Armies of Liberation

Yemen the main source of illegal arms to Somalia: UN
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Jane Novak for the Yemen Times

SANA’A, Dec. 27— A UN investigation found Yemen is the primary source of arms and ammunition to Somalia which has been under an arms embargo since 1992. The panel of independent experts monitoring the embargo also reported arms smuggling from Yemen intersects with acts of piracy and human trafficking. The findings were presented in a December 10 report to the UN Security Council.

The report notes commercial weapons imports from Yemen supply Somali retail markets as well as opposition and criminal groups. The Yemeni government’s inability to stem the large scale arms trafficking is “a key obstacle to the restoration of peace and security to Somalia,” the panel found. The UN Security Council extended the monitoring group’s mandate for another year.

Yemen plans to refute the charges. SABA news agency dubbed the report “misleading” and noted that “smuggling weapons is sometimes associated with the arriving of displaced Somalis.” A Foreign Ministry statement said that one million Somali refugees in Yemen create an economic burden that “sometimes leads to social, security and health repercussions.” Nearly 50,000 Somali refugees made the maritime crossing to Yemen in 2008, authorities reported.

In prior years, about 30,000 Somalis migrated annually.

The UN report ties together weapons smuggling, human trafficking and piracy, noting some small boats used in acts of piracy also “move refugees and economic migrants from Somalia to Yemen, bringing arms and ammunition on the return journey,” Piracy in the waters between Yemen and Somalia spiked dramatically with over 100 pirate attacks and over 40 vessels captured by pirates this year. The authorities in Puntland and Somaliland told the UN monitoring group that “maritime traffic from Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden, remains their largest single source of arms.” Weapons purchased in Yemen are also smuggled to insurgent groups in Ethiopia, the investigation found. One intercepted shipment included 101 anti-tank mines, 100 hand grenades, 170 rocket-propelled grenade-7 rounds, and 170 boxes of 7.62 mm ammunition.

Increased activity by the Yemeni Coast Guard between Aden and al Mukalla impacted arms shipments from ports in the patrolled areas. However, the monitoring group found that the lack of regular patrols in al Mukalla “means that arms traffic continues unabated.” The group recommended capacity building programs for the Coast Guard and direct naval interdiction.

Yemen’s coast line extends 1906 km. The Coast Guard, created in 2003, is working towards taking control of Mocha and al Mukalla from the military. The Republican Guard and Central Security forces have authority at ports where the Coast Guard has limited presence. The Coast Guard has nine operational ships in a fleet of 15, and only two with deep water capacity.

Inadequate funding is an obstacle to increased capacity, Coast Guard Commander Ali Ahmed Ras’ee said in May.

The US provides some operational and training support and in 2004 donated seven patrol boats. With Italian financing, the Italian firm SELEX is implementing a coastal radar system that will eventually cover 450km of coast line including hot spots for piracy and smuggling.

Responding to the UN report, the Foreign Ministry said, “Yemen reiterates its readiness to cooperate with the UN and all regional concerned parties to fight piracy and all forms of weapon smuggling, the issues resulted due to the situation in Somalia where there is not a central government.”

Yemen has the second most heavily armed citizenry per capita after the United States. In August 2007, authorities implemented a ban against carrying weapons in cities and have confiscated over 150,000 weapons since the program began. Over 200 weapons shops were also closed.

Weapons smuggling from Yemen to Saudi Arabia is also a concern. In July, Saudi Arabia announced that in a three month period, border guards confiscated over a ton of explosives and a large number of arms including 13 rocket-propelled grenades, 99 sticks of dynamite, 100 fuses, 12 detonators, more than 100 guns and 15,000 cartridges.

Jan 2007

More than 1,000 Yemeni men went to Iraq to fight jihad during 2003 to 2006, most of them during 2006, and around 150 were killed, a local newspaper reported on Monday.

The Al Tajamo weekly paper said that 70 to 75 per cent of the men went to Iraq from Yemen while the remainder went there from other countries. Most of them were young, under 20, and were influenced by extremist religious discourse.

The Al Hekma Charitable Association which is based in Aden, Sanaa and Abyan helped the young men go to Iraq for jihad, the paper said. The Al Hekma association has denied the claim.

AOL
In its latest issue, Al-Tajamu Weekly said that security reports indicate that extremist elements having links with Al-Hikma Association, affiliated with the Yemeni Islah Party in Aden, Abyan and Sana’a, provided money and logistic aids to Al-Qaeda leaders from Yemen and Saudi Arabia to recruit fighters and smuggle them into Iraq.

An Al-Hikma Association official was arrested over his involvement in providing facilitations to get one of his accomplices into Iraq. However, Al-Tajamu Newspaper mentioned that this man was released following intervention by senior security leaders.

March 2009

Sheikh Dr. Aqeel Al-Maqtari is one of the most prominent leaders of the Salafi Moderate Hekma Group in Yemen and is the scientific official in the Al-Hekma Al-Yamania Charitable Society.

YP: Is it true that Salafis main idea on the ruler (president) is that people should not go against him, and those who do go against Islam?
AM: Some believe that going against the Muslim ruler is forbidden, even if he does wrong actions. Their view is that one should advise him when he goes wrong and nothing else. This practice was followed by many scholars.
However, there are others who believe that armed opposition against the ruler is important if you have the capacity, which means defeating the ruler, on condition that the ruler clearly declares going against Islam.
In the past, there were some scholars who clearly said that revolution against the disobedient ruler is an obligation and a duty, but when they saw that a lot of blood was spilled, they forbid it.

