Armies of Liberation

Verging on death, not counting the hundreds of thousands of children that are not homeless but still extremely malnourished:

SANAA, 29 July 2010 (IRIN) – Feeding over 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Yemen involves complex logistics and coordination.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) works with its implementing partners, such as NGOs Islamic Relief and Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA), to ensure fair distribution and maximum outreach to displaced families, including 60,000 children under five.

Its operations extend across Hajjah, al-Jawf, Saada, Sanaa and Amran governorates, GianCarlo Cirri, WFP representative in Yemen, told IRIN.

“The ration basket for IDPs consists of wheat grain or fortified wheat flour, pulses, fortified vegetable oil, sugar and salt,” he said, adding that a blanket supplementary feeding programme – consisting of wheat-soya blend, fortified vegetable oil and sugar – is offered to children under five due to high levels of malnutrition….Funding shortfalls, insecurity and access are the main challenges reported by WFP staff and implementing partners.

From May 2010 onwards, the agency has had to halve rations to avoid an absolute break in assistance, Maria Santamarina, a WFP reports and advocacy official, told IRIN.

“This means beneficiaries are receiving only 1,050 kilocalories (kcal) rather than the minimum 2,100 kcal recommended for a healthy life,” she said.

Access still presents a challenge, particularly in areas to the north and west of Saada town, as well as in Harf Sufyan District in Amran Governorate, according to Cirri.

“In recent weeks we have been able to reach Malaheeth in western Saada, which has been cut off from humanitarian assistance for 10 months,” he said. “This is an extremely positive, however fragile, step forward.”

Accessing al-Jawf Governorate, where the UN Refugee Agency says 17,794 IDPs are sheltering, is a major undertaking hampered by longstanding tribal insecurity, and the conflict between the army and Houthi rebels has made access much harder, Becky de Graaff, acting country director of ADRA in Yemen, told IRIN.

“An absence of government law requires skilful discretion, patience and an ability to always seek avenues towards relationships and mutual understanding, even in the midst of car-jackings and the usurping of items intended for a different population,” she said.

Brandon
Sun SAN’A, Yemen – A Yemeni opposition member shot in the head after returning from 32 years in exile died Wednesday from his wounds, his son said. Abdel-Raqib al-Qershi fled from Yemen in 1978 after he and his family were accused of leading a rebellion against the government and killing tribal leaders…Al-Qershi’s son, Awad, said his father had returned to San’a in May following an offer of amnesty from the country’s president. A month later, he was shot in the head as he walked out of a local mosque with his sons. The authorities named three suspects in the assassination attempt, but none have been arrested. After an emergency operation in Yemen, Al-Qershi was flown to Syria for further medical treatment where he died.

Original Post: President Saleh invited Abdalrguib Qurashi who was in exile in Syria for 30 years, to return to Yemen under his protection. Last month, Qurashi was shot in the head after returning from prayers in Sana’a, fell into a coma, was transferred to Syria for medical treatment and died today. Qurashi was a leader in the Nasserite party involved in a 1978 assassination attempt on Saleh. Many were killed and periodically the party asks for the location of the graves. (Read on …)

Oh yes, that’s what Yemenis need is another foreigner inciting bloodshed. The lunatic Egyptian wants Yemeni clerics to declare jihad on the US. Certainly strengthens Saleh’s position with the US though, how handy.

Reuters: Zawahri, in his second message this month released on Islamist websites, also ridiculed Yemeni clerics, who he said promised jihad, or holy war, against the United States if it interfered in Yemen, but who he said ignored signs that the government was cooperating with U.S. forces.

Noting that Amnesty International had called on Washington to explain its role in Yemen, Zawahri asked: “Is Amnesty International more concerned about defending the Yemeni people than they (the clerics) are?”

Amnesty International released a report in June suggesting that the United States may be playing a role in Yemen after releasing photographs that showed remnants of alleged U.S. missiles and cluster bombs used in an attack in south Yemen.

“What more are they waiting for to call for jihad? … are they waiting for the U.S. soldiers to appear on the streets of Sanaa in their tanks?”

Mr. President Barack Hussein Obama:

We the people of Aden in the south are suffering humiliation and oppression, murder and torture by the regime of the State of North Yemen, Sanaa

We also know we have an independent state and we have entered into unsuccessful unity with North Yemen, Sanaa, a country with a tribal, military and Baathist structure, that is usually backward for us and takes us back a century.

Today, the Arab people in Aden struggle to disengage from the North Yemen, Sanaa, and his re-Arab and to re-establish a southern capital of Aden, known as a free state on their national soil, known to the May 21, 1990

We want your support and your support and you with the free world in order to restore our nation and peaceful coexistence among the nations of the earth

Thanks
يافعي حضرمي متواجد حالياً with my regards
journalist from south yemen

alkhader alhasani
sana a 25/7/2010

A letter to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch from southern Yemenis in the US:

The South Yemen community in U.S.A sincere regards, and thank you for your efforts for the past years and your positive interaction, whether by descending on the ground in the south and especially the governorate Aden, and some nearby provinces, Your meeting with some of the families of the martyrs and prisoners, or through your reports on the bitter reality and the serious daily violations of human rights in under the occupation of Yemen, and heinous practices against the people of South Arabia are engaged in struggle for independence.

We appreciate these efforts and urge you to exert more pressure on the occupying government in Sana’a to stop all methods of repression, torture and killing, siege and arrests, and pursuits, committed against peacefully protesters and activists, and move quickly to rescue the Political prisoners of Sana’a regime, and the rest of the detainees from daily torture of those who are still in detention including minors.

First the Political Security prison in Sana’a

Ahmed Alkuwma – correspondent

Maged Althammah – Age 14 years (Read on …)

Al-Iryani also said AQAP presents a threat to Saudi Arabia more than Yemen, quite true. People’s Daily

A political advisor of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh denied on Friday that cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been radicalized in Yemen. (Read on …)

In 2005, Yemen made several repeated announcements that it was going to cut its bloated diplomatic corps in order to reduce expenses. I think it was around the time they were angling for Millennium Challenge Funds. But of course it was all propaganda and the only embassy closed was in Romania. Ambassadorships are quite lucrative, and often used as rewards or to get outspoken people out of the country. The embassies abroad are frequently centers of corruption and sometimes crime and often have networks that spy on Yemeni expatriate communities.

Republican Decrees appointing ambassadors issued
[25/يوليو/2010]

http://www.sabanews.net/ar/news220631.htm

SANA’A, July 25 (Saba)- Six Republic Decrees issued on Sunday appointing Yemeni ambassadors to a number of countries:

1- Decree No. 143 for 2010 appoints Yahya al-Sayaghi as an ambassador of Yemen to Cuba.

2- Decree No. 144 for 2010 appoints Abdul-Qawi al-Eryani as an ambassador of Yemen to Turkey.

3- Decree No. 145 for 2010 appoints Shaiy al-Zandani as an ambassador of Yemen to Jordan.

4- Decree No. 146 for 2010 appoints Jamal Nasir as ambassador of Yemen to Algeria.

5- Decree No. 147 appoints Zaid al-Wareeth as an ambassador of Yemen to Iraq.

6- Decree No. 148 appoints Mustafa Numan as an ambassador of Yemen to Spain.

Technical assistance is good and Yemeni security lacks training in investigative procedures. The problems are 1) the UN in Yemen is also plagued by corruption and 2) much of the criminal networks including the drug smuggling are in the hands of top regime officials and presidential relatives who will thwart sincere efforts at crime fighting. The most functional part of the Yemeni economy is the black market and smuggling rings. Nonetheless at least its a step in the right direction. Yemen Gazette:

SANAA, 12 Jul — The United Nations is planning to open an office in Yemen to fight terrorism, crime, human trafficking and drugs, the government official daily, al-Thawra said on Monday. Interior Minister Brig Gen Rashad al-Masri welcomed the move during a meeting with a UN delegation headed by the coordinator of the UN programs in the middle east and north Africa, Life Vilatson saying “the opening of the office will have positive results for Yemen and neighboring countries,” and voiced his ministry’s “willingness to provide all necessary facilitations to establish the office and facilitate its mission.” The UN delegation hailed “the successes made by Yemen in combating terrorism and drugs,” and expressed gratitude for “Yemen’s complete cooperation and facilitations for the success of UN programmes in the field of battling crime and drugs.”

Saudi terrorist Al-Hamami surrenders.

Yemen Online: Yemen arrests the Saudi suspect in Shabwa patrol attack

YemenOnline.Jul25- Yemen security forces have arrested today the saudi suspect whi responsible on the deadly attack on a security patrol south of Yemen last Thursday. Ahmed Saleh Hedeij Al-Hamami was blacklisted on Saturday and his car wanted after the Interior Ministry said it was used by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP to carry out the attack killing six soldiers. (Read on …)

There has to be some neutral supervision of the cease-fire implementation.

Update: Khaleej Times: Houthis free 200 captured soldiers from the 72nd Regiment of the army’s Republican Guards (commanded by Prince Ahmed).

Gulf Times: Shia rebels took control of a strategic army post in north Yemen yesterday and captured some 70 soldiers, in the latest clash to endanger an increasingly fragile truce, army and tribal sources said. “Houthi (rebels) took control of a military position in Al Zaala and captured all remaining soldiers,” a tribal source said. “Violent clashes erupted since the early morning hours.” A local military official said the rebels captured some 70 soldiers. (Read on …)

In a cringe-inducing remark, Mr. Gerald M. Feierstein, Ambassador-Designate to the Republic of Yemen, said to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, July 19, 2010: “Yemen faces many challenges and threats, the chief of which is terrorism, a global threat that requires a global response.” No. The main threat to Yemen is President Saleh. Could the US State Department possibly believe that Yemen’s main threat is terrorism or are they deliberately spinning a load of hogwash? There’s two US advisers that have a clear view, the rest have been in love with Saleh for a long time.

Well they are trapped in the Embassy and only talk to pro-regime Yemenis: Sen. Lugar expressed his concern over the U.S. embassy team’ being unable to travel outside of Sana’a to monitor key projects on the ground. I guess Obama like Bush prefers a dream world to reality, especially when the reality is the US is allied with an al-Qaeda supporting mass-murderer.

This is a little more realistic Jerry: Regarding how U.S. can measure the effectiveness of U.S. financial aid, Feierstein explained that “We are less confident that we can assure the Congress in particular that this money is being well-spent,” Feierstein concluded.

Ungoverned Yemen: Al-Ja’ashin civilians launch hunger strike demanding state action

A press release from HOOD
By Nisreen Shadad, edited by Jane Novak

Residents of the beleaguered Al-Ja’ashin district in Ibb began a hunger strike on July 25, 2010 to demand the state assert its authority in their district. The villagers have been camped out in Sana’a for months after being ejected from their village by Sheikh Ahmed Mansour.

In some areas of rural Yemen, often called “ungoverned regions,” the state abdicated its authority to tribal proxies. Al-Ja’ashin residents struggled for years against tyrannical practices including illegal taxes, seizure of personal property, physical assaults and imprisonment in Sheik Mansour’s private prison.

“We will never eat until we die and go to a world without oppression and fear or to go to our homes and live safely under the law,” according to the al-Ja’ashin statement. The Al-Ja’ashin civilians began their hunger strike in front of the Parliamentary Council, as they had been unable to gain redress through any other means.

“For eight months we have been displaced and suffering in the streets of Sana’a. The public authority didn’t respond to our needs. Hunger, disease, rain and heat are exhausting us, while we are waiting for fair acts towards our case and the kind touch of people who are after all Yemenis and Muslims like you,” said the statement. The villagers demanded security and compensation for what was stolen by Sheikh Mansour and his followers.

