Armies of Liberation

Date: 04/27/2006
From: The Yemeni American Anti-terrorism center (YAATC)
To: The United Nations

Subject: persective of the (YAATC) on the international war on terror and how to dry its sources in Yemen .

Dear Honorable Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
General secretary of the United Nations.

Greetings,
We would like to thank the United Nations in the person of its former General Secretary Mr. Kofi Annan for all the relief efforts and assistance that he and his teams gave to the people of the world. This is especially true in the ease of the Republic of Yemen, where we have found real and serious action by the United Nations and other human service organizations, specifically on the problems of human trade and the problem of kidnapping and selling of Yemeni children to neighboring countries. We thank the United Nations for all the work being done to return these children safely to their parents, provide them with shelter, and to rehabilitate the psychologically, socially, educationally and health wise so that they become productive citizens. All thanks are due to the good people of the world who spend from their wealth and efforts toward achieving these noble goals.

Thanks are due to you Mr. General Secretary for all the concrete efforts that you done to serve humanity through the great role of United Nations by resolving conflicts through peaceful means; efforts to end wars, violence, terrorism and through helping the poor, children, refugees and the victims of dictatorial regimes.

Your Excellency, Mr. General Secretary….
We would like to present to you the perspective of the Yemeni American Anti-terrorism Center (YAATC) on terrorism for the following reasons:

First, we believe that these views are going to help all of us to get rid of terrorism or at the very least limit a major portion of it in Yemen for the coming years.

Second, we in the YAATC do accuse the current regime in Yemen of producing terrorism and exporting it to the world. We believe that dictatorship on one side and terrorism on the other are two faces of the same coin, they live together and die together.

Third, We in the YAATC, do believe that our views will help limit the wars that are based on the ideologies of hate, hostility, the physical elimination of the other, and the use of sacred religions to justify the killing of political opponents and civilians in general.

Fourth, the YAATC have had previously sent a letter to the United Nations on July 07, 2006 titled: The Seventh of July 1994: The day of victory for the powers extremism and terror against the forces of good and modernity in Yemen “. That letter pointed out events, facts and suggestions to the International body.

Fifth, the YAATC believes that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Dear honorable secretary…. We believe that terrorism finds in wars, bloodletting and the deliberate maintenance of poverty and ignorance its safe refuge. The Yemeni people have suffered from chronic wars, poverty, ignorance, and disease for more than fifty years and its suffering has increased in the past 30 years.

The YAATC views the dictatorial regime in Yemen as the main cause of the increase of wars, poverty, fear, ignorance, and disease in Yemen due to the mentality of the regime. The regime views itself as having a divine right to rule the land as representative of God; people count for little unless they show support to the regime. The regime sees that it is permissible to do anything to stay in power regardless of the possible results such as wars, plundering of public wealth, the formation of mafia groups and gangs that kills political opponents and kidnap children, smuggle weapons and launder money to outside the country, exporting problems to the neighbors for the purpose of extortion, running of prostitution rings (the crimes that are not in the public view are much worse). The regime tops all of that by violations of human rights.
All of these crimes and practices lead at the end to production of terrorism and its export to the outside world. As a result the world becomes less safe including our country, the United States of America (May God protect it from any harm).

Dear honorable Sir,

The best summary of the YAATC views on the war against terror is that knowing the disease will lead to the finding the cure.

Any objective analysis of the situation in Yemen and the events that Yemen went through will lead to one conclusion; that the ruling regime in Yemen is a dictatorial, racist , sectarian and oppressive regime. This regime wrestled power from the people by use of army and lead Yemen from one war to the next under flimsy excuses that has nothing to do with realities of people’s lives and their conditions. This regime has established an empire of corruption for the the corrupt in the country. As a consequence, this directly has led to the poverty, humiliation, ignorance and disease among ordinary people. Inevitably, this has led to the creation of one of focal points of terrorism. Silence for a long time in the face of such swamps of terror has led to numerous terrorist incidents; chief among them was the attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden and culminating in the events of 9/11.

We believe that the world has to assume the responsibility of finding the cure for the disease of terrorism. The YAATC believes that pursuing the following will be part of the cure for terrorism:

1. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to respect its citizens and achieve equity among them and integrating blacks and others who suffer from class differences in the Yemeni society. This way all citizens of Yemen will become equal in their rights and responsibilities regardless of color, race, sex, language, religious or political belief.

2. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to distribute the national wealth among Yemenis in an equitable manner; and away from benefiting and enriching its own supporters and pillars.

3. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to let freedom and democracy flourish and to stop arresting journalists and closing newspapers. The regime should let civil society organizations become more active and exercise their full power to defend human rights.

4. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to arrest all terrorists including Abdulmajid Alzindani and extradite them to the US to be questioned in matters related to terrorism. Also the Eman University , which we consider as a factory for producing terrorists, should be closed. The fact that this University is attached to the camp of the First Armored Division, under the command of Brig. General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar [The President's brother] raises more than one question.

5. Doing whatever it takes to freeze the assets of Yemeni officials in Yemen and abroad since these assets were acquired illegally. These assets should be returned to the people of Yemen through the United Nations in well laid-out and transparent procedures. The regime also should be compelled to take corrupt officials to trial and in public.

6. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to stop mixing religion with politics by encouraging Sheiks of religion to issue fatwas that legitimize the killing of political opponents. This is what happened in the last thirty years whether it is on the war of the mid-regions, the war of 1994, the occupation of the South or the current war in Saada.

7. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to eliminate armed militias that are armed by the regime, which is known as the Army of Osaimat. These militias , when called by the regime, conducts killings, looting, rape and enslavement of women. These activities are done to assist the regime in its wars and in support of the official Army. The regime follows this method to instill terror and fear in the hearts of the people to insure loyalty and impose what the regime calls as legitimacy. What kind of legitimacy does this regime has that is based on killings, terror, pillage, looting and rape.

8. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to put the national wealth in the service of better education, health, human services and development.

9. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to respect the independence of the judiciary as an independent power. The regime should not interfere in the business of courts and obstruct justice.

10. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to reveal the names of Yemeni officials who are involved the human trade scandal and arrange for their public trials.

11. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to reveal the true terrorists behind the attack on the USS Cole and those behind the killings of the three American doctors in the city of Jibla as well as other terrorist operations in Yemen .

12. Doing whatever it takes to compel the regime in Yemen to control its borders and to stop facilitating the travel of Mujahedeen from and to Yemen which amounts to a policy of production and export of terrorism abroad.

Dear honorable Sir,

We hope that we have been successful in laying the truth with objectivity in front of you so that this may help you see a clearer picture of the war on terror drying its swamps in Yemen . This in turn will help the people’s of Yemen and the world move on toward a prosperous and terror-free future.

Thanks.

YAATC

SANA’A, April 24 — Shaef Al-Haimi, a citizen residing in Sana’a, disclosed his ordeal in a month’s detention at the National Security as he was accused of stealing a police officer’s cell phone.

Al-Haimi, who appeared unable to move, talked about the goings-on at the detention during a symposium organized Monday by rights groups and civil society organizations. The citizen noted police officers threatened to torture his family in case he disclosed the goings-on at the detention.

Al-Haimi said seven police officers from the National Security arrested him at midnight and led him to detention with his eyes folded on charges of stealing a mobile phone that belongs to one of them.

“As I was crying out in pain, investigators increasingly beat me up; and as I cry out with thirst, they spattered me with cold water, forcing me to keep silent. When I was crying with pain, they brought a bottle full of urine and force me to drink it, and pour some on my head. They even put a bar of soap in my mouth and tied up. For many times they [investigators] put a shoe into my mouth while beating me up with thick military shoes, which made my left ear go deaf,” Al-Hami said. (Read on …)

almotamar.net – The specialized First Instance Penal court condemned on Saturday two persons accused of forging visas for two girls to travel from Yemen to Britain.

The court in its today sitting chaired by Judge Radwan al-Nimr approved imprisonment of defendants Abdulqader and Adel Ahmed al-Adwer for two years and obliged the first defendant to the two girls in the case a sum of $ 6 thousand.

The prosecution has charged them of forging two entry visas to Britain for two girls called Nimah al-Ammary and Rahimah Mohammed.

In another case the court decided to imprison eight persons, among them three women on charges of committing debauchery acts. The sentences were between two years, eight months and one year and ten months.

April 25, 2007 the White House nominated Shephen Seche as Amb assador to Yemen.

USCPD: Stephen Seche is a career foreign-service officer who has spent most of his 27 years with the Department of State engaged in the practice of public diplomacy. Seche was appointed to the position of Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria in February 2005, when the Ambassador was recalled to Washington for consultations in the wake of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri….

Mr. Seche entered the Foreign Service in 1978 and spent the first seven years of his career in public-diplomacy positions in Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia. Other overseas assignments included four years (1989 – 1993) as Information Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, and four years (1993 -1997) as Press Attache in New Delhi, India. Following his service in Delhi, he returned to Washington for the first of two years of Arabic language training, completing the program at the Foreign Service Institute’s Field School in Tunis.

From 1999-2002, Mr. Seche was Counselor for Public Affairs and Director of the American Cultural Center. He spent the two years between his Damascus tours as Director of the Office for Egypt and Levant Affairs at the Department of State.

Mr. Seche received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and spent four years as a journalist before entering the Foreign Service. He also speaks Spanish and French.

Seche speech 2003

Related: President Bush to Welcome President Saleh of Yemeni

White House News

President Bush will welcome President Ali Abdullah Saleh of the Republic of Yemen to the White House on May 2, 2007. The President and President Saleh will discuss Yemen’s recent progress on political and economic reform and our joint efforts on the war on terrorism.

# # #

US-bound Yemen leader back in donors’ good books
Christian Chaise
AFP
April 27, 2007

SANAA — One year after coming under fire for stalling reforms, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is back in the good books of donor countries as he prepares to visit the White House.

A presidential election deemed “successful” and the initiation of economic reforms have earned Saleh the approval of international donors, chiefly the United States, which considers Sanaa a key ally in the war on terror.

The Yemeni leader is due to meet US President George W. Bush during a trip to Washington next week.

“We have been very positive about these events of the last year, political and economic … There has been progress, genuine improvement in the situation,” outgoing US Ambassador to Yemen Thomas C. Krajeski said. “We were surprised, pleasantly” by last September’s presidential campaign, which ended with Saleh – in power since 1978 – winning a new seven-year term. (Read on …)

This is the 23 who admitted fighting in Iraq, not to be confused with the 19 Zaqawi cell. Their document forgery conviction remains in place upon appeal. They said in court, “President Saleh should be proud of us.. he welcomed and received the first plane carrying Mojahedeen returning from Iraq at Al-Dailami airbase in Sana’a.” I’m sure President Saleh is proud of them. Maybe he can tell Bush that when he meets him next month in DC.

almotamar.net – The specialized appeal section on Saturday the primary sentence issued against 17 persons out of 23 convicted on charges of forgery of passports, identity cards and official memorandums.

