Armies of Liberation

Your multi-media terrorist group….

Sanaa, 31 March (AKI) - An al-Qaeda cell in Yemen, known as the Yemen Soldiers Brigade, released the group’s first video on Monday on websites linked to fundamentalist Islam.

The video, which lasts 13 minutes, celebrates the death of Yemeni al-Qaeda leader, Fouz al-Rubei, who was killed in a clash with police near the capital Sanaa in October 2006.

The terrorist was found with other al-Qaeda members in a hideout, which was also used to store explosives, on the outskirts of the city.

Al-Rubei, was condemned to death in 2004 for having carried out attacks on oil pipelines in Yemen in 2002 and for having killed a soldier in the province of Abin.

He managed to escape from prison in February 2006 together with 22 other al-Qaeda members who were in the prison in Sanaa.

The video released on Monday also showed footage of an attack carried out by al-Rubei on an oil pipeline in the country.

The video begins with the words used in a previous audio message by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, which was dedicated to Yemen.

In that message, bin Laden fiercely attacked Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh, accusing him of being an American ally.

It also attacked other religious leaders such as the well-known judge Hamud al-Hitar who has been employed to re-educate the al-Qaeda fighters currently in Yemen’s jails.

The video by the Yemen Soldiers Brigade concluded with a statement by a suicide-bomber from Sanaa, Abu Miqdad, who was seen standing between a Kalashnikov rifle and grenade launcher. Miqdad said that he was ready to sacrfice himself for Osama bin Laden.

The footage of Fawaz is of a 2002 attack or 2006?

Attacks that never happened:

QAEDA IN YEMEN SAYS IT ATTACKED FOREIGN OIL ASSETS: SITE

DUBAI, March 31, 2008 (AFP) - Al-Qaeda’s wing in Yemen has said it carried out separate attacks on a French oil pipeline and a Chinese oilfield last week in Yemen, web monitoring group SITE said on Monday.
The attackers, calling themselves the Jund Al-Yemen Brigades claimed they detonated a timed explosive Thursday on a pipeline belonging to France’s Total in the western Saah district, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.
In a statement posted on an Islamist militant website, the group also said it fired mortars Saturday at an oilfield owned by an unidentified Chinese firm in the eastern district of Hadramut.
“Both these operations are stated as means of support against the enemy,” SITE reported, adding that the authenticity of the message could not be verified.
There were no previous reports of the alleged attacks.
In a similar statement on the Internet last week, the militant group said it had targeted the US embassy in Sanaa in an attack that hit a nearby school in the Yemeni capital, without giving the date of the March 18 attack.
A schoolgirl and a policeman were killed and 19 other people wounded in the attack, which Washington said had targeted the US embassy.
The Jund al-Yemen Brigades has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on Belgian and Spanish tourists in Yemen.
Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, is awash with weapons and is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in October 2000 that killed 17 US sailors on the destroyer USS Cole in the southern Yemeni port of Aden.

And of course version number seven of the mortar attack on the embassy:

Sana’a, March 26, 2008 - Yemen’s al-Qaeda military commission member, denied Yemeni government’s version that last week’s attack was aimed at the July 7 girls’ school.

Abu Yahya asserted that a group of Mujahedeen targeted the U.S. Embassy last week by several missiles and that several security forces guarding the embassy were killed and injured in the attack.

Abu Yahya added that when attacked security forces guarding the U.S. embassy fired back injuring several girl students in the school.

Abu Yahya called for forming a neutral commission to investigate into the case and added that they will compensate the families of the injured if the commission finds out that the school was hit by one of their missiles and that the government should do the same if it turns out that the forces guarding the embassy hit the school.

Al-Qaeda militant also asserted that the al-Qaeda militants who carried out the attack against the U.S. Embassy are safe now.

Source: Al-Wasat weekly

A commission to investigate? That’s funny.

Still not going to the highest bidder, wonder why?

Yemen Post

In a symposium organized by Al-Tagheer.net, economic experts stressed that government should bring the agreement relating to operating and developing Aden Container Terminal before parliament for discussion, and demanded it to act responsibly with this issue because the terminal is of vital economic importance to the country.

The participants also demanded the government to reconsider all agreements as to operating Aden Container Terminal, hinting all the previous agreements are not binding to the country because they harm its interest.

They further stressed that an international tender for operating Aden Terminal should be announced through which qualified and eligible companies can bid, maintaining that the bidding process should be conducted according to the tenders law, together with presenting it to parliament for approval.

Several papers have been presented during the symposium including one paper by Ayman Mohammed Nasser who pointed out that bidding or buying the government institutions should be referred to parliament for approval and later a republican decree should come next.

Political science professor Abdullah Al-Faqih warned against the new agreement signed with Dubai Ports Authority, stressing the agreement wastes Yemen’s financial rights. He also indicated that partnership of 50 percent of profits is not beneficial, and maintained this could lead other bidding companies to sue the Yemeni government.

Al-Faqih added that the bidding of the three companies was as follows:

1. Kuwaiti alliance with $462 million.

2. Philippines International Services with $451 million.

3. Dubai Ports with $297 million, hinting the best bid was offered by the Kuwaiti company and instead of declaring it as the successful bidder or having negotiations, Yemeni government decided to re-ask for new tenders.

