Armies of Liberation

THere are thousands of people in a similiar situation.

Seyaj Organization for Protecting Childhood: A Humanitarian Appeal

More than 120 children stuck at the mosques with their families in Alib area, which is boundary with Saudi Arabia, since mid- September of 2009, are at risk.
This appeal is a response to a distress call made by relatives of the displaced families, who are more than 70 families. Seyaj volunteers in Baqem district, northern of Sa’ada province, confirmed the dangerous place the displaced people stuck at.
Seyaj indicates that the mosque people resorted to is not safe. Add to that the displaced doesn’t have the basic necessaries of life; they have no water, food, covers or blanket, shleter and basic aids. They only country, according to Seyaj, can support them is Saudi Arabia.
Seyaj organization demands Yemeni government to have diplomatic action with the government of Saudi Arabia to open the borders to the displaced people, who have relatives in Suida Arabia. Moreover, Seyaj demands the Saudi King Abdullah to deal with this distress out of the Islamic duty, neighborhood and international treaties and conventions.
Seyaj considers Saudi government the decision maker of rescue the life of the war victims because they stuck between Saudi borders and areas controlled by al-Houthi groups. They neither are able to come back to their homes, nor enter Saudi Arabia.

Miami Herald

Even as the White House left doubt on whether it would meet its own prison camps closure deadline, the Obama administration said Saturday it had freed three detainees from Guantánamo — one by order of a federal judge to Yemen, two others for new lives in Ireland.

A Justice Department statement said Yemeni Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, 26, was sent to his homeland in compliance with a May 4 federal court order.

In Ahmed’s case, U.S. Judge Gladys Kessler ruled in May that the government’s mosaic of evidence was insufficient to defend its indefinite detention of the long-held captive — either on grounds he fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan or was in league with al Qaeda in Pakistan.

The young Yemeni was captured in a large-scale March 2002 Pakistani raid on an alleged al Qaeda guest house in that netted the CIA alleged arch-terrorist Abu Zubaydah and other alleged war criminals now held at the prison camps in southeast Cuba.

Well now, that really backs up the Zawaheri connection to Saleh’s regime. I’m referencing the intercept indicating that Saleh asked Zawaheri for fighters prior to the onset of the current war. Within months, local media began reporting that foreign al Qaeda was gathering and organizing themselves in Sa’ada. Reportedly now they are all in one camp and duties include preaching in mosques and military camps, as well as fighting. Yemeni jihaddists have been supporting the Yemeni government in its battles in Sa’ada since 2004, but because of the media black-out, documentation is sporadic. Since there weren’t many big names, known foreigners or because they had earlier “surrendered” to the state, this critical linkage never received the proper attention. However, the security implications are enormous for the US. This quid pro quo is among the central factors defining al Qaeda in Yemen as a movement. With two wanted Saudi al Qaeda killed in Sa’ada fighting on behalf of the Yemeni government, the regional risk becomes yet more clear. Al Qaeda as a part-time mercenary force is more dangerous when it has the loyalty of a state. Saleh’s contingent of well rewarded apologists disagree that this is even occurring, but that’s their job. Some people just can’t comprehend the regime is so duplicitous; unfortunately it is.

Saudi Wanted Suspects Killed in Yemen Fighting

* Yemen Post Staff
Two terrorists wanted by Saudi Arabia were reported to have been killed in the confrontations between the army and the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen, the Saudi-published issue of the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper has reported.

Citing Saudi informed sources, the paper said one of the two wanted terrorists, the terrorist 62, Fahd Saleh Sulaiman Al-Jatili, 27, has been identified and the other terrorist whose name was on a list of 85 most wanted suspects released by Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry in February along with Al-Jatili’s name was not.

Wanted 53, Othman Al-Ghamedi, and wanted 85, Yousuf Al-Shahri, on the list, called their families asking them to inform the Al-Jatili’s family of the death of their fellow, according to the paper.

The family then contacted the police in the kingdom in an attempt to confirm the death.

The mother of Al-Shahri, by telephone, told the paper her son called her on the second day of Eid congratulating her upon the Eid Al-Fitr and telling her about the death of his relative Al-Jatili.