“We want to live with dignity as human beings in Allah’s land. Islamic Sharea’a and Yemeni law should protect us from Sheikh Mansour and his soldiers and provide all weak people a life with dignity and peace,” the statement declared.

Parliament ordered a new committee to consider the issue of al-Ja’ashin and scheduled discussions for next Monday. A Parliamentary report issued in March said that while the nearly one hundred villagers were camped out in the capital, Mansour’s militia “looted their cows, ships, gold and all their home furnishings.”

“Mansour has unauthorized private prisons in which he punishes citizens, indicating a lack of the state sovereignty in the district,” Parliament found.The findings echo a 2007 Parliamentary report that concluded that Parliament must “compel the Government to impose the authority of the State in Al-Jasheen area as part of the territory of the Republic of Yemen.”

Many parliamentarians, journalists and human rights activists joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the al-Ja’ashin civilians including MP Ahmed Saif Hashid, MP Sahwqi al-Qadhi, Tawakul Karman, the head of Women Journalist Without Chains and Mohammed Naji Allaow, the General Coordinator of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD).

“As Muslims and Yemenis, we have the rights of citizenship, equity and advocacy. We are oppressed, however, for eight months. We have been humiliated from you, the police officers and others who may relate to you or not, until we are disappointed and willing to die. Your negligence and humiliation make us feel we are unseen insects,” said the villagers’ statement.

HOOD called on all free people to declare their solidarity with Al-Ja’ashin and their demand to live under the protection of the law. For their courage, the al Jasheen villagers won HOOD’s 2009 Human Rights Award. In presenting the award, HOOD’s director, Khalid al Ansi said that the villagers overcame “historical inherited fear” in challenging the Sheik’s tyranny.

Bingo. Yemen Post

Government Hoping for more Qaeda Attacks in South

The more attacks in the south means that the international community will support Yemen’s unity, fearing that if separation takes place, the south could be an Al-Qaeda safe haven.
Every Al-Qaeda attack in the south comes with great relief for the government and more pain for those who call for separation. The government gains even more financial support from the international community as it is funding Yemen’s fight against extremism.
So, it seems like President Saleh is finally getting something his way.
The last three Al-Qaeda claimed attacks took place in less than a month, and in three different provinces in the south, first in Aden, then in Abyan and Shabwa. It seems to me as if the government is linked to the Al-Qaeda attacks as it is the only one benefiting from the attacks and losing nothing.
Yemen is trying to picture to the world that the south is the backbone of Al-Qaeda, as it is also the homeland for its leader Osama bin Laden.
We also need to remember that Anwar Awlaqi, a Yemeni American preacher is from the south of Yemen. He is now internationally wanted for terrorism related claims.
Yemen is receiving almost $500 million dollars annually from western countries to fight extremism.
So, from the south comes oil, gas, cement, international support to fight Al-Qaeda, a 2000 kilometer coastal line, and 2/3 the size of the current Yemen, which proves that the northern part would do anything in its power to keep Yemen united.
We do not believe any attacks will take place in northern Yemen anytime soon, while on the other hand, we will see another attack in a different part of the south, maybe Mukalla or Seiyun. Such attacks will convince the west that southern Yemen could never be an independent state if it’s goal is to fight Al-Qaeda.

They seem to have it out for al-Gamish, the question is why. There was some flaky back story on al-Gamish earlier retaliating for not getting his cut on some land thefts and the blow-back from that. Earth Times

Sana’a, Yemen – Yemen’s wing of al-Qaeda on Friday claimed responsibility for a pair of week-old coordinated attacks on security agencies in the south of the Arab country, saying they were meant to avenge the killing of two of its members. (Read on …)

I had thought the peace convoy from Taiz had more of a lasting effect. Also its the anniversary of the clashes in Zanzibar which killed 17 and wounded more than 20 “because they raised their voices demanding the restoration of the state and still the occupation regime committed massacres and crimes against our brothers in the south, but today Dali is surrounded and encircled from all sides that the area of the city of Dali five square kilometers There are five military brigades and more than twenty military barracks to prevent food and medicine from our brothers in Dali.”

As reported by Terror Free Somalia:

After 10 days of investigation, leads are pointing to two Pakistani nationals who include a top manager at a Ugandan telecom company as the main financiers, and a Yemeni national as the mastermind of the July 11 synchronised bombings that killed at least 76 people in Kampala, reliable sources say.The new findings widen the investigation that had hitherto largely focused on the Al Shabaab, an Islamist militia in Somalia reportedly with links to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda that claimed responsibility for the bombings and issued a congratulatory message to the bombers.

The Yemeni national whose identity could not readily be established entered the country in January this year through the eastern Busia border post, sources close to the investigation say. He is then said to have approached a land lady in Kisigula Zone, Mutundwe, a Kampala suburb, for accommodation. He rented her six-bedroom house at Shs 600,000 per month for six months. He paid four months’ rent straight and promised to pay the balance later.The Yemeni man moved into the spacious house quietly, with a young man believed to be of Ugandan origin. In April, the Yemeni man stealthily left the house to the young man, who is now believed to have been the suicide bomber at the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala, according to sources.The land lady, who doesn’t live on the premises, did not notice the suspicious behaviour of the young man and whenever she went to demand the balance on rent, the man would humbly tell her that his boss (the Yemeni) ‘had gone on safari and would be back soon to pay the money,’ our sources told us. In the meantime, the house became a bee-hive of activity with lots of people moving in and out, including teenage girls, sources told us.

Earlier on Uganda.

These scum sucking dogs are who Obama is applauding, its unbelievable.

Yemen – Increasing harassment of human rights defender Ms Afrah Sa’eed, Front Line Defenders

Since March 2010, human rights defender Ms Afrah Sa’eed has been subjected to increasingly serious harassment and intimidation because of her work in defence of others. Afrah Sa’eed is the Secretary General of the Arab Foundation for the Support of Women and Juveniles and the information coordinator at the Yemeni Organization for the Defense of Democratic Rights and Freedom.

For the last four months, Afrah Sa’eed and her daughter have received a number of threatening and abusive phone calls. Afrah Sa’eed’s telephone usage has been monitored and she has been followed in the streets. The door of her apartment has been knocked on and the glass in the windows smashed in the middle of the night, while her electricity supply and internet connection have been regularly cut off. Her computer system
has also been hacked. In an attempt to force her to sign a pledge agreeing to stop her human rights activities, Afrah Sa’eed’s salary has been cut for two successive months and a government scholarship
which her son had been receiving to finance his studies in Syria has also been reduced. This came after he was summoned to the Yemeni embassy in Damascus and accused of participating in a sit-in in front of the embassy.

Afrah Sa’eed has been active in reporting on human rights violations, including those by the army and security apparatus, in southern Yemen. Since 2009, she has liaised with and met representatives of
many international human rights organisations, including Front Line. It is believed that this is one of the reasons why the current campaign of harassment and intimidation has been launched against her.

Front Line believes that Afrah Sa’eed and members of her family have been targeted and harassed because of Afrah Sa’eed’s work as a human rights defender, especially in relation to monitoring and reporting human rights violations in southern Yemen.

Front Line calls on you to urge the authorities in Yemen to:

1. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial
investigation into the harassment against Afrah Sa’eed and her family, with a view to
publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in
accordance with international standards;

2. Take all necessary measures to
guarantee the physical and psychological security and integrity of
Afrah Sa’eed and members of her family

3. Guarantee in all circumstances that human
rights defenders in Yemen are able to carry out their legitimate
human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all
restrictions including judicial harassment.

Yemen Post

Water scarcity, population growth and internal conflicts are major reasons for food insecurity in Yemen, a recent report has said, warning if immediate action is not taken, food security will remain at extremely low levels until 2010 and the country will be vulnerable for external shocks and disasters.
The report issued by the Institute of Food Research (IFR) noted that food insecurity is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. (Read on …)

A nice solid report from the Yemen Times.

SANA’A, July 20 — The population of Yemen has multiplied five times in the last 54 years, and is predicted to triple again by 2035, according to the Health and Population Committee of the Yemeni Parliament.

The committee produced a report which was discussed earlier this month on the occasion of World Population Day, July 11, highlighting the dangers of rapid population growth in Yemen.

The report predicts that by year 2035 the country’s current 23 million inhabitants will have increased to at least 61 million, almost triple the size today. Yemen’s population growth rate is 3.7 while its fertility rate which is the average number of children for every Yemeni woman during her life time is 6.1.

Moreover, the infant mortality rate in the country is also considered one of the highest in the world at 53 deaths per every 1000 live births according to UNICEF’s 2008 statistics. Child mortality for children below five is also high at 69 deaths for every 1000 live births. The report also indicated that maternal mortality is quite high in Yemen as 365 mothers die while giving birth in every 100 thousand live births. (Read on …)

CPJ, By Mohamed Abdel Dayem/CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator

One opinion was relayed to me repeatedly by numerous journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders during the week I just spent in Yemen: The crackdown against independent and opposition media in the country has not been this concerted at any time since the reunification of the southern and northern halves of the country in 1990. (Read on …)

Update: attack was from a Saudi car registered to one on the Kingdom’s most wanted list. I guess they are not comparing the list of cars entering Yemen with the most wanted list.

SANA’A, July 24 (Saba) – A pickup with a Saudi number plate was used in Thursday’s attack on a security patrol in Shabwa Province in which five soldiers were killed, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

The white car entered Yemen 17 days ago through the Alwadiah crossing, it said.

The ministry circulated the car throughout the country and blacklisted its owner identified as Ahmed Saleh Hudeij Al-Hamami, a Saudi.

Reuters – Gunmen killed at least five Yemeni soldiers on Thursday in a suspected al Qaeda ambush of a military convoy in the south, the third assault on state targets in five weeks blamed on the group’s resurgent regional arm.

Al Qaeda in Yemen previously focussed on high-impact strikes against Western and Saudi targets, but appears now to be targeting government forces in response to enhanced Yemen-U.S. security coordination and a government crackdown.

“There was an ambush targeting the soldiers’ vehicle and five were killed and a sixth was wounded. There is suspicion that al Qaeda was behind the operation,” an official in the southern province of Shabwa told Reuters.

The attackers then seized the soldiers’ vehicle and weapons before fleeing into nearby hills, another official said. The defence ministry blamed the attack on “terrorists,” using language it typically reserves to refer to al Qaeda…Last month, gunmen raided the regional headquarters of the political security office in Aden, killing 11, an attack al Qaeda said was revenge for a state assault on a militant stronghold. Last week, more suspected al Qaeda gunmen attacked two security buildings, igniting clashes that killed four people.

That’s the number the Saudis caught.

Arab News: JEDDAH: Immigration authorities in Jazan said on Wednesday that 2,454 Yemeni infiltrators, illegal residents and beggars were caught in the past one month.

“Infiltration of Yemenis into Saudi Arabia from the southern border is still continuing despite the heavy presence of border guards,” said a written statement from the local Passport Department, pointing out that border officials have increased their vigilance since the conflict with Yemeni rebels earlier this year.

“Border guards have cut new passages in (mountainous) areas that were not accessible in the past in order to be able to patrol the area and prevent infiltration and smuggling,” said the statement.

Saudi Arabia’s long and porous border with Yemen is one of highest concern for the authorities. Last year, officials responded to more than 130,000 smuggling attempts, including weapons and humans, compared with about 140,000 such incidents in the rest of the Kingdom.