In return, former Member of Parliament Salim bin Talib declared that the government withdrew the agreement from parliament in an effort to pass the agreement away from the parliament‘s control, adding that any agreement like that of Aden Terminal should not be signed only under the approval of parliament.

For his part, Mohamed Abdul Majeed Al-Qubati expressed his sorrow over the appalling situation of Aden Terminal, mainly because of the confused and unclear government policies.

Al-Qubati, however, indicated that Aden can be an international port and cited an American report speaking of the possibility of turning Aden Terminal into the most important free zone in the Middle East.

Economists and MPs demanded the formation of a civil coalition to defend Aden Terminal and maintained that it was a famous port in the past.

Yemeni businessman Saleh bin Fareed Al-Surimah pointed out the eligibility of his company Gulf and Kuwait Coalition Company (KGL) to operate and develop Aden Terminal and hinted that several parties cheated and beguiled in an effort to deprive KGL of it.

Al-Surimah emphasized the agreement with Dubai Ports is invalid and it abuses people’s right, hinting that if those people succeed in passing this dubious deal, this could help corrupted officials to pass the selling of other government institutions like Aden Refinery, etc. in the future.

He also requested President Saleh to act according to his constitutional responsibility to stop what he named as misuse and abuse in Aden Terminal because it does not serve the country’s interests.

Trial resumes. Jaber says he didnt plot to blow the facilities. Then there’s Tharbani, bin Shamlan’s security guard and Saleh’s cousin who was acquited already despite much fanfare the days before the 2006 election.

Lawyer demands to clear FBI’s most-wanted, Alsahwa.net

March 30, 2008 – Lawyer of Jaber al-Bana’a , the suspect of bombing an oil installation in Marib and the FBI’s most wanted, demanded to aquit his client.

“If the prosecution knows that al-Bana’a was not involved in the case, then it is better to clear him” added the lawyer Abdul-Aziz al-Smawi.

In the hearing headed by Judge Mohammad al-Hakimi, al-Smawi accused the court of working to please outside parties, indicating that other countries no longer accept the United States’ demands. “They woke up” commented he.

Al-Bana who was sentenced to 10 years by a Yemeni court for his connection with terrorism, was released on commercial bail on March 9.

Yemen Post

The State Specialized Penal Court resumes today the trails of Al-Qaeda Cell accused of planning terrorist acts and targeting oil facilities in Mareb and Hadramout late in 2006.

The trial comes after the American Embassy in Sana’a blamed the organization for the recent attack on the Embassy using Hown-mortar shells which missed their way and fell in nearby July 7 school.

Meanwhile, Interior Ministry denied any link of Al-Qaeda Organization with July 7 incident and hinted the Embassy was not a target for the attack.

In a symposium organized by Future Studies Center last week, the guests spoke about the current position of Al-Qaeda Organization in Yemen. Saeed Al-Jumhi, author of ‘Al-Qaeda Organization – the Origin and the Intellectual Background’ published last year stressed the danger stems from people who recruit and produce the sleeping cells.

Chief Editor of News yemen website Nabil Al-Soufi pointed out that none is waging a real military war with Al-Qaeda and it is a matter of settlements. He stressed that Al-Qaeda attacks in Yemen affect the country but not America and hinted the authorities are conniving with the organization for achieving certain ends.

In related news, Najeeb Mohammed Abdu, known also as Abu Hafsah and the guard Aden-Abyan Islamic Army leader Khalid Muhb Al-Nabi is still in Aden’s Al-Naqeeb hospital meeting treatment after being injured in exchange of fire with security men.

What is the Common Forum? Is that the new name for the JMP or is that the stooge opposition coalition?

Thousands of Yemenis protest soaring prices, corruption

AFP
SANAA (AFP) — Thousands of Yemenis gathered on Thursday to protest at rising prices, accusing the government of failing to curb the increasing cost of living and corruption, an AFP correspondent reported.

Answering a call by the Common Forum, which includes five main opposition parties, over 10,000 protestors took to the streets of Sanaa chanting slogans denouncing the government.

“Oh, corrupt government, high prices have overwhelmed the country,” protestors yelled, calling upon President Ali Abdullah Saleh to honour earlier electoral promises of fighting poverty in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The Common Forum issued a statement during the protest saying that the gathering was a “cry by the people to reflect their suffering of the horrific deterioration of their standard of living in light of soaring prices, unemployment, and organised corruption.”

The gathering was not the first protest against the rising cost of living.

In August, thousands of Yemenis waved bread loaves as they staged a sit-in organised by opposition parties in the southern town of Taiz to protest at rocketing prices and to demand better services.

Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Majur had vowed that he will no longer tolerate corruption as he was sworn into office last April.

Yemen Post

Yemen surprised observers as it suddenly reduced its participation in 20th Arab Summit held in Damascus over March 29-30. Vice-president Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi was delegated to attend the meetings on behalf of President Saleh who used to attend all former Arab summits.

Observers stressed the absence of Saleh could have a passive impact on the Palestinian reconciliation and the Yemeni initiative aiming to patch the differences between the different Palestinian factions.

Journalist Abdul Bari Atwan pointed out that Saleh’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia could be a reason for not attending the summit. He hinted that Yemeni authorities are pressured by the United States that tries to divide Yemen once again into South and North.