Al-Jatili left Saudi Arabia eight years ago for Qatar and then for Afghanistan where he was arrested and sent to the U.S. jail in Guantanamo, Cuba. He was sent back to his homeland three years ago.

Just a quick clarification to the prior post, although al Maqaleh edits al Eshteraki and is an official in the YSP, he’s not a southerner per se, but is from the Ala’aood area near Wadi Bana in Ibb. Thanks everybody.

Committee to Protect Journalists: In Yemen, critical journalist disappears
New York, September 25, 2009—The Committee to Protect journalists calls on Yemeni authorities to clarify the circumstances of the disappearance and current whereabouts of Muhammad al-Maqaleh, editor of Aleshteraki, a Web site affiliated with the opposition Socialist Party. Al-Maqaleh was detained by unidentified men on September 18 in Sana’a, according to local news reports.

A local journalist, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told CPJ that although many independent and opposition Web sites have covered the ongoing military offensive in the northwestern town of Saada, Aleshteraki’s coverage has been the most comprehensive. He also said that the site has been blocked frequently inside Yemen. Al-Maqaleh is vocal critic of the government’s attack on the region, according to local press reports.

Two Yemeni rights groups, human rights group Hud and journalists’ group Women Journalists Without Chains, covered the disappearance on their Web sites. Both directly accuse security forces of being behind the detention. Multiple local news sites also report possible government involvement, citing a history of similar incidents.

“The government must disclose all the information it has about the disappearance of Muhammad al-Maqaleh,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. “Al-Maqaleh was writing critically about the government’s handling of the conflict in Saada.”

Al-Maqaleh’s disappearance came after Aleshteraki posted, on September 15, graphic pictures of civilian victims of airstrikes in the Saada region where the military has been battling rebels, local journalists told CPJ. Since 2004, regular battles have erupted several times between the Shiite al-Huthi rebels and government troops in the northwestern region of Yemen. The rebels accuse the government of neglecting the region and demand more autonomy. The latest round of fighting broke out in mid-August, according to media reports. Dozens of civilians have died and thousands have been displaced, according to humanitarian agencies.

In 2007, plainclothes men in an unmarked vehicle abducted, threatened, and severely beat journalist and editor Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani. At the time, other journalists told CPJ that they believed government agents were behind his detention. CPJ has documented similar incidents in 2005 and 2006.

On Thursday, journalists in Sana’a staged a third sit-in protest demanding authorities disclose the fate of al-Maqaleh, according to local press reports. The sit-ins were organized by the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate. In April 2008, al-Maqaleh was imprisoned for two months for “mocking and insulting the judiciary” after he burst into laughter during trial of renowned Yemeni journalist Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani.

In recent months, media outlets and journalists in Yemen have faced unprecedented attacks by the government after clashes broke out between the military and armed protesters in southern parts of the country in late April. Dissatisfied southerners accuse the government of marginalizing the region. Authorities also instituted extensive censorship and arrested journalists to curb press coverage and silence opposition voices.

al Maqaleh is a top official in the YSP in addition to editing al Eashteraki. Fuad Rashed edits Mukalla Press, and Salah al-Saqladi is the editor of the Aden News. Al Ayyam is still shut down. The multi party system is a facade, democracy a ploy and one can understand why the southerners find the concept of dialog with Saleh laughable. He really has no interest in power sharing whatsoever.

Yemen media protest arrest of third journalist

SANAA, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Dozens of Yemeni journalists staged a sit-in on Wednesday in protest over the detention of a journalist thought to have been seized over his coverage of Sanaa’s increasingly bloody war with northern rebels.

Mohammed al-Maqaleh, editor of the opposition Socialist Party’s website, was detained last Thursday, website manager Khaled Abdel-Hadi said.

“Witnesses have told us that intelligence officers in civilian clothes stopped him late at night and took him to an unknown place. The authorities refuse to say where he is or what the accusation against him is,” he told Reuters.

“The site was among the first in the media to publish news of civilian casualties in air bombing in Saada and we think he was detained because the government didn’t like the coverage.”

The government has refused to comment on Maqaleh’s disappearance.

