’s movements have some traits that have made them unique.
For example, she noted, while all the revolutions during the Arab Spring involved a young demographic, with more than 50 percent of relevant populations under the age of 25, Yemen’s populace is especially youthful. More than 50 percent of Yemen’s citizens are under 15, she explained, bringing to unrest an especial passion and impatience of youth.
Technology has also made youth more aware of the promises leaders have made and failed to keep, as social media and satellite TV have contributed both to feelings of empowerment and marginalization, she said.
Regarding the economy, Bodine described a “battle of generational succession,” with the youth employment rate of 60 percent revealing a disconnect between the education provided in the nation and the jobs available. These problems are compounded by Yemen’s dwindling natural resources, she said.
While Yemen was never a democratic paradise, Bodine explained, the country was far ahead of its neighbors until five years ago. Yet one of the major differences between Yemen and its neighbors, she said, is the lack of coordination among the opposition movements.
As an example, Bodine described the Joint Meeting Party, an organization of diverse legal parties that are united to have a “critical mass that would lead to a coherent opposition to drive reforms.” Unfortunately, the parties involved instead “cancelled each other out,” she said.
“It’s not a lack of leaders, but too many,” Bodine explained. “Besides overthrowing Saleh, they have no common agendas.”
Along with the lack of a clear agenda among opposition members and the lack of a united military opposition, as exists in countries like Egypt, Yemen also has a shrewd leader in Saleh, who has managed to juggle the nation’s politics for longer than three decades.
However, Bodine added, Saleh knows that he currently is in a negotiation stage before eventually transitioning out. Yemen’s future ultimately lies in its ability to overcome its declining natural resources by increasing its investment in Aden Port, she said.
“The only way you can really start the basics of a self-sustaining economy is through Aden Port,” Bodine explained. “Yemen has two natural resources: its people and Aden Port.”
Bodine, who also serves as director of the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative, was the first speaker in the Princeton Institute for International Regional Studies’ 2011-12 Arab Political Development lecture series.
By REGINA WANG,12/10/2011
Wilson School lecturer and former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine discussed development in Yemen over the past three decades and the country’s future possibilities in a lecture in Robertson Hall on Tuesday night.
Bodine started her lecture by discussing the popular media phrase for the current revolution, “Yemen at the crossroads,” which she described as catchy and appropriate but not exactly new.
Thirty years ago, Bodine said, the phrase was in use and referred to the struggles between North and South Yemen and the rise of “an obscure junior officer, a transitional president at best.”
That obscure junior officer, Bodine said, was Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is currently serving as Yemen’s president more than 30 years later. While the problems facing the country are similar to those in existence at the time the phrase was coined, Bodine explained, they have also evolved.
“Yemen has not been stagnant, and these are not the same crossroads,” she said.
Bodine also explained the effects that the “Arab Spring” — which she described as misnamed — have had on Yemen, comparing Yemeni experiences to those in neighboring countries. The revolutionary waves in all the countries stand out for sharing the same threads of demographics, technology, economy and democracy, Bodine said, but Yemen’s movements have some traits that have made them unique.
For example, she noted, while all the revolutions during the Arab Spring involved a young demographic, with more than 50 percent of relevant populations under the age of 25, Yemen’s populace is especially youthful. More than 50 percent of Yemen’s citizens are under 15, she explained, bringing to unrest an especial passion and impatience of youth.
Technology has also made youth more aware of the promises leaders have made and failed to keep, as social media and satellite TV have contributed both to feelings of empowerment and marginalization, she said.
Regarding the economy, Bodine described a “battle of generational succession,” with the youth employment rate of 60 percent revealing a disconnect between the education provided in the nation and the jobs available. These problems are compounded by Yemen’s dwindling natural resources, she said.
While Yemen was never a democratic paradise, Bodine explained, the country was far ahead of its neighbors until five years ago. Yet one of the major differences between Yemen and its neighbors, she said, is the lack of coordination among the opposition movements.
As an example, Bodine described the Joint Meeting Party, an organization of diverse legal parties that are united to have a “critical mass that would lead to a coherent opposition to drive reforms.” Unfortunately, the parties involved instead “cancelled each other out,” she said.
“It’s not a lack of leaders, but too many,” Bodine explained. “Besides overthrowing Saleh, they have no common agendas.”
Along with the lack of a clear agenda among opposition members and the lack of a united military opposition, as exists in countries like Egypt, Yemen also has a shrewd leader in Saleh, who has managed to juggle the nation’s politics for longer than three decades.
However, Bodine added, Saleh knows that he currently is in a negotiation stage before eventually transitioning out. Yemen’s future ultimately lies in its ability to overcome its declining natural resources by increasing its investment in Aden Port, she said.
“The only way you can really start the basics of a self-sustaining economy is through Aden Port,” Bodine explained. “Yemen has two natural resources: its people and Aden Port.”
Bodine, who also serves as director of the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative, was the first speaker in the Princeton Institute for International Regional Studies’ 2011-12 Arab Political Development lecture series.
Monday, 10 October 2011
U.N. council aims for Yemen vote to support power-transition deal by next week: envoys
Source: Reuters, 11/10/2011
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS-The U.N. Security Council hopes to adopt a resolution on Yemen by next week that would voice support for Gulf Arab mediators who have urged the country's president to hand over power, envoys said on Monday.
Britain has been drafting a resolution on Yemen in consultation with France and the United States and intends to circulate it to the full 15-nation Security Council shortly after a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
Russia and China were not likely to block a resolution on Yemen, diplomats in New York said.
"We would ideally like to vote on the resolution this week," a Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Another diplomat said the vote would most likely take place late this week or early next week.
U.N. special envoy Jamal Benomar, who left Yemen earlier this month after a fruitless two weeks trying to mediate between the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the opposition, is scheduled to brief the council on Tuesday.
The council meeting on Yemen comes after Saleh suggested on Saturday he would step down within days, a promise he has made three times already this year.
Analysts and U.N. diplomats said they suspect it is yet another stalling tactic by Saleh.
The resolution, diplomats said, would voice support for a Gulf Arab peace initiative that Saleh has already pulled back from three times. That plan calls for him to form an opposition-led cabinet and then hand power to his deputy before early parliamentary and presidential elections.
CONFUSION
The wily Saleh, who came to power in 1978, is under pressure from international allies and an array of street activists, armed opponents and opposition parties to make good on promises to hand over power and end a crisis that has raised the specter of a failed Arab state overrun by militants.
Confusion over Saleh's intent is standard fare in a conflict that has dragged on since January when protesters first took to the streets to demand reform and an end to the grip on power that Saleh and his family have had for 33 years.
Russia and China last week vetoed a resolution condemning Syria's government for its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, which the United Nations says has killed more than 2,900 civilians.
Russia and China, supported by skeptical Brazil, India and South Africa, justified their Syria vetoes with concerns the Security Council might end up backing a Libya-style military intervention to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But the situation appears to be different with Yemen.
"Both Russia and China support council action on Yemen," a diplomat said. "The role played by an armed opposition in Yemen changes things as well. Russia and China want stability. They see the situation in Yemen differently from Syria."
The Security Council issued a statement on Yemen in late June that voiced "grave concern" about the situation there and welcomed "the ongoing mediation efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council to help the parties find agreement on a way forward."
That statement came after months of disagreement due to Russian and Chinese objections about what they saw as interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state, council diplomats said.
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS-The U.N. Security Council hopes to adopt a resolution on Yemen by next week that would voice support for Gulf Arab mediators who have urged the country's president to hand over power, envoys said on Monday.
Britain has been drafting a resolution on Yemen in consultation with France and the United States and intends to circulate it to the full 15-nation Security Council shortly after a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
Russia and China were not likely to block a resolution on Yemen, diplomats in New York said.
"We would ideally like to vote on the resolution this week," a Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Another diplomat said the vote would most likely take place late this week or early next week.
U.N. special envoy Jamal Benomar, who left Yemen earlier this month after a fruitless two weeks trying to mediate between the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the opposition, is scheduled to brief the council on Tuesday.
The council meeting on Yemen comes after Saleh suggested on Saturday he would step down within days, a promise he has made three times already this year.
Analysts and U.N. diplomats said they suspect it is yet another stalling tactic by Saleh.
The resolution, diplomats said, would voice support for a Gulf Arab peace initiative that Saleh has already pulled back from three times. That plan calls for him to form an opposition-led cabinet and then hand power to his deputy before early parliamentary and presidential elections.
CONFUSION
The wily Saleh, who came to power in 1978, is under pressure from international allies and an array of street activists, armed opponents and opposition parties to make good on promises to hand over power and end a crisis that has raised the specter of a failed Arab state overrun by militants.
Confusion over Saleh's intent is standard fare in a conflict that has dragged on since January when protesters first took to the streets to demand reform and an end to the grip on power that Saleh and his family have had for 33 years.
Russia and China last week vetoed a resolution condemning Syria's government for its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, which the United Nations says has killed more than 2,900 civilians.
Russia and China, supported by skeptical Brazil, India and South Africa, justified their Syria vetoes with concerns the Security Council might end up backing a Libya-style military intervention to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But the situation appears to be different with Yemen.
"Both Russia and China support council action on Yemen," a diplomat said. "The role played by an armed opposition in Yemen changes things as well. Russia and China want stability. They see the situation in Yemen differently from Syria."
The Security Council issued a statement on Yemen in late June that voiced "grave concern" about the situation there and welcomed "the ongoing mediation efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council to help the parties find agreement on a way forward."
That statement came after months of disagreement due to Russian and Chinese objections about what they saw as interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state, council diplomats said.
President Saleh told me he forged elections of 2006, defected general says
By Nasser Arrabyee, 10/10/2011
The defected general Ali Muhsen said Monday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh forged the presidential elections of 2006 after his rival won.
In the 2006 presidential elections, President Saleh had 78 per cent of the vote while his main rival, the opposition coalition candidate, Faisal Bin Shamlan had 21 per cent of the vote.
The elections was recognized by the opposition and the international community as " reasonably free, fair and competitive".