Saleh’s absence has been widely echoed in Arab public opinion and media and some observers consider his absence to be a signal that Sana’a Declaration between Fatah and Hamas has reached an impasse. They assure that it is not time to recognize Hamas as a partner and none wants to embarrass Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Sources revealed that Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi met the chairman of Damascus-based Hamas Political Bureau Khalid Mashaal who has been briefed by the former on reasons for Saleh’s absence.

The same sources insinuated that Saleh absented himself because Abbas declined to support Sana’a Declaration which could be embarrassing to him in person and other Arab countries including Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well as the U.S.

President Saleh should have been there to administer the Palestinian file and to come up with a resolution to support the Yemeni initiative which aims to end up the internal Palestinian differences.

Similarly, other Arab acting parties like Saudi Arabia and Egypt sent low-level diplomats to attend the summit and this prompted the Libyan President Mu’mer Al-Qadhafi to blame the U.S. and Western pressure for the low representation.

19 total by my count. The youth are less disciplined and more violent than the retired military association. Mareb Press:

Dozens of young people protested today, Sunday, over not recruiting them in the Republican Guards in Dhale and al-Jabelain districts in Dhale province.
The protestors cut the main street and set fire to wheels three kilometers along the street. They threw the garbage and cars’ bodies on the streets.

The protestors carried out an angry march carrying a donkey to the headquarter of the General people’s Congress (GPC), the ruling party, in the province and chanting “No donkeys after this day”. They pelted the GPC’s headquater with stones.

(Read on …)

Military is about 25%

YemenTimes

However, Yemen’s health allocation in its national budget is only 4.6 percent, as compared to 18.4 percent for education, while the child protection allocation is negligible; therefore, much more attention must be attached to these issues in terms of budget and efforts.

UNHRC

Others have suffered far worse while attempting the perilous Gulf of Aden crossing in search of safety or a better future. Last year, at least 27,000 people reached Yemen but some 1,400 died or were missing, according to UNHCR figures. Of those who reached land alive, 7,010 were assisted by UNHCR in the May’faa reception centre. They came mainly from Somalia and Ethiopia.

Jeilany and fellow Ethiopian passenger Mussa, talking to UNHCR at the May’faa centre, said they and about 120 other desperate people in their boat had each paid smugglers about US$45 to bring them to Yemen….The situation is so bad that even those who endured years of war for more than a decade are now trying to escape Mogadishu. UNHCR estimates that there are at least 200,000 Somalis living in Yemen as refugees.

19 billionYR is about 100,000,000 US, thats the deposits “lost”.

al-Sahwa

March 29, 2008 – A special penal court issued a decision of releasing the chairman of the Watani Bank, Dr. Ahmed al-Hamdani, on bail of YR one billion. The court headed by Judge Mohammad al-Hakimi also issued a decision of not allowing al-Hamdani to leave the country until his case is completely ended. Al-Hamdani and others are accused of squandering clients’ YR 19 billion in bank deposits.

Yemen Times:

The decision to free Al-Hamdani, who once held several ministerial positions, including minister of Agriculture & Irrigation, was issued on condition that the court resume his case on April 19, 2008. Al-Hamdani was arrested while attempting to flee the country after his bank declared bankruptcy in 2005, the first to do so in Yemen. He was then transferred to court after being charged with deceiving depositors, granting loans to irresponsible contractors and wasting nearly YR 20 billion from depositors’ funds. Similar charges were faced by other Watani bank management members, who were also released on bail.

At the most recent hearing, the prosecution provided a list of 292 debtors to the bank, who gave no guarantees yet they pay the money back. The debtors took loans amounting to YR 132,231,000.

The committee in charge of investigating the bank, after the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) took control of it in late 2005 when it failed to fulfill its financial obligations, distributed nearly YR 6.5 billion, accounting for 39 percent of the bank’s total debts and deposits, to depositors. The court of appeals’ preliminary section sentenced Al-Hamdani in March 2006 to two years in prison and other management members to eight months each, but the defendants appealed the verdict.

In June 2005, deposits of customers and other banks in Watani bank totaled YR 22,604 million, while contractor debts did not exceed one third of the sum, contrary to the bank’s announcement that unpaid debts resulted in its bankruptcy.

Statistics released by the bank prior to its closure revealed that interest for the first half of 2005 amounted to YR 149 million. 34% is the liquidity rate at the bank, 8.93% is the bank’s capital efficiency rate and 25% is its liquidity rate in the Central Bank of Yemen.

AAW

Al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Failed Attack on US Embassy

25/03/2008
By Hussein al Jirbani

San’a, Asharq Al-Awsat - A group with links to the “Al-Qaeda” organization has claimed responsibility for a failed mortar attack on the US Embassy in Yemen last week, which injured a number of female students in an adjacent school and several soldiers. The Jund al-Yaman Brigades said in a statement published on the internet dated 21 March “one of the mortars missed its target and fell in a school close to the embassy. We pray to God to speed the girl students ‘recovery.”

The statement, published on a website frequently used by “Al-Qaeda” organization, said: “We already warned Muslims not to get near to government and foreign facilities.” The group says it is part of Qaedat al-Jihad organization in Yemen.

Yemen said 13 female students and five soldiers were injured in the “terrorist attack” on Tuesday. Washington said it targeted its embassy but failed.