Wednesday’s sit-in at the journalists’ syndicate in Sanaa was also to protest over the detention four months ago of Fuad Rashed, editor of the site Mukalla Press, and Salah al-Saqladi, editor of the Aden News website.

The authorities said the two men had written articles in favour of a southern separatist movement that clashes with security forces a number of times earlier this year.

Media have felt pressure over coverage of both the southern and northern opposition groups, which have raised fears in the West and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer, for the stability of the Arabian Peninsula country.

Last week two army air raids were reported to have killed dozens of civilians, raising pressure on the government of veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stop the war with Shi’ite Zaydi Muslims in the Saada and Amran provinces.

United Nations groups say around 150,000 people have been made refugees since the fighting began in 2004 and thousands are living in official and makeshift camps. The situation worsened after Sanaa launched Operation Scorched Earth last month

Its just unbelievable.

Relief Web Humanitarian relief response teams from Islamic Relief Yemen and MSF Spain managed to reach Al-Hazem, the capital of Al-Jawf governorate, with the aim of establishing an operation site in Al-Marashi. However, on 16 September, the Governor of Al-Jawf, citing security concerns, denied clearance to the teams for onward travel to Al-Marashi, which lies on the border with Amran and Sada’a governorates where the aid agencies were planning to provide food and non-food items (NFIs) to the newly displaced population that has so far not received any assistance. In the end, the teams were requested to return back to Sana’a.

Washington – The United States called on the Yemeni military and rebels in the northern part of the country to immediately end hostilities and allow the free flow of aid into the region. “We call on both parties to declare an immediate ceasefire, to ensure the security and access of humanitarian aid workers in the region,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. “And we call on all states in the region to facilitate the safe passage of emergency relief supplies to those in need.”

A second ceasefire in the northern Saada province collapsed over the weekend, and fighting on Tuesday left more than 70 rebels dead. Meanwhile, the United Nations estimates that more than 100,000 people have been forced to flee the fighting.

There’s quite a proliferation of articles lately about Yemen and the Sa’ada War, and that’s good. This Economist article gives a good overview of the complex conflict, and the anaysis of the Yemeni military’s role is important. (But no one is talking about the Iraqi pilots yet… Soon, maybe.) Usam in the comments section brings out a bit of the nuance and history.

I should like to note that locating the roots of the conflict in some “provincial Zaydis” resentment towards the republic is misleading. Having been elected into parliament, they take issue with the failure of the current republican regime to deliver. This view is shared by millions of Yemenis.

The Huthis have repeatedly called for the full implementation of the constitution (which would allow them freedom of expression) as well as for free and fair elections. In the 1990s, members of the political party co-founded by the Huthis were harassed, their houses blown up, and radical Salafis encouraged to undermine their religious practices. (However, as we have seen, the government’s policy of playing off one against the other has not worked.)

The father of the current rebel leader Abd al-Malik al-Huthi, an eminent scholar, had to flee the country. It does not seem quite plausible that the origin of the conflict is linked to the expulsion of Yemeni workers by Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War. The majority came from areas outside Sa’dah province (Hudaydah, Ta`izz and San’a) and many had come under the spell of Wahhabi thinking. Zaydi leaders in Sa’dah are not aware of any former migrant worker who joined what the author calls “a radical Zaydi cult” – a regretable choice of stereotype by a reputable paper like the Economist.

The Believing Youth were simply study groups who became politicised when extremist Sunnis – having been used by Saleh as “proxy forces” (NYT 18 Sep) particularly in the 1994 war against the South – became ever stronger. The US invasion of Iraq sparked off demonstrations during which those disenfranchised youth shouted anti-American slogans. Following their refusal to stop, President Ali Abdullah Saleh sent the army to arrest their leader who insisted that he had not violated the constitution. This is how the war began in 2004. The slogans have become a rallying cry for al-Huthis’ followers – their rationale lies in their capacity to provoke. We must not read too much into those slogans. As noted by Israeli scholars, the Huthis have had amicable relations with their Jewish neighbours for over a millenium. Let us not forget that it was a radical Salafi who killed al-Nahari, a rabbi’s son, in 2008.

