Armies of Liberation

The news editions “willingly disappeared”, just like the southern protesters shot themselves, al-Khaiwani beat himself up to damage the reputation of the security forces, and in 2005, the fuel riots were prompted by “saboteurs in military uniforms” (thats actually what they said). Its like the country is run by a six year old bully who lies constantly and badly.

Govt. denies banning newspapers, accuses TV channels of harming Yemen’s unity
26/05/2009
SANA’A, NewsYemen : Information Minister Hassan al-Lawzi, who is also the government’s spokesman, has denied any decision taken by the Ministry of Information to suspend newspapers and said it only issues an administrative measure against some media who have violated press law.

In his press conference on Tuesday, al-Lawzi told reporters that some newspapers willingly disappeared for some individual conditions and troubles with printers.
But al-Lawzi said the ministry admitted that the Ministry of Information had warned the government and private printers to carry responsibility for any violation of press law.

Newspapers’ chief editors say they still have fears to get their newspapers confiscated after printing. They also said that owners of printers, private and public, still refuse to print newspapers which the Information Ministry has suspended.

Owners of printers want a clear permission from the ministry to print such newspapers to avoid legal problem with the ministry, said the newspapers’ editors.

Al-Lawzi has also said some TV channels unprofessionally intervene in Yemen’s internal affairs and violate the national sovereignty of Yemen. “Some TV channels host people and put pressure on them to talk against the Yemeni Unity and we have the evidence,” said al-Lawzi.

(This is one of those out of sequence posts I referred to earlier.) The MAZ Corp is huge and is headed by Yahya Saleh, contrary to the law. But many large companies are headed by military personnel, and this fact is one of the fundamental distortions of the Yemeni economy. Yahya Saleh was also recently “elected” to head the Tourism Board. (Read on …)

OK lets get the deisel smuggling out of the way- daily shipments from Yemen to Africa of government subsidized diesel. (Related: Daily Star: US Navy rescues 52 stranded Somalis.)

The much bigger issue is the exploding fishing boat. Its unclear that any missile hit it at this point; its could have been laden with explosives or carrying an aged gas canister and blew up accidentally. Its important for the international fleet to remain vigilant about the danger of maritime terror attacks in the Gulf of Aden. There is good reason to assume a defensive position after the USS Cole bombing (and the later Limburg). The sailors on the Cole waved at the approaching boat; the Navy cannot repeat that mistake, especially now when its easy to be desensitized by having dealt with the Somali pirates for a year or more. The rules of engagement should not allow hapless lost Yemeni fishermen to approach military vessels, blame it on al Badawi.

A statement from al Qaeda Central called for naval jihad (May 26 2008), the October one by a Yemeni forecast a major event around Somalia. The links between AQAP in Yemen and al Shabab go back to the ICU and before. Its a predictable scenario that AQAP would attempt to outdo the Cole bombing when the waters are full of such tempting targets. And I don’t necessarily mean al Wahishi.

Why Yemeni fishermen are near the Sudan is another question. The Yemeni flight school for small planes that flies back and forth between Yemen and Sudan is something, what I don’t know. Its could be normal criminal smuggling activity, spotters for pirates or something entirely innocuous.
Yemen Post

Two Yemeni fishermen were killed and one was injured while the fate of a fourth one is still unknown after their boat came under an aggressive assault by one of the international naval ships patrolling the Red Sea near Sudan on Tuesday.

A source at the Coast Guard said Abdu Marwani and Muhammad Naj’e were killed immediately after their boat was totally destroyed by a missile which some suspect was an air strike. Sources at Yemen’s navy said it probably came from sea.

While the third fisherman made it to Sudanese coast and is now in critical condition. The fishermen came from the Midy area, Hajjah before their boat was hit near Sudan’s waters.

A coordinated investigation by Yemen and Sudan is underway to explore reasons for the attack.

Meanwhile, director of the Midy district Abdul Majeed Al-Himyari dismissed reports a Yemeni boat was attacked in Yemen’s territorial waters, saying the incident took place while the boat was in Sudan’s territorial waters. He told the media the survivor is being investigated by Sudan.

Tuesday’s attack comes in a series of attacks against Yemeni fishing boats by international forces patrolling the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Early this year, two Yemeni sailors were killed as their boats came under separate attacks by international troops in the Indian Ocean. Few others were hurt, with troops saying they suspected the boats were for pirates and then hit them.

And this month, the Interior Ministry said a Yemeni boat was provoked, with NATO’s mission in the region intimidating its crew.