AFP SANAA — Officially, slavery was abolished back in 1962 but a judge’s decision to pass on the title deed of a “slave” from one master to another has blown the lid off the hidden bondage of hundreds of Yemenis. The judge in the town of Hajja, which is home to some 300 slaves, according to residents, said he had certified the transfer only because the new owner planned to free the slave. But his decision has triggered a campaign by local human right activists. (Read on …)

Yemen Online

YemenOnline.July 21- Yemeni authorities released 82 prisoners detained during anti-government protests in the south in a step towards implementing the Yemeni president decision which anounced in the last celebration of Yemen unity .

“Eighty-two prisoners were freed in Al-Mukalla,” the main city in the southeastern province of Hadramawt, “on the orders of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after the deal was signed with the opposition,” the official said.

All of those released have “participated in protests” in support of Yemen’s Southern Movement, the official added, referring to a coalition of groups with demands ranging from greater autonomy to full independence for the south.

The agreement to embark on a national dialogue was signed on Saturday with the opposition Common Forum, which groups the main Islamist opposition — Al-Islah (Reform) — the Yemen Socialist Party — which was once the ruling faction in the formerly independent south — as well as other smaller groups.

It focuses on mechanisms to implement a February 2009 accord for national dialogue and the postponement of a parliamentary election until April 2011 to allow time to amend Yemen’s constitution and restructure its political system….Officials in the region estimate that some 300 southern activists are in custody.

Losers!!!

NYDNA slick new Al Qaeda magazine written in English to lure U.S. jihadists may be the work of a former New Yorker with an eye for graphics – and a lust for American blood. Intelligence officials see chilling similarities between a militant blog Samir Khan produced and the Internet-based magazine Inspire. Khan landed on intelligence radar in 2007, when he was 21, after posting an Osama Bin Laden screed to the blog he maintained from his parents’ basement.

The blog boasted crisp graphics, an easy familiarity with American culture and attitudes, and a pipeline to hard-core rhetoric. Fast forward to last month, when Al Qaeda put out Inspire, with the message that U.S. military action in the Arab world must be avenged. The packaging spooked experts with its potential for recruiting Western youth. It also seemed familiar to those who track militants, like the Jawa Report blog…

Khan has been in Yemen since October – and the mag was posted by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen branch with ties to American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki uses English to get his message out in the West.

(Read on …)

Ali Nasser Mohammed President of the PDRY “vehemently denied published allegations that he and other opposition leaders in exile were consulted before signing of the Framework agreement between the GPC and the JMP, Naba News reported. Nasser described the claims as “a slander with only one goal, to smear, with no basis in reality, adding that he would love it so much if the ruling party as well as the opposition parties could start solving the big problems rather than get trapped in small ones.” Southern leaders within Yemen are unanimous in their denunciation of the accord, calling it a conspiracy. More on the agreement below the fold.

Daily Star: SANAA: Shiite rebels Monday came out in support of an agreement between the ruling party and the opposition to embark on a national dialogue between Yemen’s numerous rivals. “We express our satisfaction and support for the agreement between the Common Forum and the [ruling] General People’s Congress,” the rebels said in a statement. (Read on …)

Its a powder keg waiting to go off. Its unclear if its a tribal clash or a military one since the Houthis are fighting with “Army backed tribes.”

SANAA — Fighting in mountainous north Yemen between Shiite rebels and army-backed tribes over the past four days have left at least 49 people dead, threatening a fragile truce, tribal and rebel sources said on Wednesday.
(Read on …)

They plead guilty to lying about a hit list. Below is the State Department’s notice about Awlaki addition to the UN’s 1267 terrorism sanctions list. The list is meaningless in Yemen; Sheik Zindani is on it and his assets were not seized and in fact he traveled with President Saleh to Saudi Arabia a few years ago. Update: Zach Chesser, arrested after admitting to trying to join al Shabab, is another Awlaki drone.

NWCN: ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Alaska couple accused in a domestic terrorism plot is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to federal charges of lying about creating a hit list of possible targets. (Read on …)

Two entirely unrelated stories, 1) US freezes Anwar Awlaki’s assets and criminalizes providing material support to him; 2) After February truce agreement and May’s amnesty announcement, there’s still over 400 rebels in jail and dozens of southerners. In theory, Saleh agreed to release them but we’ve heard it dozens of times before. He uses the prisoners as a bargaining chip against the opposition and the general public.

Gulf Times: Yemen’s government has agreed to free more than 400 people, mostly northern rebels, as the Arab state tries to launch a dialogue with opposition groups, an opposition leader said yesterday.

An opposition coalition and the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party signed an agreement yesterday to set up a joint body for a national dialogue, state media reported.

The government is trying to halt conflict in the northern province of Saada with Shia rebels as well as with secessionists in the south.

“As demanded by the opposition in order to sign the agreement, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has issued a directive to free 27 from the southern movement and 400 with links to the fighting in Saada,” the opposition figure, who declined to be named, told Reuters. (Read on …)

Mareb Press quotes Interior Minister Rashid al Masiri that “rallies witnessed by the southern provinces since 2009 and until mid-year 2010 amounted to 445 process in addition to 87 cuts and looting.” ( Yemen Observer has English.)

The World Food Progam set up a donate page for receiving contributions for starving people in Yemen:

You can donate below to support the World Food Programme’s relief operation in Yemen

Hunger and malnutrition are widespread in Yemen and require urgent intervention. The UN World Food Programme (WFP), facing funding shortfalls, has been forced to cut rations for those displaced by fighting in the northern part of Yemen. Without new funding, more ration cuts will follow.

WFP reports: For the Sa´ada operation for displaced persons, the agency is facing a shortfall of US$ 20 million until the end of 2010. In the current situation, the agency will be forced to continue distributing reduced rations until food runs out entirely before the end of October.

Based on planned activities for 2010, the estimated budget for all WFP Yemen operations is some US$108 million. Of this budget, nearly US$70 million still needs to be resourced. Without increased support, the agency will be unable to provide critical monthly food and nutrition support to 3.1 million beneficiaries during the second half of 2010.

Click here to donate to the WFP.

170,000 migrants from Somalia and 330,000 internally displaced by the Saada Wars, Yemen Times:

Head of the UNHCR Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, Ambassador Peter Woolcott, visited Yemen from July 5 to July 10 to observe the situation of refugees and internally displaced persons in the country, an especially important visit since the UN refugee agency is in the midst of a funding crisis…“We are dealing with something like 170 thousand refugees and 330 thousand IDPs,” he said. “These are very large numbers from any standpoint.” (—) But he believes that for many, resettlement is only a dream because of the small number of refugees who are able to start new lives in countries outside Somalia.

“Some one thousand are resettled from Yemen each year, but the number of refugees is 130,000,” he said. “They are very dependent on essentially the handouts and generosity of the donor community and UNHCR.” (—) UNHCR Yemen appealed in February 2010 for USD 39.1 million. Afterwards, this figure was revised to USD 52.1 million to cover the needs of both refugees and internally displaced persons in 2010. So far the Yemen Appeal remains funded at just 44 percent of overall needs.

It was billed by Awlaki as the first face to face confrontation between the military and AQAP. Does anyone really think that Anwar Awlaki was at the battle of Marib? Whoever wrote that post on his site at the time was still pumped with adrenaline. Let give it two years and see if the sentence is still standing.

July 7: AFP: A court in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday sentenced to death two young men suspected of being Al-Qaeda members for a series of lethal attacks. The men, Mansour Saleh Salem Daleel, 18, and Mubarak Ali Hadi al-Shabwani, 23, who denied the charges, were arrested on December 11 in the Marib province of eastern Yemen.

The pair were accused of “participating in an armed gang which carried out criminal actions against military and security officials and members of the armed forces,” according to the list of charges…The two men were likewise accused of killing three officials along with their two companions while they were driving on November 3 in the southern province of Hadramut. Also, the prosecution said they killed a soldier in a July 2009 attack on an army truck loaded with weapons and ammunition.

Mmareb Press reports some instances of civil disobedience following the sentencing of two from Marib, accused as al-Qaeda: He said a local source for “Marib Press” Gunmen, believed to have ties including convicted today of the Specialized Penal Court in Sana’a, they opened fire on a military post at the entrance to the city of Marib (point of the airport), had cut off the tribe (Al until you Ubaydah) by Whistler Sana after the verdict.

NEFA has an account of Awlaki’s write up which includes more misdirected artillery: “The army used artillery to bomb the houses of the brothers but the shells fell on houses of members of the tribe who were against the mujahideen. The fight started at noon July 30th and ended at sunset…The first face to face fight between the army and the mujahideen ended in a resounding victory for the mujahideen.”

Yemen Post

Head of the Association for Rehabilitation and Care of Yemeni Disabled Ali Ahmed Al-Wajih said on Thursday that 10 per cent of the Yemeni population is disabled. Roughly two million of the total population estimated at more than 20 million people are disabled, he said.

Hundreds of Yemeni people become physically and mentally disabled a day due to conflicts, tribal disputes and road and work-related accidents, he made clear. (Read on …)

This is from the 8th but I need to get it into the archives.

Arab News: SANAA: A third power station in southern Yemen caught fire on Thursday after two others were engulfed in flames earlier in the week in what the government said were attacks by secessionists. (Read on …)

Later reports indicate five dead, three security and two attackers. Al Teef is reporting that the gunmen shot up Tariq al Fadhli’s house after they left the scene of the attack.

At least two people are dead after gunmen attacked two security buildings in southern Yemen on Wednesday, local officials say. (Read on …)

Paperwork too much to tackle.

Yemen Post: The Ministry of Electricity and Energy has not yet drawn down all donor funds estimated at more than $ 1 billion allocated before and during the 2006 London Donor Conference for the power sector in Yemen, an official who asked not to be named told the News Yemen on Thursday. (Read on …)

The new Al Qaeda mag in English had pages of corrupted code but the second release includes an article by Anwar Awlaki calls for death for a cartoonist in Seattle. But since we all pay taxes and vote, everybody in the US is a “combatant” according to Awlaki and deserving of death, so it doesnt matter either way what anybody says or does,

Google News “The proper solution to this growing campaign of defamation” of the prophet is “the execution of those involved,” reads the article in web magazine “Inspire,” in a text provided by the US monitoring service SITE on Sunday. (Read on …)

Isria

Yemen – Saleh: My visit to Russia to discuss military deals’ debts

President Ali Abdullah said he discussed with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Yemen’s debt of military purchases which exceeded USD 2 billion. (Read on …)

Doha agreement reactivated and Qatar will attempt to mediate in the south, but with who? I hope it works out but during the Doha ceasefire, the regime could not manage to uphold its end of the agreement.

Earthtimes: Sana’a, Yemen – Qatar is initiating efforts to mediate between the Yemeni government and its southern opponents amid escalating separatist violence in the south of the Arab country, the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said on Tuesday.

“We will be happy to participate in finding any solution that helps preserve the Yemeni unity,” the Qatari Emir told reporters after talks with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana’a. “We are always with our brothers in Yemen to help in there problems,” he said…. The Qatari government will also resume its mediation efforts to cement a fragile truce between Shiite rebels and the government in northern Yemen, the Yemeni president said.

Saleh said the Qatari efforts would be based on a 2007 Qatari-brokered peace agreement signed by representatives of the Yemeni government and the rebels in Doha.

“We agreed to reactivate the Doha agreement,” Saleh told reporters after the meeting at the Presidential Palace in Sana’a. Yemeni officials declared the collapse of the Qatari mediation in August 2009, accusing the rebels were unwilling to abide by its terms.

Mr. Bashraheel who I believe needs to see his doctor in Saudi Arabia for follow-up to heart surgery is being denied permission to leave Yemen. The following notice references his diabetes and that he is unable to walk due to severe circulation problem in his feet. This is slow murder, nothing less.

