Armies of Liberation

What used to be the al Wasat website is here. Actually al Wasat moderated a lot since a few years ago when Jamal Amer got some pretty serious threats, and the paper was in no way promoting seperatism, just reporting the news of the unrest. But the Yemeni government can’t bear the truth, in any area.

The hackers wrote: “Unity is a Red Line.” It also says “Unity or Death”:

Idiots.

Update 2: Four reported dead now, see update below the fold. This from the Yemen Post: Security in Hadramout shooting randomly in all directions:

A young man was killed and others were injured during violent clashes between protestors and troops in the city of Shahr, Hadramout on Saturday. The killed was named Awadh Sa’ad Barami, 19, and most of those who were wounded were aged 18-22, a local source has said.

A peaceful started from the square of Sheikh Saeed led by young people infuriated by tyrannical arrests of 45 people in the city on Thursday.

Eyewitnesses said the security forces fired bullets in all directions randomly, event targeting the public who were sitting at shops and cafeterias.

Update: News from South Arabia 31/5/2009 till this evening:

1- 1 killed and 3 injured in Thalia’a (Dhalea?) 180 KM northern Aden in a clashes between protester and the Yemeni military.
2- some fire shooting in Mukala, Hadramoot, and no reports of killed or injured.
3- some reports of killed and injured protesters in Shabwah but needs verification.

Original Post: Apparently I posted too soon yesterday. Two of the injured died. How sad this all is. And the deaths don’t intimidate the protesters, it invigorates them. In Radfan in 2007, I think it was, three protest organizers were slaughtered by police on the town’s stage as they were preparing for a demonstration the next day. They were pretty much just shot in the head in cold blood. Tens of thousands came out the next day.

Sana’a, Yemen - At least two protesters were killed and eight wounded in clashes with security forces in two cities in southern Yemen, local sources said on Sunday. The sources said one protester was killed and five others wounded after police opened fire on protesters on Sunday in the southern city of Dalea, some 270 kilometres south of the capital Sana’a.

They said clashes broke out between police and armed protesters after security forces began firing tear gas canisters at dozens of protesters gathered in the city’s main street…In a similar protest in the south-eastern city of Shehiron Saturday evening, one protester was killed and three injured, medical sources said.

Witnesses said protesters held up flags of the former south Yemen and posters of its former president Ali Salim al-Beedh.

Confrontations were also reported in the twon of Anad around 50 kilometres north of the southern port city of Aden, but there were no reports about possible casualties.

(Read on …)

**Bumped, Scroll Down for Newer Posts**

Thats some amazing stuff right there. Around 1:20 the photographer pans out the length of the march, its big:

Demonstrations were held May 30, 2009 in the following locations in South Yemen: Dhalea Gov,Albaha in Lahj Gov., Al shoaib in Dhalea Gov., Ja’ar in Abyean Gov., Alshehr City in Hadramot Gov (some injuries). Alhad city in Yafea, Lahj Gov (police set up checkpoints to block demonstrators from gathering).

Yafea

Dhalie

Note the photos of al Beidh.

Its very, very good, and they all deserve commendation, but will anyone go to jail?

Inquiry into Cement Plants Frauds
SANA’A, May 31 (Saba) – A widening investigation into an enormous graft involving hundreds of billions of Riyals at the state-owned cement plant is underway, head of the Supreme National Anti-Corruption Commission has said. (Read on …)

Convicted in the US last November and sentenced this week:

A U.S. judge on Wednesday handed down 65-year prison sentences to two founders of a U.S. Islamic charity convicted of illegally supporting Palestinian group Hamas, in a major U.S.-based terrorism financing case…Abu Baker, whose brother Jamal Issa is the head of Hamas operations in Yemen, was Holy Land’s chief executive officer and the first to be sentenced

Probably every one of the 22 newly licensed papers is pro-regime and Tawwakol Karaman (WJWC) didn’t get her license yet. I would love to be wrong, really I would.

Al Qaeda can publish magazines and statements on the internet, but not civil society. Whats up with that? Everybody is blocked in Yemen except al Qaeda? The newspapers are inciting hatred but not Wahishi? Such garbage.

Zawya Yemen granted licenses for 22 new newspapers including 14 local newspapers, three newspapers for civil organizations and five for political parties in accordance with legal procedures, said Deputy Minister of Information Mohammed Shaher. Shaher said that there were further requests for issuing newspapers which are under studying by the ministry.