" At the end of the day of election, I went to president Saleh in his palace, he was very sad, he told me the computer made a mistake," general Muhsen told a group of journalists in his office.
Then , they spent three days to correct that " mistake" and Saleh was announced as the winner and Bin Shamlan the loser.
" Saleh is still alive, Allah Almighty may preserve him and give him long life, you can make sure of what I am saying by asking him," said the general to the journalists who were only demanding him to release their colleague Mohammed Sudam, Reuter's reporter, who was kidnapped by the general's soldiers two days ago.
" this is the real story of the 2006 elections, so what constitutional legitimacy he is talking about," the general wonders.
The general promised to release the kidnapped journalist Mohammed Sudam on the evening of Monday.
"it's only today I know that Mohammed Sudam is a journalist, I know him only as the translator of the president," he said about the kidnapped journalist.
The defected general Ali Muhsen said Monday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh forged the presidential elections of 2006 after his rival won.
In the 2006 presidential elections, President Saleh had 78 per cent of the vote while his main rival, the opposition coalition candidate, Faisal Bin Shamlan had 21 per cent of the vote.
The elections was recognized by the opposition and the international community as " reasonably free, fair and competitive".
" At the end of the day of election, I went to president Saleh in his palace, he was very sad, he told me the computer made a mistake," general Muhsen told a group of journalists in his office.
Then , they spent three days to correct that " mistake" and Saleh was announced as the winner and Bin Shamlan the loser.
" Saleh is still alive, Allah Almighty may preserve him and give him long life, you can make sure of what I am saying by asking him," said the general to the journalists who were only demanding him to release their colleague Mohammed Sudam, Reuter's reporter, who was kidnapped by the general's soldiers two days ago.
" this is the real story of the 2006 elections, so what constitutional legitimacy he is talking about," the general wonders.
The general promised to release the kidnapped journalist Mohammed Sudam on the evening of Monday.
"it's only today I know that Mohammed Sudam is a journalist, I know him only as the translator of the president," he said about the kidnapped journalist.
Sunday, 9 October 2011
White House justifies killing of al-Awlaki as 'the rules of war'
Source: The Independent, By Guy Adams in Los Angeles
10/10/2011
The White House ordered its lawyers to prepare a carefully-drafted legal opinion that would permit the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born al-Qa'ida leader killed by a drone attack in Yemen last month.
A 50-page argument was written in 2010 to justify the potential killing of al-Awlaki, it has emerged. As an American citizen, the government would in normal circumstances have been legally prevented from executing him without first staging a free and fair trial.
The existence of the secret document, which effectively threw that protocol out of the window, was revealed yesterday by the New York Times. Its reporter claimed to have spoken with several people "who have read" the opinion.
Al-Awlaki's assassination would only be lawful if it was not possible to capture him alive, it concluded. Because his circumstances were deemed unique, the opinion does not set a precedent which allows the US in future to kill any citizen it suspects of presenting a terrorist threat.
The document was largely drafted by David Barron and Martin Lederman, who work at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. They were asked to find a way around a stringent legal framework supposed to safeguard US citizens from being put to death without trial.
The lawyers argued that al-Awlaki could be legitimately killed because he was taking part in an ongoing war and posed an "imminent" threat to Americans. It was not murder to kill a wartime enemy in compliance with the rules of war, they concluded.
The legal advice was designed to supersede federal laws against murder, international laws against government-sanctioned assassinations, and the US Bill of Rights. It was drafted early last year, shortly after al-Awlaki helped orchestrate the failed "underwear bombing" of a flight to Detroit.
Born in New Mexico and raised largely in Yemen, al-Awlaki attended university in Colorado in the early 1990s, and subsequently became radicalised. After the 9/11 attacks, he fled first to the UK, and later to Yemen. At the time of his death, he was believed to be al-Qa'ida's "leader of external operations" in the Arabian Peninsula.
He was assassinated in late September in a drone strike that President Barack Obama hailed as a "major blow" to the terrorist network. Another US citizen and suspected al-Qa'ida member, Samir Khan, was also killed in the strike. He was not addressed in the legal advice, however, so his death is officially classified as "collateral damage".
News of the legal advice is likely to dismay human rights groups who are already disappointed with Mr Obama's failure to rein in some of what they see as the excesses of the War on Terror. Among other things, the president has failed to fulfil a campaign pledge to close Guantanamo Bay.
Mr Khan's family, for its part, asked whether it was strictly necessary for the government to have "assassinated two of its citizens". It asked: "Was this the only solution? Why couldn't there have been a capture and trial?"
Drone protests
* A software virus has infected the computer networks used by pilots who control US drone attacks, according to a technology website.
The virus affected computers in cockpits at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, from where pilots fly drones that operate over such places as Iraq and Afghanistan, according to wired.com.
Experts say it is not clear whether the virus was introduced deliberately, but they do not believe any information has been lost, or any missions been abandoned, because of it. But several attempts to clean up the system had failed, according to wired.com.
The US Air Force said in a statement that it does not discuss threats to its computer networks.
* A museum in Washington D.C. was closed at the weekend when anti-war demonstrations overran the building to protest against an exhibition that highlighted the role of the drones.
Security guards at the National Air and Space Museum used pepper spray to repel the placard-carrying protesters. David Swanson, 41, said that the protesters were trying to make a point about massive military spending and the use of drones. The exhibition, Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, covers the history of unmanned aircraft and their current use as offensive weapons.
Drones are often called the weapon of choice of the Obama administration, which has increased sharply the number of drone strikes against al-Qa'ida targets in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.
10/10/2011
The White House ordered its lawyers to prepare a carefully-drafted legal opinion that would permit the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born al-Qa'ida leader killed by a drone attack in Yemen last month.
A 50-page argument was written in 2010 to justify the potential killing of al-Awlaki, it has emerged. As an American citizen, the government would in normal circumstances have been legally prevented from executing him without first staging a free and fair trial.
The existence of the secret document, which effectively threw that protocol out of the window, was revealed yesterday by the New York Times. Its reporter claimed to have spoken with several people "who have read" the opinion.
Al-Awlaki's assassination would only be lawful if it was not possible to capture him alive, it concluded. Because his circumstances were deemed unique, the opinion does not set a precedent which allows the US in future to kill any citizen it suspects of presenting a terrorist threat.
The document was largely drafted by David Barron and Martin Lederman, who work at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. They were asked to find a way around a stringent legal framework supposed to safeguard US citizens from being put to death without trial.
The lawyers argued that al-Awlaki could be legitimately killed because he was taking part in an ongoing war and posed an "imminent" threat to Americans. It was not murder to kill a wartime enemy in compliance with the rules of war, they concluded.
The legal advice was designed to supersede federal laws against murder, international laws against government-sanctioned assassinations, and the US Bill of Rights. It was drafted early last year, shortly after al-Awlaki helped orchestrate the failed "underwear bombing" of a flight to Detroit.
Born in New Mexico and raised largely in Yemen, al-Awlaki attended university in Colorado in the early 1990s, and subsequently became radicalised. After the 9/11 attacks, he fled first to the UK, and later to Yemen. At the time of his death, he was believed to be al-Qa'ida's "leader of external operations" in the Arabian Peninsula.
He was assassinated in late September in a drone strike that President Barack Obama hailed as a "major blow" to the terrorist network. Another US citizen and suspected al-Qa'ida member, Samir Khan, was also killed in the strike. He was not addressed in the legal advice, however, so his death is officially classified as "collateral damage".
News of the legal advice is likely to dismay human rights groups who are already disappointed with Mr Obama's failure to rein in some of what they see as the excesses of the War on Terror. Among other things, the president has failed to fulfil a campaign pledge to close Guantanamo Bay.
Mr Khan's family, for its part, asked whether it was strictly necessary for the government to have "assassinated two of its citizens". It asked: "Was this the only solution? Why couldn't there have been a capture and trial?"
Drone protests
* A software virus has infected the computer networks used by pilots who control US drone attacks, according to a technology website.
The virus affected computers in cockpits at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, from where pilots fly drones that operate over such places as Iraq and Afghanistan, according to wired.com.
Experts say it is not clear whether the virus was introduced deliberately, but they do not believe any information has been lost, or any missions been abandoned, because of it. But several attempts to clean up the system had failed, according to wired.com.
The US Air Force said in a statement that it does not discuss threats to its computer networks.
* A museum in Washington D.C. was closed at the weekend when anti-war demonstrations overran the building to protest against an exhibition that highlighted the role of the drones.
Security guards at the National Air and Space Museum used pepper spray to repel the placard-carrying protesters. David Swanson, 41, said that the protesters were trying to make a point about massive military spending and the use of drones. The exhibition, Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, covers the history of unmanned aircraft and their current use as offensive weapons.
Drones are often called the weapon of choice of the Obama administration, which has increased sharply the number of drone strikes against al-Qa'ida targets in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Yemen Nobel laureate a figure of hope, controversy
Source: Reuters, 07/10/201
By Erika Solomon and Mohammed Ghobari
SANAA (Reuters) - Just a week ago, many Yemeni opponents of President Ali Abdulah Saleh would have said that Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakul Karman was an out-of-touch protest leader whose star was fading.
But on Friday, any criticism of the aggressive style of the 32-year-old mother of three was forgotten in cheers of joy for Yemen's first Nobel Prize winner. Many Yemeni protesters hope she can spark another turning point for their mass movement.
"She's a controversial figure for the protesters, but either way everyone is happy today -- this is a sign the world supports our peaceful protest movement, people feel the world is standing with us," said youth activist Atiaf al-Wazir.
Karman was sidelined in recent months for what other protest leaders called a "dictatorial" style that had even alienated many of the youthful demonstrators she had helped to inspire.
For nearly nine months, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have been demanding an end to Saleh's 33-year rule. The veteran president has clung on even as his country fragments and violence between loyalist and rebel troops threatens civil war.
"Yemen is usually a source of bad news, and it has been nine long months for protesters. Today everyone is happy," Wazir said. "We don't have too many role models."
Yemeni analyst Ali Seif Hassan said: "This is a transformative moment for our society and the revolution -- a woman has become its most prominent figure."