The appeal verdict stipulated confiscation of crime equipment seized with the accused ones, namely computers, printer and forged stamps.

President of the court Saeed al-Qataa said the appeal section confirms the verdict issued against the defendants, affirming that the period of imprisonment begins from the date of arresting them.

The court of first instance had in July 2006 sentenced for three years and four months in prison 17 of the accused. The appeal penal court deemed enough to imprison 2 others for three years, acquitted two others for insufficient evidence and released the other two after considering the period they have spent in prison as enough punishment.

April 22, 2007- An appellate Yemeni court specialized in the state security confirmed on Sunday the primary sentences issued against 16 out of 23 suspects accused of al-Qaeda-related charges.

The primary court had issued a ruling of 3 years and four months against them after they were pleaded guilty of forging personal documents, travel passports to Iraq and veiling escapers who were convicted of the involvement of the USS Cole exposition in the Aden Port.

It is worth reclaiming that the suspects were arrested by Syrian and extradited to Yemen while they were in their way to travel to Iraq in order to join the Iraq insurgency.

Khaleej Times

SANAA – A Yemeni appeal court upheld Sunday sentences of 40 months jail each for 19 nationals who forged documents in attempt to get to Iraq to join the insurgency there.

Two of an original 23 men charged were acquitted while the sentences of two others were commuted last July by a lower court which ordered their release.

Most of the accused were arrested in Syria before reaching Iraq, and were each sentenced to three years and four months in prison.

They were found guilty of falsifying documents to enable them to get to Iraq, possession of arms and of helping suspects of the Al Qaeda terror network to hide.

Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Sanaa has worked with Washington to clamp down on suspected Al Qaeda sympathisers.

Not promoting Sunni extremists, just giving them military training and weapons to go off and fight the jihad in Saada. I wonder what al-Hittar thinks of the state wantonly bombing its own civilians, and denying them food and medical treatment, arbitrary arrests and replacing Zaidi preachers with Salafi preachers?

YO:

The armed rebels who fighting against the government in the northern governorate of Sa’ada are people who have been deceived and their leader al-Houthi is adopting the same style as Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda organization, said Judge Hamoud al-Hetar in Sana’a, Thursday. Al-Hetar, who was recently appointed Minister of Endowments and Religious Guidance, also said that al-Houthi and his followers only want to achieve political and personal gains at the expense of Islam and Muslims.

“Al-Houthi exploited the vacuum thought of the youth in his area, and he tried to fill this vacuum with his own wrong-headed ideas by planting distorted conception of Islam,” al-Hetar, who conducted a failed dialogue with al-Houthis followers before the war broke out, told Yemen Observer. “And he and his followers adopted the same style of al-Qaeda in exploiting the youth and planting the wrong ideas in their minds with the aim of achieving political and personal gains at the expense of Islam and Muslims.”

Al-Hetar denied that the State was encouraging Sunni extremists against the Shiite al-Houthis as a way of making balance. “This is just a rumour that has been released from time to time for political wrangling. Yes, there may be some kind of balancing for some reasons, but this absolutely does not mean that the State is pitting one sect against another,” he said. When the war broke out earlier this year, the State promoted fatwas, or religious decrees, saying it was religious obligation and jihad to fight against the al-Houthi followers.

Although the official said that what is happening now in Sa’ada now is not a sectarian war, he defended the promotion of fatwas against the rebels. “It is an armed rebellion and a breaking of the law and a violation of the constitution, yes, but certainly there are texts in Quran and Sunna which support the legitimacy [of the regime] like all modern constitutions and laws, which ban the overthrow of the government. Furthermore, overthrowing the existing regime by force is banned by all laws human and divine,” he said.

The State is not against any particular Islamic sect; but it is against those who break the law and use violence against the State, he said. It’s been three months now since the war between the armed al-Houthi rebels and the government troops began, and in that time, hundreds of Yemenis have been killed. Despite the failure of previous attempts, the official said he would try to establish dialogue with the al-Houthis once the war comes to an end. “Use of force alone will not be enough to solve the Sa’ada problem; there should be dialogue for solving the problems thoughtfully. The Sa’ada problem started by thoughts, and it should be treated by thoughts,” he said.
Copyright 2002 – 2006 Yemen Observer

I thought it was the Yemeni Ba’ath party that Libya was funding.

Islah? Now it’s Islah supporting the Houthis? Errrr, no. This is the ruling party’s website so….

almotamar.net agencies – Arab and world news agencies, newspapers and electronic websites disclosed recently those Yemeni poetical parties have received more than $ 6 million in financial support from external sides that were indicated of their involvement in supporting terrorist acts in Saada governorate.

According to the American news agency the Libyan leader Muamar Gaddafi offered support to two major parties of the Yemeni opposition parties in Yemen amounting to about $ 6 million. It added that the Libyan support included the parties of Yemen Congregation for Reform (Islah) and the Nasserite Unionist, $ 6 million to the Islah party and $ 250 thousand to the Nasserite Unionist Orgaisation, pointing out that the latter receives Libyan sort for long time.

Akhbar Libya newspaper that published the news in its internet website under the title | Gaddafi supports Islah and the Nasserite with more than 6 million dollars” mentioned that the leader began from Yemen implementing his declared promise of adopting nationalist and Islamic movements in the Arab world.

Related: Khaddafi, the same guy who wants to create Israerastein, advocates for a North African Imamate; via Memri. I think people just lose their minds after 20 years in power.