The area where the boat was hit on Tuesday is witnessing large fuel smuggling, with eyewitnesses affirming boats smuggle diesel to African Horn States daily.

(Reuters) – A government report showed on Saturday that the proceeds of Yemen’s exports of crude oil saw a record drop of 74 percent in the first quarter of this year to reach 254 million dollars, compared with 998 million in the corresponding period of 2008.

PSA: There may be some odd, boring and entirely out of sequence stuff popping up over the next week, as I move private posts and drafts from the back to the front. The internal search function works more completley on posts and I need to be zipping at the moment. The stability of Yemen’s banking system is actually rather important, and its distorted, as all systems in Yemen are, by corruption.

YO 5/22,

Hafez Mayad, the Chairman of the board of Cooperative and Agricultural Credit bank (CAC Bank) confirmed that Yemeni officials, sheikhs, and well-known people are indebted YR5 billion to CAC Bank. He said that during the press conference, held last Wednesday during the ceremony for the launching of their e-banking product.

Mayad stated that this indebt came as result of the absence of follow up mechanisms in the previous time. He clarified those people (plunderers as he called them) who are indebted to CAC bank are the main factor of its failure. Mayad was responding to claims by Mps that the CAC Bank abandoned its main role related to support agricultural sector.

He said that CAC Bank will not be a resource of enrichment for plunderers anymore.
In terms of implementing government policy related to supporting the agricultural sector, Mayad said, “We work on supporting this sector by governmental money only, not by money of depositors. I mean that it is not allowed for any one to use money of depositors to support any one.”

The e-banking product is a banking system which allows you to make most of your banking transactions at anytime wherever you are through the internet, Mayad said. CAC Bank international e-banking is considered to be the first system in Yemen and in the Middle East which generates different functionality related to banking services, high technology and security, Mayad said.

Mayad said CAC Bank occupied the first rank in the financing of economic sectors during 2008 according to the report issued by Central Bank of Yemen, achieving the growth rate of 46.5 percent and contributed to the financing of the economic sector by 35.6 percent at the level of the banking sector.

Man its hot.
(Read on …)

A non-violent purge of his family is also required . Really they should all be in jail. A technocrat govt is a good idea. The biggest threat to unity is Saleh and his cohorts.

Sahwa Net – The former Secretary-General of the ruling General People Congress party Abdul-Salam al-Ansi has called President Saleh for stepping down from GPC and take away corrupt people.

In an interview with al-Nass weekly newspaper, al-Ansi said that plundering lands, squandering public money and privatizing public sector are among reasons behind strains spread in the South.

“If we do not recognize the existence of the South issue, then we try to bury our head in the sand” added al-Ansi “The president and the opposition should prioritize the south issue”.

He suggested forming a technocrat cabinet and getting rid of all corrupt people even if they are close family members.

He also labeled the campaign recently raided by the government against some independent newspapers as naïve recklessness which serves none.

Yemen Post

Human rights activists, journalists, academics and politicians, who staged a sit-in Tuesday at the Al-Hurriya Square coinciding with the cabinet’s weekly meeting, urged the government to step down.

The government must submit its resignation and at once, the sit-inners said.

During the protest, mainly in solidarity with those who were arrested in the south and kidnapped teens, head of the Supreme Opposition Council Sultan Al-Etwani accused the regime of pushing the people for secessionism as he urged further sit-ins until legal demands are met.

The current regime is behind the deteriorating situation in the country and its acts are driving the people to the wall, he said, pointing to those calling for the separation of the south.

Amid the latest developments the people no longer think of unity and prosperity, he added.

Al-Etwani called on the ministers to come back to their homes as they have proved unable to bear sense of responsibility towards the nation.

For his part, secretary general of the Yemeni Medical Doctors’ Syndicate Abdul Qawi Al-Shamiry depicted the ministers as the regime’s slaves.

The HOOD urged General Attorney to investigate the recent events in the south and pursue criminals.

Head of the organization Mohammed Naji Alaw, who led a demonstration to the Cabinet Presidency and the Attorney General’s office, said attacks against rallies at the Al-Hashmi Square, Aden, were deemed as attacks against the constitution and stifling the people’s freedom.

He urged to investigate the attacks.

Other participants called for fair treatment of the people who demand better life and more rights.

As unrest intensified in the south with the people fighting the troops and calling for the separation of the south, many demonstrations have been cracked down, with hundreds arrested.

President Saleh has used jihaddists for years to fight his wars, attack his enemies and occasionally to blow something up (or murder a few tourists) when the international community starts coming down hard on him or the domestic scene heats up.