The war in the north is linked to the protest movement in the southern provinces because Yemen is governed by a military ruler who, even while paying lipservice to democracy, has never abandoned his authoritarian ways. A few months ago he spent $2 billion on arms while his population is starving; only 40% have access to primary health care. (There is no single one in the area where the Huthis live, and they had no electricity until it was installed by them.) Journalists are being harassed. Al-Khaywani, one of the brave souls who dared to write about the war, had his jaw broken in jail. Another, al-Maqaleh, a well-known writer, was kidnapped by security forces a few days ago. It is time for the world to acknowledge that it is Saleh himself who is the source of the current instability. He lacks the political will to solve the crises and to make his country a viable democratic state.

Thats it in a nutshell.

Its clear the Yemeni government has violated international law in its conduct of the Sa’ada War, with both its bombing campaign and its blockade on food. HRW found that during the 2007 round, the government’s blockade on essential supplies appeared to constitute collective punishment.

Yemeni Toddlers Killed in Government Airstrikes

This Guardian article articulates these concerns:

The Guardian: Now that the UN commission has published its findings on Gaza, there’s another task waiting for Judge Goldstone and his team: an investigation into possible war crimes in Yemen. Off and on for the last five years, the Yemeni government has been fighting a rebellion in the north of the country. The latest flare-up began five weeks ago when the military launched an offensive codenamed Operation Scorched Earth….

Since Operation Scorched Earth began, the Yemeni military has been relying heavily on air strikes. This raises the question of how – if at all – they distinguish between rebel fighters and civilians, especially in a lawless part of the country where citizens habitually carry guns for their own protection….

According to Human Rights Watch, one witness said that “Yemeni military planes conducted four raids this morning [Wednesday] and, without warning, bombed a group of displaced persons sheltering in an open area near a school. There were no armed clashes or rebels in the area at the time, the witness said, but the area was close to a road sometimes used by Houthi rebels.”

Unicef yesterday expressed “deep concern” at the civilian deaths and its regional director said: “This is unacceptable. Children should not be caught in conflict. Their right to health, protection and safety must be protected at all times.”

Read it all at: The Guardian:

URGENT ACTION, YEMENI JOURNALIST ABDUCTED

A male Yemeni journalist, Muhammad al-Maqalih, has been abducted in the capital, Sana’a, after criticizing the government over continuing armed clashes in Sa’da province, northern Yemen. Muhammad al-Maqalih’s whereabouts are unknown, and his life is at risk.

Muhammad al-Maqalih, a 49-year-old father of seven children, was abducted from a street in Sana’a at 11pm on 17 September. Eyewitnesses told his family that he was taken by a group of men who arrived in a white minibus, which had its licence plates obscured. The men took Muhammad al-Maqalih, and deflated one of the tyres on his car, which was nearby. There has been no news of Muhammad al-Maqalih since.

Muhammad al-Maqalih is a journalist and a member of the Yemeni Socialist Party. Human rights activists in Yemen suspect that he may have been abducted by plain-clothes security forces personnel because of his criticism of the government, in particular with regards to the clashes between the army and followers of a Shi’a Muslim cleric in Sa’da. His comments criticizing the army’s killing of civilians were published on the Yemeni Socialist Party’s website (http://www.aleshteraki.net).

Abduction of political opponents and critics of the state by security agents is a known practice in Yemen, particularly during political crises such as the clashes in Sa’da. Those abducted are often tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Arabic, English or your own language:
n Calling on the authorities to clarify Muhammed al-Maqalih’s whereabouts and to release him without delay if he is being held solely for his criticism of the government;
n Noting that, if this is the case, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience; (Read on …)

Its like all the theater they do with al Qaeda. It would be nice if they were acting in good faith, but they’re not. The govt is reacting to the publicity from the strike on the refugees, not to the fact that they bombed kids. There have been thousands (no, its really not hyperbole) of air strikes on civilian targets, but the UN never noticed before or maybe they never had the videos. The thing for the international community to do now is leverage the regime’s discomfort into an actual humanitarian corridor, which requires some kind of oversight.

Yemen offers cease-fire to Shiite rebels

SAN’A, Yemen — The Yemeni government has offered a new conditional cease-fire, the second this month, to end fighting with Shiite rebels in the north of the country.

The early Saturday announcement stated the cease-fire would take effect at midday, just a day before the Muslims’ Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The rebels have said they are considering the offer.