A Yemeni government newspaper cited a security official the day before yesterday as saying a wanted member of “Al-Qaeda” carried out the attack. The Jund al-Yaman Brigades claimed last month responsibility for fatal attacks on Spanish and Belgian tourists.

(Read on …)

Mareb Press

Some experts, journalists and politicians discussed today, Wednesday, in a symposium on AlQaeda appearance the historical thought and situation of Al-Qaeda organization, its relationship with other countries and the presence or non-presence of Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Saeed al-Jamhi, the author of the book “Al-Qaeda in Yemen” mentioned the stages of establishment of Al-Qaeda and intellectual background and extension of Al-Qaeda.

He described the character of Osama Bin Laden as “naïve”.

He said, “What is there in Yemen is not Al-Qaeda organization but it is branches of it.”

“Those people attributed to Al-Qaeda in Yemen speak about settlement but Al-Qaeda does not care about the settlement,” “AlQaeda wants Saudi Arabia to leave the decision to Jihdists,” said al-Jamhi.

“The file of the jihdists is in the hand of the president Ali Abdllah Saleh by giving this one a car and that one a post and that leads to make successful settlement with senior supporters of Bin Laden,” he added.

Nabeel al-Sofi said, “Yemen represents a supply camp for AlQaeda because firstly Yemen can not practice a full control over its mountains and deserts, and secondly there is a helping social environment in Yemen.”

He added, “Osama Bin Laden felt sorry for the explosion of USS Cole in the territorial Yemeni waters because he wants Yemen to be a place for attracting jihadists.”

The symposium was organized by the Future Studies Center.

SVC

ABOUT 20 people suspected of having links with Al Qaeda have been arrested and questioned by security authorities in Uganda since the beginning of the year.

According to security sources, the majority of them have been released and some deported after under-going what security officials described as “thorough screening”.

“We have a computerised list of the most wanted people who engage in terrorist activities and with links to Al Qaeda. We have nabbed 18 since this year began,” said the security source attached to the immigration department at Entebbe Airport.

The source said most of the suspects are handed over to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and Internal Security Organisation (ISO) for questioning.

The list, of over 100 most wanted suspects, was released by the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigations and Central Intelligence Agency after the September 11, 2001 attack that left over 3,000 dead in the US.

Al Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden, tops the list of terrorist organisations in the world. The 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam were the group’s first major operations in East Africa.

The majority of the suspected Al Qaeda agents picked by Ugandan security for questioning are said to be from Pakistan, London, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Canada and Ireland.
The External Security Organisation (ESO) Deputy Director General, Emmy Allio, on Friday confirmed that some terrorist suspects are held for questioning.

He said four Yemen nationals who had come for the Afro-Arab summit that ended two weeks ago were held briefly after they were suspected of having links with Al Qaeda. “They had names similar to those of the most wanted persons in our data bank. They were not detained, but held overnight in a Kampala hotel,” said Allio.

The suspects were later released as their faces differed from those on the security list. He, however, declined to divulge the names of the four.

The ISO chief, Amos Mukumbi, declined to discuss the number of people arrested for having links with Al Qaeda saying: “Those are very sensitive security matters.”

Asked to comment on the arrest of London-based Somali national Ali Abdi Hassan, who was arrested in Entebbe Airport as he entered Uganda on February 12, 2008, Mukumbi said: “Leave that issue alone.”

A senior official attached to CMI who preferred to remain anonymous said: “It may be true that the number is 28, but most were set free after questioning.”

I, however, can’t tell you how many we still have at the moment.”

Under a 2003 mutual security agreement, Yemen extradited four al-Qaeda operatives to Saudi Arabia, after President Saleh returned from a visit with Saudi King Abdullah. No extradition treaty exists with the US or UK. Under an extradition treaty recently inked with Spain, Yemen will extradite convicted terrorist Nabil Nanakli, a Spanish/Syrian national.

Yemen Post

Eritrean authorities deployed last week 32 Yemeni fishermen in two wrecking boats and sources indicated that the fishermen arrived in Al-Hodeidah’s Midi Port in a critical condition because of the inhumanly treatment by the Eritrean authorities.

The sources mentioned that Eritrean authorities arrested the 32 fishermen along with their four boats while they were fishing in Yemen’s regional waters. The fishermen were jailed in Eritrea and they were forced to pay fines.

The Eritrean authorities also confiscated the caught fish, fishing equipments and foodstuffs on the boats. Further, they sent them back home over two wrecking boats and this posed a great danger to their lives especially when they traveled for about 200 km.

There’s one billion (US) in loans, accruing interest, unspent.

SANA’A, Feb. 04 (Saba) - Minister of Civil Service and Insurances Hamoud Khaled al-Sufi held talks with a World Bank delegation headed by Director of Poverty Alleviation and Economic Development Sector, on cooperation aspects between Yemen and WB.

During their meeting in Sana’a, al-Sufi and the WB officer discussed the program of administrative and institutional reforms and future support horizons to Yemen’s efforts in this regard.

Al-Sufi evaluated WB’s support for Yemen over administrative and institutional reforms, saying that the Bank’s continuous support to the country has been positive impact to achieve big successes.