Health situation deteriorated to the editor of the days suspended suspended since mid last year, according to media sources the validity of Mr. Hisham Bashrahil have increased as a result of his ill with chronic diseases such as diabetes, pressure and swelling of the feet. (Read on …)

It seems like such a simple story: Yemen upholds conviction of terrorists.

This is the Tarim cell arrested in Hadramout and convicted in the mortar attack on the US embassy in March 2008 and the murder of two Belgian tourists (killed when terrorists sprayed their car with gunfire in Hadramout) and other attacks during 2007 and 2008 in Sana’a, Aden and Hadramout Provinces against military, security and oil installations and residential complexes as well as security checkpoints, oil pipelines and foreign companies headquarters for a total of 23 attacks including the suicide bombing of the Sayoun police station. They confessed to receiving funds from Saudi Arabia but were planning on robbing banks for more.

In the case against the murders of the Spanish tourists, the al Qaiti cell was charged in the mortar attacks on the US embassy. Al-Waely and al-Dhayani are at large, the state reported in June 2009.

However, Ammar al Waeli is “at large” in Sa’ada fighting on behalf of the Yemeni government, Attagammua reported. See my article, Large al Qaeda camp in North Yemen dims peace prospects, politician says. There are many reports of Salafi on the battlefield.

Hamza al-Dhayani, the supposed driving instructor for the attack on the Spanish tourists and participant in the mortar attack on the US Embassy, recently surrendered from Marib. (Ghalib al-Zaidi also surrendered, to his cousin the governor of Marib.) In a previous interview, Hamza Dhayani accused the state of perpetrating some terror attacks, “I am ready to prove the reality that some attacks were planned in co-ordination and agreement of the Political Security and its agents to gain foreign support and to confirm to America that they (the Yemeni state) launch war against terrorism.” (Dhayani is not among the 16 whose sentences were upheld.)

Maybe next, Yemen will extradite the four Syrians in exchange for Anwar Awlaki’s brother in law, Nabil Al-Dhahab, who confessed on Syrian TV to a terror attack in Damascus.

The Yemen Post article on the ruling is posted below for posterity’s sake: (Read on …)

A statement from TAJ regarding al-Ayyam’s guard:

To: Amnesty International
To: The Arabic Human Rights Organisation
To: World Human Rights Organisation

We urgently write to you to condemn the death sentence issued from one of Sana’a courts in the Republic of Yemen on Sunday 11 July 2010 against the political activist Ahmed Omer Alobady who has been in prison since 14th February 2008.

Mr Alobady was wrongly arrested by the occupation Yemeni forces for his politics views towards the Southern Arabia crisis, NOT for any crime that he has committed, in order to intimidate other political activists joining this peaceful movement.

Despite the Yemeni General Attorney’s failure to find any proof against Mr Alobady, he was sentenced to death.

This method is widely used by the Yemeni Government against all Southern Arabia political activists.

As a matter of urgency we would like you and ALL other organisations around the world to act quickly to overturn this unfair judgment.

Southern Democratic Assembly ( TAJ )

12 July 2010

مناشده عاجله
الى منظمة العفو الدوليه الى المنظمه العربيه لحقوق الانسان الى المنظمه الدوليه لحقوق الانسان
نتوجه بهذا النداء العاجل اليكم لادانة الحكم الصادر من احدى المحاكم اليمنيه في صنعاء صباح يوم الاحد 11-7-2010م بحق الناشط السياسي احمد عمر العبادي السجين منذ14 فبراير 2008م الذي كان متواجداً اثناء حادثة الاعتداء على منزل رئيس تحرير صحيفة الأيام الجنوبي هشام باشراحيل في صنعاءوالذي كان حادثاً مدبراً يستهدف نشاطهما السياسي بدرجه أولى ومواقف الرجلين ودورهما المتميز في الحراك الجنوبي لاسكاتهما ومعاقبتهما على مواقفهما الثابته من القضيه العادله للشعب الجنوبي , وتم تدبير هذه ا لمكيده ا لجنائيه حتى يتسنى لحكومة الاحتلال اليمني إلباس القضيه ثوباً جنائياً كما تعود نظام صنعاء اليمني في التعامل مع خصومه السياسيين في العاده وعلى الرغم من ان النيابه العامه اليمنيه لم تتمكن من اثبات التهمه الجنائيه بالقتل لاحمد عمر العبادي . ولم تكتف سلطات صنعاء اليمنيه بالاعتداء على منزل باشراحيل في صنعاء بل قامت قوات الأمن اليمنيه بالاعتداء مرة أخرى على منزل باشراحيل في عدن مما أدى الى قتل حارس منزله وشخصين آخرين . أن كل هذه دلائل بأن هناك استهداف شخصي للرجلين احمد عمر العبادي وهشام باشراحيل .

اننا نطالب منظماتكم وكافة المنظمات الدوليه والانسانيه المهتمه بحقوق الانسان للقيام بحمله دوليه وسرعة التحرك وإدانة هذا الحكم الجائر وايقافه .

التجمع الديمقراطي الجنوبي (تاج ) لندن بتاريخ 11-7-2010م

Yemen Observer: The Information Office of the rebel leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, launched an awareness campaign and educational activities in the areas of Sa’adah province, Sufyan district, and al-Jawf province last week about the dangers of “al-Qaeda,” according to al-Houthi and local sources in Sa’adah province. Al-Houthis described al-Qaeda as the “U.S. intelligence tool used by Washington to occupy any Arab or Islamic country under the pretext of combating terrorism.” (Read on …)

And they executed the police one by one.

AFP: Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen claimed responsibility Sunday for a deadly June attack on the country’s intelligence headquarters in the southern port city of Aden.

“Brigades of Jamil Nasser al-Ambari stormed Aden’s intelligence headquarters and the result was killing not less than 24 officers and soldiers,” said a statement posted on militant websites. (Read on …)

In Feb, 2009, the French were earlier talking about an anti-piracy base on the island.

WT: The Yemeni Coast Guard said it was building a base in the Bab Al Mandab strait, a target of Somali pirates. On June 27, the coast guard said the base was located on the Miyoun island and would protect commercial shipping that links Asia and Europe. (Read on …)

Via al Teef

Update: Two dead.

Personally I find Hamid al Ahmar, son of the late Sheik Abdullah al Ahmar, quite a bit better option than Ahmed Saleh, the president’s son, but its not my call. General Nuba is responding to the National Preparatory Committee’s attempts to form a national coalition for a just and unified Yemen. Some have charged the NPC is undermining the party system and not doing much else of anything besides holding meetings and issuing statements. Still any initiative that attempts to find a peaceful way out of the hell hole that Yemen has become is a good thing. Statement from General Nasser al Nuba who initiated the Southern protests in 2007.

Today is 07/07/2010 the third anniversary of the start of peaceful movement southern On this day of the year in 2007 Ostfti representatives of the people of the South in Liberty Square Incense breaker in the southern capital of Aden and decided to representatives of the people of the south, which is numbered tens of thousands of peaceful struggle until independence unfinished option strategic refusing any other options, which surveyed the illegal independence. (Read on …)

Horrendous. The funeral march of Ahmed Mohammed Darwish, who was tortured to death in prison:

There were a flurry of statement by various southern movement leaders regarding the Day of Rage. Some called for wide ranging protests including Aden, others disputed the call and asked the public to turn out in designated areas. A third said the protest in Aden was to be a funeral march only. Most of these leaders are pathetic, sorry, but they are, when their differences and power plays get people killed. They are so ready to call the masses for an insult to al Fahdli or for al Beidh to make a point, and the blood is never ending. Meanwhile no progress has been made on establishing a unified movement based on democratic practices.

SANAA, July 7 (Reuters) – Yemeni police shot dead a protester in Aden on Wednesday in clashes that broke out during a “Day of Rage” called by southern secessionists, police and separatists said.

The protester died after police fired on demonstrators who had wanted to hold a public funeral procession for a southerner whose death in police custody last month stoked tensions in the port city. Police said some of demonstrators were armed. (Read on …)

The end is near when soldiers begin rioting for back pay. Recently tribesmen who fought in the Sa’ada war also held protests for back pay. Clearly Saleh wont be able to meet his payroll of salaries and bribes with oil revenue down 75% from last year. Maybe that’s the plan, let the chips fall where they may, but its going to get messy. The most obnoxious thing, maybe one of the most obnoxious things, about the current economic disaster is that the warnings for the last five years were all dismissed as opposition propaganda from people wearing dark glasses, a Crusader plot by the World Bank and/or totally misguided with no relation to reality as Yemen’s oil reserves are fine, just fine.

Yemen Post: More than 30 central security personnel are besieging the house of Mahweet Governor Ahmed Ali Muhsen and the governmental building in the province as well as closing the highway in protest at halting their salaries.

The protesting security came from the south and are determined to get their rights.

A security source said that the personnel received their salaries but when they were absent the salary of this month was halted.

‘They tried to break into the governmental building after they had detonated a bomb in front of it but their attempt was repelled by the guards.’

They also besieged security patrols and all efforts made to convince them to leave the site failed.

Unrest in southern governorates Yemen Times

Published:05-07-2010

ADEN, July 4 – Last week security forces released 23 of the 24 men who were arrested in Aden after being suspected of executing the attack against the political security building two weeks ago. The suspect who was not released is Ahmad Al-Darweesh, who died of his injuries the following day to his arrest. A funeral tent was erected by Al-Darweesh’s family to allow people to console them. (Read on …)

Yemen lawmaker on open hunger strike, as MPs go on sit-in tomorrow

By Abdullah A. Qaid- For Armies of Liberation

Sana’a, Sunday, 4 July, 2010- Mr. Ahmed Saif Hashid, Yemen lawmaker, launches today morning an open hunger strike and sit-in inside the House of Representatives.

Hashid told Armies of Liberation “I have gone on open hunger strike because the Presidency of the House frequently prevented me from visiting prisons and confiscated my right to question ministers”. “It neglected my calls as my parliamentary immunity has been violated by the State Security Court”, he added.

Reportedly, some Yemeni MPs plan to go on a sit-in tomorrow morning inside the Parliament for solidarity with their colleague and protest against the presidency of the House.

Hashid went on a under surveillance of the State Security Court. The Criminal Court (State Security Court) listed his name, among other activists, in its indictment in case No. 117, 2009 and asking the National Security to “investigate and collect information about them, edit records of collecting evidences, and transfer the outcomes to it” in the background of two visits were paid by them in 2008 to Hajja and Dhamar prisons to conduct human rights investigations.

TAJ sent the following letter to the UN and a variety of Yemen’s donors and international organizations highlighting the war crimes and destruction the Yemeni government wrought on its own citizens in the last week. The document includes the names of the homeowners whose property was destroyed, giving us some kind of estimate on the newly displaced in South Yemen. With 78 homes destroyed and an average of ten to twenty living in each dwelling, Yemenis are big on extended family, then there are between 700 to 1500 citizens homeless, displaced, as a result of the latest assault. As we recall from the state’s campaigns in Sa’ada, Yemen has a tendency toward collective punishment of the civilian population in areas of conflict including the withholding of food as a tactic of war, random bombing of residential areas and the denial of access to medical services to injured persons. The US deems the whole bloody mess an internal affair, giving Sana’a the green light to crush various sectors of the population, in the misguided hope that Saleh will turn his attention to al Qaeda once things get quiet again. But things may never get quiet again. Either way, the US narrative of civilian immunity loses all legitimacy and the al Qaeda narrative of a US double standard on human rights gains credibility.

Your Excellency,
We would like to put you in the form of what is happening from the painful events and sufferings that are happening to the people in Juhav directorate in the province of Lahj in the south (South Arabia), as consequences of the crimes committed by the Yemeni occupation forces in its military campaign since Monday 21/06/2010 until today.