While its difficult for some people to wrap their minds around the idea that Saleh orchestrates terror attacks, the allegation has a little weight when it comes from his former vice-president. The charge has been made by everyone from the terrorists to the politicians. More than that, we know that Saleh openly negotiates with terrorists (for example Abu Bakr al Rabie) in order to create an illusion for the west, for example the illusion of jail. And the decades long relationship between Saleh and Zawahiri et al has to be factored in.

The internal political dynamics at the time of some attacks made them nearly predictable. They work in that Saleh achieves his goal of changing the narrative. The games that follow are outrageous and absurd. To put it even more simply, Saleh’s total lack of ethics and morals makes anything possible. Terrorism is a big part of Saleh’s foreign and domestic policy. By placing so much emphasis on al Qaeda, the US gave Saleh a vested interest in being a victim of terrorism. From the other side, while its a complex and amorphous landscape, some know they are mercenaries, and some like the teenage suicide bombers don’t.

Mareb Press

هاجم علي سالم البيض العروض العسكرية التي اقيمت مؤخراً في اليمن بمناسبة العيد 19 للوحدة اليمنية، قائلاً: بالامس يحتفلون بعيد الوحدة بالدبابات والعروض العسكرية ،من يخوفون بهذا العرض ،أبناء الجنوب .أم دول الجوار ؟ Baid attacked military parades that was recently held in Yemen to mark the 19 anniversary of the unity of Yemen, said: yesterday, celebrating the tanks and military parades, of intimidating the offer, the people of the south. Or neighboring countries? بينما الناس يموتون جوعا في الجنوب وحتى في الشمال. While people are dying of starvation in the south and even in the north.

وانكر البيض في مقابلة مع قناة الحرة من مدينة ميونخ الألمانية معرفته بزعيم تنظيم القاعدة في جزيرة العرب ابو بصير ناصر الوحيشي، متهماً اياه بالعمل مع النظام اليمني في الامن السياسي. White denied in an interview with Al-Free German city of Munich to know the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Abu Basir Nasir Louhichi, accusing him of working with the Yemeni political security.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Happy Memorial Day Everybody.

The fact that they are talking about Parliamentary elections, a National Unity Government, “empowerment of people” and other means of reforming the political system (not overthrowing it) indicates that the goal of the northern rebels is not restoring the Imamate, as the regime regularly contends. While its Yahya’s statement, not Abdelmalik, its still got to be an official position. From al Menpar, the Houthi website.

The name of God the Merciful
رغم تعاطفنا مع إخواننا الجنوبيين في محنتهم، وما يواجهونه من Despite our sympathy with the plight of our brothers in the South, and face
الظلم والتهميش والقهر والحرمان والتهجير والقمع والاعتقالات Injustice, marginalization, oppression, deprivation, displacement, repression and arrests
وما أنزله وينزله بهم نظام الدكتاتور الفاسد علي صالح، من And dropping them down the corrupt regime of dictator Ali Saleh, from
أنواع الظلم، ورغم تأييدنا لمطالبهم الحقة مثلهم مثل غيرهم من Kinds of injustice, despite the support of their demands, like the true other
أبناء الوطن ، شماله وجنوبه وشرقه وغربه، الرازح تحت نير Sons of the nation, north and south, east and west, living under the yoke of the yoke
الطاغوت والطاغوتيين والظلم والظالمين، ولهم بنا في المحافظات Taghoot Altagotien, injustice and wrong-doers, and they have us in the provinces
الشمالية وما ينزله بنا هذا النظام من ظلم وقتل وتدمير وحصار، North and us down this system of injustice, murder and destruction and siege,
وحرمان مثل واضح وعبرة كافية، And to deny such a clear and sufficient lesson,

فإننا وبقدر تعاطفنا معهم ومع كل مظلوم من أبناء شعبنا الغالي على قلوبنا To the extent we are with them and with all the sympathy of our people Madhloum dear to our hearts
ومشاعرنا في شمال البلاد وجنوبها وشرقها وغربها، فإن ذلك بقدر تمسكنا بوحدة And feelings in the country’s north and south and east and west, as far as the unity of our
الوطن، وتماسك الشعب، ورفضنا المطلق لفكرة الانفصال، كما نؤكد لهم بأننا نرى Home, and the cohesion of the people, and the absolute rejection of the idea of separation, and assure them that we see the
أن حل مشاكل اليمن كافة يكمن في إزاحة علي صالح من السلطة، وتمكين الشعب That the solution to all of Yemen’s problems lies in the removal from power in favor of Ali, and the empowerment of people
(Read on …)

a facilitator for communications and travel , one of the top 20 AQ, nabbed with US intel

Update; Long War Journal’s report disputes the “one of the top 20″ designation and has other details.