This is unusual for Yemen, which tops the U.N. Development Programme's gender inequality index and has been criticized by rights groups for violence and discrimination against women.
A fiery journalist and member of the Islamist party Islah, Karman was an activist long before this year's Arab uprisings which have toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Her star rose quickly when Yemen's protest movement began in January. Her brief detention by authorities in February brought thousands to the streets and focused the media spotlight on her.
She was among the first to organize protests when only a few battered, plastic tents dotted Sanaa University gates -- the "Change Square" protest encampment now stretches at least 4 km (2-1/2 miles) down a major road in the capital.
SOURCE OF CONTROVERSY
Before she became a journalist, Karman had been considered a shy and conservative member of the Islamist Islah party, wearing a long black face veil and cloak like most Yemeni women.
But after working on women's rights she began to confront Islah about women's roles, drawing criticism in the party, and started wearing colorful scarves that frame her face.
"She now leads a moderate wing in Islah among its many extremist elements," analyst Ali Seif Hassan said.
For years Karman organized protests in Sanaa and elsewhere to demand the release of political detainees and journalists, and founded Yemen's "Women Journalists without Chains" in 2006.
But her intense, individualistic style grated with some other protest organizers and many had stopped working with her.
"We fear the West will want her to be the next president -- she has a dictatorial style," joked Bashir Othman, a leftist protest organizer,
Defying an agreement among organizers, Karman stood on a platform in Change Square in May and urged protesters to march to the presidential palace -- a move that ended in bloodshed.
"She called for that march, the police brutally attacked it and 13 people died. She didn't apologize for it and it really upset a lot of people," said one protest organizer who declined to be named. "But today is a moment for celebration. We will use it for solidarity and forget that."
Karman dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to the Arab uprisings and to those killed in the upheavals.
"I dedicate this award to the Yemeni people and the youth of the Arab Spring...and to every martyr who has died for the sake of freedom," she told Reuters.
By Erika Solomon and Mohammed Ghobari
SANAA (Reuters) - Just a week ago, many Yemeni opponents of President Ali Abdulah Saleh would have said that Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakul Karman was an out-of-touch protest leader whose star was fading.
But on Friday, any criticism of the aggressive style of the 32-year-old mother of three was forgotten in cheers of joy for Yemen's first Nobel Prize winner. Many Yemeni protesters hope she can spark another turning point for their mass movement.
"She's a controversial figure for the protesters, but either way everyone is happy today -- this is a sign the world supports our peaceful protest movement, people feel the world is standing with us," said youth activist Atiaf al-Wazir.
Karman was sidelined in recent months for what other protest leaders called a "dictatorial" style that had even alienated many of the youthful demonstrators she had helped to inspire.
For nearly nine months, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have been demanding an end to Saleh's 33-year rule. The veteran president has clung on even as his country fragments and violence between loyalist and rebel troops threatens civil war.
"Yemen is usually a source of bad news, and it has been nine long months for protesters. Today everyone is happy," Wazir said. "We don't have too many role models."
Yemeni analyst Ali Seif Hassan said: "This is a transformative moment for our society and the revolution -- a woman has become its most prominent figure."
This is unusual for Yemen, which tops the U.N. Development Programme's gender inequality index and has been criticized by rights groups for violence and discrimination against women.
A fiery journalist and member of the Islamist party Islah, Karman was an activist long before this year's Arab uprisings which have toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Her star rose quickly when Yemen's protest movement began in January. Her brief detention by authorities in February brought thousands to the streets and focused the media spotlight on her.
She was among the first to organize protests when only a few battered, plastic tents dotted Sanaa University gates -- the "Change Square" protest encampment now stretches at least 4 km (2-1/2 miles) down a major road in the capital.
SOURCE OF CONTROVERSY
Before she became a journalist, Karman had been considered a shy and conservative member of the Islamist Islah party, wearing a long black face veil and cloak like most Yemeni women.
But after working on women's rights she began to confront Islah about women's roles, drawing criticism in the party, and started wearing colorful scarves that frame her face.
"She now leads a moderate wing in Islah among its many extremist elements," analyst Ali Seif Hassan said.
For years Karman organized protests in Sanaa and elsewhere to demand the release of political detainees and journalists, and founded Yemen's "Women Journalists without Chains" in 2006.
But her intense, individualistic style grated with some other protest organizers and many had stopped working with her.
"We fear the West will want her to be the next president -- she has a dictatorial style," joked Bashir Othman, a leftist protest organizer,
Defying an agreement among organizers, Karman stood on a platform in Change Square in May and urged protesters to march to the presidential palace -- a move that ended in bloodshed.
"She called for that march, the police brutally attacked it and 13 people died. She didn't apologize for it and it really upset a lot of people," said one protest organizer who declined to be named. "But today is a moment for celebration. We will use it for solidarity and forget that."
Karman dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to the Arab uprisings and to those killed in the upheavals.
"I dedicate this award to the Yemeni people and the youth of the Arab Spring...and to every martyr who has died for the sake of freedom," she told Reuters.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Can Yemen Crisis Be Internationalized More?
By Nasser Arrabyee/06/10/2011
Two important things have significantly affected the 9-month long political crisis in Yemen this week.
The CIA most wanted Yemeni-American terrorist Anwar Al Awlaki was killed in Yemen by American Hellfire missiles in full and declared cooperation from the Yemeni government.
The second thing is that the UN Security Council might interfere to put more pressure on Yemeni conflicting parties to end the crisis.
After more than two weeks in Yemen, the UN envoy Jamal Bin Omar left Sanaa Monday October 3rd, for New York to brief the UN officials on the stalemate of Yemeni crisis.
Having met and listened to all parties, groups, and effective players, Bin Omar said that all parties should take responsibility for rescuing their country, and the solution would only come from among them not from outside.
The UN envoy could not convince the conflicting parties in Yemen to implement a plan he earlier suggested for " constitutional , orderly and peaceful" transfer of power from President Ali Abdullah Saleh according to a US-backed and Saudi-led gulf deal, the GCC initiative.
The parties still did not agree on some small details on the implementation mechanism which should end up with electing a new president for Yemen by the end of this year.
So, immediately after Bin Omar left Yemen,diplomats and observers started to say that a resolution from UNSC should be taken on the basis of the GCC deal and its UN implementation mechanism.
The opposition talks happily about the possibility of having a resolution from SC to obligate all parties, while the government keeps welcoming all regional and international efforts for a " constitutional and orderly" transfer of power.
The situation in the ground in side the capital Sanaa and other tribal places is in a seemingly controlled war between government forces and loyal tribesmen on one side, and opposition forces which include defected troops, President Saleh's rivals in Ahmar's family and other armed tribesmen who allegedly defend the anti-Saleh protesters, on the other hand.
Observers say if there is any resolution from UNSC, it should be balanced and in the direction of pressing all parties to end the crisis not in favor of a certain party.
Otherwise things will only be worse and worse in terms of insecurity, instability and sufferings of the people.
The interpretation of this special and unique case of Yemen is that the regime is divided into two groups who are now conflicting with each other over the power.
And what makes this special and unique case even more complicated is that one group of this regime wants to win what it called a " revolutionary legitimacy" after it hijacked the youth revolution, that wants Yemen to be free from the two groups.
The second group, however, (Saleh and his supporters) is adhering to the constitutional legitimacy.
The defected general Ali Muhsen and the tribal leaders, Al Ahmar's sons, who were always the essential part of Saleh's regime over the last 33 years, formed the group that is using the youth revolution to reproduce the same tyrannical and backward regime not the civil state that the ambitious youth always demanded.
"So, the UNSC resolution,if any, should be obligating both sides and should be threatening both sides in case of refusal," said Najeeb Ghallab, politics professor at Sanaa university.
"There is lack of confidence between the two conflicting groups, so there should be strong intervention to help them and rescue Yemen," he added.
Assassination of Al Awlaki
The American officials kept saying President Saleh should also transfer power despite his cooperation for the killing of the most wanted terrorist Anwar Al Awlaki earlier this week.
But the timing of killing Al Awlaki seems to be in the interest of thev wily and shrewd president Saleh.
The Americans at least would have spent few years not only few months to kill their number one enemy after Bin Laden.
Al Awlaki was blamed for three terrorist attacks at least on US from Yemen over the last three years.
The Yemeni government provided all kind of cooperation since the more serious searching on Al Awlaki started immediately after Osama Bin Laden was killed early last May.
Al Qaeda expert Saeed Obaid said that Al Awlaki was the main recruiter from US and the west in general.
"If it's proved that Anwar Al Awlaki is dead, then 2011 will be the year of victory over Al Qaeda for US," Obaid said.
"It seems that the Yemeni political security (intelligence ) played an essential role in the murder of Al Awlaki," he said.
On Friday September 30, US Hellfire missiles killed Anwar Al Awlaki and Sameer Khan and two other Yemenis in Al Khasef area between Mareb and Al Jawaf.
The four men were in Al Awlaki's four-wheel drive Hilux car according to locals who saw Al Awlaki and his comrades days before the attack.
The locals told the weekly, Anwar Al Awlaki came to Al Jawf only 10 days ago and he was staying in three places only.
The house of Salem Saleh Afrag, the local driver who was killed with him, was the first place . Al Awlaki was killed immediately after he left this house.
Khamis Afrag, brother of Salem, is a leading member in the Islamist opposition party, Islah.
The second place was the farm of local tribal leader Amin Al Okaimi in Al Jar area. Al Okaimi is a member of Parliament and chairman of the opposition Islamist party, Islah.
Many Al Qaeda operatives including Egyptians, Algerians and Libyans are still hiding in the farm of Al Okaimi until now, said the local sources.
The Islamist tribal leader Al Okaimi and his tribesmen have been controlling the eastern province of Al Jawf since last March when the defected general Ali Muhsen encouraged them to dismiss the president Saleh's loyalists and replace them.
The third place frequented by the slain Al Awlaki in Al Jawf, was the farm of the Islamist leader Abdul Majid Al Zandani, wanted by UN and US as a global terrorist, in the area of Nebta in the same province of Al Jawf.