The situation is getting worse because of the siege at the Directorate, where residents, pacifists and houses were bombed with various types of heavy and light weapons, tanks, rocket launchers, artillery guns and Huns, which led to the destruction of houses on the heads of women and children, the infirm, the destruction and ways of life and infrastructure, including electricity and water services and the imposition of a state of emergency on movement of people, hampering patients chronic diseases such as kidney failure and heart disease, diabetes and pregnant women from going to the hospitals and stopping the students from going to perform their yearly exams, paralyzing life, making the citizen’s life hell for unendurable as was the case of violation of human rights and we have provided an example of the citizen Mohammed Mohsen who was kidnapped from (Ibb hospital) by the Yemeni forces who tortured him to death and thrown his body on the side of the road near his village in Sweida and found many traces of torture on his body and neck due to hanging.

On the other hand, there are many private properties and premises that were demolished and destroyed particularly in the following town ; AlQarna; Aluzla; Alsuaida; Aaniem; Alnujid; Blass; shaggo; Taqmur; Aladania and Alquraiat .

The names of owners of these destroyed houses in appendix no. 1 (Read on …)

Al Jazeera

At least 30 people have been arrested in the Yemeni port city of Aden during a two-day hunt for suspected al-Qaeda operatives behind an attack on an intelligence building. More operations will continue in Saada province for suspected fighters, Yemen’s defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday. (Read on …)

This appears to be the sequence of events: the storming of jail in Aden; round-up of suspected al-Qaida; protests; arrests; one dies in from an “asthma attack”; more protests. The people were not protesting the arrests of al-Qaeda suspects as the official media is suggesting. The southerners believe (true or not) the hunt for al-Qa’ida in Aden is a pretense in order to conduct security operations against secessionists. The assault on the jail may go back to some land theft scheme where al Qamish was cut out or that may just be an incidental side story. Its not al-Qaida’s first assault on the regime reflecting a new level of hostility as some suggest.

The National: Clashes renewed between the police and armed gangs after Friday prayers in Al-Saadah quarter in Yemen’s business capital of Aden, independent sources said.

Today’s confrontations were triggered by the death of a prisoner who was arrested when people took to streets on Thursday to protest mass arrests after Saturday’s deadly terrorist attack on the political security office in the province.

The cause of the death remained unclear.

Ahmed Al-Darwish was among about 9 people arrested in connection with the attack that the authorities said bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda.

Some reports noted that more than 20 arrests took place when police raided homes and carried out mass arrests in Al-Saadah and Alnasr quarters in Khour Maksar district known as hotbeds of armed outlaws and suspected terrorists.

Most of the arrested were suspected Al-Qaeda operatives, according to security sources. The raids triggered clashes between armed gangs and the police.

On Saturday, gunmen broke into the office in Al-Towahi city shooting bullets and detonating bombs at guards and civilians. Seven soldiers, three women and a child were killed and 15 others were injured.

A day later, the authorities said the mastermind of the attack had been arrested. He was identified as Ghawdal Muhammad Saleh Naji, who the authorities said was a terrorist.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry ordered the security forces to stay on heightened alert to face possible attacks and watch the southern coastline to prevent terrorists from infiltrating into the country.

He was summoned to the police station and one hour later arrived at the hospital horribly burnt. The utter lack of compassion is incomprehensible. New Yemen; link and photo.

Revealed the “hood” the fact that a prisoner in a fire department in Sana’a, where the Red Martyr burned the upper part of his body and learned that the prisoner Hood collective Faisal summoned to the police station of the Red Martyr twelve o’clock at night On: 05/06/2010 While it was an hour later conveyed to the Republican Hospital in Sana’a burned He stressed hospital staff that he arrived without escorts and family said it had received a call from the police asking them to go to the hospital to aid their son and said his sister, (Read on …)

So what happened? The Health Ministry stole the real vaccines for resale in private pharmacies or never bought them in first place? Its very hard to donate anything to Yemen; monetary donations disappear by the sixth journal entry and even well intentioned physical donations (like to the victims of the Hadramout flood) are diverted for resale. Corruption in the Heatlh Ministry has an immediate lethal impact, just ask anyone with diabetes.

Yemen Observer: The Supreme National Association for Combating Corruption (SNACC) council approved Tuesday the withdrawal of an amount of fraudulent vaccine. The vaccines, which were to help prevent children’s illness such as the flu and malaria, were tampered with and then distributed on May 31 in eight governorates. After receiving reports that the vaccines were not in presentable containers, the authority approved their withdrawal from the markets.

The decision came after the SNACC reviewed reports from field teams sent to a number of governorates in response to the shipment of 400,000 doses of vaccines sent to the Ministry of Health stores on May 5, 2010.

The reports assured that the amounts were distributed to the Capital Secretariat, Sana’a, Taiz, Hajjah, Ibb, Dhamar, Amran and al-Mahwait governorates, noting that some of amounts were closer to damage of the powder.

According to the documents, the amounts of the vaccines sent to Yemen are approximately 611 doses costing $1,847,260. Sources say that the Ministry of Health bears 40 percent of the cost of the shipment.

No wonder no body knows what the heck is actually going on, via News Yemen:

وزارة الإعلام ترفض منح الصحافة موافقة الدخول لليمن وتطلب من المراسلين التوقيع على تعهد The Ministry of Information press refuses to grant approval to enter Yemen and ask reporters to sign a pledge
22/06/2010 22/06/2010
خاص-نيوزيمن: Particular – NewsYemen:

علم نيوزيمن من مصادر مطلعة رفض وزارة الإعلام في الآونة الأخيرة منح عدد من القنوات الفضائية والصحفيين الأجانب موافقة دخول إلى اليمن لعمل تقارير صحافية. Learned from informed sources NewsYemen rejected the Ministry of Information recently granted a number of satellite channels and foreign journalists to enter the consent of Yemen to the work of media reports.
واشتكى العديد من الصحفيين الأجانب من تلكؤ الوزارة في منحهم الموافقة والتي على أساسها يحصلون على تأشيرة من السفارات اليمنية في الخارج. And many complained that foreign journalists from the reluctance of the ministry to give them the approval and on which get a visa from the embassies in Yemen and abroad. (Read on …)

Its not a cost but a write off.

Yemen Times interviews Dr. Mohammad Ali Jubran, financial analyst and professor of economics at the University of Sana’a:

Yemen is not in need of more donors’ conferences as it has its own natural resources, but its resources are in urgent need of good management. Oil, gas, public companies and taxes are the four pillars that the economy stands on.

But oil revenues do not all reach the budget. Up to USD 1 billion per year goes to a group of people in the name of ‘oil cost’ or ‘barrel cost.’

The highest barrel costs in the world are in Yemen, not because it is the most difficult, but because of corruption. In 2000 and 2001 the barrel cost in Yemen was USD 3, but now it is USD 17. In the agreement between the foreign oil companies and Yemen the barrel cost is fixed at USD 3, so where does the other USD 14 go? (Read on …)

The US is deeply troubled now? What a load of hooey. There was five months straight of carpet bombing of civilians and there was nada, nothing, zip from the US except a blatant disregard for civilian slaughter- in the north and the south. The US is troubled by the violence now only because the resumption of war will mean that Saleh will remain distracted from a dedicated counter-terror posture against al-Qa’ida. However, thats the point. The regime is structurally reliant on corruption, repression and detante with al-Qaeda. This is pathetic.

Peoples Daily: The United States is “deeply troubled” by violence in the northern Yemen and calls for a comprehensive dialogue between all opposition parties and the government, said the White House on Thursday.

“We are deeply troubled by reports of fresh outbreaks of fighting in Sa’ada, and urge full compliance with the ceasefire agreement announced in February, and an end to the violence,” said a White House statement, referring to recent violent conflicts in the northern Yemeni province of Sa’ada.

“The United States calls for a comprehensive and inclusive national dialogue between all opposition groups and the ruling party. Such a dialogue needs to be undertaken in good faith and with haste by all parties to address legitimate grievances and increase stability in Yemen,” said the statement. (Read on …)

Al Beidh still a no show. The Preparatory Dialog Committee is working to create an alliance for a reformed, unified Yemen and the Houthis have signed on, but the hard-core southerners think its a ploy to dilute authentic opposition and keep Saleh in power through stalling tactics. (Not that Al-Beidh has done anything worthwhile but issue statements calling for demosntrations…) Others see a Saudi hand. The PDC defines the root of the crisis in Yemen as family rule. Saleh Habra’s speech on behalf of Abdelmalik al Houthi is pasted below. WJWC’s Tawwakol Karaman and MP Ahmed Saif Hashid recently resigned because they say all the PDC does is issue statements and it is not transparent or democratic in structure, fair points that can be applied to many civil society organizations. Some opposition political and civil leaders hold seminars and pass papers back and forth diagnosing the main problem as the centralization of power in Yemen, but there is nothing stopping them from modeling democracy themselves and they don’t.

Yemen Observer: Yemeni Media sources said that a meeting of the internal opposition and external opposition was held in Cairo. The meeting came out with terms of dialogue on unification efforts. The internal opposition was represented by a number of JMP leaders including Abdulwahab al-Anisi, Yasin Saeed Norman, Sultan al-Atwani as well as leaders from the PDC including Aidros al-Naqib, Sakhr al-Wjih, Ali Abdo Rabo al-Qadi and on top of them Mohammed Salem Ba Sondwa. Sheikh Hamis al-Ahmar who has prepared and financed the meeting was absent from this meeting. (Read on …)

Yemen Post: There are roughly 423000 child laborers in Yemen aged between 6 to 14 years old, most of whom are working in the countryside, a recent official survey has said.

Also, most of the children are subjected to physical and psychological abuse, it said, pointing out that amid poverty many families send their children to work to support them. (Read on …)

Update: Apparently the security had no bullets. Yemen Times:

Last Saturday, armed people attacked the Political Security office in Al-Tawahi district, Aden governorate. They killed 13 people, including seven soldiers, four women and a child.

“What happened is a scandal,” private sources reported told the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper. «Armed people attacked the Political Security office in Aden where the security guards could not stop them. They exceeded all the security barriers and entered the security office building without being shot at even once. In the end they departed the place chanting joyfully in a triumphant tone.”

The sources told the newspaper said that there are signs that the attackers were not confronted by the guards who had no guns. According to the locals in Al-Tawahi district, all people who were suspected to be working for political security secretly disappeared during the attack.

OP: That’s hysterical, al Gamish to investigate. Either al Gamish planned it or the arrests and subsequent jailbreak were the result of infighting like occurred with Hamza al Qaiti after all the mortars missed in 2008. There was quite a verbal sparring match between the two in which al Qaiti said he was betrayed by al Gamish. Then he got killed in a shoot-out (like al Fawaz al-Reibi and the Egyptian Dwieder). Head of the PSO, Al Gamish was promoted (or at least got a second position) after the 2006 jail break. He’s been around for decades. The PSO is largely subverted by al-Qaeda but then again, al-Qaeda is also largely subverted by the PSO and sometimes (some of them) act as mercenaries. It was Al-Gamish, along with Saleh who negotiated directly with Abu al Feida on behalf of al-Qa’ida back in 2006. Quite a favorable deal it was for both sides. Al Feida had nothing but praise for the way the Yemeni regime handles the brothers.

Yemen Post: Minister of information , Mr . Hasan Al-lowzi has conformed that Yemen is a partner for the international society in all plans and operations that aim to face terrorism and it is fighting its individuals , Al-thawranet reported.

He said also , responding the question of Al-arabia channel in terms of the armed attack of Al-Qaida in Yemen that aimed political security office in Aden , ” There is a supreme committee presided by General Ghaleb Alqamesh , chief of political security system and the deputy of interior minister , interrogating this event to know every thing about it” .

