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 …)

Update: Apparently the security had no bullets. Yemen Times:

Last Saturday, armed people attacked the Political Security office in Al-Tawahi district, Aden governorate. They killed 13 people, including seven soldiers, four women and a child.

“What happened is a scandal,” private sources reported told the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper. «Armed people attacked the Political Security office in Aden where the security guards could not stop them. They exceeded all the security barriers and entered the security office building without being shot at even once. In the end they departed the place chanting joyfully in a triumphant tone.”

The sources told the newspaper said that there are signs that the attackers were not confronted by the guards who had no guns. According to the locals in Al-Tawahi district, all people who were suspected to be working for political security secretly disappeared during the attack.

OP: That’s hysterical, al Gamish to investigate. Either al Gamish planned it or the arrests and subsequent jailbreak were the result of infighting like occurred with Hamza al Qaiti after all the mortars missed in 2008. There was quite a verbal sparring match between the two in which al Qaiti said he was betrayed by al Gamish. Then he got killed in a shoot-out (like al Fawaz al-Reibi and the Egyptian Dwieder). Head of the PSO, Al Gamish was promoted (or at least got a second position) after the 2006 jail break. He’s been around for decades. The PSO is largely subverted by al-Qaeda but then again, al-Qaeda is also largely subverted by the PSO and sometimes (some of them) act as mercenaries. It was Al-Gamish, along with Saleh who negotiated directly with Abu al Feida on behalf of al-Qa’ida back in 2006. Quite a favorable deal it was for both sides. Al Feida had nothing but praise for the way the Yemeni regime handles the brothers.

Yemen Post: Minister of information , Mr . Hasan Al-lowzi has conformed that Yemen is a partner for the international society in all plans and operations that aim to face terrorism and it is fighting its individuals , Al-thawranet reported.

He said also , responding the question of Al-arabia channel in terms of the armed attack of Al-Qaida in Yemen that aimed political security office in Aden , ” There is a supreme committee presided by General Ghaleb Alqamesh , chief of political security system and the deputy of interior minister , interrogating this event to know every thing about it” .

He clarified that this terroristic work was unexpected for a city that has settlement and security as Aden that he conformed it as a secured city and all its visitors recognize that .

He said ” Today we go to Aden and pass in its streets without escorts and arms , and what happened was unexpected for a city that really distinguished to have a strong security because it is totally forbidden to bear arms in Aden” .

And in terms of security situation in Yemen and efforts paid to face terrorism , Al-lowzi pointed out that there is a fight , country and people are fighting against terrorism works especially Al-Qaida , and war will not be ceased until the specific and marked purposes in security plans to be achieved .

Minister of information also said ” Yemen is fighting really against terrorism , and it is a partner for the international society at facing it and there are threats should be taken to consideration and to be on the alert in the all governorates .

The tribal paramilitary hasn’t been paid, violence ensues. I believe this happened in the last wars as well, likely the money got pocketed if it was paid at all.

Yemen Post: An army officer has been killed and three soldiers and unidentified number of tribesmen injured in the clashes that are still continuing between the army and tribes in Al-Ashah district in Amran Province. (Read on …)

Somebody is making big money from this. Some of these kids are very young four and five years old.

Trafficking in Persons Report 2010
YEMEN (Tier 2 Watch List)

Yemen is a country of origin and, to a much lesser extent, a transit and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Yemeni children, mostly boys, migrate across the northern border with Saudi Arabia, to the Yemeni cities of Aden and Sana’a, or – to a lesser extent – to Oman, and are forced to work primarily as beggars, but also for domestic servitude or forced labor in small shops. Some of these children are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation in transit or once they arrive in Saudi Arabia by traffickers, border patrols, other security officials, and their employers. The government and local NGOs estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of children in forced labor in Yemen. (Read on …)

Telegraph: A German and an Iraqi were among four men accused in a Yemeni court on Wednesday of plotting a suicide bomb attack to kill Tim Torlot, the British Ambassador to Yemen, in the capital Sana’a.

Rami Hens, a German citizen whose mother is Yemeni, was on trial over the alleged plot, a court official said.

The ambassador was in a convoy travelling to the embassy on an April morning when the bomb was detonated.