Currently around eight newspapers in Yemen were banned by the information ministry from printing and are accused of inciting hatred and indiscrimination in the country after covering what is happening in the southern governorates. Many local and international organizations have demanded that Yemeni government stop violating the rights of newspapers and freedom of the press.

Previously, Minister of information Hassan al-Lawzi said in a press conference that all Yemeni newspapers must take into consideration the national principles and the common interest of the nation when they are dealing with their press coverage.

This Newsweek article captures several truths. Its also very entertaining: Regarding the Gitmo returnees, “do whatever you want with them,” one Yemeni official told me. “Screw them, bomb them, send them to a country where they have capital punishment.”

The Reeducation of Abu Jandal
Can jihadists really be reformed? Closing Guantanamo may depend on it.

Kevin Peraino
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Jun 8, 2009
All teachers have their problem pupils. Hamoud al-Hitar’s was a young man who liked to call himself “Abu Jandal,” an Arabic nickname that means roughly “The Killer.” The moon-faced, slightly paunchy Yemeni, whose real name was Nasser al-Bahri, had fought in Bosnia, Somalia, Chechnya and Afghanistan—all before his 30th birthday. For six years he worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, who once personally dressed one of al-Bahri’s gunshot wounds near Kabul. In Afghanistan he got to know Mohamed Atta and several of the other 9/11 hijackers. When al-Bahri finally returned home to Yemen about a year before the attacks, “it was the first time in my life that I had a passport with my real name on it,” the former jihadist told me one morning this spring when we met in the lobby of a Sana hotel. (Read on …)

Isn’t it entirely pathetic that the most analyzed “literature” coming out of the Middle East is from these imperialistic fanatics?

You would think the cadre of jihaddi watchers would spend a little time documenting the robust body of indigenous arguments undermining the quite flawed al Qaeda ideology, and I dont mean Dr. Fadli. However it might smack of the pro-freedomism the left finds so tacky, the dictators find so treasonous and that people all over the Middle East are dying for daily.

The actually intelligent people in the Middle East are censored and often fatwa-ed or in jail. If there was a way to unplug censorship in the whole region, (and there is, read this), its clear that development would take off like a rocket.

Alas, what we get is these low mentality jihaddi lunatics ranting that no one is innocent, in rather George Bush-like statments of “with us or against us”. Its kind of funny though that they feel compelled to respond, point by point, to an oped by Munier, and wind up in very dim logic using the same terms as Saleh- a virus. The proof that there is no conspiracy is the fact, they say, that they attack Central Security (Yahya). They may not know they are puppets, but indeed they are. They are going to be cranky when they realize they are working indirectly for Saleh and Iran. Poor dumbass jihaddis. Actually its not these godless murderers I feel sorry for, but the brainwashed 16 year old children they suck in to use as human bombs to kill elderly tourists. From Nashwan News, yet more bad google translation:

Number stated in the ninth edition of the echo response of epic length to a colleague Articles by Monir Maori and the Yemeni political analyst who writes from Washington to an article previously written on the journal of the so-called al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula (Yemen and Saudi Arabia). (Read on …)

Habeleen, Lahj May 27, 2009: A protester is draped in the flag of the formerly independent South Yemen which merged with North Yemen in 1990.

On the heels of earlier bloody protests in Aden on May 21 that resulted in ten deaths and nearly a thousand arrests, last week saw continuing unrest in south Yemen in most provinces. New arrests and civilian injuries were reported in several cities. Several times when the Yemeni government forced pro-unity demonstrations, the crowds instead began chanting pro-independence slogans, and the gatherings turned into clashes. In some cases, the protests were in reaction to the earlier arbitrary arrests of protesters in south Yemen. The institutional media blackout continues in an attempt to limit national and international awareness of the southern independence movement.

May 25 There was a demonstration was in Abyan, reportedly attended by tens of thousands. Tareq al Fadhli addressed the crowds.

May 27 A large anti-government rally was held in Dahlie

May 27 Radfan, one of the hot spots of the protests since 2007, held another large protest.

May 27 Habeleen in Laehj saw demonstrations as well.

May 28 A protest in Al-Shehr in Hadhramaut resulted in many injuries and about 30 arrests when the police opened fire on protesters.