(Read on …)

Massive protest in south Yemen
By Jane Novak March 27, 2008 7:34 AM

A rally in the southern Yemeni governorate of Dhalie on Monday drew several hundred thousand protesters from the governorates of Hadramout, Aden, Abyan, and Shabwa. Some estimates put the crowd at more than a half million.

The speeches included calls for “southern liberation” from the northern dominated regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Thousands of the orange flags of the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) were openly flown. A statement issued by the rally’s organizers blamed Saleh’s regime for undermining national unity, demanded the return of plundered land, and called for an international investigation into political murders and arbitrary detention practiced against southerners.

Protests have gathered steam in the southern Yemeni governorates since they began a year ago. The movement was started by former southern military officers who were punitively discharged after Yemen’s 1994 civil war on below sustenance pensions; more than 100,000 civil and military workers lost their livelihoods following the war. Protesters’ grievances also include widespread land theft by influential northerners, employment discrimination, exclusion from the political process, and omnipresent military camps and checkpoints.

The demonstrations adopted an increasingly separatist tone as the Yemeni regime reacted to the mounting civil unrest with increased repression and cosmetic gestures that failed to address the underlying issues. Since August, 17 protesters were killed by security forces. Hundreds were arrested. Reinstated southern military officers were forced to sign pledges to refrain from all political activity. The regime blocked Internet access to news sites, blogs, and YemenPortal.org, a Yemen-specific news aggregator. Many editors and journalists have been assaulted. Gunmen attacked the offices of al Ayyam, a popular independent newspaper in the South, and one person was killed.

At a February 2008 meeting in Dubai, leading southern Yemeni personalities, sultans, and sheiks proposed a constitutional monarchy in the former PDRY. A national rescue plan issued by the southern opposition had been entirely dismissed by Saleh’s regime months earlier.

Tensions arose shortly after the hurried unification in 1990 of the southern PDRY and the northern Yemeni Arab Republic (YAR); the official name today is the Republic of Yemen. The Document of Pledge and Accord signed in Jordan in February 1994 was an effort to avert civil war.

The document called for the expulsion of foreign terrorists and the trial of those terrorists who committed crimes (against southern personalities). Local rule was to be enhanced and the official media depoliticized. Another requirement was the removal of military checkpoints in the South and the pull back of military forces. The document envisioned the reorganization of the Yemeni military as a politically neutral national defense force. Yet, the articles of the document were never implemented.

In May 1994, the southern PDRY declared succession. President Saleh’s northern forces included a substantial number of Afghan Arabs and Islamic extremists. Aden, the capital of the former PDRY, was extensively bombed. The UN security council issued declarations 924 and 931 calling for a cease-fire. Saleh’s forces won the civil war in July 1994, and unity was reimposed militarily on the South.

After the defeat of the southern forces, Saleh consolidated his power with a series of constitutional amendments, alliances with terror groups, control of the state media, and by installing his relatives as the heads of the military branches and security forces. The northern elite’s hegemony was a “red line,” undiscussable for more than a decade. Resentment and humiliation festered and now threaten to explode in the southern governorates, where over the last year, the Yemeni regime has been gradually losing control.

Currently, there is a strain of southern sentiment that maintains the PDRY was not unified with the North, but rather was illegally occupied by Saleh’s forces following the civil war. Undeniably, the former states never reconciled as equal partners and development of a pluralistic system was arrested. Tribal relations became the basis for the evolving concentration of political, economic, and military power. For example, the current governor of Aden has been implicated in numerous land scandals.

Most of the southern protesters would be satisfied with a national system that established equality and dispensed justice. But pluralism is anathema to Saleh’s brand of tribal elitism, and northern citizens are just as effectively excluded from the political system as their southern brothers. Parliamentary elections are due in 2009, and the voter rolls inflated and inaccurate. The regime refuses to discuss proportional representation as advocated by the opposition coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties, and the make up of the Electoral Commission remains unclear.

Government approves contractor, supplier blacklist draft

[25 March 2008]
SANA’A, March 25 (Saba) - Government approved in its regular meeting held on Tuesday a blacklist draft of violators from Yemeni and non-Yemeni contractors, suppliers and consultants in all fields.

A committee is to be formed headed by minister of public works and roads to be in charge of the blacklist that aims at eradicating manipulation and procrastination of carrying out the projects and reducing the problems raising while implementing them.

The committee will follow up the contracts’ implementation level, encourage contractors, suppliers and consultants to improve their professional and economic performance and eliminate delay causes as well as depriving the violators of them from receiving any projects during the fixed time in the blacklist.

al-Motamar

Islah bargains on a big government complex in return for elections
Thursday, 27-March-2008
Almotamar.net - Local media sources disclosed Thursday a political extortion practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen, the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah) party over control of one of the largest government buildings to be taken as headquarters of the party in the capital Sana’a with the aim of expanding its trade activities and investment projects without taking into consideration the rest of the Joint Meeting Parties.

While the sources indicated to ongoing negotiations and dialogue between the Joint Meeting Parties and the president of the republic on formation of the elections committee, the sources disclosed about an agenda of the Islah as part of its negotiations. According to a report by Elaf private sector newspaper in its latest issue quoting political sources as saying that the Islah demanded to be given its own headquarters suitable for its status in the political arena, proposing the Defence complex located in Bab al-Yamen or the building of the General Command located in Al-Qiyada Street.