Really getting desperate, aren’t they? I guess the Saudi women didn’t come flocking to Yemen after al-Qa’ida’s last appeal to them for suicide bombers. Short of funds they are as well. Interesting how AQIY can distribute the CDs in such a systematic manner without drawing the attention of the state-funded Imams and security. Oh yes, it was actually the state funded Imams who first warned against US intervention in Yemen, threatening jihad in a statement. Yeah that was it. The AQIY zealots are hoping that US backing of the widely reviled dictator and his messy messy methods of counter-insurgency will create a backlash in their favor, not an improbable outcome even without the CDs, but there are a lot of other options for those with anti-government inclinations. Anti-US sentiments grew geometrically after the slaughter in Abyan (cluster bombs??!!) and the US’s extremely poor follow-up. (Nary a word. Even after the Yemeni government apologized, the US kept congratulating.) Inciting against US intervention incidentally and conveniently dovetails with Saleh’s position. This Abdulelah mentioned works for (gets a paycheck from) the state news agency SABA and is the brother-in-law of Abdulmajid al-Zindani, a long time Saleh loyalist. Abdulelah is the one who manages to interview all the top al-Qa’ida (including his bestest friend Anwar Awlaki, Nassir al Wahishi and Fahd “but I thought he was reformed” al-Quso) without a problem as we noted first in January 2009. We’ll file this about the CDs under the heading “flaky stuff”.

Yemen Post An unidentified group has distributed a CD at a number of mosques in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a that some people said contained interviews with Al-Qaeda leaders and videos about U.S. raids on terrorist targets in the country, independent sources said on Thursday.

Uthman Al-Ghamidi, Fahd Al-Qusa, Abu Musab Muhammad Saleh Umair and Saeed Al-Shari, all of the most wanted terrorist suspects by Yemeni and Saudi authorities, appeared in the CD speaking about U.S. crimes and calling for reviving Jihad, holy war.

They talked about terror raids that took place in late last year and early this year in Abyan, Shabwa and Sana’a with a focus on the raid in Almajalah district, Abyan, in which many were killed including civilians. Murdered terrorist Abu Umair was seen discussing Jihad with young Jihadists.

Abdul Elah Shaea, a local expert in terrorism issues, also appeared speaking about Al-Qaeda in Yemen including remarks he previously gave to Aljazeera Satellite Channel.

The CD was intended to incite the people against the U.S. intervention as concerns, mainly by the west, continued to grow about Al-Qaeda presence in the country and to praise the role of Al-Qaeda and its acts.

It also contained photos of some Arab leaders described as agents for the west including Egypt’s Mubarak and President Saleh.

The state’s failure to release the prisoners as required by the truce itself, not to mention the May 22 amnesty announcement, was predictable. It happened in every cease fire since 2005. Similarly, little reconstruction occurred over the last five years despite all the funds donated and numerous announcements. Of the 3000 political prisoners, the breakdown is roughly 1000 entirely innocent (arrested for suspected sympathy with the rebels), 1000 rebels and 1000 southerners arrested during protests or during night raids on activists’ homes. Also several journalists. There’s still about 2200 in jail and its a continuing source of friction and a bargaining chip against the larger populace, but as the RAND report correctly notes, the truces are a tactic of war, not a method of peace.

SANAA, 24 June 2010 (IRIN) – Abdulmalik al-Houthi, leader of the Shia rebels in the northern governorate of Saada, has accused the government of reneging on amnesty promises made by President Ali Abdullah Saleh on 22 May.

Saleh had announced an amnesty for all imprisoned southern separatists and Houthi rebels in the north during a speech to commemorate unification in 1990.

“Instead of releasing our fellow citizens in line with President Saleh’s amnesty, security authorities in the government are launching new arrest campaigns against our men,” al-Houthi said in a statement on 22 June.

According to local media reports, fewer than 800 of the more than 3,000 prisoners believed to be covered by the amnesty have been released.

Asked why the government had not released all of the prisoners under the amnesty, Interior Ministry official Lutfi Nisari said only: “This is a presidential affair.” (Read on …)

by Abdullah A. Qaid- for Armies of Liberation

23 June, Sana’a–Violent clashes between Yemeni troops and southern protesters are in their second day in al-Dhalia, southern Yemen. Three soldiers and a woman were reported killed. Eight were injured from both sides

Conflict erupted yesterday the army shelled Jahaf district with artillery fire accompanied by Katyusha rockets. The target zone extended to the city center of al-Dhalia, local sources said.

The Yemeni military authorities launched the campaign in order to break the siege on military camps imposed by armed locals. Military reinforcements of more than 20 units, several tanks and armored vehicles arrived in the area, witnesses said.

An armed faction loyal to the Southern Movement imposed the siege on the military camps four nights ago after the government reneged on a previous peace deal. Months ago, a presidential commission agreed to end the military blockade on al-Dhalia and withdraw from military outposts in the region in return for the activists’ pledge to open streets. However the military commander responsible for the agreement’s implementation refused to withdraw from the army’s quarters in the Jahaf section of al-Dhalia.