Al Awlaki survived a number of assassination attempt since May. The last was in September 20th, when he and the AQAP second man the Saudi national survived a drone attack in Al Mahfad, in Abyan province.
Battles are still going on and off in Abyan, Ja'ar, Mudyah, Lawdar in the southern province of Abyan between the government forces supported by the American trained counter-terrorism forces and Al Qaeda operatives.
It would be in the interest of Al Qaeda if there is any kind of military interference from outside if all regional and international efforts failed to find a political solution.
Two important things have significantly affected the 9-month long political crisis in Yemen this week.
The CIA most wanted Yemeni-American terrorist Anwar Al Awlaki was killed in Yemen by American Hellfire missiles in full and declared cooperation from the Yemeni government.
The second thing is that the UN Security Council might interfere to put more pressure on Yemeni conflicting parties to end the crisis.
After more than two weeks in Yemen, the UN envoy Jamal Bin Omar left Sanaa Monday October 3rd, for New York to brief the UN officials on the stalemate of Yemeni crisis.
Having met and listened to all parties, groups, and effective players, Bin Omar said that all parties should take responsibility for rescuing their country, and the solution would only come from among them not from outside.
The UN envoy could not convince the conflicting parties in Yemen to implement a plan he earlier suggested for " constitutional , orderly and peaceful" transfer of power from President Ali Abdullah Saleh according to a US-backed and Saudi-led gulf deal, the GCC initiative.
The parties still did not agree on some small details on the implementation mechanism which should end up with electing a new president for Yemen by the end of this year.
So, immediately after Bin Omar left Yemen,diplomats and observers started to say that a resolution from UNSC should be taken on the basis of the GCC deal and its UN implementation mechanism.
The opposition talks happily about the possibility of having a resolution from SC to obligate all parties, while the government keeps welcoming all regional and international efforts for a " constitutional and orderly" transfer of power.
The situation in the ground in side the capital Sanaa and other tribal places is in a seemingly controlled war between government forces and loyal tribesmen on one side, and opposition forces which include defected troops, President Saleh's rivals in Ahmar's family and other armed tribesmen who allegedly defend the anti-Saleh protesters, on the other hand.
Observers say if there is any resolution from UNSC, it should be balanced and in the direction of pressing all parties to end the crisis not in favor of a certain party.
Otherwise things will only be worse and worse in terms of insecurity, instability and sufferings of the people.
The interpretation of this special and unique case of Yemen is that the regime is divided into two groups who are now conflicting with each other over the power.
And what makes this special and unique case even more complicated is that one group of this regime wants to win what it called a " revolutionary legitimacy" after it hijacked the youth revolution, that wants Yemen to be free from the two groups.
The second group, however, (Saleh and his supporters) is adhering to the constitutional legitimacy.
The defected general Ali Muhsen and the tribal leaders, Al Ahmar's sons, who were always the essential part of Saleh's regime over the last 33 years, formed the group that is using the youth revolution to reproduce the same tyrannical and backward regime not the civil state that the ambitious youth always demanded.
"So, the UNSC resolution,if any, should be obligating both sides and should be threatening both sides in case of refusal," said Najeeb Ghallab, politics professor at Sanaa university.
"There is lack of confidence between the two conflicting groups, so there should be strong intervention to help them and rescue Yemen," he added.
Assassination of Al Awlaki
The American officials kept saying President Saleh should also transfer power despite his cooperation for the killing of the most wanted terrorist Anwar Al Awlaki earlier this week.
But the timing of killing Al Awlaki seems to be in the interest of thev wily and shrewd president Saleh.
The Americans at least would have spent few years not only few months to kill their number one enemy after Bin Laden.
Al Awlaki was blamed for three terrorist attacks at least on US from Yemen over the last three years.
The Yemeni government provided all kind of cooperation since the more serious searching on Al Awlaki started immediately after Osama Bin Laden was killed early last May.
Al Qaeda expert Saeed Obaid said that Al Awlaki was the main recruiter from US and the west in general.
"If it's proved that Anwar Al Awlaki is dead, then 2011 will be the year of victory over Al Qaeda for US," Obaid said.
"It seems that the Yemeni political security (intelligence ) played an essential role in the murder of Al Awlaki," he said.
On Friday September 30, US Hellfire missiles killed Anwar Al Awlaki and Sameer Khan and two other Yemenis in Al Khasef area between Mareb and Al Jawaf.
The four men were in Al Awlaki's four-wheel drive Hilux car according to locals who saw Al Awlaki and his comrades days before the attack.
The locals told the weekly, Anwar Al Awlaki came to Al Jawf only 10 days ago and he was staying in three places only.
The house of Salem Saleh Afrag, the local driver who was killed with him, was the first place . Al Awlaki was killed immediately after he left this house.
Khamis Afrag, brother of Salem, is a leading member in the Islamist opposition party, Islah.
The second place was the farm of local tribal leader Amin Al Okaimi in Al Jar area. Al Okaimi is a member of Parliament and chairman of the opposition Islamist party, Islah.
Many Al Qaeda operatives including Egyptians, Algerians and Libyans are still hiding in the farm of Al Okaimi until now, said the local sources.
The Islamist tribal leader Al Okaimi and his tribesmen have been controlling the eastern province of Al Jawf since last March when the defected general Ali Muhsen encouraged them to dismiss the president Saleh's loyalists and replace them.
The third place frequented by the slain Al Awlaki in Al Jawf, was the farm of the Islamist leader Abdul Majid Al Zandani, wanted by UN and US as a global terrorist, in the area of Nebta in the same province of Al Jawf.
Al Awlaki survived a number of assassination attempt since May. The last was in September 20th, when he and the AQAP second man the Saudi national survived a drone attack in Al Mahfad, in Abyan province.
Battles are still going on and off in Abyan, Ja'ar, Mudyah, Lawdar in the southern province of Abyan between the government forces supported by the American trained counter-terrorism forces and Al Qaeda operatives.
It would be in the interest of Al Qaeda if there is any kind of military interference from outside if all regional and international efforts failed to find a political solution.
Despite death of Awlaki, U.S.-Yemen relations strained
Source: Washington Post,06/10/2011
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Karen DeYoung,
SANAA, Yemen — Ties between the United States and Yemen are being strained by a growing disagreement over how to combat the Yemen-based terrorist group that U.S. officials have called the most potent al-Qaeda franchise.
Even as both sides claim credit for the death of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in a U.S. drone strike Friday, they are sparring over divergent priorities.
Senior Yemeni officials accuse the United States of not helping government forces fight opponents — many of whom they say are al-Qaeda-linked insurgents intent on attacking the West — inside Yemen.
U.S. officials, in turn, express little interest in the insurgency in Yemen and say their counterterrorism efforts are limited to what they describe as a minority within al-Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate that is focused on U.S. attacks.
The officials say they are determined to resist efforts by the government of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh to enlist American forces and firepower in a domestic counterinsurgency and draw the United States into Yemen’s internal chaos.
The dispute underscores a fundamental dilemma facing the Obama administration. Although it depends on counterterrorism cooperation from the Saleh government to target leaders of the Yemen-based group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, it is seeking Saleh’s resignation as part of the pro-democracy Arab Spring.
Interviews with officials from both sides portrayed some elements of the U.S.-Yemeni counterterrorism relationship as contentious, at times antagonistic, despite recent public claims by senior American officials that the ties are close and cooperative.
“The American aid is very limited,” said Gen. Yahya Saleh, a nephew of the president, who heads Yemen’s U.S.-trained counterterrorism units and its powerful Central Security Forces. “Unfortunately, the American side has been paying more attention to the political situation than fighting terrorism.”
The tensions come as Yemen’s eight-month-old populist revolt has turned increasingly violent, with rival military forces and tribal militias battling each other in Sanaa, the capital, and other cities.
Diplomacy has failed to persuade the Yemeni president to sign a power transfer deal crafted by the country’s Persian Gulf neighbors and backed by the United States and Europe. Instead, the unrest has weakened government control over much of Yemen, particularly in the south, where Islamist militants — many linked to al-Qaeda — have seized large swaths of territory, especially in Abyan province. Many Yemenis and diplomats fear that this impoverished Middle Eastern nation at the heel of the Arabian Peninsula is on the threshold of civil war and economic collapse.
A senior Obama administration official brushed off the Yemeni criticism and drew a distinction between targeting individuals through counterterrorism measures and the more resource-intensive strategy of eliminating militant havens through counterinsurgency.
The United States will not become involved in the latter in Yemen, where there “is a veritable stew of counterinsurgencies, different political elements and competing factions,” the official said, adding that the United States would fight AQAP only to prevent it from attacking the United States and its interests.
While AQAP is “fighting a ground war against Yemeni military forces,” the official said, many of the insurgents are tribally based, part-time fighters trying to oust the Saleh government. AQAP leaders focused on attacking the United States and its allies number only “a couple of dozen, maybe,” White House counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan said last month.
“I know there is dissatisfaction, particularly among the Saleh family,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. counterterrorism operations in Yemen. “They would like us to do different things to suppress an insurgency that is alive, particularly in Abyan, and [anything against] Saleh’s political interests.” But, the official said, “we’re not going to get enmeshed in that type of domestic situation.”
U.S. adjusts strategy
There has been a visible change in the U.S. counterterrorism policy here. In recent months, the Obama administration has escalated the use of airstrikes through drones and cruise missiles, viewing that as a more attractive option to find and eliminate terrorists in hard-to-reach areas.
As the violence has escalated, the administration has quietly recalled military trainers, consultants and other experts who worked with Yemen’s counterterrorism forces, Gen. Saleh said. “There’s no more training. There has been no more ammunition or equipment,” he said. “Gradually, their support is becoming less and less.”
“We requested them to help us in the situation in Abyan, in planning operations,” he said. “They said, ‘We will,’ and then nothing happened.” U.S. officials said they provided humanitarian assistance, including food and medical supplies to troops trapped inside a sports stadium, as well as intelligence, but Yemeni officials dismissed the support as too little, too late.