The move comes after international calls to implement a cease-fire to allow medical and food supplies to reach the civilians caught up in the fighting. On Sept. 4, a cease-fire was offered, but the fighting resumed hours later.

These are the terms:

1. A commitment to a ceasefire by removing road blocks and barricades, demining conflict zones, and descending from higher terrain;
2. Complete withdraw from the districts and end interference in the affairs of the local authorities;
3. Returning looted civilian and military property;
4. Releasing detained civilians and military personnel, and;
5. Adhering to the constitution and law and order.

Thats it.

Update: Announced at 2 am, but both sides kept fighting, and reportedly, the military kept bombing. With land and cell communications cut, its ridiculous to unexpectedly announce an immediate cease fire and then five minutes later, say it was breached. The rebels need time to spread the word, and the regime should have stopped bombing to show good faith.

Circa 2005. Because nothing has changed, I thought I’d re-post this to demonstrate that hundreds of thousands of Sa’ada residents have been bombed, starved and denied medicine by their own government nearly continuously for four years. This week’s bombings of civlian refugees and of a market is no abrogation- this criminal behavior has occurred systematically and with impunity in every round of war since 2004. It is difficult perhaps for some to comprehend that the Yemeni government is engaged in nearly genocidal behavior when the officials all talk so smoothly, so rightously and so dismissively. But the following is what residents themselves said in 2005, and it remains the truth today. God knows if any of these women still alive. There are 150,000 war refugees in Sa’ada, some living in fields, and the Yemeni government imposed a blockagde on aid, food and medicine for five weeks. They cut the water, phones and electricity. These are the same tactics employed since 2005 when I wrote there were 58,000 civilians made homeless by the war, and that was a conservative estimate. Click for a new video of child casualties. The only thing thats different in this war is the rebels learned how to Youtube.

Al-Wasat newspaper, issue 50, May 4, 2005, page four, (translated from Arabic)

1- Moh Ali Naji, mother

Today in Sa’adda, the streets, houses, schools and every thing is demolished with dead bodies every where in the streets. The army destroyed the farms, fruits, every thing. My aunt was killed inside the farm. We were unable to bury her until the smell of her dead body was all over the place. Her body got bigger.

It is the tenth day of the war, we do not have any food with us. We do not have any man to help us in the house. Two were killed in the war; two in the jail, my son is not allowed to enter Sa’ada. We can not get out of the house because the bombing is still continuing. The pilots do not make any difference between men and women.

2- Najwa Ibrahim April 9, 2005

My sister’s husband was injured when he was going to buy food for his family. He is now between life and death in critical condition. There was a child with him. He was injured too after they got out of the house. They don’t have any money to pay even for basic emergency help. Drug for him is not available. There is no place in the hospital because it is already crowded. There are too many injured people. My sister does not have any thing to eat. She can not get out of the house. I ask every one who can hear my desperate call to please help. This is a catastrophe we did not expect.

3- Mohammed Hussain, mother

To all human right organizations, to all those who care about us. I am one of the citizens of Sa’ada city. Sa’ada now is being subjected to ethnic cleansing with out any reason. We are starving and thirsty because we can not get out of our houses, every one who gets out of the house will be killed. Our neighbor’s house was demolished by a missile. Two families were in the house. All of them were killed.

4- Aisha Ahmed, 14 years, female, Saada

I am in the ninth grade . I was in school when they started shooting. I saw the girls of 7 to 15 years student were crying because they were frightened, scared. The teachers called the fathers to come and get their daughter from the school, but they could not because of fire shooting. Even the school was targeted by tanks. I call all child right organizations to please help stop the war because there are many children.

