AQAP Fund Raising in SA
DUBAI, Sept 27 (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s Yemeni wing is targeting Saudi individuals to ask for donations to support its fight against the U.S.-allied government of Sanaa, Al Arabiya television reported on Sunday.
The campaign comes at a time when Yemen, one of the poorest countries outside Africa, is battling Shi’ite rebels in the north and sporadic violence in the south where secessionist sentiment is running high.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, is the largest Arab economy and the birthplace of Islam.
Arabiya aired a video showing a Saudi member of the group it identified as Saeed al-Shehri urging fellow Saudis to donate money to support al Qaeda fighters in Yemen.
“The bearer of this message is trusted by us,” the militant said after making his request. It was not immediately clear if any arrests were made or how the recording was acquired.
The broadcaster said the video, in which Shehri appeared to be speaking inside a vehicle with a Yemeni militant by his side, was found in the memory of a mobile telephone.
Twin suicide car bombings outside the U.S. embassy in Sanaa a year ago killed 16 people. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility.
In 2008, Saudi Arabia arrested a group of people using a recording by al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, to help raise money from Saudi donors.
Four Yemenis carrying hand grenades, automatic weapons and ammunition. and guns were arrested near the U.S. embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, Yemen’s Interior Ministry said earlier this month, but did not say when they were arrested.
The ministry said at the time that the four were residents of the town of Damaj in the northern province of Saada, where the government is battling a revolt by Shi’ite Muslims of the Zaydi sect.
International concern over Yemen has grown because of the risk that instability there could endanger neighbours including Saudi Arabia and complicate efforts to combat al Qaeda and piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
The United States has offered to help Yemen in its “fight against terrorism”. U.S. President Barack Obama said in a letter to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh earlier this month that the United States will “stand beside Yemen, its unity, security and stability”. (Reporting by Inal Ersan; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s drive to disrupt al Qaeda financing networks should be more strictly enforced while Yemen is emerging as a new base for terror groups plotting against U.S. and Saudi interests, a U.S. government watchdog report said on Tuesday.
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) said Saudi Arabia has made progress in the fight against terrorism, arresting and prosecuting suspects and taking steps to curtail fund-raising by extremist groups inside the country.
But it said loopholes remain, including the flow of donations from individuals and charities in Saudi Arabia to support extremist organizations outside the country as well as the nation’s limited ability to crack down on cash couriers who physically transfer funds….
Another focus of concern is the situation in neighbouring Yemen, where political instability was seen as a potential challenge to counterterrorism efforts.
“Despite some successes against al Qaeda, the response of the government of Yemen to the terrorist threat was intermittent due to its focus on internal security concerns,” the report said.
The United States this month offered to help Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country that is battling a Shi’ite revolt in the north, separatist unrest in the south, and intensified al Qaeda militancy.
The GAO report said Saudi officials had said they were already providing Yemen with assistance on a number of areas including counterterrorism, education and health.
“Saudi officials also stated that Saudi Arabia is building an electronic fence on the Saudi-Yemen border,” it said.