New York Times: Pakistan’s intelligence and security services captured a Saudi suspect and a Yemeni suspect this year with the help of American intelligence and logistical support, Pakistani officials said. The two are the highest-ranking Qaeda operatives captured since President Obama took office, but they are still being held by Pakistan, which has shared information from their interrogations with the United States, the official said….

A Pakistani official said the Yemeni suspect, Abu Sufyan al-Yemeni, was a Qaeda paramilitary commander who was on C.I.A. and Pakistani lists of the top 20 Qaeda operatives. He was believed to be a conduit for communications between Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and cells in East Africa, Iran, Yemen and elsewhere. American and Pakistani intelligence officials say they believe that Mr. Yemeni, who was arrested Feb. 24 by Pakistani authorities in Quetta, helped arrange travel and training for Qaeda operatives from various parts of the Muslim world to the Pakistani tribal areas.

He is now in the custody of Pakistan’s main spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, but his fate is unclear. The Pakistani official said that he would remain in Pakistani hands, but that it would be difficult to try him because the evidence against him came from informers.

A good report from Al-Jazeera, the link is here.

gee, I thought I had this set on private but since I hit the wrong button, I’ll leave it up. Just record keeping…

TD; His remains lie a few hundred yards from a bustling highway, in a section of the Burnsville cemetery reserved for Muslims called the Garden of Eden. Only dirt and small rocks cover the final resting place of Shirwa Ahmed. But the manner of the 26-year-old Minneapolis man’s death has put him at the center of one of the most far-reaching U.S. counterterrorism investigations since 9/11…. (Read on …)

This is very good. I needed a list. My head is spinning trying to keep up with the assault on the Yemeni media. CPJ:

President Ali Abdullah Saleh
C/o Embassy of the Republic of Yemen
2319 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Via facsimile 202-337-2017

Your Excellency,

The Committee to Protect Journalists writes to express its concern about your government’s recent crackdown on media outlets that have covered civil unrest in the southern part of Yemen.

In recent weeks, CPJ has documented a staggering number of attacks by the government on critical newspapers and Web sites–from the barring of newspapers sales to holding journalists incommunicado to attacking and firing at the offices of a newspaper and, most disturbingly, the establishment of a special court to try press offenses.

Since May 1, CPJ has noted the following attacks on independent and critical press in Yemen: (Read on …)

Although the Yemeni government is denying yesterday’s slaughter, in reality several citizens were killed by the state. Nearly one hundred were injured, with over 40 requiring hospitalization, mostly from bullet wounds.

More than one thousand protesters were arrested, and according to the latest news from Aden, they are now in the following prisons:

Sheikh Othman town prison 370
Almansoora prison 450
Alqahera prison 170
Albasateen prison 360

The severely injured are more than 40, in different hospitals. The names of 26 are as follows :-
1- Jubran alqadasi aden
2- nasser mohamed ahmed abyan
3- fadhel hasan radfan
4- nasr nasser amzarbah abyan
5- abdulhafed alnakhebi yafai
6- nasser mohamed hasan abyan
7- abdul-lateef omar mothana aldhale
8- alaa mohamed ali aden
9- ali abdulla alkababi abyan
10-mohamed alsayed aden
11-abdulrab kaed nasser aden
12-abdul-bari saleh nagi aden
13mohamed fadhl ahmed aden
14-nasser awadh dahman abyan
15-wadee masood yafae
16-jamal hasan omer abyan
17-mohamed ahmed aladma aden
18-aubadi nagi aden
19-imad mohamed saleh abyan
20-saeed saleh abdulqawi yafae
21-maher abdulkareem saeed aden
22-nasser awadh abyan
23-mokhtar rajeh abyan
24-mohamed fadhl aden
25hamza almahrooq abyan
26-ali salah aden

More than ten were kidnaped by force from hospitals and there is no information on their location.

The murdered citizens are more than four, but three have been identified:

1- mansoor ahmed abdullah abyan
2- abdul-qawi altulabi radfan
3- adeeb muthana saeed radfan

Some excerpts…

Attacking our country by military force, announced the begining of a new era of our peoples’ history. The unity of political, peaceful and democratic conception was reverted into a clear military occupation. And reverted our country from a partner into occupation and copied its exercises by occupation characteristics such as:

- Completely isolating the sons of the south from the participation in the political and administrative decision, and where ever there
is some representation, it is but a decoration with due respect to our brohters working with the 7th July Regime.