The Obama administration appears to be treading more carefully as reports escalate of security forces loyal to President Saleh opening fire on unarmed protesters, killing and injuring hundreds. Opposition leaders have accused Gen. Saleh of deploying U.S.-trained counterterrorism units against the protesters, a charge he denies.
A Western diplomat in Sanaa, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said there was no evidence that American-trained Yemeni counterterrorism forces were used against peaceful protesters, which would be a clear violation of U.S. law. But, the diplomat said, there was some evidence that U.S.-trained units fought against armed anti-government tribesmen in the capital’s Hassabah enclave.
“We’ve made clear to the Yemeni government that any such use of those forces or any capabilities or equipment that we provided to suppress domestic protesters will result in the elimination of any type of assistance to those units,” said the senior Obama administration official. “We are comfortable and confident those units are not involved.”
He added that “the line between what makes someone a terrorist as opposed to a domestic opponent is a fuzzy line” but that “we’re not going to invest in capabilities that are going to be used against peaceful protesters.”
Anger in Saleh government
The rare public criticism by the Yemenis comes as the Saleh government is growing increasingly bitter over the Obama administration’s demands that the president step down immediately. On the day Awlaki was killed, the White House stressed publicly that his death would not alter U.S. demands. That prompted senior Yemeni officials to complain that the United States did not respect a key counterterrorism ally, even after it helped kill one of America’s most wanted al-Qaeda operatives, who had inspired attacks on U.S. soil.
Gen. Saleh also expressed concern that the increased use of airstrikes by drones could lead to a backlash inside Yemen against the government and the United States, ushering more instability.
“At times, the partnership is not there,” said Sultan al-Barakani, a senior ruling party official. “The United States, when it deals with al-Qaeda, acts as if it is giving orders to Yemen,” he said, adding that the Americans “are not playing an active role.”
When it came to tracking down Awlaki, the CIA and Special Force operatives trusted few Yemenis. The Western diplomat said the Americans were dealing only with Yemen’s National Security Bureau, considered the most reliable. The operation was so closely guarded that the CIA didn’t involve Gen. Saleh or his U.S.-trained counterterrorism units. In the past, Yemen’s security forces have been infiltrated by al-Qaeda sympathizers.
“We’re trying to be as precise and as careful as possible, to mitigate the threat to our interests but at the same time not contributing to” Yemen’s internal conflict, the senior administration official said.
DeYoung reported from Washington.
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Karen DeYoung,
SANAA, Yemen — Ties between the United States and Yemen are being strained by a growing disagreement over how to combat the Yemen-based terrorist group that U.S. officials have called the most potent al-Qaeda franchise.
Even as both sides claim credit for the death of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in a U.S. drone strike Friday, they are sparring over divergent priorities.
Senior Yemeni officials accuse the United States of not helping government forces fight opponents — many of whom they say are al-Qaeda-linked insurgents intent on attacking the West — inside Yemen.
U.S. officials, in turn, express little interest in the insurgency in Yemen and say their counterterrorism efforts are limited to what they describe as a minority within al-Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate that is focused on U.S. attacks.
The officials say they are determined to resist efforts by the government of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh to enlist American forces and firepower in a domestic counterinsurgency and draw the United States into Yemen’s internal chaos.
The dispute underscores a fundamental dilemma facing the Obama administration. Although it depends on counterterrorism cooperation from the Saleh government to target leaders of the Yemen-based group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, it is seeking Saleh’s resignation as part of the pro-democracy Arab Spring.
Interviews with officials from both sides portrayed some elements of the U.S.-Yemeni counterterrorism relationship as contentious, at times antagonistic, despite recent public claims by senior American officials that the ties are close and cooperative.
“The American aid is very limited,” said Gen. Yahya Saleh, a nephew of the president, who heads Yemen’s U.S.-trained counterterrorism units and its powerful Central Security Forces. “Unfortunately, the American side has been paying more attention to the political situation than fighting terrorism.”
The tensions come as Yemen’s eight-month-old populist revolt has turned increasingly violent, with rival military forces and tribal militias battling each other in Sanaa, the capital, and other cities.
Diplomacy has failed to persuade the Yemeni president to sign a power transfer deal crafted by the country’s Persian Gulf neighbors and backed by the United States and Europe. Instead, the unrest has weakened government control over much of Yemen, particularly in the south, where Islamist militants — many linked to al-Qaeda — have seized large swaths of territory, especially in Abyan province. Many Yemenis and diplomats fear that this impoverished Middle Eastern nation at the heel of the Arabian Peninsula is on the threshold of civil war and economic collapse.
A senior Obama administration official brushed off the Yemeni criticism and drew a distinction between targeting individuals through counterterrorism measures and the more resource-intensive strategy of eliminating militant havens through counterinsurgency.
The United States will not become involved in the latter in Yemen, where there “is a veritable stew of counterinsurgencies, different political elements and competing factions,” the official said, adding that the United States would fight AQAP only to prevent it from attacking the United States and its interests.
While AQAP is “fighting a ground war against Yemeni military forces,” the official said, many of the insurgents are tribally based, part-time fighters trying to oust the Saleh government. AQAP leaders focused on attacking the United States and its allies number only “a couple of dozen, maybe,” White House counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan said last month.
“I know there is dissatisfaction, particularly among the Saleh family,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. counterterrorism operations in Yemen. “They would like us to do different things to suppress an insurgency that is alive, particularly in Abyan, and [anything against] Saleh’s political interests.” But, the official said, “we’re not going to get enmeshed in that type of domestic situation.”
U.S. adjusts strategy
There has been a visible change in the U.S. counterterrorism policy here. In recent months, the Obama administration has escalated the use of airstrikes through drones and cruise missiles, viewing that as a more attractive option to find and eliminate terrorists in hard-to-reach areas.
As the violence has escalated, the administration has quietly recalled military trainers, consultants and other experts who worked with Yemen’s counterterrorism forces, Gen. Saleh said. “There’s no more training. There has been no more ammunition or equipment,” he said. “Gradually, their support is becoming less and less.”
“We requested them to help us in the situation in Abyan, in planning operations,” he said. “They said, ‘We will,’ and then nothing happened.” U.S. officials said they provided humanitarian assistance, including food and medical supplies to troops trapped inside a sports stadium, as well as intelligence, but Yemeni officials dismissed the support as too little, too late.
The Obama administration appears to be treading more carefully as reports escalate of security forces loyal to President Saleh opening fire on unarmed protesters, killing and injuring hundreds. Opposition leaders have accused Gen. Saleh of deploying U.S.-trained counterterrorism units against the protesters, a charge he denies.
A Western diplomat in Sanaa, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said there was no evidence that American-trained Yemeni counterterrorism forces were used against peaceful protesters, which would be a clear violation of U.S. law. But, the diplomat said, there was some evidence that U.S.-trained units fought against armed anti-government tribesmen in the capital’s Hassabah enclave.
“We’ve made clear to the Yemeni government that any such use of those forces or any capabilities or equipment that we provided to suppress domestic protesters will result in the elimination of any type of assistance to those units,” said the senior Obama administration official. “We are comfortable and confident those units are not involved.”
He added that “the line between what makes someone a terrorist as opposed to a domestic opponent is a fuzzy line” but that “we’re not going to invest in capabilities that are going to be used against peaceful protesters.”
Anger in Saleh government
The rare public criticism by the Yemenis comes as the Saleh government is growing increasingly bitter over the Obama administration’s demands that the president step down immediately. On the day Awlaki was killed, the White House stressed publicly that his death would not alter U.S. demands. That prompted senior Yemeni officials to complain that the United States did not respect a key counterterrorism ally, even after it helped kill one of America’s most wanted al-Qaeda operatives, who had inspired attacks on U.S. soil.
Gen. Saleh also expressed concern that the increased use of airstrikes by drones could lead to a backlash inside Yemen against the government and the United States, ushering more instability.
“At times, the partnership is not there,” said Sultan al-Barakani, a senior ruling party official. “The United States, when it deals with al-Qaeda, acts as if it is giving orders to Yemen,” he said, adding that the Americans “are not playing an active role.”
When it came to tracking down Awlaki, the CIA and Special Force operatives trusted few Yemenis. The Western diplomat said the Americans were dealing only with Yemen’s National Security Bureau, considered the most reliable. The operation was so closely guarded that the CIA didn’t involve Gen. Saleh or his U.S.-trained counterterrorism units. In the past, Yemen’s security forces have been infiltrated by al-Qaeda sympathizers.
“We’re trying to be as precise and as careful as possible, to mitigate the threat to our interests but at the same time not contributing to” Yemen’s internal conflict, the senior administration official said.
DeYoung reported from Washington.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Defected military and tribal leaders want to repeat the bad past of Yemen
Yemen's Opposition Binds Young Activists, Armed Fighters
Source: Voice of America,
By Elizabeth Arrott
05/10/2011
Cairo-Young activists in Yemen spearheaded the uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, turning grassroots protests into a national movement.
Now, with pro-democracy demonstrations in their ninth month, many fear their efforts have been co-opted by other opposition groups.
The aims of the Yemeni youth movement are clear, and echo a call heard across the Middle East and North Africa all year.
A member of the Media Committee for Change, activist Adel Abdo Arrabeai, says the main goal is to form a modern civil society. In order to make that happen, he adds, Yemen's long-time leader must step down.
And that is a central dilemma of the pro-democracy movement: wanting President Saleh gone has won the protesters many allies, but many of them may not want a civil state.
Yemeni journalist Nasser Arrabyee says defecting military commanders and anti-Saleh tribal leaders are exploiting the youth movement, a development he feels is very dangerous.
"The pro-democracy movement is very weak," said Arrabyee. "If it were strong, the Yemenis would have succeeded.
Now, we have been nine months [and] we did no succeed. Why? Because of the old and traditional rivalry, because of the tribal leaders and defected commanders."
Foremost among the military-trained leaders is Ali Mohsen, a major general in command of Yemen's armored units who has switched to open support of the opposition.
Others in the anti-Saleh movement include fighters loyal to Abdel Hamid al Ahmar of the influential Ahmar family. Activist Arrabeai says he is well aware of the limits of some of these partnerships.