SANA’A, April 18 — An armed gang attacked last Sunday a group of military police who were guarding a plot of land in Asr to the west of Sana’a, killing three of them and injuring another.

Media source mentioned that 40 armed men wearing civilian clothes and affiliated with an officer in the Republican Guard in Taiz Branch named Abdullatif Al-Dhanin, a son of Brig. Saleh Al-Dhanin, the Commander of South Military Area, are responsible for the incident.

The source added that Al-Dhanin was accompanied by some armed men when they attacked the soldiers guarding the land, which belongs to an UAE investor of Yemeni origin. They clashed with soldiers causing three to die and another one critically injured.

It also mentioned that the land belongs to a Yemeni, who was working as a secretary for late UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, and not to the state as claimed by some media sources. Further, it added that the President Saleh pledged to guard the land and that is the reason for which dozens of military vehicles existed in the land site

Unconfirmed information revealed that the armed men got out some of their injured comrades by force from the hospital to avoid the accountability especially when security apparatuses caught about 20 armed men.

Similar bloody clashes over a plot of land took place last February in the south of the Capital when a group of armed men from the same tribe, Sanhan, tried to take a land belonging to a citizen from Al-Baidha by force. Many citizens were killed and injured in that incident. In fact, such disputes are attributed to the lack of fair judiciary whose main task is to resolve the pending problems soon especially in Sana’a and Aden.

Update:

SANA’A, April 22 — High directives ordered arresting Brig. Saleh Al-Dhanin and his sons together with other 40 armed followers over the clashes that took place last Monday in Asr where Al-Dhanin’s sons attacked a plot of land belonging to an Emirate investor and caused the death of three soldiers affiliated with the military police.

The incident was met with a wide public rage which led to the removal of Brig. Saleh Al-Dhanin from his post as a leader of Khalid bin Al-Waleed military battalion, a post he assumed for over 25 years. The directives imposed the arresting of Al-Dhanin along with his two sons and referring them to a military judiciary.

Murad tribe, whose son was among those killed in the incident, called its sons for a demonstration in Al-Sabeen Square where over than 400 people gathered, asking President Saleh to arrest Al-Dhanin, his sons, and the armed men affiliated with them.

According to a tribal source, President Saleh delegated the leader of the Military Police to address the demonstrators, showing them copies of Saleh’s orders dictating the arrest of the perpetrators and the removal Al-Dhanin from his military post as well as considering those killed as martyrs.

Brig. Al-Dhanin, who is very close to President Saleh, is still hiding in his Sana’a house after Brig. Jubran Al-Hashidi was appointed in his place. Meanwhile, high ranking military leaders are showing sympathy with him since last Tuesday.

Delay in arresting Al-Dhanin and implementing Saleh’s directives made victims kinsmen cast doubts on the non-seriousness of the Ministry of Interior to arrest them Further, they fear reconciliation which is the case with a lot of similar issues that took place in the past particularly when high ranking officials are involved in.

Observers considered the incident to be a test for Saleh’s seriousness to put an end for land lootings by military leaders and those close to decision-making circles, as well as to provide a safe environment for investments.

The incident has just came few months after land corruption file in Aden was closed under presidential directives and after several high ranking military officials were pointed to be involved in such corruption cases.

90% of acts of violence result from water disputes. I have to see if this is the same one that other reports say was terror related.

Sana’a, April 19 (Saba)- The murder of security director in Al-Matama district of Al-Jawf province was not a terrorist act, according an official source.

The source said the murder occurred when the security director Saleh Mohammad Teisan went to settle a dispute over digging a water well
in Al-Matama.

It confirmed in a statement to Saba that Teisan was alone denying reports that he was accompanied by seven security personnel, calling media to check facts and credibility.

Now what is this? Wouldn’t it make a little more sense to start with the people in Yemen? What kind of insurance, medical, life?

Friday 20 April 2007

26 Septemper News

SANA’A, 20 April, (26sep.net) – The Public Insurance Foundation (PIF) is preparing to launch the first phase of insuring of the Yemeni expatriates abroad during the coming days.

Sources in the foundation told (26sep.net) that the foundation has completed all procedures of covering the Yemeni expatriates abroad under the umbrella of Insurance Foundation, clarifying that this phase will include the expatriates in the Gulf States, while the coming phases will include the Yemeni expatriates in the Arab countries, East and Middle Africa, Southeast Asia, America and Canada.

The sources added that this program comes according to President Saleh’s electoral program and to link the expatriate with his original home.

More renewed attention on expatriates. They should register:

almotamar.net – The Yemen Ministry of Civil Service and Securities has Saturday called on expatriate Yemenis to subscribe to the system of social security “for protecting them and their families in future”.

The Minister of Civil Service Hamoud al-Soufi said the measure of security for the Yemeni expatriates comes to protect this segment of Yemenis working abroad and to secure the life and the elderly according to the constitution that guaranteed social protection for every citizen.

Minister al-Soufi added the state endeavours has begun from an early time for the spread of social protection and particularly security protection of the workforce and to compensate the loss of income in facing disability, old age and death. The system of social securities run by the State Establishment for Social securities was established since 1987 and it targets workers in the private sector. He has in this regard called on the expatriates abroad to join the securities establishment through monthly contributions amounting to 15% of income.

That came in a joint press conference grouping the two ministers of civil service and expatriates on Saturday at the headquarters of the securities establishment.

In response o a question by almotamar.net in this respect the minister of civil service the money of subscribers to security is invested in safe areas in buying the central bank’s treasury bonds in addition to shares in communications sector and the sector liquefied gas exploration.