May 28 Several demonstrations were held in Lahj including a large gathering in the capital, al Houta. The regime had organized a forced pro-unity demonstration supporting President Saleh, but the people began repeating slogans for calling independence and a republic with its capital Aden. Hundreds were arrested in Lahj, among them dozens of students.

May 28, Also in Lahj, in Yafea, demonstrations were held in Al Maflehi and Alasadi cities.

As it should. Its also important to keep an eye on the massive and growing blockage of the internet.

Saleh doesn’t actually understand what democracy is, or if he does, he’s determined to kill it. Meanwhile a free media is one of the few things that could markedly increase stability and good governance in the mid term. The southern issue was taboo for so long that is exploding now with an intensity that shocks some. The international journalists organizations are doing a good job in reporting and protesting Saleh’s absurd and brutal Stalinist tactics.

President urged to halt persecution of news media

Reporters Without Borders wrote again today to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his information minister, Hassan Ahmed Al-Lawzi, to condemn the latest measures taken by the government with the clear aim of gagging the news media.

“All these measures constitute serious and repeated violations of press freedom,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The authorities must put an immediate stop to all these forms of harassment and intimidation. All of Yemen’s journalists must be allowed to express their views freely.”

Reporters Without Borders is particularly concerned about a recent decision to set up a special court in Sanaa to try press offences. “We believe that such a court has only one aim, namely to muzzle journalists,” the letter said.

Citing the need to defend “national unity,” the information minister banned the printing of eight independent newspapers on 4 May for allegedly promoting “separatism.” Seven of them were weeklies and the eighth was the Aden-based daily Al-Ayyam (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=31187), whose headquarters in Aden were fired on by soldiers and police on 13 May (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=31303)

Reporters Without Borders has learned that police arrested journalist Yahya Bamahfouz, the editor of the Hadramawt news website, on 12 May in Mukalla (500 km east of Sanaa), seizing his computer and work material. His family says his state of health is worrying. Reporters Without Borders calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

Saleh Khamis bin Mehanna, an independent journalist who is critical of the government, has meanwhile been the victim of a physical attack by members of the security forces in Mukalla. It is the second time he has been attacked by government agents.

I really have to stop reading and blogging and get back to work, but I want to highlight one aspect of the very accurate CGO Sa’ada report which lays out (with supporting documentation) many basic truths that have been obscured for years- including the following on page 25, which correctly notes the four ceasefires failed in part because the regime failed to implement its own part of the deal- because the military failed to follow orders.

The military, ministries, security forces etc. function as fiefdoms and are beyond control of the central government, which is also why the reforms never get implemented and development projects fail time after time. Because of corruption and the complete lack of accountability, different parts of the government go in different directions and compete with each other and, in sum, produce an overall irrational outcome. Saleh could never make peace, he didn’t have the capacity (assuming he was sincere) because the military had an agenda of its own.

Arguably the most serious impediment was that both
mediation efforts and steps announced by the government
to calm the situation were either undermined by
accompanying repressive measures or, more simply,
not implemented at all.149 This partly resulted from
competing approaches between the political leadership
and army command. According to a Zaydi scholar who
participated in unofficial mediation efforts, “when the
president called for mediation, the army did not always
cooperate. Mediation efforts would have succeeded
had there been a consensus between the politicians and
the army. Instead, they were sabotaged by disagreement”.
150 This claim was supported by different participants
and independent observers. Another mediator
offered an example of government branches working
at cross-purposes:

So now extrapolate that lack of central control of the military and the security forces to the issues of terrorism and organized crime, and what do you get – a mafia with an airforce and military commanders training terrorists in military camps. This too one day will be documented.

Update: Yemen Post: Man wounded as police destroy his home with bulldozers.

Update 2: ISPN:

“Qat is a major source of tax revenue and the centre of all corruption in Yemen. Over 50 percent of tax revenue is derived from qat, but this is only about a third of the real revenue it generates. Everyone from farmers to the highest officials is involved in the qat trade and taking money under the table.”

While the government makes broad statements about its intention to reduce the consumption and cultivation of the narcotic plant, any genuine effort is thwarted from within, he adds. “Much of the crop is actually grown on government land, so officials involved will block any attempt to reduce its market.”

Its the same configuration over and over in every area including the political realm, corporate, security, basic services, development and terrorism. There is no single government, only multiple actors deploying state power and resources for a variety of ends.