Their only point in common so far, he says, is the focus on removing the president. None of the activists' allies in the opposition, he adds, have shown any indication they want a civil state.
More immediately, military violence has often eclipsed young protesters' efforts. Running gun and rocket battles in the capital have left ordinary citizens terrified, while fueling government claims that the opposition offers only chaos.
Yemen's foreign minister recently dismissed the pro-democracy movement as having been co-opted.
In addition, the increasing use of armed supporters to protect protesters has led some to question whether the youth have let their position be compromised. Journalist Arrabyee says it is only natural that unarmed demonstrators, under attack from government forces, would seek protection, but activist Arrabeai concedes that some parties are forcing the movement toward violence.
He says the youth movement adheres to one principle and that is peaceful protest, and the greatest challenge of any revolutionary is keeping that as the basis for action.
Journalist Arrabyee worries that peaceful or not, the pro-democracy movement has a bigger problem: it is, he says, simply outnumbered.
"The young people could not do anything because they are few. The independent people, the real independent people, are very few among the whole protesters," said Arraabyee.
Independence, in the broader sense of the word, may be more deeply rooted in Yemen than first imagined.
The director of the American Institute of Yemeni Studies, Stephen Steinbeiser, believes the youth movement could yet find a binding, common cause with another temporary alliance - Yemen's anti-Saleh tribes.
"Yemenis are generally very proud of their democracy," he said. "Now how they define that is very different than how people who come from a European or a North American background [might]. There is a sense that the people have the power in Yemen, and in fact that's also a very tribal notion, to some extent: that the tribes have more power than a central government."
It's an unusual idea, and according to Steinbeiser a complicated one. But, he adds, he thinks the Yemeni people consider themselves "controllers of their own destiny" - a concept that could be fundamental to a Yemeni idea of democracy.
It may take some compromise and adjustment, but ultimately the youth movement may have more enduring allies than it seems right now.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Slain Awlaqi moved freely in Yemen's lawless regions
Source: AFP,
By Fawaz al-Haidari,04/10/2011
ADEN — Long sought-after US-born Al-Qaeda cleric, Anwar al-Awlaqi, who was killed in a US air strike last week, used to move freely around Yemen's lawless provinces and even preach in mosques, witnesses said.
During the past few months, the radical cleric had moved between the Al-Qaeda hotbed regions of Abyan and Shabwa in the south and Marib in the east, one tribal chief told AFP on condition of anonymity.
It was in Marib that the man described by US President Barack Obama as the external operations leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, was killed in an air strike early on Friday.
Also killed in the raid was Pakistani-American Samir Khan, who was the editor of Al-Qaeda's English-language online magazine "Inspire".
Five other Yemenis and a Saudi were killed in the attack. Although the identity of the Saudi was not revealed, tribal sources said he was not Al-Qaeda's master bomb-maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, as earlier thought.
Awlaqi and AQAP number two, Saeed al-Shehri, escaped death on September 20, when US drones carried out several air strikes on the village of Al-Mahfad in Abyan, the tribal chief said.
The imam fled to Al-Jawf, a desert area further in the north, near the borders with Saudi Arabia, he added.
Four Al-Qaeda militants were killed in that raid, a tribal source close to the jihadist network said.
Awlaqi used to "spend most of his time in Khor al-Awaleq," a mountainous region in Shabwa province controlled by the cleric's tribe, the tribal chief said. "He also went to the nearby towns of Azzan and Rawda."
"I had attended three sermons by Awlaqi in mosques, two in Azzan and another one in Al-Rawda, during and after Ramadan," the Muslim holy month of fasting that fell in August this year, said one Shabwa resident.
"Awlaqi used to call for jihad (holy war) and for fighting Americans," he said, adding the cleric's thoughts "impressed many youths."
Another witness said he saw Awlaqi perform dawn prayers at a mosque in Loder, another Al-Qaeda stronghold in Abyan.
But the imam quickly fled after US drones were spotted flying overhead, the witness added.
Awlaqi was surrounded by tight security, according to another tribal chief, who told AFP he had met with the cleric in August upon the latter's request.
The chief said said that partisans of the radical imam asked him to meet them in a certain area from which he was taken to "an arid mountainous region."
"I saw dozens of armed men deployed on the hills surrounding the meeting area," he said.
The tribal chief said he refused Awlaqi's request to allow Al-Qaeda militants to freely pass through the area held by his tribe, which had mostly opposed the militant group.
AQAP has taken advantage of the weakening of central authority by nearly nine months of deadly protests against veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh to bolster its presence in several southern provinces as well as Marib.
Hundreds of militants from the Al-Qaeda linked Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) group overran Zinjibar, Abyan's capital, in May and the city and adjacent towns have since been the scene of bitter fighting with the army.
Early this year, a Yemeni court specialising in terrorism cases handed down a 10-year jail sentence in absentia to Awlaqi for taking part in an armed group and for incitement to kill foreigners.
However, the cleric's whereabouts had remained unknown and he escaped a US drone strike in early May, days after US special forces carried out a raid in which they killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in his hideout inside Pakistan.
Awlaqi was born in New Mexico. A charismatic preacher and fluent in English, he had a unique ability to recruit Al-Qaeda operatives in the West.
US intelligence officials believe he was linked to a US army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a US airliner on December 25, 2009.
By Fawaz al-Haidari,04/10/2011
ADEN — Long sought-after US-born Al-Qaeda cleric, Anwar al-Awlaqi, who was killed in a US air strike last week, used to move freely around Yemen's lawless provinces and even preach in mosques, witnesses said.
During the past few months, the radical cleric had moved between the Al-Qaeda hotbed regions of Abyan and Shabwa in the south and Marib in the east, one tribal chief told AFP on condition of anonymity.
It was in Marib that the man described by US President Barack Obama as the external operations leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, was killed in an air strike early on Friday.
Also killed in the raid was Pakistani-American Samir Khan, who was the editor of Al-Qaeda's English-language online magazine "Inspire".
Five other Yemenis and a Saudi were killed in the attack. Although the identity of the Saudi was not revealed, tribal sources said he was not Al-Qaeda's master bomb-maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, as earlier thought.
Awlaqi and AQAP number two, Saeed al-Shehri, escaped death on September 20, when US drones carried out several air strikes on the village of Al-Mahfad in Abyan, the tribal chief said.
The imam fled to Al-Jawf, a desert area further in the north, near the borders with Saudi Arabia, he added.
Four Al-Qaeda militants were killed in that raid, a tribal source close to the jihadist network said.
Awlaqi used to "spend most of his time in Khor al-Awaleq," a mountainous region in Shabwa province controlled by the cleric's tribe, the tribal chief said. "He also went to the nearby towns of Azzan and Rawda."
"I had attended three sermons by Awlaqi in mosques, two in Azzan and another one in Al-Rawda, during and after Ramadan," the Muslim holy month of fasting that fell in August this year, said one Shabwa resident.
"Awlaqi used to call for jihad (holy war) and for fighting Americans," he said, adding the cleric's thoughts "impressed many youths."
Another witness said he saw Awlaqi perform dawn prayers at a mosque in Loder, another Al-Qaeda stronghold in Abyan.
But the imam quickly fled after US drones were spotted flying overhead, the witness added.
Awlaqi was surrounded by tight security, according to another tribal chief, who told AFP he had met with the cleric in August upon the latter's request.
The chief said said that partisans of the radical imam asked him to meet them in a certain area from which he was taken to "an arid mountainous region."
"I saw dozens of armed men deployed on the hills surrounding the meeting area," he said.
The tribal chief said he refused Awlaqi's request to allow Al-Qaeda militants to freely pass through the area held by his tribe, which had mostly opposed the militant group.
AQAP has taken advantage of the weakening of central authority by nearly nine months of deadly protests against veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh to bolster its presence in several southern provinces as well as Marib.
Hundreds of militants from the Al-Qaeda linked Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) group overran Zinjibar, Abyan's capital, in May and the city and adjacent towns have since been the scene of bitter fighting with the army.
Early this year, a Yemeni court specialising in terrorism cases handed down a 10-year jail sentence in absentia to Awlaqi for taking part in an armed group and for incitement to kill foreigners.
However, the cleric's whereabouts had remained unknown and he escaped a US drone strike in early May, days after US special forces carried out a raid in which they killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in his hideout inside Pakistan.
Awlaqi was born in New Mexico. A charismatic preacher and fluent in English, he had a unique ability to recruit Al-Qaeda operatives in the West.
US intelligence officials believe he was linked to a US army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a US airliner on December 25, 2009.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Al-Qaeda in Yemen remains serious threat: experts
Source: AFP, By Hammoud Mounassar
03/10/201
SANAA — Al-Qaeda in Yemen remains a serious threat to the United States despite the death of Anwar al-Awlaqi, a prominent jihadist leader accused of planning attacks on American targets, experts say.
The killing in Yemen on Friday of the outspoken US-born cleric in an air raid was hailed by President Barack Obama as a "major blow" to terrorists, but analysts say Al-Qaeda's influence in Yemen will not be greatly affected.
"Al-Qaeda was around before Awlaqi and his rise added little to the organisation except perhaps that he spoke fluent English and was able to communicate with Western audiences," Nabil al-Bakiri, a Yemen-based expert on Islamic militant groups, told AFP.
"Awlaqi's death will have no effect on the future of Al-Qaeda," Bakiri said, adding that the slain militant did not even hold an organisational position within the group.
Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the US think tank Brookings and a former CIA agent, said in a commentary that the killing was a "significant setback for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) but far from a fatal blow," pointing out that Awlaqi was neither a top ranking commander nor a bomb-maker.
"In short, AQAP's key players are still at large and very dangerous," said Riedel, adding that Yemen's slide into civil war will only benefit Al-Qaeda.
"Yemen is falling apart. The country is fragmenting into hostile blocks. The more broken Yemen becomes the more AQAP benefits because the break down in law and order allows it to operate and recruit more easily."
AQAP has taken advantage of nearly nine months of deadly protests against veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh to bolster its presence in several southern provinces as well as Marib province, where Awlaqi was killed.
However, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta denied that cooperation from Yemeni authorities was wavering.
"There are a lot of people in the leadership there concerned about Awlaqi, concerned about terrorism," Panetta told reporters on board his plane en route to Israel.
"We have developed over the years a relationship where we worked together, we shared intelligence, and we focused on some common targets there as well.
"And I think that will continue to be the case regardless of what ultimately happens with President Saleh," said Panetta, who served as CIA director until taking over as Pentagon chief in July.
Meanwhile, in the United States, officials issued a worldwide travel alert warning its nationals of the "potential for retaliation" after Awlaqi's death.
"Awlaqi's standing as a preeminent English-language advocate of violence could potentially trigger anti-American acts worldwide to avenge his death," the State Department said.
US intelligence officials believe he was linked to a US army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up an America-bound airliner on December 25, 2009.
Former California congresswoman Jane Harman, now head of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, said on CNN's "State of the Union" programme on Sunday she believed Awlaqi's death to be both psychological and operational blows to AQAP.
"AQAP had emerged as the more potent Al-Qaeda faction in terms of mounting attacks against us," she said, adding that even though Awlaqi was not the titular head of AQAP, his involvement with the Fort Hood and US airliner incidents had made him particularly dangerous.
His death, Harman added, along with those of two other militants reportedly killed with him, "has enormous reach in terms of reducing -- degrading the capability of Al-Qaeda to attack us."
Former CIA director Michael Hayden agreed that the killing of Awlaqi was significant.
"He was the part of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula that motivated them and enabled them to go after the far enemy, that's us. And so in that sense his death makes America much more safe," Hayden said on the same programme.
He acknowledged, however, that the cleric's death would not have great impact "on the fate or health of AQAP. In fact with his being gone, they may be even more focused against the 'near enemy,' and that's Yemen and Saudi Arabia."
Although US officials publicly deny any involvement in his death, tribal sources in Yemen said an American drone aircraft fired the missiles that killed Awlaqi.
03/10/201
SANAA — Al-Qaeda in Yemen remains a serious threat to the United States despite the death of Anwar al-Awlaqi, a prominent jihadist leader accused of planning attacks on American targets, experts say.
The killing in Yemen on Friday of the outspoken US-born cleric in an air raid was hailed by President Barack Obama as a "major blow" to terrorists, but analysts say Al-Qaeda's influence in Yemen will not be greatly affected.
"Al-Qaeda was around before Awlaqi and his rise added little to the organisation except perhaps that he spoke fluent English and was able to communicate with Western audiences," Nabil al-Bakiri, a Yemen-based expert on Islamic militant groups, told AFP.
"Awlaqi's death will have no effect on the future of Al-Qaeda," Bakiri said, adding that the slain militant did not even hold an organisational position within the group.
Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the US think tank Brookings and a former CIA agent, said in a commentary that the killing was a "significant setback for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) but far from a fatal blow," pointing out that Awlaqi was neither a top ranking commander nor a bomb-maker.
"In short, AQAP's key players are still at large and very dangerous," said Riedel, adding that Yemen's slide into civil war will only benefit Al-Qaeda.
"Yemen is falling apart. The country is fragmenting into hostile blocks. The more broken Yemen becomes the more AQAP benefits because the break down in law and order allows it to operate and recruit more easily."
AQAP has taken advantage of nearly nine months of deadly protests against veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh to bolster its presence in several southern provinces as well as Marib province, where Awlaqi was killed.
However, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta denied that cooperation from Yemeni authorities was wavering.
"There are a lot of people in the leadership there concerned about Awlaqi, concerned about terrorism," Panetta told reporters on board his plane en route to Israel.
"We have developed over the years a relationship where we worked together, we shared intelligence, and we focused on some common targets there as well.
"And I think that will continue to be the case regardless of what ultimately happens with President Saleh," said Panetta, who served as CIA director until taking over as Pentagon chief in July.
Meanwhile, in the United States, officials issued a worldwide travel alert warning its nationals of the "potential for retaliation" after Awlaqi's death.
"Awlaqi's standing as a preeminent English-language advocate of violence could potentially trigger anti-American acts worldwide to avenge his death," the State Department said.
US intelligence officials believe he was linked to a US army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up an America-bound airliner on December 25, 2009.
Former California congresswoman Jane Harman, now head of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, said on CNN's "State of the Union" programme on Sunday she believed Awlaqi's death to be both psychological and operational blows to AQAP.
"AQAP had emerged as the more potent Al-Qaeda faction in terms of mounting attacks against us," she said, adding that even though Awlaqi was not the titular head of AQAP, his involvement with the Fort Hood and US airliner incidents had made him particularly dangerous.
His death, Harman added, along with those of two other militants reportedly killed with him, "has enormous reach in terms of reducing -- degrading the capability of Al-Qaeda to attack us."
Former CIA director Michael Hayden agreed that the killing of Awlaqi was significant.
"He was the part of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula that motivated them and enabled them to go after the far enemy, that's us. And so in that sense his death makes America much more safe," Hayden said on the same programme.
He acknowledged, however, that the cleric's death would not have great impact "on the fate or health of AQAP. In fact with his being gone, they may be even more focused against the 'near enemy,' and that's Yemen and Saudi Arabia."
Although US officials publicly deny any involvement in his death, tribal sources in Yemen said an American drone aircraft fired the missiles that killed Awlaqi.
Sunday, 2 October 2011
The Islamists threatened my life not President Saleh, says woman activist
Women's rights campaigner warns of Islamists behind Yemen uprising
Source: The Guardian, by Peter Stanford, 02/10/2011
A campaigner for women's rights in Yemen has claimed that key figures in the anti-government protest movement are abusing human rights and have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the unrest.
"To those who talk of a pro-democracy Arab spring in my country," she told the Observer in London, where she is seeking asylum,
"I would say that it was not President Saleh who threatened my life or made me too frightened to carry on with my work or stay in Yemen, it was the opposition."
"Sara" does not want to give her real name out of fear for the consequences for her family and colleagues back in Yemen, but she is anxious to highlight what she believes is a profound misunderstanding in the west of what is really going on in her country, where over 400 people have died since the start of the uprising.
"I welcomed the protests when the young people first starting gathering in Sana'a in what they have renamed Change Square.
Yemen needs change and an end to the corruption, but when the shooting and shelling started in March, the people in the square were the innocents caught in the middle of the real battle for power that is still going on."
In the early months of the uprising, "Sara" had carried on with the work she had been doing for 20 years – encouraging young women into education and the professions.
"My work has always been unpopular with some people who say it is against Islam, but each time they accused me I was able to show that what they said wasn't true."
Though today only her hair is covered by a scarf, she carries with her treasured photographs of herself at work in Yemen, always wearing a full-face veil, with just her eyes showing. In some she is greeting UN and EU visitors who came to lend support to the projects.
She and her family had friends among the protesters in Change Square, but she preferred, she says, to stay at her desk. "Without knowledge, learning, training, there is no future," she explains.
But then those more conservative forces who had in the past attacked her work, or tried to take it over and run it on more traditional Islamic principles, used the chaos into which Yemen had descended to start harassing her again.
She had to stop everything she was doing, they demanded, until the president had been overthrown. When she refused, suspecting their motives, they threatened her.
At first she resisted the intimidation – though she admits she was frightened – and carried on, even when she heard that her name had been included in a list of targets broadcast by opposition forces.
The last straw, though, came when she was told by foreign human rights workers that they had information that her life was in danger. She reluctantly decided to flee her homeland.
"I don't blame the protesters in the square," she says. "They are mostly young and innocent. They want money and jobs. But even there, their tents are in groups, each with their own idea about the future, all very different. And behind them is sheltering the real opposition. It is taking advantage of these protesters, claiming to speak for them, but in reality it contains some of those who are the cause of corruption in the first place in Saleh's government."
She specifically accuses three key figures in the struggle. The first is General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar – a former ally of President Saleh who changed sides early in the uprising, but whose forces, she says, have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the unrest, including firing on tribal leaders (Mohsen's brother among them) and children who came to urge him to reach a compromise with the regime.
And the other two are Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar and his brother Hameed, leaders of the largest tribal grouping in Sana'a, allies of Mohsen, but with their own separate militia.
All three men, she warns, have close ties with the main opposition party in Yemen, al-Islah. One of its leaders is Abdul Majid al-Zindani, labelled a "terrorist" by both the US and the UN and often described as a key figure in the al-Qaida group that has been able to operate in Yemen's political vacuum.
These are the forces that have constantly threatened her work, she says.
She had in the past managed to keep them at bay because the Saleh government, for all its faults, upheld the right of women to be educated.
Now her country is engulfed in what she describes as "madness", though, they are able to threaten her life with impunity.
"Is this what you in the west mean by the Arab spring?" she asks.
"Sara" arrived in London in the summer with only a small suitcase and currently is being supported in her asylum claim by the Cardinal Hume Centre.
Everything she has worked for throughout her life is back in Yemen, she says, but her projects are now closed because of the violence.
"I like travelling," she reflects, "but not forever. As soon as I am not in danger, I will go back, but I don't know when that will be."
Source: The Guardian, by Peter Stanford, 02/10/2011
A campaigner for women's rights in Yemen has claimed that key figures in the anti-government protest movement are abusing human rights and have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the unrest.
"To those who talk of a pro-democracy Arab spring in my country," she told the Observer in London, where she is seeking asylum,
"I would say that it was not President Saleh who threatened my life or made me too frightened to carry on with my work or stay in Yemen, it was the opposition."
"Sara" does not want to give her real name out of fear for the consequences for her family and colleagues back in Yemen, but she is anxious to highlight what she believes is a profound misunderstanding in the west of what is really going on in her country, where over 400 people have died since the start of the uprising.
"I welcomed the protests when the young people first starting gathering in Sana'a in what they have renamed Change Square.
Yemen needs change and an end to the corruption, but when the shooting and shelling started in March, the people in the square were the innocents caught in the middle of the real battle for power that is still going on."
In the early months of the uprising, "Sara" had carried on with the work she had been doing for 20 years – encouraging young women into education and the professions.