5- Naser Hamoud Naji, mother, Saada, Nishour Valley

I have eight sons and daughters and I am pregnant. The army killed my husband’s brother and injured my husband in his arm. The soldiers inspected our house and they were saying very bad words to us, they scared my children. We fled from our houses to Nishour Mountain to get shelter. The war planes bombed the area and destroyed our house and burned our farm. Every day I would get down to the valley to get some antiseptic or herbs to help heal my husband wounds, because I could not take him to the hospital and bombing is continuous. On the sixth day, the soldiers did not allow me to get down and threatened to kill me if I come again. I moved with my children with one of the sheikh as if I was his wife. I do not know what happened to my husband I left him and worms were in the wound in his arm

6- fatima saleh nishour 11 april

To every brave who could speak out and tell the truth, the war in Sa’ada is killing and destroying every thing, every day tens are killed. Their bodies are all over the place in the streets, in the valleys in addition to wounded people who bled to death in the streets or were taken to the hospitals where they cant find a place for them because of the crowds. Please stop the war.

Yemeni security forces kidnapped leading editor Mohammed al Maqaleh Thursday in apparent retribution for reporting on the Sa’ada War. Human rights groups have expressed concerns of probable torture.

Mr. Al Maqaleh is the editor for the opposition Socialist Party’s website, Al Eshteraki. On Wednesday, al Eshteraki reported on the Yemeni military’s air strikes targeting civilians that killed 87 people and injured over a hundred. The victims were internal war refugees, mostly women and children, sheltering in an open field having escaped the fighting in Sa’ada City. The military launched a second air strike as the survivors fled to a nearby bridge.

Yemen is a state that regularly kidnaps critics, activists, journalists and opposition figures. As human rights groups note, arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention are the hallmarks of the Yemeni justice system. In dozens of instances, plain clothes intelligence operatives driving vehicles with military plates have snatched journalists off the street who are then “disappeared” and often tortured.

According to witness reports, five gun wielding masked men in a minibus intercepted Mr. al Maqaleh’s car on Taiz street in Sana’a Thursday evening. They dragged a struggling Mr. al Maqaleh into their vehicle and sped away.

Torture is systemic in Yemen. Tactics include severe beatings, burnings, sexual assaults, threats to family, whipping and depravation. It is likely that editor al Maqaeh is being subjected to these tactics currently.

His cell phone is off and his car found abandoned with the tires slashed. Yemeni authorities refused to take a report from his family, who were turned away at both the police station and the Criminal Investigations Division.

The Yemeni government’s targeting of journalists and suppression of newspapers and web sites is an attempt to cover-up military war crimes committed during the ongoing Sa’ada War. These war crimes include wholesale civilian slaughter, bombing of cities and villages, intentional starvation, and the withholding of medicine and water. Other collective punishment includes the discontinuance of electric and telephone service to Sa’ada. The effected region is home to 700,000 citizens, and comparisons are often made to Darfur.

The Yemeni Center for Human Rights expressed “grave concern” over the safety of the press and especially editor Mohamed al-Maqaleh. The YCHR strongly condemned the kidnapping, demanded his prompt release and the indictment of the perpetrators of this crime.

In 2007, Mohammed al Malqaleh was imprisoned for several months for “disrespecting the judiciary” after he laughed during a particularly absurd moment in the trial of award winning journalist, Abdulkarim al Khaiwani, who was charged with subversion for writing about an earlier round of the Sa’ada war.

-Jane

The Yemen Center for Human Rights denounced the continuation of the war in Sa’ada and othergovernorates. The Yemeni Center for Human Rights demands the local and international bodies to stop it. In fact, the greatest tragedies of war committed during the worst violations against humanity.

And expresses its deep condemnation of the Center for the reports of the missile strike targeted a camp for displaced people – Wednesday afternoon – in a (normal) east of Harf Sufian in Amran governorate, killing dozens of displaced persons, mostly women and children, and the survival of the wounded and survivors stranded in the region have no access to any Relief teams from local or international.

It also condemns the bombing of a market place (Acacia) – Saada Governorate – On 2009/9/14, where we received information and documents photographer and a documentary on the incident reveals that the aircraft bombed a crowded civilian market shoppers leaving dozens of victims killed and wounded, including women and children, some turning to charred bodies and body parts scattered, in addition to causing huge material losses citizens trade shops and cars and some nearby houses to the market.

PCHR calls upon the Yemeni government direction to stop the targeting of civilians being responsible for the protection and preservation of their lives, and urgent action and to allow relief teams assisting the wounded and the transfer of displaced people to safe areas, and speed create safe corridors for displaced people and relief agencies, and to allow humanitarian organizations access to all the affected areas to carry out its duties towards the victims and displaced persons.