Protests began again in al-Dhalia when the army shelled residential areas on 8 June, killing five civilians and injuring about 20 others.

Lahj: Thousands in funeral procession

On Wednesday morning, thousands of supporters of the Southern Movement demonstrated in a funeral procession from Lahj to Radfan, southern of Yemen, to bury three activists killed by security forces days earlier during peaceful anti-government protests.

Sources said the participants raised the flags of the former South Yemen and green decals with pictures of the dead activists. They chanted slogans calling for the secession of the south from the north of Yemen.

The Southern Movement began in 2007 as a protest movement calling for equal rights for southerners and an end to perceived institutionalized discrimination against the region and its inhabitants since 1994’s civil war. The movement is a loose coalition of anti-government groups that largely remained peaceful in the face of repetitive state violence against protesters and widespread arbitrary arrests of demonstrators.

By Abdullah A. Qaid in Sana’a, Editing by Jane Novak

Moron al Reimi below the fold.

Saudi Gazette
MARIB – Official sources have said that two Saudi nationals named on the Ministry of Interior’s list of 85 wanted terrorists were involved in last Saturday’s oil pipeline attack in the Yemeni region of Marib.
A Yemeni government source said that Saeed Al-Shehri – Al-Qaeda’s “second man” in the Arabian Peninsula – and the organization’s field commander Othman Al-Ghamdi were both involved, making it their first operation since joining up with the group in Yemen. The source added that three Yemenis – Qasim Al-Raimi, Saeed Ali Bin Jameel and Nasser Bin Douha – also took part in the bombing.
(Read on …)

I wonder is Sadiq al Ahmar, head of the president’s Hashid tribe, will join the coalition?

Yemen Post Leader of Bakil tribe, the largest Yemeni tribe, Sheikh Naji Abdul-Aziz Al-Shayef expressed his intention to call on the formation of a tribal coalition, includes leaders and sheikhs of the Yemeni tribes to stand by the government in its fight against the so-called Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is based in Yemen.

Al-Shayef told Okaz, Saudi media source that “the presence of Al-Qaeda in Yemen poses a real threat on Yemen human security and abilities of the people, so the fight against this organization and to renounce its elements remain people’s joint responsibility, however, tribes must have a role on this, because Al-Qaeda is a stray organization lurks in all the classes of people in Yemen”.

AQAP called on Friday the tribes in Yemen’s Marib Province, eastern Yemen to revolt against the government as the security campaigns against terrorist suspects have intensified in the area.

In a videotape by an unidentified spokesman for (AQAP), the group called the tribal leaders to distance themselves from “standing with Crusade”; stressing the need not to hand over any of its elements to the security authorities.

Sheikh Al-Shayef also warned of the negative consequences of covering up Al-Qaida and makes Yemen a safe haven to them. He added Yemen’s security and safety of its citizens is above all else.

Yemen Observer

The presidential committee for completing housing in Aden, Lahj and Abyan governorates disclosed a governmental approval on the geographical redefinition to the lands allocated to Aden Free Zone area activities.

The cabinet has recently agreed to correct its decision number 65 for the year 1993 for defining the lands allocated for the free zone activities, said News Yemen website. (Read on …)

Nasser Arrabee: Three children were injured one of them seriously, on Saturday when Al Qaeda in the eastern province of Mareb fired a missile on a military position in Mareb, where the government is implementing a military campaign against Al Qaeda. The local sources said the missile missed the military position and fell in a residential area injuring three children.

This is good. The Border Guard and the Coast Guard regularly duke it out when the Coast Guard interrupts the Border Guards’ smuggling. The president’s nephew reportedly had a private dock set up to receive shipments of drugs and the UN found most of the illegal gun shipments depart from the Mukalla area, but now that Faris Manna was designated by the UN as a illegal weapons smuggler, I’m sure all that will end. At the same time, the services of the Yemeni Coast Guard are being sold to private shipping firms for protection against pirates, which must make them in a little less productive in other areas. What ever happened to the radar system announced in 2006 that the Italians were financing?

Yemen plans setting up Coastguard branch in Hadramout
[10/يونيو/2010] MUKALLA, June 10 (Saba) The Yemeni Coastguard Authority is planning to set up a branch in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramout within its efforts to secure the 2000 km long coastline of the country.

The Commander of the Yemeni Coastguard Forces Brigadier General Ali Rasa’a and the governor of Hadramout Salem al-Khanbashi paid Thursday a visit to a site devoted to the establishment of a strategic port in Hadramout. (Read on …)