He clarified that this terroristic work was unexpected for a city that has settlement and security as Aden that he conformed it as a secured city and all its visitors recognize that .

He said ” Today we go to Aden and pass in its streets without escorts and arms , and what happened was unexpected for a city that really distinguished to have a strong security because it is totally forbidden to bear arms in Aden” .

And in terms of security situation in Yemen and efforts paid to face terrorism , Al-lowzi pointed out that there is a fight , country and people are fighting against terrorism works especially Al-Qaida , and war will not be ceased until the specific and marked purposes in security plans to be achieved .

Minister of information also said ” Yemen is fighting really against terrorism , and it is a partner for the international society at facing it and there are threats should be taken to consideration and to be on the alert in the all governorates .

The tribal paramilitary hasn’t been paid, violence ensues. I believe this happened in the last wars as well, likely the money got pocketed if it was paid at all.

Yemen Post: An army officer has been killed and three soldiers and unidentified number of tribesmen injured in the clashes that are still continuing between the army and tribes in Al-Ashah district in Amran Province. (Read on …)

Somebody is making big money from this. Some of these kids are very young four and five years old.

Trafficking in Persons Report 2010
YEMEN (Tier 2 Watch List)

Yemen is a country of origin and, to a much lesser extent, a transit and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Yemeni children, mostly boys, migrate across the northern border with Saudi Arabia, to the Yemeni cities of Aden and Sana’a, or – to a lesser extent – to Oman, and are forced to work primarily as beggars, but also for domestic servitude or forced labor in small shops. Some of these children are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation in transit or once they arrive in Saudi Arabia by traffickers, border patrols, other security officials, and their employers. The government and local NGOs estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of children in forced labor in Yemen. (Read on …)

Telegraph: A German and an Iraqi were among four men accused in a Yemeni court on Wednesday of plotting a suicide bomb attack to kill Tim Torlot, the British Ambassador to Yemen, in the capital Sana’a.

Rami Hens, a German citizen whose mother is Yemeni, was on trial over the alleged plot, a court official said.

The ambassador was in a convoy travelling to the embassy on an April morning when the bomb was detonated.

Really getting desperate, aren’t they? I guess the Saudi women didn’t come flocking to Yemen after al-Qa’ida’s last appeal to them for suicide bombers. Short of funds they are as well. Interesting how AQIY can distribute the CDs in such a systematic manner without drawing the attention of the state-funded Imams and security. Oh yes, it was actually the state funded Imams who first warned against US intervention in Yemen, threatening jihad in a statement. Yeah that was it. The AQIY zealots are hoping that US backing of the widely reviled dictator and his messy messy methods of counter-insurgency will create a backlash in their favor, not an improbable outcome even without the CDs, but there are a lot of other options for those with anti-government inclinations. Anti-US sentiments grew geometrically after the slaughter in Abyan (cluster bombs??!!) and the US’s extremely poor follow-up. (Nary a word. Even after the Yemeni government apologized, the US kept congratulating.) Inciting against US intervention incidentally and conveniently dovetails with Saleh’s position. This Abdulelah mentioned works for (gets a paycheck from) the state news agency SABA and is the brother-in-law of Abdulmajid al-Zindani, a long time Saleh loyalist. Abdulelah is the one who manages to interview all the top al-Qa’ida (including his bestest friend Anwar Awlaki, Nassir al Wahishi and Fahd “but I thought he was reformed” al-Quso) without a problem as we noted first in January 2009. We’ll file this about the CDs under the heading “flaky stuff”.

Yemen Post An unidentified group has distributed a CD at a number of mosques in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a that some people said contained interviews with Al-Qaeda leaders and videos about U.S. raids on terrorist targets in the country, independent sources said on Thursday.

Uthman Al-Ghamidi, Fahd Al-Qusa, Abu Musab Muhammad Saleh Umair and Saeed Al-Shari, all of the most wanted terrorist suspects by Yemeni and Saudi authorities, appeared in the CD speaking about U.S. crimes and calling for reviving Jihad, holy war.

They talked about terror raids that took place in late last year and early this year in Abyan, Shabwa and Sana’a with a focus on the raid in Almajalah district, Abyan, in which many were killed including civilians. Murdered terrorist Abu Umair was seen discussing Jihad with young Jihadists.

Abdul Elah Shaea, a local expert in terrorism issues, also appeared speaking about Al-Qaeda in Yemen including remarks he previously gave to Aljazeera Satellite Channel.

The CD was intended to incite the people against the U.S. intervention as concerns, mainly by the west, continued to grow about Al-Qaeda presence in the country and to praise the role of Al-Qaeda and its acts.

It also contained photos of some Arab leaders described as agents for the west including Egypt’s Mubarak and President Saleh.

The state’s failure to release the prisoners as required by the truce itself, not to mention the May 22 amnesty announcement, was predictable. It happened in every cease fire since 2005. Similarly, little reconstruction occurred over the last five years despite all the funds donated and numerous announcements. Of the 3000 political prisoners, the breakdown is roughly 1000 entirely innocent (arrested for suspected sympathy with the rebels), 1000 rebels and 1000 southerners arrested during protests or during night raids on activists’ homes. Also several journalists. There’s still about 2200 in jail and its a continuing source of friction and a bargaining chip against the larger populace, but as the RAND report correctly notes, the truces are a tactic of war, not a method of peace.

SANAA, 24 June 2010 (IRIN) – Abdulmalik al-Houthi, leader of the Shia rebels in the northern governorate of Saada, has accused the government of reneging on amnesty promises made by President Ali Abdullah Saleh on 22 May.

Saleh had announced an amnesty for all imprisoned southern separatists and Houthi rebels in the north during a speech to commemorate unification in 1990.

“Instead of releasing our fellow citizens in line with President Saleh’s amnesty, security authorities in the government are launching new arrest campaigns against our men,” al-Houthi said in a statement on 22 June.

According to local media reports, fewer than 800 of the more than 3,000 prisoners believed to be covered by the amnesty have been released.

Asked why the government had not released all of the prisoners under the amnesty, Interior Ministry official Lutfi Nisari said only: “This is a presidential affair.” (Read on …)

by Abdullah A. Qaid- for Armies of Liberation

23 June, Sana’a–Violent clashes between Yemeni troops and southern protesters are in their second day in al-Dhalia, southern Yemen. Three soldiers and a woman were reported killed. Eight were injured from both sides

Conflict erupted yesterday the army shelled Jahaf district with artillery fire accompanied by Katyusha rockets. The target zone extended to the city center of al-Dhalia, local sources said.

The Yemeni military authorities launched the campaign in order to break the siege on military camps imposed by armed locals. Military reinforcements of more than 20 units, several tanks and armored vehicles arrived in the area, witnesses said.

An armed faction loyal to the Southern Movement imposed the siege on the military camps four nights ago after the government reneged on a previous peace deal. Months ago, a presidential commission agreed to end the military blockade on al-Dhalia and withdraw from military outposts in the region in return for the activists’ pledge to open streets. However the military commander responsible for the agreement’s implementation refused to withdraw from the army’s quarters in the Jahaf section of al-Dhalia.

Protests began again in al-Dhalia when the army shelled residential areas on 8 June, killing five civilians and injuring about 20 others.

Lahj: Thousands in funeral procession

On Wednesday morning, thousands of supporters of the Southern Movement demonstrated in a funeral procession from Lahj to Radfan, southern of Yemen, to bury three activists killed by security forces days earlier during peaceful anti-government protests.

Sources said the participants raised the flags of the former South Yemen and green decals with pictures of the dead activists. They chanted slogans calling for the secession of the south from the north of Yemen.

The Southern Movement began in 2007 as a protest movement calling for equal rights for southerners and an end to perceived institutionalized discrimination against the region and its inhabitants since 1994’s civil war. The movement is a loose coalition of anti-government groups that largely remained peaceful in the face of repetitive state violence against protesters and widespread arbitrary arrests of demonstrators.

By Abdullah A. Qaid in Sana’a, Editing by Jane Novak

Moron al Reimi below the fold.

Saudi Gazette
MARIB – Official sources have said that two Saudi nationals named on the Ministry of Interior’s list of 85 wanted terrorists were involved in last Saturday’s oil pipeline attack in the Yemeni region of Marib.
A Yemeni government source said that Saeed Al-Shehri – Al-Qaeda’s “second man” in the Arabian Peninsula – and the organization’s field commander Othman Al-Ghamdi were both involved, making it their first operation since joining up with the group in Yemen. The source added that three Yemenis – Qasim Al-Raimi, Saeed Ali Bin Jameel and Nasser Bin Douha – also took part in the bombing.
(Read on …)

I wonder is Sadiq al Ahmar, head of the president’s Hashid tribe, will join the coalition?

Yemen Post Leader of Bakil tribe, the largest Yemeni tribe, Sheikh Naji Abdul-Aziz Al-Shayef expressed his intention to call on the formation of a tribal coalition, includes leaders and sheikhs of the Yemeni tribes to stand by the government in its fight against the so-called Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is based in Yemen.

Al-Shayef told Okaz, Saudi media source that “the presence of Al-Qaeda in Yemen poses a real threat on Yemen human security and abilities of the people, so the fight against this organization and to renounce its elements remain people’s joint responsibility, however, tribes must have a role on this, because Al-Qaeda is a stray organization lurks in all the classes of people in Yemen”.

AQAP called on Friday the tribes in Yemen’s Marib Province, eastern Yemen to revolt against the government as the security campaigns against terrorist suspects have intensified in the area.

In a videotape by an unidentified spokesman for (AQAP), the group called the tribal leaders to distance themselves from “standing with Crusade”; stressing the need not to hand over any of its elements to the security authorities.

Sheikh Al-Shayef also warned of the negative consequences of covering up Al-Qaida and makes Yemen a safe haven to them. He added Yemen’s security and safety of its citizens is above all else.

Nasser Arrabee: Three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.

This is good. The Border Guard and the Coast Guard regularly duke it out when the Coast Guard interrupts the Border Guards’ smuggling. The president’s nephew reportedly had a private dock set up to receive shipments of drugs and the UN found most of the illegal gun shipments depart from the Mukalla area, but now that Faris Manna was designated by the UN as a illegal weapons smuggler, I’m sure all that will end. At the same time, the services of the Yemeni Coast Guard are being sold to private shipping firms for protection against pirates, which must make them in a little less productive in other areas. What ever happened to the radar system announced in 2006 that the Italians were financing?

Yemen plans setting up Coastguard branch in Hadramout
[10/يونيو/2010] MUKALLA, June 10 (Saba) The Yemeni Coastguard Authority is planning to set up a branch in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramout within its efforts to secure the 2000 km long coastline of the country.

The Commander of the Yemeni Coastguard Forces Brigadier General Ali Rasa’a and the governor of Hadramout Salem al-Khanbashi paid Thursday a visit to a site devoted to the establishment of a strategic port in Hadramout. (Read on …)

The Health Ministry routinely ignores or denies outbreaks of disease, too busy stealing donated medicine for sale in private pharmacies, I guess. Al Sahwa

Sahwa Net- Saudi doctors told Sahwa Net the measured followed up in Yemen to combat Dengue Fever are unproductive and merely a waste of money. They said awareness campaigns should be intensified about mosquito breeding grounds and nessessary procedures to early diagnoses of Dengue Fever must be taken. A Yemeni official medical report has revealed on Monday the increase of Dengue Fever inflicted cases in Shabwa governorate, pointing out that the cases discovered mounted to 131 and that more that there are more than 1100 suspected cases of Dengue fever. (Read on …)

Ah yes there are advantages to being in business with the president, despite being on the list of violators of UN sanctions on Somalia. al Sahwa

Sahwa Net- Yemeni authorities released on Tuesday night Sheikh Faris Mana’a, a weapon dealer who was arrested on January by Yemeni authorities, sheiks from Saada governorate told Marib Press.