The Islah individual request came in coincidence of the negotiations and dialogue going on about formation of the elections committee a few days from finishing a study of amendments concerning the elections law by the specialised parliamentary committee.

Chairman of the special committee entrusted with studying the amendments presented by the government on the election law Sheikh Mohammed Bin Naji al-Shaef told Elaf newspaper that members of the committee from the opposition parties have for the third time proposed postponement. He indicated that delegates of parties parliamentary blocs were told to inform their parties that the concerned committee, in addition to a chairman and a reporter would on Saturday as the last date given to those parties by the committee, would take measures they are authorized with constitutionally and legally for referring its report to the parliament on the amendments related to formation of the higher committee for elections from judges.

Al-Shaef added that they at the committee worked to observe the political character of amendments and give a chance for the parties accord particularly that there are dialogues, similar to negotiations between the parties and the president of the republic to reach an accord result between the two sides concerning the supreme commission for elections.

Elaf newspaper said the opposition parties leadership prefers negotiation and dialogue with the president of the republic personally.

Yemen Post:

Amman Center for Human Rights directed harsh criticism to Yemen for failing to observe human rights together with the continuing setback of freedom in the country.

In its report, the center accused the regime and Yemeni government of imposing force between what is codified by law, and what is really practiced, stressing that Yemeni laws have not contained the technological developments in media and information field.

The report pointed out that press and printings law of 1999 and its executive bylaw is an example of the setback from what had been stated in the constitution, hinting the Yemeni government has been signaling amendments to the law that targeted electronic media and Journalists Syndicate.

Further, the Yemeni government replaced journalist imprisonment with levying fines on him. This adds a new burden to independent and partisan media which has limited resources.

The report also indicated that the new law known as national unity, internal front and social peace protection law was referred last week to government and parliament as it aims to legalize the suppressive acts and allows the government to severely punish opponents, especially when prison terms were between two and 15 years in the past.

It as well criticized the new law which is still under discussion and declared it worse than the previous one because it set no limits for freedom of expression as well as unclear terms which could be misinterpreted.

Media sources told the Yemen Post that the report of Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) is still on hold for unknown reasons, hinting this could have something to do with the violation cases recorded in the report since 2004 which amounted to 110 ranging from beating, harassment, attack, kidnapping, etc.

Meanwhile, the preparations are underway in YJS for the elections due to be conducted next July at a time when authorities are exerting their efforts to back a new council to replace the current members of YJS council who are mostly from opposition.

The sources also indicated that chairman of YJS Nasr Taha Mustafa has shown no interest in nominating himself once more for the post, though he has created a sense of harmony between the government and the syndicate.

The existence of Taha has helped not to escalate the violations at national and international levels. It also helped the syndicate to buy a building and to entirely equip it with YR 70 million.

Experts believe that Mustafa has been incapable of handling the situation, especially when the government is seeking to impose a restriction on press freedom, something rejected by him, and his inability to dominate the syndicate whose most council’s members belong to opposition parties.

Amman report also criticized the government for launching a satellite channel known as Saba, though the name has been reserved previously by Yemeni businessman Hamid Al-Ahmar. Ahmar considered this move to be a restriction on expression and freedoms even when telecasting from outside.

It as well criticized the official media and said that it works according to the old mechanism as it offers propaganda for the ruler and the ruling party while working on sidelining others. It maintained that it terrorizes opponents and accuses them of being atheists and agents.

Moreover, the report stated that the aggression against journalists have been varied ranging from declining giving licenses, withdrawing the licenses of existing ones or preventing circulation and publishing.

According to the report, the authorities also trialed some papers before prosecutions and courts and exercised pressure on advertisers in an effort to force concession on the part of private and independent media. Likewise, they practiced suppressive detentions, harassment, terrorizing, wiretapping, blocking websites, inciting security and army against press, etc.

The report also named some blocked websites namely because of the opposing position of the regime’s policies.

Electronic Sites Committee announced earlier that they reached no agreement with government over lifting the block of some websites.

The committee further saw not including it in the discussions of the new law as a bad will by authorities who seek to strangle the electronic media which has been widely spread.

It also demanded YJS and civil society organizations to work for preventing the issuance of the new law which will certainly impose wide restrictions on electronic media.

An interesting report, no laws, not one prosecution. The one account closed out of 144 required that I wrote about in 2005 is still the only account closed in 2008. The report was generated from the visit of the FSAT team last year.

US Embassy: UNSCR 1267 Compliance

In response to UNSCR 1267 in September 2003 and the Yemen’s Council of Ministers’ directives,
the CBY has issued a number of circulars (most notably 75304 and 75305) to all banks operating in
Yemen, directing them to freeze the accounts of 144 persons, companies and organizations on the
1267 consolidated list, and to report any findings to the CBY. The CBY has issued updated circulars
to banks after updated 1267 information is passed from the Yemeni Embassy in Washington or
Consulate in New York through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is voted on by the Cabinet.
However, it takes approximately one month for the list to be distributed by the Yemeni Embassy in
Washington, D.C., reviewed by various ministries in Yemen, and received by the CBY. The CBY
hand delivers the list to its financial institutions. To date, only one report on a blocked account has
been filed, which was hand-delivered by the bank to the CBY. In addition, Yemen has yet to take
any action against or freeze the assets of Sheikh Abdul Majid Zindani, despite his February 2004
addition to the 1267 list…..