YT:

At the first meeting, held by the new cabinet, Same’e clarified that the government has taken a consensus decision, considering the issue of expatriates as a personal one, necessitating officials to work hard for its sake. (Read on …)

From Pakistan

Qat is not good, hash is bad but heroin is a disaster.

YO: The police official charged with combating drugs raided a home in Khaish area, al-Nashma district, in Ibb governorate and found 112 different marijuana plants. Marijuana, a large leafy weed, is the source of hashish. “The police investigated information that there was a marijuana farm. When it was revealed to be true, the police arrested the house’s landlord,” said General Mousa’ab Ali al-Sofi, the deputy manager of the combating drugs unit in the Interior Ministry.

“The investigation is still ongoing. We want all the details of the case, in which it appears that the landlord of the house has a connection with a sort of gang,” said al-Sofi. He declined to give the name of the landlord in order to maintain the confidentiality of the case. “The confiscated hashish is used locally and not exported outside the country,” he said.

Al-Sofi said that the danger from hashish is less than the other types of drugs. “The amount of hashish that we found is a lot, because each plant could produce a respectable amount of hashish,” he said. This is the first cache of hashish confiscated this year, but many other drugs have been seized in other places. Al-Sofi said that they found 1190 kilos of heroin in al-Mahrah governorate, and 1400 kilos of heroin in Hadhramout governorate. “Unlike hashish, which is for local use, these other sorts of drugs are exported outside the country,” he said.

The other kinds of drugs are imported from the nearby countries—Pakistan and India among others. “Yemen is currently considered a station on the route of the drug trade,” he said. “Getting the drugs into the country is carried out by very organized gangs,” he said. Al-Sofi said that security forces had caught some members of the gangs. “We caught 16 Pakistanis, seven Yemenis, and an Iranian, who were smuggling drugs and transporting them to the neighboring countries,” he said.

The means of distribution of the local hashish is being kept top secret. “After the investigation is finished, the police will present this information,” al-Sofi said, “We hope that we don’t find more cases of this.” The Yemen Observer tried to get a statement from the authorities in Ibb, but they declined to comment.

SANA’A, NewsYemen:

Under the patronage of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and with the support and guidance of the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, a conference Of Exploring Investment Opportunities in Yemen was launched today.

The conference is organized by the Yemeni Ministry of Industry and Trade, the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group.

In his letter posted by www.investinyemen.org , President Ali Abdullah Saleh welcomed the investors and said the conference is held within a broad vision of the 21st century, which is viewed as the century of major changes in high technology, global and integrated economies, and democracy.

“While the Republic of Yemen is embarking on a program for national reform in various fields- economic, monetary, administrative, judicial, and others- this conference will lay a solid and attractive ground for a safe and attractive environment for investment,” said Saleh. “Thus investors from all nationalities may invest and work within institutional and judicial guarantees, with the hope of widening the scope of development in Yemen and integrating its economy with that of the surrounding countries and the world at large.”

The Higher Council of the GCC, with the spirit of brotherhood and desire, had already taken the initiative to reinforce the basics of cooperation and common interests between Yemen and GCC countries supported by thorough wise and firm directions from their Majesties and Highnesses the Leaders of the GCC to call for a Conference with the aim of exploring investment opportunities in Yemen, considering this to be the gate for enforcing neighborly and cooperative ties between countries in the region, he said.

He said that the Republic of Yemen, from its part, had responded constructively towards this initiative, and started the preparations for this conference with the General Secretariat, with the hope of fostering relations with Yemen especially economic relations to a wider scope and exploiting the promising Yemeni investment opportunities and generating more of these opportunities.

He said that Yemen realizes that this age is the age of economic unions with high degree of competition and quick and strong transformations in the different economic areas. “This competition and transformation does not provide the traditional introvert modes to function in a world of integrated economies and free investment,” he said.

This is why Yemen has set procedures to encourage Gulf investment in Yemen in various areas, and has developed rules and regulations that help realize future goals and foster the integration of Yemen with its neighbors in the Gulf, said Saleh.

Coming after the success of the Yemen Donors’ Conference that was held in London last November, the Conference on Exploring Investment Opportunities in Yemen aims to complement the official loans and grants that were committed at the London conference by mobilizing private Yemeni, Gulf and Arab capital towards investment in the large and varied number of projects and opportunities available in the Yemen today.

Yemen has achieved major advances in recent years towards creating an investment friendly environment in all its economic, legislative, organizational and legal components, in addition to a substantial package of incentives and guarantees offered to foreign investors.

Investors have ample opportunity to take full advantage of prospects and opportunities in the various sectors of the Yemeni economy, including the oil and gas sector, industry, tourism, real estate and the infrastructure.

The Conference on Exploring Investment Opportunities in the Yemen is attended by a number of government ministers and top officials from Yemen and the GCC countries, business leaders and financiers, the heads of national, Arab and regional development finance institutions, and representatives of the World Bank, the IMF and United Nations development agencies.

Yemen Times:

SA’ADA, April 18 – According to tribal sources, clashes between the Yemeni army and Houthi loyalists have expanded to include every district in Sa’ada governorate, including Razih district, which is very near the Saudi border.

The confrontations also have extended to include Al-Adhel and Bra’ash mountain areas, together with Al-Ghail Valley east of Sa’ada. Fighting is ongoing in Qahlah Mountain, very near Sahar district, and Badr city, the capital of Ghamer district; however, the sources didn’t mention losses on either side.