"My work has always been unpopular with some people who say it is against Islam, but each time they accused me I was able to show that what they said wasn't true."
Though today only her hair is covered by a scarf, she carries with her treasured photographs of herself at work in Yemen, always wearing a full-face veil, with just her eyes showing. In some she is greeting UN and EU visitors who came to lend support to the projects.
She and her family had friends among the protesters in Change Square, but she preferred, she says, to stay at her desk. "Without knowledge, learning, training, there is no future," she explains.
But then those more conservative forces who had in the past attacked her work, or tried to take it over and run it on more traditional Islamic principles, used the chaos into which Yemen had descended to start harassing her again.
She had to stop everything she was doing, they demanded, until the president had been overthrown. When she refused, suspecting their motives, they threatened her.
At first she resisted the intimidation – though she admits she was frightened – and carried on, even when she heard that her name had been included in a list of targets broadcast by opposition forces.
The last straw, though, came when she was told by foreign human rights workers that they had information that her life was in danger. She reluctantly decided to flee her homeland.
"I don't blame the protesters in the square," she says. "They are mostly young and innocent. They want money and jobs. But even there, their tents are in groups, each with their own idea about the future, all very different. And behind them is sheltering the real opposition. It is taking advantage of these protesters, claiming to speak for them, but in reality it contains some of those who are the cause of corruption in the first place in Saleh's government."
She specifically accuses three key figures in the struggle. The first is General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar – a former ally of President Saleh who changed sides early in the uprising, but whose forces, she says, have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the unrest, including firing on tribal leaders (Mohsen's brother among them) and children who came to urge him to reach a compromise with the regime.
And the other two are Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar and his brother Hameed, leaders of the largest tribal grouping in Sana'a, allies of Mohsen, but with their own separate militia.
All three men, she warns, have close ties with the main opposition party in Yemen, al-Islah. One of its leaders is Abdul Majid al-Zindani, labelled a "terrorist" by both the US and the UN and often described as a key figure in the al-Qaida group that has been able to operate in Yemen's political vacuum.
These are the forces that have constantly threatened her work, she says.
She had in the past managed to keep them at bay because the Saleh government, for all its faults, upheld the right of women to be educated.
Now her country is engulfed in what she describes as "madness", though, they are able to threaten her life with impunity.
"Is this what you in the west mean by the Arab spring?" she asks.
"Sara" arrived in London in the summer with only a small suitcase and currently is being supported in her asylum claim by the Cardinal Hume Centre.
Everything she has worked for throughout her life is back in Yemen, she says, but her projects are now closed because of the violence.
"I like travelling," she reflects, "but not forever. As soon as I am not in danger, I will go back, but I don't know when that will be."
The Islamists threatened my life not President Saleh, says woman activist
Women's rights campaigner warns of Islamists behind Yemen uprising
Source: The Guardian, by Peter Stanford, 02/10/2011
A campaigner for women's rights in Yemen has claimed that key figures in the anti-government protest movement are abusing human rights and have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the unrest.
"To those who talk of a pro-democracy Arab spring in my country," she told the Observer in London, where she is seeking asylum,
"I would say that it was not President Saleh who threatened my life or made me too frightened to carry on with my work or stay in Yemen, it was the opposition."
"Sara" does not want to give her real name out of fear for the consequences for her family and colleagues back in Yemen, but she is anxious to highlight what she believes is a profound misunderstanding in the west of what is really going on in her country, where over 400 people have died since the start of the uprising.
"I welcomed the protests when the young people first starting gathering in Sana'a in what they have renamed Change Square.
Yemen needs change and an end to the corruption, but when the shooting and shelling started in March, the people in the square were the innocents caught in the middle of the real battle for power that is still going on."
In the early months of the uprising, "Sara" had carried on with the work she had been doing for 20 years – encouraging young women into education and the professions.
"My work has always been unpopular with some people who say it is against Islam, but each time they accused me I was able to show that what they said wasn't true."
Though today only her hair is covered by a scarf, she carries with her treasured photographs of herself at work in Yemen, always wearing a full-face veil, with just her eyes showing. In some she is greeting UN and EU visitors who came to lend support to the projects.
She and her family had friends among the protesters in Change Square, but she preferred, she says, to stay at her desk. "Without knowledge, learning, training, there is no future," she explains.
But then those more conservative forces who had in the past attacked her work, or tried to take it over and run it on more traditional Islamic principles, used the chaos into which Yemen had descended to start harassing her again.
She had to stop everything she was doing, they demanded, until the president had been overthrown. When she refused, suspecting their motives, they threatened her.
At first she resisted the intimidation – though she admits she was frightened – and carried on, even when she heard that her name had been included in a list of targets broadcast by opposition forces.
The last straw, though, came when she was told by foreign human rights workers that they had information that her life was in danger. She reluctantly decided to flee her homeland.
"I don't blame the protesters in the square," she says. "They are mostly young and innocent. They want money and jobs. But even there, their tents are in groups, each with their own idea about the future, all very different. And behind them is sheltering the real opposition. It is taking advantage of these protesters, claiming to speak for them, but in reality it contains some of those who are the cause of corruption in the first place in Saleh's government."
She specifically accuses three key figures in the struggle. The first is General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar – a former ally of President Saleh who changed sides early in the uprising, but whose forces, she says, have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the unrest, including firing on tribal leaders (Mohsen's brother among them) and children who came to urge him to reach a compromise with the regime.
And the other two are Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar and his brother Hameed, leaders of the largest tribal grouping in Sana'a, allies of Mohsen, but with their own separate militia.
All three men, she warns, have close ties with the main opposition party in Yemen, al-Islah. One of its leaders is Abdul Majid al-Zindani, labelled a "terrorist" by both the US and the UN and often described as a key figure in the al-Qaida group that has been able to operate in Yemen's political vacuum.
These are the forces that have constantly threatened her work, she says.
She had in the past managed to keep them at bay because the Saleh government, for all its faults, upheld the right of women to be educated.
Now her country is engulfed in what she describes as "madness", though, they are able to threaten her life with impunity.
"Is this what you in the west mean by the Arab spring?" she asks.
"Sara" arrived in London in the summer with only a small suitcase and currently is being supported in her asylum claim by the Cardinal Hume Centre.
Everything she has worked for throughout her life is back in Yemen, she says, but her projects are now closed because of the violence.
"I like travelling," she reflects, "but not forever. As soon as I am not in danger, I will go back, but I don't know when that will be."
Source: The Guardian, by Peter Stanford, 02/10/2011
A campaigner for women's rights in Yemen has claimed that key figures in the anti-government protest movement are abusing human rights and have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the unrest.
"To those who talk of a pro-democracy Arab spring in my country," she told the Observer in London, where she is seeking asylum,
"I would say that it was not President Saleh who threatened my life or made me too frightened to carry on with my work or stay in Yemen, it was the opposition."
"Sara" does not want to give her real name out of fear for the consequences for her family and colleagues back in Yemen, but she is anxious to highlight what she believes is a profound misunderstanding in the west of what is really going on in her country, where over 400 people have died since the start of the uprising.
"I welcomed the protests when the young people first starting gathering in Sana'a in what they have renamed Change Square.
Yemen needs change and an end to the corruption, but when the shooting and shelling started in March, the people in the square were the innocents caught in the middle of the real battle for power that is still going on."
In the early months of the uprising, "Sara" had carried on with the work she had been doing for 20 years – encouraging young women into education and the professions.
"My work has always been unpopular with some people who say it is against Islam, but each time they accused me I was able to show that what they said wasn't true."
Though today only her hair is covered by a scarf, she carries with her treasured photographs of herself at work in Yemen, always wearing a full-face veil, with just her eyes showing. In some she is greeting UN and EU visitors who came to lend support to the projects.
She and her family had friends among the protesters in Change Square, but she preferred, she says, to stay at her desk. "Without knowledge, learning, training, there is no future," she explains.
But then those more conservative forces who had in the past attacked her work, or tried to take it over and run it on more traditional Islamic principles, used the chaos into which Yemen had descended to start harassing her again.
She had to stop everything she was doing, they demanded, until the president had been overthrown. When she refused, suspecting their motives, they threatened her.
At first she resisted the intimidation – though she admits she was frightened – and carried on, even when she heard that her name had been included in a list of targets broadcast by opposition forces.
The last straw, though, came when she was told by foreign human rights workers that they had information that her life was in danger. She reluctantly decided to flee her homeland.
"I don't blame the protesters in the square," she says. "They are mostly young and innocent. They want money and jobs. But even there, their tents are in groups, each with their own idea about the future, all very different. And behind them is sheltering the real opposition. It is taking advantage of these protesters, claiming to speak for them, but in reality it contains some of those who are the cause of corruption in the first place in Saleh's government."
She specifically accuses three key figures in the struggle. The first is General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar – a former ally of President Saleh who changed sides early in the uprising, but whose forces, she says, have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the unrest, including firing on tribal leaders (Mohsen's brother among them) and children who came to urge him to reach a compromise with the regime.
And the other two are Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar and his brother Hameed, leaders of the largest tribal grouping in Sana'a, allies of Mohsen, but with their own separate militia.
All three men, she warns, have close ties with the main opposition party in Yemen, al-Islah. One of its leaders is Abdul Majid al-Zindani, labelled a "terrorist" by both the US and the UN and often described as a key figure in the al-Qaida group that has been able to operate in Yemen's political vacuum.
These are the forces that have constantly threatened her work, she says.
She had in the past managed to keep them at bay because the Saleh government, for all its faults, upheld the right of women to be educated.
Now her country is engulfed in what she describes as "madness", though, they are able to threaten her life with impunity.
"Is this what you in the west mean by the Arab spring?" she asks.
"Sara" arrived in London in the summer with only a small suitcase and currently is being supported in her asylum claim by the Cardinal Hume Centre.
Everything she has worked for throughout her life is back in Yemen, she says, but her projects are now closed because of the violence.
"I like travelling," she reflects, "but not forever. As soon as I am not in danger, I will go back, but I don't know when that will be."
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