Armies of Liberation

The head of the bipartisan and inclusive National Dialog Committee withdrew from the National Dialog announced by the ruling GPC and opposition JMP where each submitted a list of 100 representatives. Bassandawa is urging dialog to be held under international auspices and address the full range of Yemen’s national crisis including consideration of a federal system. He seems to think the opposition caved to regime and international pressures which prioritize agreement on the (already postponed) Parliamentary elections in 2011 ahead of comprehensive national reform. Bassandawa is “convinced of the futility” of any discussions where the ruling party seeks only agreement on electoral reforms not the fundamental crises that face the nation. He also urges inclusion of all national forces including the southerners and opposition abroad. The Houthis for their part have said their participation is conditional on approving the terms and scope of the dialog, which they have yet to see.

Al Masdar The Chairman announced that preparations for national dialogue Mohamed Salem Bassandawa boycott of the dialogue sessions with the Authority and the ruling party, on condition to participate in the dialogue to be sponsored by regional, Arab and international.

وكان حزب المؤتمر الشعبي الحاكم وتكتل اللقاء المشترك وقعا أمس الخميس على محضر تبادل أسماء ممثلي الطرفين في اللجنة المشتركة للإعداد والتهيئة للحوار الوطني، وتضم القائمتان مائة عضو لكل طرف، وبين قائمة المشترك باسندوة. The Popular Congress Party, the ruling bloc, signed a joint meeting on Thursday to record the exchange of names of representatives of the parties in the Joint Commission for the preparation and configuration of the national dialogue, and lists, which contain a hundred members of each party, and the list of common Basendwah.

وفي تصريحات لـ”المصدر أونلاين” من العاصمة الأردنية عمان التي يتواجد فيها حالياً قال باسندوة ان “الانتخابات تحتل المرتبة الأولى في اهتمام الحزب الحاكم وليس إيجاد حل للأزمات التي تعصف بالبلاد”. In statements to “online source” of the Jordanian capital Amman, where there are currently Bassandawa said that “the elections is ranked first in the interest of the ruling party and not find a solution to crises that racked country.” (Read on …)

Oh Yay! Do not ship the copters, please. Yemeni strafed villages in the 2005 round of the Saada War. They’ll use them against the southerners today and in Sa’ada tomorrow. A better end monitoring structure needs to be in place. PDF of the original report to Congress here. Update: an excellent report with some interesting findings (equipment missing already) and very necessary conclusions including the need to rationalize Saudi aid.

World Tribune:, WASHINGTON — Congress has expressed concern that U.S. military aid to Yemen was being diverted to battle Iran-backed Shi’ite insurgents. Officials have acknowledged continued differences between Sanaa and Washington over Yemen’s security priorities. The United States has stressed the Al Qaida threat while Sanaa designated the Shi’ite rebellion in the north as the leading priority.

“As a result of this difference in focus, there are serious concerns that U.S. counter-terrorism assistance, provided to assist the ROYG [Yemeni government] in combating Al Qaida, has been diverted for use in the war against the Houthis,” the report said. (Read on …)

Verging on death, not counting the hundreds of thousands of children that are not homeless but still extremely malnourished:

SANAA, 29 July 2010 (IRIN) – Feeding over 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Yemen involves complex logistics and coordination.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) works with its implementing partners, such as NGOs Islamic Relief and Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA), to ensure fair distribution and maximum outreach to displaced families, including 60,000 children under five.

Its operations extend across Hajjah, al-Jawf, Saada, Sanaa and Amran governorates, GianCarlo Cirri, WFP representative in Yemen, told IRIN.