They further revealed that the crisis reached Razih two weeks ago, although the area hadn’t been involved since the beginning of the 2004 Sa’ada war, when hundreds of Houthis were in the district. In return, the Yemeni army, supported by fighters, began attacking villages and positions where Houthis exist, especially Al-Shwarek area and the mountains facing Burkan area.

“The recent tensions have paralyzed movement in the markets and residents, who are filled with fear, have begun digging trenches and caches to avoid air raids as well as mortars and Katyusha missiles fired randomly at the area,” the sources explained. (Read on …)

They cooperate very well in many areas.

SANA’A, April 16 (Saba) – Deputy chief of staff for training affairs and educational institutions in the Defense Ministry Ali Obaid
talked on Monday with the visiting chief of Military Academy in Syria, Ahmed Younis, educational, technical and training cooperation
between the Yemeni and Syrian armies.

They discussed ways of enhancing this cooperation, exchanging visits and experiences in the interest of the two countries.

Younis visited the Republican Guards Academy and High Military Academy where he was briefed on the system of training and educational programs. The Syrian general praised the level of training at the two academies, pointing out that it keeps up with modern means of military building.

86 google alerts later, theres this article at Front Page Mag which quotes from “Lt. Col. Jonathan Helevi. In a detailed report published in the wake of last year’s Palestinian Authority elections, “Understanding the Direction of the New Hamas Government: Between Tactical Pragmatism and Al-Qaeda Jihadism,” Halevi has a section entitled, Hamas and Al-Qaeda: Partners in Global Jihad, that is so important to the issue at hand that the section bears worth reprinting in its entirety:” (this is an excerpt of the excerpt at Front Page)

More recently on March 26, 2006, a senior Hamas figure, Muhammad Sayyam, met in Peshawar, Pakistan, with Sayyid Salah al-Din, leader of the Kashmiri terror organization Hezb ul-Mujahidin,28 which had training camps in Afghanistan until the Taliban’s fall from power and functioned as an al-Qaeda affiliate.29 Sayyam heads the Yemeni branch of the Palestine Scholars Association, which advocates uncompromising jihad against the infidels and legally sanctioned suicide bombings against civilians in Israel. He sees the role of Muslim religious sages as spiritual guides whose task is to motivate the masses to struggle against Islam’s enemies and attack them with suicide bombings.30

Saudi Islamist cleric Sheikh Dr. Nasser Al-’Omar hosted a reception for a Hamas delegation led by Khaled Mashaal in Riyadh on March 12, 2006, also attended by prominent clerics and Islamists, some of whom had served prison terms for their suspected support of al-Qaeda or for criticizing the Saudi government.31

In honor of a visit to Yemen by Khaled Mashaal on March 20, 2006, the Hamas office in Yemen organized a conference to recruit financial aid for the Hamas movement and the new Hamas government. Sheikh Abd al-Majid al-Zindani also took part in the conference, meeting with Mashaal, calling on participants to assist the Hamas regime, and setting a personal example by contributing 200,000 rials.32 Zindani stressed that “the support we can provide at present is money (emphasis added),” hinting at other forms of support for Hamas in the future.

On February 24, 2004, U.S. authorities had designated al-Zindani as a terror supporter, “loyal to Osama bin Laden and a supporter of the al-Qaeda organization.” The U.S. Treasury Department stated: “The U.S. has credible evidence that al-Zindani, a Yemeni national, supports designated terrorists and terrorist organizations” and “has a long history of working with bin Laden, notably serving as one of his spiritual leaders.” The statement said al-Zindani “support[ed] many terrorist causes, including actively recruiting for al-Qaeda training camps,” and in 2004 “played a key role in the purchase of weapons on behalf of al-Qaeda and other terrorists.”33

Relations between al-Qaeda and Hamas go back to the early 1990s. In April 1991, Sudanese leader Hasan Turabi hosted a “Popular Arab and Islamic Conference” in Khartoum that brought together for the first time Islamists from the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In addition to Hamas, Osama bin Laden also attended and in subsequent years turned Sudan into his main base of operations. Turabi continued to host this jihadist gathering in 1993 and 1995; Hamas training camps in Sudan existed alongside those of al-Qaeda. Their solidarity could be inferred from bin Laden’s explicit reference to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin as one of the five ulema on which bin Laden based his August 1996 Declaration of Jihad Against the U.S.34

As noted in the case of al-Zindani, al-Qaeda and Hamas have long shared global funding mechanisms. On October 22, 2003, Richard A. Clarke, the former National Counterterrorism Coordinator on the U.S. National Security Council, acknowledged that Hamas and al-Qaeda had a common financial infrastructure: “the funding mechanisms for PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] and Hamas appear also to have been funding al-Qaeda.”35

Even though Hamas and al-Qaeda share a similar worldview that seeks to impose worldwide Islamic rule, recently disagreements have erupted between the two organizations over how to implement the Islamic revolution. In a taped missive on March 5, 2006, Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s deputy, called on Hamas to continue its armed struggle and reject agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Al-Zawahiri emphasized that “no Palestinian has the right to give up even a grain of Palestinian land,” and warned Hamas against “the new American game that is called a political process,” alluding to democratization. Khaled Mashaal responded by saying that Hamas did not need advice from al-Qaeda, and will continue to act in keeping with its worldview and the Palestinian interest.36

Then there was the al-Quds conference in Yemen in December 2005.

This is the video of Zindani speaking at the March 2006 fundraiser and praising suicide bombers. He’s really quite a talented orator.

That’s new, up to now al-Hittar only discussed the illegitimacy of attacks within Yemen based on the concept of obedience to a Muslim leader.