They said that the release of Mana’a was astonishing; pointing out that he was welcomed by masses of Saada sheiks and citizens. (Read on …)

Huge losses to the Yemeni treasury, I wonder who got the graft? In 2006 the South Korean delegation came home crowing about the excellent deal with Yemen. After recently threatening to renegotiate the contracts, Yemen now says it will stand by them. This is a very interesting article, one of the contracts has a floor and ceiling price.

Businessweek

une 18 (Bloomberg) — Yemen LNG Co. will honor its liquefied natural gas contracts with buyers including Total SA, GDF Suez SA and Korea Gas Corp., an official said, after the Middle Eastern state proposed to review them. (Read on …)

In this statement, Al Qaeda also denied issuing the prior statement that claimed responsibility for Sheik al Shabwani’s death. So then who issued that statement, the government? Holy Moley Batman, could someone be issuing false statements on behalf of al-Qa’ida? Gee, then there was the other false statement on behalf of the Awlaki tribe threatening the US…

For more see the Yemen Post and the following from M&C

Cairo/Sana’a, Yemen – The al-Qaeda network on Friday urged tribal leaders in Yemen not to turn over its fighters – also known as the ‘mujahidin’ – to the government, according to a statement published on Islamist websites.

The statement accused the government of killing ‘the innocent people as well as children and women, under the pretext that some members of these tribes are wanted,’ referring to the death of the deputy governor of Yemen’s Marib province last month. (Read on …)

It was big news in 2006 when al Wasat published the list of scholarship recipients and they were the sons and daughters of the most powerful people in Yemen. Now its just old news.

Mareb Press: استعرض وزير التعليم العالي والبحث العلمي الدكتور صالح علي باصره اليوم في مدينة مرسيليا الفرنسية التطورات التي شهدها التعليم العالي في اليمن في مختلف المجالات. The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr. Saleh Ali Bazareth today in the French city of Marseille developments in higher education in Yemen in various fields. (Read on …)

Actual slaves: al Masdar

Aden: 11 killed and 12 wounded
AQAP suspects set free from Political Security in Yemen

by Abdullah A. Qaid- For Armies of Liberation

Sana’a- 16 June- At least 11 were killed and 12 wounded Saturday morning in Aden, southern of Yemen, as unidentified gunmen attacked the Political Security office. Most of the dead people were soldiers.

The initial fingerprint of the operation is pointing to the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), security sources said.

About five gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed the security building in Attwahi with fired bullets and bombs that led to clashes inside the building.

During the attack, unknown numbers of prisoners suspected of being members of Al-Qaeda were set free by the operators, security source affirmed.

Although, the clash lasted for nearly half an hour, all the assailants together with the released prisoners escaped successfully.

Three women including the secretary of the director of the Political Security, along with a child was far from the Political Security, were among the dead persons.

The operation comes a day after a release by al-Qaeda threatened to ignite a fire under the earth what it called retaliation for the killing of women and children in Wadi Ubeeda of Marib.

The BBC correspondent in Sana’a quoted as a security source asked anonymity that the incident may come after collusion of security members within the political security.

The Attwahi district of Aden witnessed over the past months two explosions near the building of the Political Security and Television Broadcasting, in which the Director of the Political Security Attwahi and Al-Muala was killed.

According to Yemen News Agency (SABA), the Supreme Security Committee confirmed its intention to pursue the terrorist perpetrators and bring them to justice for their punishment and commended the cooperation of citizens in all provinces with the security services in calling upon everyone to report any presence of these misguided terrorist elements wherever they.

Update, AFP: They brought a bus. Witnesses also said the assailants “were seen leaving the building in a bus, taking people who had been detained there with them,” in what appeared to be a coordinated and well-planned operation.

Oh it just gets flakier and flakier: They all escaped in two cars with no prisoners after an hour of gun battles and RPG attacks. Another update: The local council denies and calls al Jazeera a liar.

(Read on …)

Everything you need to know about the reality of Yemen but were afraid to ask:

I think calcified is a good word to describe “governance” in Yemen. Beyond the lack of transition of executive power for thirty years, the entire ruling class has also been in place for decades. At most, they trade positions now and then in an extremely profitable and deadly game of musical chairs.

Cheese Louise, ya think? The diesel subsides primarily benefit the qat growers and the oil smugglers, not the poor. One third of the national budget ($2.5 billion US) is diesel subsidies. The problem-when it comes to the water crisis, the oil depletion, the qat issue, the subsidies, and so on and so on-is it that there was never any long term strategic planning. Its like Saleh thought all these dire predictions were dark opposition propaganda, meanwhile the water table is dropping noticeably. And what long term planning there was wasn’t fully implemented. One minister’s reform is another minister’s financial crisis. The ministries are at odds with each other without clear lines of authority when reform measures cut across several fiefdoms at once. Things are going to get crunchy as the oil revenues dry up and the state begins to be unable to make payroll.

Bernama:
Yemen Becomes Oil Importer Due To Production Decline, Local Demand

SANA’A, June 16 (Bernama) — Yemen became an oil importer due to the decline in the country’s oil production and the increasing consumption in local market, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Tuesday.

“The government should talk frankly to the people about the reality of its subsidy to support local selling prices of oil derivatives,” official Saba news agency quoted Saleh as saying to the cabinet in a weekly meeting.

“Government’s oil subsidy to local market costs the state budget an estimated sum of more than US$2.25 billion annually,” Saleh added.

“The subsidy encourages corruption and on behalf of the national interest, the government must abolish the subsidy to raise the wages of state employees and to support the welfare fund,” he added.

Saleh also suggested his government to raise contract prices for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.

Considering changes in selling prices in global gas markets, Saleh ordered the government to reconsider, as soon as possible, the agreement prices of LNG exported from Belhaf port in Shabwa province, the news agency reported.

Taking a page from that ship to Gaza apparently, good! One important point here is that the convoy is coming from Taiz, the largest city in Yemen. If the police kill the Taiz protesters, it will inflame Taiz and get the city on its feet. I don’t mean to be cold, but deaths are a likely outcome. The Yemeni government has been killing southern protesters in cold blood for years. Neither is the blockade and shelling of Dhalie unexpected, its the same tactics of collective punishment of civilians used in the Saada Wars since 2005. The US is allied with and enabling a war criminal.

Yemen Post: A source at the public movement for justice and change in Taiz Province said on Tuesday that the movement in association with a number of activists, religious clerics, lawmakers and social figures is sending a humanitarian and peace convoy within efforts to lift the blockade on and condemn violence in Dhale Province in the south.

The convoy comes in protest at carnage, anonymous violence and vandalism the people are suffering in Dhale and bring the worsening situation and the months-long blockade to the media and human rights organizations, the source said.

The movement has been preparing the convoy for days and medics, lawyers and civil society organizations are participating in it, the source added.

MP Sultan Al-Sami’e, the spokesman for the convoy, said it comes as a symbol act in solidarity with the people in Dhale who have been under attacks and siege for months.

Furthermore, it comes to demonstrate our refusal to using force against the civilians and even in resolving problems, he said.

About 70 to 100 peace activists are taking part in the convoy carrying placards reading ‘ lift the blockade of Dhale’.

Almost two weeks ago, violence hit the blockaded Dhale killing and injuring more than a dozen people and destroying many homes.

The government blamed outlaws and separatists for the violence. But local sources said the city came under missile attacks from various directions by military camps around it.

The violence comes as the south can’t calm down amid an increasing wave of protest and rioting in the south with the people demanding resolving standing issues including injustices and sometimes seeking separation of the south.

Months ago, the government imposed a security cordon around the city in search for terrorists and outlaws.

Many protests and sit-inns have been staged to protest what the people said is militarizing the civil life in the city, one of the southern cities worst hit by rioting.

In 2006, I wrote an article called Yemen’s Natural Gas, Who Benefits? The answer was TOTAL, South Korea and whoever got the payola. It should be noted that TOTAL is in charge of the LNG project from development to sales, and TOTAL sold one third of the Liquefied Natural Gas to its subsidiary, TOTAL Gas.

My suggestion to counteract “the resource curse” was to adopt the Alaskan model for the oil and gas revenues and pay a dividend to every citizen, thwarting grand corruption, stimulating the economy and small business across a broad spectrum. But that was before the oil bottomed out entirely.

Yemen Post: President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered on Tuesday the Ministry of Oil and Minerals to reconsider contracts for selling liquefied natural gas LNG so that the prices cope with changes of global gas prices.

He also asked the government to conduct a comprehensive study on the policy of oil subsidies estimated at YR 510 billion annually.

The orders came when Saleh chaired the meeting of the Cabinet that focused on issues related to development and holding a national dialogue to address crucial national issues.

Moreover, Saleh urged to boost investment in oil, gas and minerals, fish and agriculture, rationalize the public spending and pay more attention to financial resources development.

After the meeting, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi and Minister for Oil and Minerals Amir Salim Al-Aidrous met wit the South Korean ambassador to Yemen Won Ho Kwak and informed him of the decision.

Over two thirds of Yemen LNG goes to Europe, the United States and South Korea.

Yemen’s Natural Gas: Who Benefits? Jane Novak, Worldpress.org contributing editor, August 4, 2006

One way Yemen’s “resource curse” syndrome can be avoided, economists suggest, is to distribute the profits from the sales of natural resources directly to every citizen.

Freedom House recently noted Yemen as among the world’s most corrupt developing nations. With the personal interests of the ruling elite taking priority over national development, nearly half of Yemeni children are malnourished and out of school. Unemployment is high and medical services scarce. A looming water crisis threatens to destabilize the country. Claims of development are little more than government propaganda with the gap between the extremely rich and the extremely poor widening and infant mortality remaining high year after year.

Atop the existing national crisis, experts predict Yemen’s oil reserves, which provide nearly 70 percent of governmental revenue, will substantially deplete within a decade. A natural gas project is under development. Yemen LNG (YLNG), the company responsible for producing and marketing Yemen’s natural gas, will produce 6.7 million tons of natural gas annually for 20 years. Although the gas liquefaction plant and pipeline is 23 percent complete, concerns exist about sales prices, domestic allocation, and the project’s local impact.

Sales Prices

France’s energy giant, Total SA is the major shareholder in YLNG with 39.6 percent and is in the lead on the project. Total SA has touted YLNG as “a giant gas project” and noted that it is a main component of Total SA’s future growth. (Read on …)

Lahj: 3 injured in clashes between soldiers and gunmen
by Abdullah A. Qaid, For Armies of Liberation

Sana’a, 15 June- Three persons were injured in clashes between Yemeni soldiers and gunmen on Monday in the Alhabaylain district of Lahj,

The clashes broke out after a number of military personnel swarmed the town market, raising the ire of citizens who opened fire in the air and at the soldiers. The soldiers fired indiscriminately using handguns and rifles. The shooting lasted nearly an hour. The three injured victims including a woman were innocent bystanders.

In a another incident in Lahj, hundreds of supporters of Southern Movement demonstrated in Almosaimeer to condemn the securities attacks against residents in Dhalie the last week, in which six were killed and dozens were wounded.

South Yemen has seen growing public protests since 2007 calling for an end to institutionalized discrimination that arose after 1994’s civil war. State repression of the demonstrations included arbitrary arrests, indiscriminate violence and blockades, triggering more protests.

Aden: Mixing of drinking water with sewage

On Monday evening, Aden Security forces in Almuala’a disbursed dozens of protesters.

