Between Aid and Airstrikes: Counter Terror in Yemen
Guest Post:
Counterterrorism in Yemen between Sociopolitical/Socioeconomic International Development Aid Programs and Airstrikes; London Conference to examine terrorism in Yemen Challenges and Opportunities
By Ahmed Hezam, Jan 2010 ahezamyem@gmail.com
By now and since 9/11 (and even before that), It has been very obvious that the Yemeni Government – in spite of all the negative speculations and interpretations and political analysis/reporting (though some are/were very rational) on the seriousness of the political will, interrelated and integrated radical relations, its inner dynamics and weak institutionalism, …etc – become an alley and a partner with the US and the western hemispheres on what it has been known to be called “The War on Terror”.
Yemen relations, facilitations, countering and problems with Jihadists/Radicalism/Terrorists/Al-Qaidah went through a long compound complex process from (for example) the early 1980s and the “Afghani Mujahedeen/ Jihad” to the 1994 “Yemen Separatists War” coming to the late 1990s-2009 USS Cole and US Embassy 2009 Attack passing through so many attacks and suicide bombings and kidnapping cases and ending with the Mysterious Drama of Al-Farooq Omer AbdulMutaleb – that tourists, foreign diplomats, Yemeni civilians, and neighboring regional and international countries were all caught and interacted with.
In the last decade or so, the Yemeni Government started to step up its measures, procedures and readiness depending on its local means and capabilities as well as some international aids; from security special forces training to military and intelligence exchange and support passing through the establishment of new intelligence agency “Yemen National Security” – and ending with its semi reform structuring and Navy Support Focus.
Moreover, and with the support and help from some international and regional agencies and programs, The Yemeni Fight Against terror has been attempting also to start to tackle the questions of poverty and socioeconomic development; youth and economic aid with some new investments focus and strategies.
On the other hand, some international programs and agencies, and as part of its current new approaches or developed from its previous ones, started and continued with its own practical and field direct tangible programs/projects, as well with other intangible sociopolitical and socioeconomic ones – as all kind of development definitions and approaches from poverty reduction to agriculture to economic aid and Good Governance can easily be interpreted and reshaped to fit and target and match and fall under within the counterterrorism efforts and readings.
Yet, terrorism activities attacks and involvements kept going on showing itself in different forms, strategies, and tactics. The Yemeni people and Yemen image were always the first to be harmed and damaged more and more.
Called on the initiative of British prime minister Gordon Brown, Western Governments have convened a top-level meeting for this month to discuss strategies to counter Yemen’s growing role as a recruitment base for terrorists, in the wake of last’s week failed attack on a US-bound airliner. Mr. Brown will host the talks in parallel with the conference on Afghanistan being held in London on January 28th. The Yemen summit has “strong support” from the US and European Union, and the UK hopes to secure the backing of Saudi Arabia and Gulf states, Mr. Brown’s office stated.
“British and US security services believe Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (23), the Nigerian who boarded a Christmas Day flight to Detroit with 80 grams of explosive in his undergarments, was recruited by Al-Qaeda in Yemen after leaving the UK in 2008”. “Abdulmutallab has told the FBI that he was radicalized and trained in Yemen, apparently in the last six months,” a UK insider stated last week.
The London talks are designed to raise global financial support for Yemen and to improve co-ordination of anti-terrorist efforts in the region, according to the British government. “The international community must not deny Yemen the support it needs to tackle extremism,” Mr. Brown said.
Thus, The real challenges for such meeting(s) will be to really to attempt to examine and assess what has been going on the field; the dynamics of international and regional counterterrorism development aid and its domestic government and civil counterparts’ approaches and responsiveness; what did work and what didn’t and what was missing. Will airstrike and extensive use of military and security force be the answers? Or better targeted and specialized sociopolitical and socioeconomic development and mechanisms and approaches with more and new intelligence coordination/efforts and programs that focus on Youth and socio-religious ideological debate and fight (with transparent strong wide Media wing and marketing) will be the best solutions for better tomorrow?
However, The Yemeni Government and All the components of the Yemeni Civil Society from its Political parties to its CSOs/NGOs as well as its social tribal communities, if possible and they could, will be the one who will decide and determine on the future of such fragile state and failing country – especially on the light of the other two fronts that continue to threat its stability more and more; the Sa’adah Houthi Movement and the Southern Hirak/Disturbances.