(As a side note, Im so happy the report documents that, NO, the Houthi prisoners were never released- since 2005- despite at least 25 government announcments to the contrary. The regime arrested its own fact finding committee, and so on. Its a good report. You can’t imagine the incredible flack I got in 2005 for writing that 68,000 Sa’ada residents were displaced by the war; by 2008 the number was 130,000. Hopefully there will be some changes now as the truth is better documented by both CGO and Human Rights Watch. My photo essay of destruction in Sa’ada is at Bill’s. You can see, there really needs to be some changes.)

Who was it who visited? Leon Panetta is the head of the CIA, oddly enough. Ah, its the Deputy Director. (Limited spook snark today, they have enough to deal with there under the bus.)

CIA official: The United States strongly supports unified Yemen, SANA’A, May 28 (Saba)- The United States strongly supports unified and stable Yemen, said Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Stephen Kappes.

In his meeting with President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday, Kappes highlighted Yemen’s efforts in fighting terrorism. He voiced his country’s keenness on enhancing relations with Yemen.

Kappes, who affirmed that Yemen’s stability serves the whole region’s stability, said the United States supports Yemen’s development and anti terror efforts.

For his part, President Saleh affirmed Yemen’s keenness on boosting cooperation relations and partnership with the United States of America on several levels to serve interests of the two countries.

The danger of Jaber Elbaneh (Gaber al Banna) is that he was in prison and escaped in 2006 with the Cole Bombers and other trained, experienced terrorists with connections to AQ Central, and he’s an American. The FBI wants him for what happened up to 2003 (including training at al Farouq), but his associations in later years are also concerning. However, he made a deal with Ali Saleh, so everything should be just peachy.

This guy was tried in absentia after his surrender months earlier, and showed up for his appeal hearing saying he had resolved everything with Saleh already and then left again. Supposedly he is in some sort of custody now, but… Buffalo News

The FBI still places a high priority of bringing Jaber A. Elbaneh back to Buffalo to face trial in the Lackawanna Six case, the FBI’s national director said today during a Buffalo press conference.

“I can tell you that [Elbaneh] is on our minds, on our watch list and on our list of terrorists,” FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said. “We are working through the State Department and other mechanisms, and are hopeful he will be returned to face justice.” (Read on …)

First of all, lets keep in mind that the report that “a missile” from the international fleet targeted the first Yemeni fishing boat that exploded Tuesday off the coast of the Sudan is entirely unsubstantiated and a product of the Yemeni State Media, which often lies, blatant absurd lies.

In the second case this week, the official story that follows is three fishermen exited the boat at Yemen’s Honey Island (what a nice name!) and triggered a land mine. It could be, or it could be something else like a new trade in more volatile explosives. I haven’t a clue, there are a lot of land mines in Yemen, but one exploding Yemeni fishing boat is odd, two is flakey. Both stories were announced by Saba:
Mine explosion kills two Yemeni fishermen in Red Sea island

HODEIDA, May 28 (Saba) – Two days after a missile hit a Yemeni boat in the Red Sea killing and injuring its crew members, two Yemeni fishermen died on Thursday but this time a landmine explosion was probably behind the catastrophe which took place in the Honey Island near the Yemeni island of Al-Zubair in the Red Sea.

A third Yemeni fisherman was seriously injured and taken to a hospital in Hodeida and he is still in the intensive care unit.

Sources told news websites the boat had a crew of 11, but only three were at the boat when the explosion took place, while the other crew members were preparing a meal.

When the three left their boat in the island, an explosion was heard which preliminary investigations revealed it was a mine detonation killing two and hurting the third.

The two killed were identified as Abdu Ibrahim, 20, and Ahmed Ibrahim,35.

However, speculations arose that the explosion was a missile that targeted the boat, raising fear international troops are aiming to cleanse Yemeni fishermen under the pretext of being suspected pirates.

On Tuesday, a missile, believed to be fired by one of the international naval ships patrolling the region, hit a Yemeni boat killing and injuring its crew members.

Violence is building in Yemen’s northern Sa’ada province as soldiers and pro-government tribesmen attack homes, villages and public roads despite a truce that ended the four year war last July. The International Crisis Group warned yesterday the conflict has become “self-perpetuating, giving rise to a war economy”, noting the “destruction of entire villages and infrastructure by army shelling, air bombardment and indiscriminate military and police violence” exacerbated tensions.