If Saleh ordered the Sa’ada prisoners released on 12/08 and they are still in jail, then its either a ploy or he can’t get his own directives implemented.

The order: (Read on …)

Nabi and others to be used against southern opposition

Interview:

Khaled Abdulnabi was the leader of the Salafist Jihad group in Yemen, one of the most prominent figures associated with Islamic groups and frameworks that have emerged in Yemen and the Arab states over the past three decades.

The man known as that of the jihadi leaders, which has fought through her advocacy of many of the stations in order to win respect of the ideas and values .. Where participation is seen as the elements of the Salafist Jihad group in Yemen in the battles to defend against the summer of Yemeni unity in 1994, and one of these stations, which uncovered the essence of the values and principles, which believes in it. (Read on …)

Spending 28% of income in low income homes.
Some children start chewing as young as seven.

Yemen Times

Julie G. Viloria-Williams has over 25 years of experience with the World Bank in sustainable people-based development. She held positions in Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Eastern and Central Asian countries before becoming the Middle East and North Africa regional expert in September last year. She is the team leader in the Qat dialogue task in Yemen, which represents the World Bank’s assistance to Yemen in dealing with this issue. Her job involves research into the issues and development needs of countries within the MENA region, and identification of potential threats, especially on the issues that affect the livelihood of citizens.

“Because of the urgency of the Qat problem in Yemen, it has become the World Bank’s fourth pillar in the bank’s new country assistance strategy along with growth, governance and the Millenium Development Goals,” she said. Based on the December country assistance strategy consultation, the World Bank’s assistance to Yemen will take the form of grants, rather than loans, to be provided over the next three years.

During her recent visit to Yemen, Viloria-Williams met with the various stakeholders and discussed with them the issue of Qat. She also attended some focus groups, during which she realized just how deep the problem is.

“In many families children as young as seven start chewing because of parental influence, especially because mothers, who are usually uneducated, think of Qat as means to bind their children to the family,” she said.

As a part of its campaign against Qat, the WB will be producing a documentary on Qat in Yemen, in both Arabic and English, she anticipates that it will be broadcast on Yemeni TV among other media channels in a bid to spread awareness.

Size of the problem

According to a detailed survey carried out by the World Bank in mid 2006, 72 percent of men and 33 percent of women chew Qat for an average of 6 hours per day. Qat absorbs 10 percent of the average household income and over 28 percent for low income groups. Qat production, trade and consumption accounts for 10 percent of GDP, and is the cause of many health problems. The study sampled more than four thousand Yemenis from around the Republic. (Read on …)

1- The regime itself talks to and is allied with al-Qaeda.

2- This seems a propaganda ploy to connect the southerners with terrorists. Next things will start blowing up (poorly and at 6 am), then security forces will have a four hour shoot out and kill some terror mastermind and the government will declare itself victorious.

3- The southerners dont need al-Qaeda if they decide to engage in violence, which they have not.

AKI
Sanaa, 24 Dec. (AKI) – Leaders of a Yemeni Al-Qaeda cell have reportedly allied themselves with separatists opposing the government in southern Yemen. Unnamed security sources told the daily , al-Quds al-Arabi, that leaders of the Al-Qaeda cell in Yemen recently held a summit with leaders of the separatist group.

The separatists want to restore the former South Yemen regime, which was united with the Yemen Arab Republic, or North Yemen in 1994.

Among the Al-Qaeda leaders reported to have been at the meeting were Salem al-Radwui, who had returned from fighting in Afghanistan, and other militants wanted by police for allegedly taking part in terror attacks against Yemeni security forces and government institutions.

During the summit, the parties reportedly reached an agreement to carry out a series of attacks against businessmen and government buildings in the capital, Sanaa.

Police are reported to have discovered a terrorist hideout in the province of Abin in the past few days.

If the projects came to completion, they would have employed 26,000 people

Nearly 78 percent of investment projects in Aden have stalled, says a recent study

Yemen Times: A recent study conducted by the government revealed that 1132 investment projects in the Aden governorate have stalled or are no longer active, accounting for 78 percent of the total projects registered by the General Investment Authority.

The study was undertaken by a team from the branch of the investment authority in Aden and was headed by Mohammed Hilbub, professor of investment and supply in Aden University. The report also received support from the Germen Organization for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). According to the study, between 1992 and 2008, 601 projects have stalled and 531 remain registered by the authority but have failed to proceed as investors were unable to find land and supplies for the projects. (Read on …)

the Yemen Times

TAIZ, Dec. 21 — The Taiz Governorate has been hit hard by a recent outbreak of Dengue Fever, with Al-Jumhoori Hospital reporting up to 525 cases in the past three months alone.

Dengue Fever can be tested for by two methods, the Test Cassette and the Elisa Test, according to Dr. Ahmed Abddulaah Mansur, Chairman of Virology Department at Al-Jumhoori Hospital. However, the availability of such methods is reportedly inadequate. “The Elisa Test is available only at the Aljumhuri Hospital, where cases are referred to from all other private or public hospitals and laboratories,” Mansur said. (Read on …)