“The ration basket for IDPs consists of wheat grain or fortified wheat flour, pulses, fortified vegetable oil, sugar and salt,” he said, adding that a blanket supplementary feeding programme – consisting of wheat-soya blend, fortified vegetable oil and sugar – is offered to children under five due to high levels of malnutrition….Funding shortfalls, insecurity and access are the main challenges reported by WFP staff and implementing partners. (Read on …)

Brandon Sun SAN’A, Yemen – A Yemeni opposition member shot in the head after returning from 32 years in exile died Wednesday from his wounds, his son said. Abdel-Raqib al-Qershi fled from Yemen in 1978 after he and his family were accused of leading a rebellion against the government and killing tribal leaders…Al-Qershi’s son, Awad, said his father had returned to San’a in May following an offer of amnesty from the country’s president. A month later, he was shot in the head as he walked out of a local mosque with his sons. The authorities named three suspects in the assassination attempt, but none have been arrested. After an emergency operation in Yemen, Al-Qershi was flown to Syria for further medical treatment where he died.

Original Post: President Saleh invited Abdalrguib Qurashi who was in exile in Syria for 30 years, to return to Yemen under his protection. Last month, Qurashi was shot in the head after returning from prayers in Sana’a, fell into a coma, was transferred to Syria for medical treatment and died today. Qurashi was a leader in the Nasserite party involved in a 1978 assassination attempt on Saleh. Many were killed and periodically the party asks for the location of the graves. (Read on …)

Oh yes, that’s what Yemenis need is another foreigner inciting bloodshed. The lunatic Egyptian wants Yemeni clerics to declare jihad on the US. Certainly strengthens Saleh’s position with the US though, how handy.

Reuters: Zawahri, in his second message this month released on Islamist websites, also ridiculed Yemeni clerics, who he said promised jihad, or holy war, against the United States if it interfered in Yemen, but who he said ignored signs that the government was cooperating with U.S. forces.

Noting that Amnesty International had called on Washington to explain its role in Yemen, Zawahri asked: “Is Amnesty International more concerned about defending the Yemeni people than they (the clerics) are?”

Amnesty International released a report in June suggesting that the United States may be playing a role in Yemen after releasing photographs that showed remnants of alleged U.S. missiles and cluster bombs used in an attack in south Yemen.

“What more are they waiting for to call for jihad? … are they waiting for the U.S. soldiers to appear on the streets of Sanaa in their tanks?”

Mr. President Barack Hussein Obama:

We the people of Aden in the south are suffering humiliation and oppression, murder and torture by the regime of the State of North Yemen, Sanaa

We also know we have an independent state and we have entered into unsuccessful unity with North Yemen, Sanaa, a country with a tribal, military and Baathist structure, that is usually backward for us and takes us back a century.

Today, the Arab people in Aden struggle to disengage from the North Yemen, Sanaa, and his re-Arab and to re-establish a southern capital of Aden, known as a free state on their national soil, known to the May 21, 1990

We want your support and your support and you with the free world in order to restore our nation and peaceful coexistence among the nations of the earth

Thanks
يافعي حضرمي متواجد حالياً with my regards
journalist from south yemen

alkhader alhasani
sana a 25/7/2010

A letter to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch from southern Yemenis in the US:

The South Yemen community in U.S.A sincere regards, and thank you for your efforts for the past years and your positive interaction, whether by descending on the ground in the south and especially the governorate Aden, and some nearby provinces, Your meeting with some of the families of the martyrs and prisoners, or through your reports on the bitter reality and the serious daily violations of human rights in under the occupation of Yemen, and heinous practices against the people of South Arabia are engaged in struggle for independence.

We appreciate these efforts and urge you to exert more pressure on the occupying government in Sana’a to stop all methods of repression, torture and killing, siege and arrests, and pursuits, committed against peacefully protesters and activists, and move quickly to rescue the Political prisoners of Sana’a regime, and the rest of the detainees from daily torture of those who are still in detention including minors.

First the Political Security prison in Sana’a

Ahmed Alkuwma – correspondent

Maged Althammah – Age 14 years (Read on …)

Al-Iryani also said AQAP presents a threat to Saudi Arabia more than Yemen, quite true. People’s Daily

A political advisor of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh denied on Friday that cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been radicalized in Yemen. (Read on …)