The angry demonstrators blocked streets and set garbage drums against the governorate building, protesting against contaminated drinking water.

The securities opened fire with live bullets and used batons against protesters. Police raided two houses in search of demonstrators, citizens said.

Residents of Aden complain their drinking water was contaminated by sewage, and water supplies suffer frequent interruptions.

Global Times

Yemen government says al-Qaida kills 37 officials

Yemen’s government said Sunday that al-Qaida group has killed 37 senior army and security officials during the past three years, state media reported. (Read on …)

Yemeni Political Leader exposed to drive by assassination attempt
by Abdullah A. Qaid, for Armies of Liberation

Sana’a, 14 June- Mr. Hassan Mohammed Zeid, the Secretary-General of Al-Haq, a Yemeni opposition party, said today he escaped an assassination attempt by 4 persons. The drive-by shooing occurred in the al-Jooraf quarter of Sana’a.

Zeid was targeted by a hail of bullets from two cars with official license plates. One was numbered 4760-Army and the other 212-Government, Zeid stated in a press release.

Earlier political violence against Mr. Zeid included an assault on his land in al-Jooraf. Police were forbidden from intervening in an attempt to prevent the abuse, the release added.

Zeid accused the Yemeni authorities of being responsible for the assassination attempt.

The al-Haq Party denounced the assassination attempt on its Secretary-General, confirmed the authorities’ responsibility for protecting Zeid’s life and demanded that perpetrators to be brought to the justice.

Militants blow up oil pipeline in Marib
By Abdullah A. Qaid for Armies of Liberation

Sana’a, June 12- Tribal militants blew up an oil pipeline in Wadi Abeeda, Marib governorate on Saturday morning. Marib, in eastern Yemen, has been experiencing ongoing clashes between security forces and tribal gunmen.

The sole pipeline which carries oil to the Ras Issa Refinery in Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast for export was extensively damaged and stopped pumping oil, sources in the Yemeni government said.

Al-Arabiya television quoted security sources as saying that the incident comes as part of the continuing confrontations between tribesmen loyal to al Qaeda and the army going since last Wednesday.

Tension between the government and the tribes in Marib escalated since the death of Sheik Jabir Al-Shabwani, the Vice-governor of Marib province, in May. Mr. al-Shabwani was killed in an air strike, along with three body guards, that the government said was targeting an al Qaeda leader. Al-Shabwani was traveling to negotiate for the surrender of several al-Qaeda operatives at the time of the errant missile strike.

They were protesting the five killed in the shelling Monday as well as the military blockade on the city.

AFP: SANAA — Ten people were wounded when security forces opened fire on demonstrators in the south Yemen town of Daleh on Thursday, security officials and sources from the Southern Movement told AFP… Southern Movement leader Yahya Ghalib al-Shuaybi said the demonstrators were protesting the deaths Monday of five civilians, whom witnesses said were killed in government shelling on the southern town of Daleh.

“Demonstrations of anger and solidarity with the victims of Daleh… were launched across several of the southern regions, especially in Daleh, Habilayn, Abyan, Shabwa, and Yafe,” Shuaybi told AFP.

“Military forces in the blockaded city (Daleh) fired from posts surrounding the city, using light weapons,” Shuaybi said.

The demonstrators were carrying flags of the formerly independent south along with pictures of prominent exiled south Yemeni leader Ali Salem al-Baid, Shuaybi said. On Tuesday Baid appealed to the international community to protect southerners “from the massacre committed against southerners in general and Daleh inhabitants specifically,” in a statement received by AFP in Dubai.

Also we learn that the recently surrendered al Zaidi is the cousin of the governor. Yemen has long had a habit of asking al Qaeda figures to go to prison for a while for the good of the country, i.e.- to take the US pressure off. Propaganda is a main stay of Yemen’s foreign policy. Click here for an earlier report on al Dhayani’s history and an interview where he accused the political security of concocting some terror attacks themselves for political purposes. He says he couldn’t be the driving instructor on the 2007 Marib attack because he doesn’t drive. Its hard to say who is the more credible source here…

AP

SAN’A, Yemen — Yemen said Monday that an al-Qaida operative turned himself in to authorities in the country’s northeastern province, the second such surrender in two days.

The development came as Yemen intensified its campaign to drive al-Qaida militants from their strongholds across this impoverished Arabian Peninsula country.

According to a statement by Yemen’s Supreme Security Committee, the suspect gave himself up late Sunday in the province of Marib, surrendering to the local governor there.

The suspect was identified as Hamza Ali Saleh al-Dayan, who is believed to have trained suicide bombers and helped plan the July 2007 suicide attack that killed seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis in the same province.

Al-Dayan was among 23 al-Qaida members who escaped from a Yemeni jail in Feb. 2006, through a tunnel dug under the prison. He was later accused of taking part in the 2008 mortar attack against the U.S. Embassy in San’a that killed a policeman and a young girl at an adjacent school. He and three accomplices fled in a car after that attack.

On Saturday, another suspected al-Qaida operative, Ghalib al-Zayedi, surrendered after lengthy mediation efforts to Marib’s Governor Naji bin Ali al-Zayedi, who is also his cousin.

Ghalib al-Zayedi was arrested in 2003 and spent the next three years in detention after being accused of hiding a man believed to be al-Qaida’s number two in Yemen.

CNN Yemen has detained a dozen Americans among a larger group of foreign students reportedly being held for security reasons, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

Citing “privacy issues,” P.J. Crowley would not provide details about the detentions nor would he confirm other media reports that the students may have had connections with the terror group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

“We have great cooperation with the government of Yemen,” Crowley said when pressed on the issue. “Together, we are doing our best to help Yemen, you know, reduce the threat posed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. That’s a threat to Yemen. It’s a threat to the United States.”

Earlier media reports indicated the arrests of as many as 50 students suspected of having connections with the Yemeni-based terror organization were made last week. CNN has been unable to confirm those reports.

This strike has been going on for years. I have a copy of the employment contract for the port workers. It allows punitive transfers and termination without cause, among a number of other illegal provisions.

HOOD: About the suffering of the workers port of Aden container from abuse

Revealed by local authorities in the governorate of Aden and the ugly face biased to manage the company operating the port of Aden Container “DP World” in farsightedness, in violation of the Constitution and the law to prevent dock workers from exercising their constitutional and legal in the peaceful sit-in to claim their rights project, but proceeded to launch phase new use of cruelty and violence when dispersing the peaceful sit on Saturday 5/6/2010, which resulted in injuries to workers and the arrest of (9) after the port workers had gathered in the round of Caltex for going on strike, which started on 05/24/2010 after reversed (down) the company’s implementation of the commitments made in the minutes earlier with representatives of the workers of the equality of reward paid workers, the nearest port run by “DP”, a port of Djibouti, and following this record has been suspended a strike a year and a half, as well as the right of workers in health care and the demands of related, including the employer must provide the rights of the worker in accordance with the Labour Code. (Read on …)

There’s 30 or 50 foreigners in detention on suspicion of terror activities.

www.hoodonline.org

An imprisoned Australian women was able to visit with her children for the first time since her arrest, and security officials indicate that she is about to be deported to her home country, HOOD’s lawyer said yesterday.

“There is a promise from security bodies that Mrs. Giddins is about to be deported to her home with her children. The children remain under house arrest with Rafa Hussein, a Bengali citizen, who was earlier arrested on suspicion of terrorism, said Abdul Rahman Barman, a HOOD representing Ms. Giddins. .

Shylon Giddins, an Australian citizen, was arrested on May 15, 2010. She came to Yemen to live in Islamic country and works as an English teacher. (Read on …)

Its amazing how many of the president’s orders are not followed. In this case its the four on trial for spying for Iran. But why even make the announcement of the amnesty if there was no intention of releasing all the detainees? Its good propaganda for the international and domestic audiences but all it did was raise expectations and then cause greater frustration when the amnesty was not implemented, for example the recent rioting in prisons by the political prisoners. Its funny the prosecution says the order is not legal but very little in the Yemeni judicial system is legal or constitutional.

Yemen Times:SANA’A, June 6 — The prosecution in Sana’a has objected to the president’s amnesty on four Yemeni citizens accused of supporting the Houthis and spying for Iran.

This objection came during a trial session of four defendants on Sunday morning at the Specialized Penal Court in the capital. The prosecution said that the amnesty is illegal as the defendants are still being tried and no verdict has been issued against them. (Read on …)

Update: death toll rises to six. Gruesome photos here. Reports, Security turned back an ambulance here. And an English report here

Original: The regime is using the same tactics in the South that it employed during the Sa’ada war that drove the war to six rounds, six years and thousands of casualties without resolution. Later reports indicate three dead including a child and eleven seriously wounded.

SANAA — Two people were killed and dozens wounded on Monday in what witnesses described as the “indiscriminate” shelling by the Yemeni army of the southern town of Daleh, a medical official said. (Read on …)

Also new battles leave many dead, wounded and missing.

Yemen Post: Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi has urged the Yemeni authority on the release of Houthi detainees and to convert what he called the declaration of May 22 to the ground.

According to a press release issued by Houthis Information Bureau, the power is still waffling on the release of the detainees so far, reported media sources, have got a copy of the statement. (Read on …)

WSJ: Federal authorities arrested and filed terror-related charges against an American man who they say received advice from radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and attempted to provide money and materials to an al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.

Barry Walter Bujol, 29 years old, was arrested Sunday in a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting after he used fake documents supplied by an undercover informant to board a ship in Houston he thought was bound for the Middle East, the Justice Department said Thursday…. (Read on …)

Earth Times

Istanbul – A top official of terror network Al Qaeda called Thursday on followers to kidnap Christians and members of the Saudi royal family to help gain the release of jailed group members.

The audio message from former Guantanamo prisoner Said Ali al- Shihri, Al Qaeda’s number-two man in the Arabian Peninsula, was carried on various Islamic websites.

In it, he called on Muslims to help to take “Christians and princes of the Al-Saud family, as well as ministers and officers” as hostages. These would then be used to gain the freedom of jailed members, including women who were subjected to torture, he said. (Read on …)

Nice. But they got a good chunk of funds already via this pipeline.

AlawasatAsharq Al-Awsat – Al Qaeda revealed on Thursday the identity of one of the most dangerous women in the organization who was detained by Saudi security forces last February. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Haylah al Qassir was arrested as part of a group of 113 terrorists for having links to Al Qaeda in Yemen. The arrests were announced last March.

An audiotape attributed to Al Qaeda was released on Thursday in which Saeed al Shehri, a deputy leader within Al Qaeda, called for kidnapping Saudi government officials in revenge for Haylah al Qassir’s arrest that was carried out by the Saudi authorities in Riyadh. Al Qassir is described as one of Al Qaeda’s most dangerous women. (Read on …)

And the next one who surrenders may have a 2 pound remote controlled bomb in his butt.

Pal Telegraph: Sana’a, Yemen, June 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph, by Anwar Al-Shoaybi) – A prominent leader of Yemen’s Al-Qaeda arm has reportedly handed himself over to authorities, security sources reported Saturday morning.

Ghaleb Al-Zaidi, one of the most wanted Al-Qaeda leaders in the eastern Yemeni province of Mareb, has given himself up to the governor of Mareb, after receiving assurances that he will not be killed or harmed.

Al-Zaidi decided to surrender after lengthy negotiations with the local authorities in Mareb, according to the sources. Al-Zaidi was put on trial in December, 2003 for allegedly harboring another Al-Qaeda suspect, called Mohammed Al-Ahdal, during a manhunt by Yemeni security forces.

Both men had spent three years in a maximum security prison in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital.

In March 2006, Yemen’s state security court ordered Al-Zaidi released on bail.

More