The Center calls upon the Attorney General and Minister of Defense ordered an urgent investigation reveals ordered and carried out these and other crimes to be held responsible and bring them to trial.

Yemen Center for Human Rights (YCHR)
2009/9/16

Considering Yemeni women are being bombed by the Yemeni military and many civilians are massing near the Saudi border, Saudi humanitarian assistance would help. Yemen’s brotherly neighbor is ignoring the UN appeal for funds to feed the displaced neighbors, as is the rest of the GCC and other brotherly and friendly countries. Not one nation has offered funds. Are they all scared of Saleh or just indifferent?

Press Release: UNHCR shocked by civilian deaths in Yemen

GENEVA — UNHCR is alarmed by reports that dozens of people have been killed and wounded yesterday afternoon (Wednesday, 16 September 2009) in an air raid on Al Adi, in the Yemen’s Amran Governerate.

UNHCR again strongly urges all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety and well being of the civilian population in conformity with international law and standards.

The latest media reports add urgency to the UN’s repeated appeals for opening of humanitarian corridors in northern Yemen that would allow civilians to leave the conflict zone and enable humanitarian workers to deliver much needed aid to thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in this remote part of the country. This remains a top priority for UNHCR. (Read on …)

I wonder if the US actually expects Saleh to reform. Maybe he promised that he really, really will this time… Expect a round of government announcements of new reforms, maybe new anti-corruption billboards, and a few repeatedly publicized al Qaeda arrests, all being more smoke than substance. One thing that has to be done, now, is the electoral reforms. The timing of the announcement stinks, following days after the Yemeni government’s massacre of women and children by airstrikes in Sa’ada and Amran. The military is bombing cities and villages with impunity. But I guess waiting for the Yemeni government to stop committing atrocities is not realistic…

The Embassy is pleased to announce the signing of a bilateral assistance agreement between the United States and Yemen to fund essential development projects in the fields of health, education, democracy and governance, agriculture and economic development. The agreement, which provides over $30 million this year and an anticipated total of $121 million over its three-year program, is a reaffirmation of the friendship between the people of the United States and Yemen, and of the United States’ commitment to helping Yemen overcome its development challenges.

In conjunction with the reform efforts to which the Government of Yemen has committed, this development assistance will help to improve the lives of thousands of Yemeni citizens.

This is an interesting article at the Guardian , well worth a read. I also like this reader comment from Taher:

This is a well-argued article. However, may I ask why the government is described as “Sunni-led?” Is the president not a self-identified Zaydi? (as he re-assured NYT journalist Robert Worth). There are Sunnis in the government, but the reigns of power are in the hands of men who were born in Zaydi areas. Conflicts such as these cannot be explained simply in terms of the doctrinal attachments of the various players without taking into account a lot of other factors. It is laudable that the author hints at the links between Wahhabism and Sunni extremism which has been nourished by the Yemeni government ever since either socialists (most notably in 1994) or Zaydis have been fought.

It is unreasonable to assume that Iran is sponsoring the rebels for in the eyes of the Houthis, entrenchment of 12er Shiism is almost as threatening as Wahhabism. Iran knows that the Houthis – unlike Nasrallah – would never recognise its authority. Efforts by some writers such as R. Haddick (whom you quote) to lump all Shiis together without considering their different school of thoughts and histories are futile. He writes that foreign support is minimal, and yet it is clear that Saudi (and probably GGC) financial support has maintained the Yemeni army’s appetite for war. According to Yemeni official sources, during the fifth round of fighting in 2008, the Saudis contributed $300 mio which is a lot in an impoverished country such as Yemen.

As for Obama’s declaration, he must be aware that the conflict has much to do with two factors. First, it demonstrates the failure of Yemeni democracy because the legitimate party co-founded by the Houthis in 1990 was constantly undermined by the Yemeni government, which has assumed that playing off Zaydis against Wahhabis in Sa’dah province would solve its problem. This ill-advised policy did the opposite. Until now, the Houthis are fighting for a full implementation of the constitution and for fair and free elections. Second, like in Iraq, the Americans might one day be prepared to recognise that it is the government which is the source of the instability.

