Armies of Liberation

This appears to be the sequence of events: the storming of jail in Aden; round-up of suspected al-Qaida; protests; arrests; one dies in from an “asthma attack”; more protests. The people were not protesting the arrests of al-Qaeda suspects as the official media is suggesting. The southerners believe (true or not) the hunt for al-Qa’ida in Aden is a pretense in order to conduct security operations against secessionists. The assault on the jail may go back to some land theft scheme where al Qamish was cut out or that may just be an incidental side story. Its not al-Qaida’s first assault on the regime reflecting a new level of hostility as some suggest.

The National: Clashes renewed between the police and armed gangs after Friday prayers in Al-Saadah quarter in Yemen’s business capital of Aden, independent sources said.

Today’s confrontations were triggered by the death of a prisoner who was arrested when people took to streets on Thursday to protest mass arrests after Saturday’s deadly terrorist attack on the political security office in the province.

The cause of the death remained unclear.

Ahmed Al-Darwish was among about 9 people arrested in connection with the attack that the authorities said bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda.

Some reports noted that more than 20 arrests took place when police raided homes and carried out mass arrests in Al-Saadah and Alnasr quarters in Khour Maksar district known as hotbeds of armed outlaws and suspected terrorists.

Most of the arrested were suspected Al-Qaeda operatives, according to security sources. The raids triggered clashes between armed gangs and the police.

On Saturday, gunmen broke into the office in Al-Towahi city shooting bullets and detonating bombs at guards and civilians. Seven soldiers, three women and a child were killed and 15 others were injured.

A day later, the authorities said the mastermind of the attack had been arrested. He was identified as Ghawdal Muhammad Saleh Naji, who the authorities said was a terrorist.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry ordered the security forces to stay on heightened alert to face possible attacks and watch the southern coastline to prevent terrorists from infiltrating into the country.

He was summoned to the police station and one hour later arrived at the hospital horribly burnt. The utter lack of compassion is incomprehensible. New Yemen; link and photo.

Revealed the “hood” the fact that a prisoner in a fire department in Sana’a, where the Red Martyr burned the upper part of his body and learned that the prisoner Hood collective Faisal summoned to the police station of the Red Martyr twelve o’clock at night On: 05/06/2010 While it was an hour later conveyed to the Republican Hospital in Sana’a burned He stressed hospital staff that he arrived without escorts and family said it had received a call from the police asking them to go to the hospital to aid their son and said his sister, (Read on …)

So what happened? The Health Ministry stole the real vaccines for resale in private pharmacies or never bought them in first place? Its very hard to donate anything to Yemen; monetary donations disappear by the sixth journal entry and even well intentioned physical donations (like to the victims of the Hadramout flood) are diverted for resale. Corruption in the Heatlh Ministry has an immediate lethal impact, just ask anyone with diabetes.

Yemen Observer: The Supreme National Association for Combating Corruption (SNACC) council approved Tuesday the withdrawal of an amount of fraudulent vaccine. The vaccines, which were to help prevent children’s illness such as the flu and malaria, were tampered with and then distributed on May 31 in eight governorates. After receiving reports that the vaccines were not in presentable containers, the authority approved their withdrawal from the markets.

The decision came after the SNACC reviewed reports from field teams sent to a number of governorates in response to the shipment of 400,000 doses of vaccines sent to the Ministry of Health stores on May 5, 2010.

The reports assured that the amounts were distributed to the Capital Secretariat, Sana’a, Taiz, Hajjah, Ibb, Dhamar, Amran and al-Mahwait governorates, noting that some of amounts were closer to damage of the powder.

According to the documents, the amounts of the vaccines sent to Yemen are approximately 611 doses costing $1,847,260. Sources say that the Ministry of Health bears 40 percent of the cost of the shipment.