In addition, the FSAT team noted a number of areas of concern that should continue to be monitored. These include: a largely unregulated money exchange service sector including both currency exchange and fund transfer services; limited capacity to monitor and control risks in the NGO sector to terrorist financing and financial fraud; and a non-bank informal banking sector that is in the beginning stages of increasing bank penetration. In addition, there are bureaucratic delays in implementing UNSCR 1267.

Parliament blocked the passage of the new legislation because it would hinder financial support for the Palestinian resistance.

World News: Large rally in Dhale provincve
Tuesday 25 March 2008 / Mareb Press

Thousand of people participated yesterday on a rally on the occasion of the first anniversary of southern movement demanding to return their blunder properties and improve their situations.

The rally attended by thousands of people from Hudhramout, Abyan, Shabwa and Aden governorates and Radfan was organized by the Retirees Association in Dhale province.

The demonstrators raised the orange flags of the South before the Unity and chanted for revolution “Towards liberating the south”

Dr. al-Matari, member of preparatory committee of the rally, said the issue of southern people has become a reality that can not jump over and the demands of the southern people are to restore the the state of southern state.

He announced that London-based satellite channel London and Radio will start transmitting soon.

The rally issued a statement in which they hold what they called Sana’a regime the responsible for frustrating the unity.

The statement demanded Sana’a regime to return all their blundered properties and to compensate the southern people.

The statement a copy of which obtained by Mareb Press called the International Community to interfere to stop the killings and arbitrary detentions against some southern activists.

wOOt

The evidence against al-Khaiwani is pnly CD’s of war photos, interviews and notes about the Saada war.

AFP : The courtroom was packed with dozens of lawyers, rights activists and other supporters who turned up to express solidarity with Khiwani.

The defence team also rejected charges against Khiwani on the grounds that authorities had eavesdropped on his telephone calls without an order from the prosecution.

“The law does not permit eavesdropping except through an order issued by the prosecution … and for a specific telephone call with the aim of preventing a crime,” said Hayel Salam, who heads the defence team…The court adjourned the case until April 8.

I have a tee shirt that says, “Ali Saleh is scared of a blog.” And apparently he really is. In a rather Stalinist reaction to growing civil unrest, Yemen blocked 1126 Yemeni blogs.

Maktoobblog.com, one of the most popular Arab blogging platform, has been recently blocked in Yemen. The OpenNet Initiative testing has confirmed yesterday, through technical investigation, that the blog hosting service has been blocked by Yemennet ISP, a service of the government’s Public Telecommunication Corporation (PTC):

ONI technical investigation verified that the service has been blocked by Yemennet, Yemen’s government-run ISP. Access is blocked to the entire domain maktoobblog.com, effectively to every blog hosted by the service. Interestingly, users who attempt to access the site receive a network error message instead of the standard blockpage, which is served when users attempt to access sexual content.

This significant blocking is expected to hinder Internet users in Yemen from blogging and reading blogs because maktoobblog.com is home of one of the largest blogging communities in the Middle East and North Africa.

People get the network error message for this blog too. My article on internet censorship appeared at the Yemen Times earlier this month.

al-Sahwa:

March 25, 2008- Khalid Abdul-Nabi , leader of the so-called Aden-Abyan Armey has accused Yemen’s security of targeting him .He along with his escorts were subjected Monday to an ambush which left one of his escort wounded in Joar city.

In a statement to Alsahwa.net, he said that 5 policemen riding a military vehicle shot fire on him, considering the incident an attempt by the authorities to assassinate him.

His escort, Najib Hafsa , was wounded and transferred to an a hospital in Aden city. It is worth reclaiming that this the second attempt the leader of Aden-Abyan leader is subjected to. He was targeted last February in his own farm.

Yemen seizes illegal drugs ship

[24 March 2008]

SANA’A, March 24 (Saba) -A well-informed sources said that Yemeni coastguards seized on Monday at the Arab Sea a ship carrying about 1600 kg hashish in Yemen’s regional waters.

The sources said to Saba that the Coastguards Authority is currently investigating with a Pakistani crew of the ship.

The sources added that the coastguards of Aden Gulf had seized two big ships on aboard 32 Arab persons were practicing irregular fishing in Yemen’s regional waters.

Pakistani nationals

DOD said part of the reason the Gitmo detainees are still there is the lack of measures to monitor them upon their return. Also torture is prevelent in Yemeni jails.

Guantánamo Attorneys Say Detainees Will Not Be Tortured if Returned to Yemen
Sunday 16 March 2008 / Hood online

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - March 12 - Today, more than 30 attorneys from the United States who represent Yemeni men held at Guantánamo issued a statement saying they do not believe the detainees would be tortured if returned to Yemen, and called for all of the Yemeni detainees to be released and repatriated.

(Read on …)

PRI

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) - A Yemeni Interior Ministry official reports six people have been killed and five injured in a fight between tribesmen over land.
The official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, says that the violence broke out Sunday and continued through Monday between the Abdullah and Bani-Ali tribes north of the capital San’a.
Tribal mediators are working to calm the furor.
Clashes between the heavily armed tribes in this impoverished nation are frequent and most men carry firearms despite an official government ban.