-Puting the south (land and man) under a strong military and security fist. The Ocupation Authoriy thrusted military and security forces in the south transcended in its numbers the double of our
southern military at a period before the unity.

-Depriving our southern people from its resources of oil, fisheries and land in favour corruption, war and spoilage forces.

-Antagonizing people against each other by means of “break and rule”

I urge the people of the south to stand firmly as one in the epic of
the peaceful struggle and the adheracne of it without deviation of serving the occuatpion or prolonging the period of occupation…..
and my concern today pesonally and on behalf of my coleagues in the government before the unity who are now standing by their people, is our expressing our apology for our Honorble southern
people for the ravages they endured during the past period which
was as a restult of political circumstances and factors beyond our control and our wishes which were sweeping the world.

I am honored today to carry on shoulders the responsibility of the National duty affirming to be in the fron lines of your peaceful struggle towards liberation and independence, abandoning any partisan membership considering the homeland is bigger than all parties reaffirming to you all that my role will restricted only to the liberation period and I will deliver the flag afterwards to the youthful southern generations, returing to the the people’ citizenship as counsel when needed.

Well we’re certainly in a new phase now that al Bidh has spoken at a press conference in Munich and taken the leadership role in the efforts at southern Yemeni independence. This is huge.

Update and Related: Comprehensive overview of Unity Day from the BBC with interesting quotes from al Fadhli: The former ally of Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan rejected claims that he wanted to create an Islamist state in south Yemen, saying: “Far from it, we are in need of the West now.”

He argued that Western donors had to insist on conditions and “stop their political and economic assistance” being used by President Saleh “to crush the people of the south.”

Update 2: Demonstrations were also held in Mukallah in Hadramout, with injuries reported. Before the security stormed the hospital in Aden, they used tear gas-on the hospital.

Saleh said there’s no problem, .”"I want to reassure you all that there is nothing to concern about the nation and its safety…” Good, let’s hope nothing blows up in the next week.

Re Oman: Political passivity is a requirement.
(Read on …)

Supposedly the regime spent upwards of 400K on Unity Celebrations; the first military parade, displaying all the new military hardware, soldiers chanting pro-unity slogans.

YO: The official celebrations of the 19th anniversary of the national day marked by a military parade marched on the 70s square in the south of the capital Sana’a on Thursday morning.
(Read on …)

I believe they are giving the statement to the UN later in the day, at the NY protest. Short version: there’s no turning back, they reject terrorism, Wahishi is a stooge.

(Echoes an earlier Arabic statement by Socialist MP Dr Nasser Kbjee denying any relationship between the southern mobility and Al Qaeda.)

We have approached the date of resolution, and the hour of salvation has become very close… it is time for the Yemenite occupant to leave the South without bloodshed. We call on every one who is concerned with the peace and security in the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf area to know that the freedom of the people in the south and the independence of their country is not an issue of bargaining. Nobody dares to think about moving back as the southern nation formed its decision to move forwards the independence.

The peaceful southern revolution managed to draw the attention of the regional and international press. The regime of Sanaa has to admit that the game is over and that all his cards are burnt out. Neither the so-called opposition of the Joint Meeting Parties nor the northern faction dominated Yemenite Socialist Party can save him. The people inside and outside our country recognize that the peaceful revolution is borne by the whole people in the South and not by a few agents motivated by the hands of foreign forces as the regime used to claim. (Read on …)

Update: Four dead, and security stormed a hospital to arrest the injured.

Original Post: Shooting into the crowds again. Over one hundred arrests. And we didn’t even hear yet what former president al Beidh has to say after 15 years of silence.

M&CTwo people killed as police clash with protesters in southern Yemen by DPA

Sana’a, Yemen – Two people were killed and around 20 others injured in clashes between police and anti-government protesters in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden on Thursday, medical sources said.

The sources in two Aden hospitals told the German Press Agency dpa that two people died in hospital of bullet injuries, and 19 others were still being treated.

The clashes erupted after anti-riot police tried to disperse demonstrations in the Sheikh Othman neighbourhood called by southern opposition groups to mark the 19th anniversary of the reunification between north and south Yemen.

Witnesses said police opened fire in the air and used tear gas to disperse the protesters.

The confrontations were the latest in a series of violent protests that engulfed cities in three southern provinces in the past few weeks, leaving dozens of wounded protesters and security force members.

Authorities on Wednesday said they would prevent any unauthorized protests during the country’s celebrations of the unity day.

Southern separatist groups, that want the south to secede from the north, have been organizing protests since April 28 against what they claim as the central government’s discriminatory policies against southerners.