No wonder no body knows what the heck is actually going on, via News Yemen:

وزارة الإعلام ترفض منح الصحافة موافقة الدخول لليمن وتطلب من المراسلين التوقيع على تعهد The Ministry of Information press refuses to grant approval to enter Yemen and ask reporters to sign a pledge
22/06/2010 22/06/2010
خاص-نيوزيمن: Particular – NewsYemen:

علم نيوزيمن من مصادر مطلعة رفض وزارة الإعلام في الآونة الأخيرة منح عدد من القنوات الفضائية والصحفيين الأجانب موافقة دخول إلى اليمن لعمل تقارير صحافية. Learned from informed sources NewsYemen rejected the Ministry of Information recently granted a number of satellite channels and foreign journalists to enter the consent of Yemen to the work of media reports.
واشتكى العديد من الصحفيين الأجانب من تلكؤ الوزارة في منحهم الموافقة والتي على أساسها يحصلون على تأشيرة من السفارات اليمنية في الخارج. And many complained that foreign journalists from the reluctance of the ministry to give them the approval and on which get a visa from the embassies in Yemen and abroad. (Read on …)

Its not a cost but a write off.

Yemen Times interviews Dr. Mohammad Ali Jubran, financial analyst and professor of economics at the University of Sana’a:

Yemen is not in need of more donors’ conferences as it has its own natural resources, but its resources are in urgent need of good management. Oil, gas, public companies and taxes are the four pillars that the economy stands on.

But oil revenues do not all reach the budget. Up to USD 1 billion per year goes to a group of people in the name of ‘oil cost’ or ‘barrel cost.’

The highest barrel costs in the world are in Yemen, not because it is the most difficult, but because of corruption. In 2000 and 2001 the barrel cost in Yemen was USD 3, but now it is USD 17. In the agreement between the foreign oil companies and Yemen the barrel cost is fixed at USD 3, so where does the other USD 14 go? (Read on …)

The US is deeply troubled now? What a load of hooey. There was five months straight of carpet bombing of civilians and there was nada, nothing, zip from the US except a blatant disregard for civilian slaughter- in the north and the south. The US is troubled by the violence now only because the resumption of war will mean that Saleh will remain distracted from a dedicated counter-terror posture against al-Qa’ida. However, thats the point. The regime is structurally reliant on corruption, repression and detante with al-Qaeda. This is pathetic.

Peoples Daily: The United States is “deeply troubled” by violence in the northern Yemen and calls for a comprehensive dialogue between all opposition parties and the government, said the White House on Thursday.

“We are deeply troubled by reports of fresh outbreaks of fighting in Sa’ada, and urge full compliance with the ceasefire agreement announced in February, and an end to the violence,” said a White House statement, referring to recent violent conflicts in the northern Yemeni province of Sa’ada.

“The United States calls for a comprehensive and inclusive national dialogue between all opposition groups and the ruling party. Such a dialogue needs to be undertaken in good faith and with haste by all parties to address legitimate grievances and increase stability in Yemen,” said the statement. (Read on …)

Al Beidh still a no show. The Preparatory Dialog Committee is working to create an alliance for a reformed, unified Yemen and the Houthis have signed on, but the hard-core southerners think its a ploy to dilute authentic opposition and keep Saleh in power through stalling tactics. (Not that Al-Beidh has done anything worthwhile but issue statements calling for demosntrations…) Others see a Saudi hand. The PDC defines the root of the crisis in Yemen as family rule. Saleh Habra’s speech on behalf of Abdelmalik al Houthi is pasted below. WJWC’s Tawwakol Karaman and MP Ahmed Saif Hashid recently resigned because they say all the PDC does is issue statements and it is not transparent or democratic in structure, fair points that can be applied to many civil society organizations. Some opposition political and civil leaders hold seminars and pass papers back and forth diagnosing the main problem as the centralization of power in Yemen, but there is nothing stopping them from modeling democracy themselves and they don’t.

Yemen Observer: Yemeni Media sources said that a meeting of the internal opposition and external opposition was held in Cairo. The meeting came out with terms of dialogue on unification efforts. The internal opposition was represented by a number of JMP leaders including Abdulwahab al-Anisi, Yasin Saeed Norman, Sultan al-Atwani as well as leaders from the PDC including Aidros al-Naqib, Sakhr al-Wjih, Ali Abdo Rabo al-Qadi and on top of them Mohammed Salem Ba Sondwa. Sheikh Hamis al-Ahmar who has prepared and financed the meeting was absent from this meeting. (Read on …)

Yemen Post: There are roughly 423000 child laborers in Yemen aged between 6 to 14 years old, most of whom are working in the countryside, a recent official survey has said.

Also, most of the children are subjected to physical and psychological abuse, it said, pointing out that amid poverty many families send their children to work to support them. (Read on …)