Of course Saleh was in on it.

CIA website

Possible Yemeni Breaches of UN Sanctions

2001: Government of Yemen Offers to supply Military Goods to Iraq
Recovered documents refer to the Yemen Ambassador meeting with the Iraqi military to discuss a list of guaranteed military materials. According to the documents, the President of Yemen gave his blessing to support the effort to supply military goods to Iraq.

A letter from the Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed dated 23 March 2001 speaks of a meeting with the Republic of Yemen’s Ambassador, Mr. Abid Al-Malek Saeed. The letter states that Yemen had been helping the Iraqi Armed forces through a Yemeni business-man named Mr. Shaher Abid Al Haqq.

Reference is given to a meeting held 19 February 2001, were the Yemeni side was ready to export military materials from Yemen and Ethiopia to Iraq. The letter indicates the President of Yemen, Ali Abid Allah Salah, gave his blessing to the deal and that the Iraqis were given guarantees for the spare parts. These parts were specifically drawn from the stocks of the Yemeni armed forces, air force, army aviation and included armor, trucks, and weapons.

A follow-up meeting was held on 22 March 2001, which included the Yemeni Ambassador and Mr. Al-Haqq. Al-Haqq and the Ambassador provided the Iraqi military with a list of guaranteed available military materials and prices. Al-Haqq also revealed that he had met with the President Salah who had given his blessing for these efforts and support. The letter indicates that the President Salah, “believes that the support of Iraq with the proposed exports is necessary” and he had made calls to his brother, an Air Force Commander, asking him to present everything possible to Iraq, even if he has to take supplies from the Yemeni Air Force and ask Russia and others for replacement material.

Arab billionaire’s son: ‘I didn’t kill party girl’

Source: Metro

Tuesday, March 25, 2008- The son of an Arab billionaire businessman who left Britain hours before a Norwegian friend was found dead has denied killing her.

(Read on …)

Almotamar.net, Saba - Yemen has refused Monday to sign an agreement with the United States of America over the installation of two radioactive surveillance stations at Aden and Hodeidah ports.

Well-informed sources were quoted by almotamar.net as saying that a ministerial committee, was formed to look into the matter with help of experts from Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Public Health and Population, Transportation, Higher Education and Scientific Research and Legal Affairs, asked the government not to sign the agreement with the U.S. for the establishment of the surveillance stations because of their bad consequences, affirming the terms of the agreement were in favor of the U.S.

The draft agreement provided that any cooperation between Yemen and any other country in this regard should be under the US observation.

Moreover, the draft agreement was considered as political obligation by Yemen.

In April 2007, the cabinet saw a memorandum submitted by Electricity and Energy Ministry over the installation of two US radioactive surveillance stations at the Aden and Hodeida ports and approved the formation of a committee to look into the matter.

Yemen Post

Yemeni Parliament approved amending the law numbered 25 of 1991 concerning the insurances as obligatorily put pension age at 60 and while the pension age for women was optionally fixed for 55.

The amendments allow the husband to have both his pension and his wife; however, it did not allow him to have more than one in case he is married to more than one wife and he has the right to select which pension to have with his.

He did attend the al-Farouq training camp. Is he going to deny that? Thats a crime in the US. And supposedly, according to a Yemeni court (?!), he participated in the bombing of the oil facilities in September 2006.

Yemen On Line :
FBI wanted Al-Banna to al-Jazeera: “I challenge Yemen and U.S. to substantiate allegations against me”

Sana’a, March 24, 2008 - Doha-based Al-Jazeera TV Channel broadcast on Sunday a brief report on Yemeni-American citizen Jaber Al-Banna. Al-Banna said he is innocent from all charges brought against him and added that the Yemeni government is an agent for the United States. U.S. Embassy spokesperson, Ryan Gliha, said al-Banna is one of the most wanted terrorism suspects and that he should be in prison. Gliha added that U.S. believes that those countries committed to fight terror should act to imprison those convicted of terrorist crimes. “Al-Banna should be imprisoned for the terrorist crimes he committed in Yemen and in the U.S,” said Gliha. “The U.S. asked Yemen to hand over al-Banna, but Yemeni authorities refused to extradite him,” Gliha concluded. Al-Banna said he is innocent from all Yemeni and U.S. charges filed against him and at the same time challenged both governments to prove any of their charges against him.

Al-Banna, who was sentenced for one year in jail in absentia after his escape with 22 other al-Qaeda operatives from a Yemeni prison in 2006, is wanted by the United States over charges of “providing material support to terrorists,”

Yemen GCC integration’s roadmap defines five trends to accelerate the process
SANA’A, Feb. 04 (Saba)- Roadmap of Yemen’s integration to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has highlighted five main trends to qualify Yemen to join the GCC member states according to a scientific insight to fulfill economic integration with the Gulf countries.

These five trends could be projected as follows:

Trend of Commercial Partnership:

The roadmap affirmed the importance of strengthening frameworks of commercial partnership between Yemen and the GCC affiliate countries through focusing on realizing goals represented by setting up a free trade zone shared by Yemen and the GCC states as an introduction to Yemen inclusion to the Gulf Joint Market. It noted the main obstacles facing this move which are the weak infrastructure in Yemen and neglecting development of domestic export.

The previous trend requires Aden to