Religious schools to be monitored, good -if they mean the actual extremist ones not this duplicitious word game thats been going on for some time now.

Hittar also intends to quell the violent religious rhetoric against non-Muslims, that would be nice.

He’s going to try dialog again with the al-Houthis but there’s some inherent problems with that.

But all in all, it *sounds* good. Time will tell. Of course al-Hittar is connected to the security services, so we’ll see if he’s standing with or against extremism. If he’s against, its going to be hard.

Also again the basic point that dialog with misguided extremists is good, however unencumbered dialog within society at large would go a long way toward keeping these assorted teen-agers from blowing themselves up on a regular basis and murdering other people in the process. Before anyone gets to prison is the best time to talk about these things, but of course the regime has a bit of an issue with free expression and criticism.

Gulf News:

Sanaa: The Yemeni government said it is working on a two-year plan to avoid any future war, like that with Al Houthis in the north, with extremist groups.

The plan aims to address the reasons behind extremism and replace them with moderation, said Judge Hamoud Al Hetar, Minister of Endowments and Religious Guidance, in an exclusive interview with Gulf News.

“It also aims to create a culture of tolerance, coexistence between Yemenis on one hand and between Yemenis and the other nations on the other,” said Al Hetar, who is known for his dialogue programmes with Al Qaida suspects and Al Houthi followers.

Talks

Al Hetar started his dialogue programme in August 2002 with the Yemenis who returned from Afghanistan and hundreds of them were released after the programme.

The plan will include the young Yemenis influenced by ideas of jihad and who go to Iraq to fight against the Americans, he said.

“Yes, the strategy will deal with the extremists, whoever they are, and if there are people influenced by extremist ideas, the strategy will be an important factor to treat their mistaken ideas,” he said.

Madrassas

Over the last two years, the Ministry of Endowments has been watching the religious schools with the aim of closing down those that work outside the law and adopt extreme views and violence in their curriculum. No school has been closed down so far.

Al Hetar did not confirm or deny this because he was appointed only two weeks ago as a minister. But he said the issue would be under discussion.

There are procedures that must be followed by anyone or any group who wants to establish such schools, he said.

Salafi schools which are scattered throughout Yemen, are among the schools which the government wants to get rid of to check extremism.

Al Houthi followers recently attacked a Salafi school in Sa’ada after accusing them of fighting with the government troops.

Though the Salafis do not recognise the constitution or democracy, they call for obedience to President Ali Abdullah Saleh who was elected according to the constitution.

“They [Salafis] believe in the legitimacy of the existing regime, and as long as they believe in the legitimacy of the regime, they will recognise the results of the means of installing the ruler, which are democracy and the constitution,” Al Hetar said.

“They do not believe in the constitution? Yes, [they do not] as an opinion. But they did not break it. The constitution and laws should be the reference for all, so whosoever commits to the constitution he is moderate and he who does not is an extremist,” he explained.

Schools of violence

“If any of these schools started to call for violence, it must be stopped, even if the violence did not start. If their curriculum calls for using weapons and to fight the state or fight others, it is dangerous.”

The minister said his strategy aims to remove reasons for violence and hatred and ways of inciting people against the others.

“We call for dialogue between the religions and with the nations and people and civilisations to achieve coexistence between the followers of the [different] religions and nations, and there should be respect for … everyone and every religion,” he said.

When asked about some mosque leaders who keep insulting and cursing non-Muslims during public prayers, he said that was not Islam.

‘It is not Islam’

“This is not Islam at all, Islam has very clear positions to deal with others. Such supplications do not go with the spirit of Islam. We are ordered to treat the non-Muslims kindly, if they did not fight us in our countries, or drive us out from homes. Disbelieving or being infidels, or having a different religion, is not a justification for war or killing or cursing [the people],” Al Hetar said.

He recited verses from the Quran in support, saying: “Allah forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion and drove you not out from your homes, that ye should show them kindness and deal justly with them. Lo! Allah loveth the just dealers,” (Mumtahana, eight).

When asked the steps his ministry can take against the extremist mosque leaders, he said the religious discourse that calls for excluding others and making hatred must be reviewed.

“Generally speaking, the religious discourse should be reviewed,” he said.

Al Houthi followers ‘copying Al Qaida’

The rebels in Sa’ada in the north of Yemen are deceiving people and their leader Al Houthi is adopting the style of Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaida, said an official in Sanaa yesterday.

The recently appointed Minister of Endowments and Religious Guidance, Judge Hamoud Al Hetar, also said Al Houthi and his followers want only to achieve political and personal gains at the expense of Islam and Muslims.

“Al Houthi exploited the ideological vacuum among the youth in his area, and he tried to fill the vacuum with his wrong ideas by planting wrong concepts about Islam,” Al Hetar, who conducted a failed dialogue with Al Houthi followers before the war broke out, told Gulf News.

“He and his followers adopted the same style of Al Qaida to exploit the youth … [and] achieve political and personal gain at the expense of Islam and Muslims.”

The minister denied that the state encourages Sunni extremists against Al Houthis, who are Shiites, as a way of striking a balance.

“It is just a rumour that [makes its rounds] from time to time for political wrangles. Yes, there may be some kind of balancing for some reasons but this does not mean that the state makes a sect [fight] against another sect,” he said.

The state announced fatwas and religious decrees, saying it is a religious obligation to fight Al Houthi followers when the war broke out earlier this year.

Although the official said what is happening in Sa’ada at present is not a sectarian war, he defended the declaration of fatwas against them.