With the journalists excluded, its difficult to verfiy either side’s claims. The only neutral truth is the civilians are bearing the brunt of the war. The confiscation of donor aid seems quite plausable and is a frequently repeated charge.

Yemen Times SA’ADA, May 27 –Tensions are mounting as clashes continue between the army -backed by pro-government tribesmen- and Houthi supporters in more than one district in Sa’ada, according to tribal sources in the governorate.

The districts bearing the brunt of the fighting are the western areas of Mirran and northwestern areas of Razeh. (Read on …)

The Bin Shamlan quote is telling. Yemen Times:

SANA’A May 24 — A number of recommendations considered a basis for national dialogue on the country’s urgent issues were outlined during the National Consultation Meeting, which concluded its activities on Thursday. (Read on …)

Amazing.

al Sahwa, Hadhramout – The Yemeni authorities arrested on Wednesday a top leader of Al-Haq party and the Joint Meeting Parties in Hadhramout province Yamin BaYamim, and attacked a member of parliament and the head of the Islah party Mohsin Basora.

For its part ,JMP condemned the acts, demanding the authorities to swiftly release Ba-Yamin.

Ba-Yamin and Basora were protesting in solidarity with journalists and eight independent newspapers that are facing a raid by the authorities due to their covering of the South incidents. They are also accused by the government of expressing views favorable to southern secessionists in their coverage of recent protests.

Yemen Post: President Saleh’s call for local ruling system has met the southern mobility leaders’ rejection and criticism. Moreover they doubted its credibility and considered it as sweet promises for external consumption.”We don’t believe in Saleh’s promise for local ruling system as it has no credibility,” said a field leader in what has become known as” southern mobility”, Nasser Al-Fadhli.

Its such a relief after all these years, as were the HRW reports, to read this sentence, because its entirely true and its been true since 2005: The destruction of entire villages and infrastructure by army shelling, air bombardment and indiscriminate military and police violence exacerbated grievances…

Its doubtful the Yemeni regime will learn anything from all this careful research or change its behavior, as it is so fractured and self interested that its barely rational. For example, Saleh’s arms dealers are selling weapons to the rebels. The executive summary is here and notes the financial benefit of the war to some:

The conflict has become self-perpetuating, giving rise to a war economy as tribes, army officers and state officials have seized the opportunity to control the porous border with Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea coastline. Tribal leaders and senior officials have amassed military hardware and profit from illegal sales of army stockpiles. Continued operations have justified increased military budgets without government or independent oversight. As competition over resources intensified, the benefits of war exceeded its drawbacks – at least for the elites involved.

With only some exceptions, the international community has not recognised the Saada conflict’s destabilising potential or pressured the government to shift course. That is partly related to the West’s single-minded focus on Yemen’s struggle with al-Qaeda and the regime’s adroit portrayal of the Huthis as a subset of the so-called war on terror. It also is related to the regime’s denial of access to Saada to many if not most governments and humanitarian agencies.

Full report PDF, here.

From 4/5/09, Zaidi’s negotiations with Saleh and other fun facts: Mareb Press

غالب الزايدي المطلوب للأمن بتهمة الإنتماء للقاعدة Ghalib Zaidi required security on charges of belonging to al Qaeda (Read on …)

We all knew already that al Hittar, the Minister of Endowments and head of Yemen’s dialog program, is a hard core Salafi, yes? (Dialog with the Houthis was never an option.) The Wisdom and Charity org is al Hikma, (al Hekma depending on my mood), inconclusively linked to training and shipping fighters to Iraq (under the auspices of ye old “top military leaders”.)

So, predictably they determined that calls against Yemen’s unity are un-Islamic and protecting unity is an Islamic duty. Sounds rather fatwa-ish. Al Zindani who has some progressive tendencies called for a national conference and, while recognizing injustices, naturally framed the issue in terms of a foreign conspiracy.

Yemen Observer
Hundreds of Salafis headed by Shiekh Abdul-Majeed al-Zindani, Rector of al-Eman University and Judge Hamoud al-Hitar met in the first congregation of its kind to discuss the consequences of current events in Yemen, its unity, and future.

The meeting titled “Yemen’s unity and its current challenges” discussed the view of Shariah law which calls for unity among the nation. (Read on …)