As the journalist Ginny Hill has recently pointed out, by establishing extensive patronage networks, the president has failed to build viable state institutions. Southern politicians were excluded from membership. In the south, after 1994 public land was taken by the president’s men and other northeners who occupy key positions in the security and the police in the southern provinces. Southerners consider themselves to be “occupied” by the north. The president is reluctant to ask his cronies to return the land for they might move against him. It looks like political suicide to him. This is why the problem does not get solved. Again, rather than lamenting instability resulting from protest movements north and south, it should be recognised that the government is responsible for the instability.

The Sa’ada War, Southern protests, empowered al Qaeda, the mismanagement of water resources, political disenfranchisement, rampant corruption, growing hunger and endemic poverty are all inter-related symptoms of a central dysfunction.

The problem with the Doha agreement was the lack of independent monitors and supervised disengagement, and neither side fully complied. The Houthis rebels are now alleging the last (one day) cease fire was exploited by the Yemeni military to resupply.

Mr. / Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations respected

After the greeting,

Since the announcement of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the fifth stop the war in Sa’ada in 2008, warned of the intention of the Authority of Yemen in the sixth war like its predecessors has no goals and the results of non-killing and displacement of civilians, and increasing their tragedy resulting from the practice of discrimination against them by depriving them of their rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the law In addition to the absence of basic necessities and services, which has deprived them of power over the decades. (Read on …)

AP and the wires picked up the story as well. Good.

***Media Advisory***
Yemen: Investigate Aerial Bomb Attacks
Many Children, Women, Elderly Reported Killed

(New York, September 16, 2009) – At least 87 persons, the majority women, children, and the elderly, were killed in aerial bombings in northern Yemen today, a witness to the attack and others reported. Human Rights Watch called on the Yemeni government to promptly and impartially investigate responsibility for any attacks on civilians, and urged all parties to the armed conflict in the region to respect the prohibition under international law against targeting civilians.

The attacks were in ‘Adi, east of the town of Harf Sufyan, in ‘Amran governorate. In mid-August, a sixth round of heavy fighting erupted in northern Yemen between government forces and Huthi rebels, and it has continued since then.

A witness to the attack reached via a Yemeni human rights organization, the Dialogue Foundation, said that Yemeni military planes conducted four raids this morning and, without warning, bombed a group of displaced persons sheltering in an open area near a school. (Read on …)

About two years ago, Yemen was going to sign off on the ICC but some raised issues of sovereignty. The indictment of The Sudan’s Bashir immediately preceeded Saleh’s phone call to Abdulmalik ending the last war.

The Yemeni government in the last 48 hours bombed a market in Shabwa full of civilians, killing mostly women and children. They also bombed the refugee camp near Sufian killing 85 refugees. There is no food, water or medicine moving into the Sa’ada region which is under a strict blockade since war resumed on August 12. With 150,000 internal refugees, the civilian population of 700,000 is undergoing a genocide.

On a broader level, it has been proven time and time again that Yemeni President Saleh’s regime is not reformable, although many still cling to this illusion. The issues underlying the fighting in the north are those at the core of the uprising in the south. With oil revenues at 25% of last year’s levels, once the regime can’t make its payrolls, the state being the largest employer in Yemen, all hell is going to break lose.

Warning: These Youtube links contain very graphic shots of dead people and fried children: Youtube vid1 and youtube vid2 and youtube vid3

from Free Aden: The youtube links show the massacre of the “Soq Al Taleh” on 14/9/2009 caused by the Yemeni air fighters. Some eyes witnessed speak about the massacre, in Arabic, and describe that they were normal people doing their shopping and hit during the peak time of shopping including kids, females, and food sellers. They Yemeni government claims it was a gathering of the Hothies fighters!!

The next day, civilian refugees who fled the war in Sa’ada were bombed, from Al Eshteraki:

مقتل 85نازحا اغلبهم من النساء والاطفال Killed 85 displaced people, mostly women and children
عشرات القتلى والجرحى في قصف الطيران الحربي لتجمع للنازحين في طريق برط بسفيان Dozens of dead and wounded in the bombing of military aircraft for a gathering of displaced people in the way of Brt Bsvian (Read on …)