“It is an armed rebellion and breaking of the law and constitution, but certainly there are texts in the Quran and the Sunna which support the legitimacy [of] all modern constitutions and laws which ban overthrowing of governments; overthrowing the existing regime by force is banned by all humane and divine laws,” he said.

The state is not against a certain Islamic sect but it is against those who break the law and use violence against the state, the minister said.

It has been three months now since the war between Al Houthi followers and the government troops erupted, killing hundreds of Yemenis.

Despite the failure of previous attempts, the official said he would continue dialogue with Al Houthis after the war comes to an end.

“Force alone will not be enough to solve the Sa’ada problem; there should be a dialogue to solve the problems. The Sa’ada problem started by ideology and it should be treated by ideology,” he said.

Amother version of the same article with more detail about plans to close extremist schools: (Read on …)

from the ruling party’s website:

almotamar.nrt – Troops from al-Amaliqa forces began arriving in the city of Saada beginning from Wednesday starting in the district of Shatha as part of new reinforcements of army and security units that arrived in some areas of the governorate, military sources said on ton Thursday.

In statements reported by 26 September weekly newspaper, organ of the defence Ministry on Thursday the sources added that reinforcements aim at securing roads and districts of the governorate that have been purged from terrorist elements which the grip is tightened around them and the serious loses they are sustaining as a result of painful strikes they are receiving at the hands of the armed forces and security troops.

The military sources said the terrorists tried to carry out infiltration operations in the area of Razih just to gain a propaganda act to raise their collapsed morale after the direct strikes they sustained in the town of Dhahyan and Al Alsaifi.

The newspaper quoted its sources as reporting that army troops, supported by citizens, confronted with an abortive infiltration attempt by groups of terrorists into some mountainous areas in Razih and they were expelled and chased after they have sustained heavy casualties and the arrest of some of them that are presently under interrogation.

An official source mentioned that the terrorist elements are in a condition of complete collapse they are feeling and their successive defeats have begun to follow deceit by claiming their desire for dialogue. But military sources said there is no choice for the terrorists that ignited the sedition in some districts of Saada but to surrender themselves to the authority and to commit to law and order.

He affirmed there will be no dialogue or understanding nor acceptance of mediation with these terrorist and saboteur elements and they have no other choice but to surrender themselves and to abide by law and order if they wanted to save themselves and spare bloodshed.

He said they had been granted many of chances to return to reason and the president of the republic issued pardon of them in addition to sending many mediators and the release of the detained ones so that to stop their terrorist and sabotage acts but they have gone too far in their evil and committing of terrorist acts against the citizens and members of armed forces and security men in addition to destruction of public and private property.

a follow on to the locust swarms, US general, wheat rust and German tourists

M&C:

Sana’a – Scores of Ethiopian army troops have arrived off the coast of Yemen onboard two boats belonging to smugglers after they fled fighting with Islamic insurgents in Somalia, a press report said on Tuesday.

Some 89 Ethiopian soldiers arrived in the Arqa area in southern Yemen after crossing the Gulf of Aden from Bosaso city in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northeast Somalia, the al-Ayyam daily newspaper said in a report on its website.

The paper said 49 Somali refugees were aboard the boats that carried the soldiers, who were wearing civilian clothes.

An Ethiopian army officer was quoted as saying that he and his comrades had fled the ranks of Ethiopian troops in Somalia after a dramatic escalation in fierce fighting with Somali Islamic insurgents.

We knew this was coming:

almotamar.net – A source at the ministry of defence denied Wednesday that the ministry has planted mines in some parts of Saada governorate as some newspapers and electronic sites have reported. He ridiculed those clams of he said they were groundless. He made it clear that the terrorist elements are the ones planting mines and have been destabilizing security and stability and halted development in the governorate and its districts.

The defence ministry also warned terrorist elements from being reckless to plant mines on roads and areas of grazing where they would cause future disaster to innocent inhabitants of the governorate.

The source added that the ministry of defence and also the ministry of interior have destroyed all their mines and bought large quantities of landmines sold in markets and destroyed them completely under overseeing of UN delegates and the national programme for demining out of its keenness on life of citizens from those weapons.

SANAA, 11 April 2007 (IRIN) – The humanitarian situation in Yemen’s northern province of Saada is worsening with reports that the army is laying anti-personnel mines in the area, say sources with access to the region.

According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity at the Saudi-built al-Salaam Hospital in Saada city, at least 60 people have been admitted to the hospital in recent weeks with injuries caused by landmine explosions. It is not clear, however, what type of mines government forces have been deploying in the region.

For the past few weeks, the army has been flying several sorties a day in attacks against suspected hideouts of anti-government fighters loyal to radical Shia leader Hussein al-Houthi. There have been hundreds of casualties on both sides and thousands of people have been displaced from their homes, say residents and local NGOs. (Read on …)

(Official list)

The demands

We ask the president as a representative of the Yemeni people to:

1- stopping those military and security officials from attacking civilians

2- helping and compensating the thousands of affected families

3- ordering security authority to respect human rights and stop using violence and chasing people

4- forming a medical team to treat those wounded people in the war

5- giving the bodies of those killed to their families

6- order security to give a list of all arrested people and their condition and allow their families to visit them

7- to free all those who are arrested with out any charge and free all children

8- compensate all affected people

9- accepting all those who have been fired from their jobs to their jobs and compensating them

10- bring the violators for human rights to courts

11- dismiss all court rules by the special court because they were unconstitutional

12- stop all illegal chasing on people