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 …)

In 2005, Yemen made several repeated announcements that it was going to cut its bloated diplomatic corps in order to reduce expenses. I think it was around the time they were angling for Millennium Challenge Funds. But of course it was all propaganda and the only embassy closed was in Romania. Ambassadorships are quite lucrative, and often used as rewards or to get outspoken people out of the country. The embassies abroad are frequently centers of corruption and sometimes crime and often have networks that spy on Yemeni expatriate communities.

Republican Decrees appointing ambassadors issued
[25/يوليو/2010] SANA’A, July 25 (Saba) – Six Republic Decrees issued on Sunday appointing Yemeni ambassadors to a number of countries:

1- Decree No. 143 for 2010 appoints Yahya al-Sayaghi as an ambassador of Yemen to Cuba.

2- Decree No. 144 for 2010 appoints Abdul-Qawi al-Eryani as an ambassador of Yemen to Turkey.

3- Decree No. 145 for 2010 appoints Shaiy al-Zandani as an ambassador of Yemen to Jordan.

4- Decree No. 146 for 2010 appoints Jamal Nasir as ambassador of Yemen to Algeria.

5- Decree No. 147 appoints Zaid al-Wareeth as an ambassador of Yemen to Iraq.

6- Decree No. 148 appoints Mustafa Numan as an ambassador of Yemen to Spain.

Technical assistance is good and Yemeni security lacks training in investigative procedures. The problems are 1) the UN in Yemen is also plagued by corruption and 2) much of the criminal networks including the drug smuggling are in the hands of top regime officials and presidential relatives who will thwart sincere efforts at crime fighting. The most functional part of the Yemeni economy is the black market and smuggling rings. Nonetheless at least its a step in the right direction. Yemen Gazette:

SANAA, 12 Jul — The United Nations is planning to open an office in Yemen to fight terrorism, crime, human trafficking and drugs, the government official daily, al-Thawra said on Monday. Interior Minister Brig Gen Rashad al-Masri welcomed the move during a meeting with a UN delegation headed by the coordinator of the UN programs in the middle east and north Africa, Life Vilatson saying “the opening of the office will have positive results for Yemen and neighboring countries,” and voiced his ministry’s “willingness to provide all necessary facilitations to establish the office and facilitate its mission.” The UN delegation hailed “the successes made by Yemen in combating terrorism and drugs,” and expressed gratitude for “Yemen’s complete cooperation and facilitations for the success of UN programmes in the field of battling crime and drugs.”

Saudi terrorist Al-Hamami surrenders.

Yemen Online: Yemen arrests the Saudi suspect in Shabwa patrol attack

YemenOnline.Jul25- Yemen security forces have arrested today the saudi suspect whi responsible on the deadly attack on a security patrol south of Yemen last Thursday. Ahmed Saleh Hedeij Al-Hamami was blacklisted on Saturday and his car wanted after the Interior Ministry said it was used by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP to carry out the attack killing six soldiers. (Read on …)

There has to be some neutral supervision of the cease-fire implementation.

Update: Khaleej Times: Houthis free 200 captured soldiers from the 72nd Regiment of the army’s Republican Guards (commanded by Prince Ahmed).

Gulf Times: Shia rebels took control of a strategic army post in north Yemen yesterday and captured some 70 soldiers, in the latest clash to endanger an increasingly fragile truce, army and tribal sources said. “Houthi (rebels) took control of a military position in Al Zaala and captured all remaining soldiers,” a tribal source said. “Violent clashes erupted since the early morning hours.” A local military official said the rebels captured some 70 soldiers. (Read on …)

In a cringe-inducing remark, Mr. Gerald M. Feierstein, Ambassador-Designate to the Republic of Yemen, said to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, July 19, 2010: “Yemen faces many challenges and threats, the chief of which is terrorism, a global threat that requires a global response.” No. The main threat to Yemen is President Saleh. Could the US State Department possibly believe that Yemen’s main threat is terrorism or are they deliberately spinning a load of hogwash? There’s two US advisers that have a clear view, the rest have been in love with Saleh for a long time.

Well they are trapped in the Embassy and only talk to pro-regime Yemenis: Sen. Lugar expressed his concern over the U.S. embassy team’ being unable to travel outside of Sana’a to monitor key projects on the ground. I guess Obama like Bush prefers a dream world to reality, especially when the reality is the US is allied with an al-Qaeda supporting mass-murderer.

This is a little more realistic Jerry: Regarding how U.S. can measure the effectiveness of U.S. financial aid, Feierstein explained that “We are less confident that we can assure the Congress in particular that this money is being well-spent,” Feierstein concluded.

Ungoverned Yemen: Al-Ja’ashin civilians launch hunger strike demanding state action

A press release from HOOD
By Nisreen Shadad, edited by Jane Novak

Residents of the beleaguered Al-Ja’ashin district in Ibb began a hunger strike on July 25, 2010 to demand the state assert its authority in their district. The villagers have been camped out in Sana’a for months after being ejected from their village by Sheikh Ahmed Mansour.

In some areas of rural Yemen, often called “ungoverned regions,” the state abdicated its authority to tribal proxies. Al-Ja’ashin residents struggled for years against tyrannical practices including illegal taxes, seizure of personal property, physical assaults and imprisonment in Sheik Mansour’s private prison.

“We will never eat until we die and go to a world without oppression and fear or to go to our homes and live safely under the law,” according to the al-Ja’ashin statement. The Al-Ja’ashin civilians began their hunger strike in front of the Parliamentary Council, as they had been unable to gain redress through any other means.

“For eight months we have been displaced and suffering in the streets of Sana’a. The public authority didn’t respond to our needs. Hunger, disease, rain and heat are exhausting us, while we are waiting for fair acts towards our case and the kind touch of people who are after all Yemenis and Muslims like you,” said the statement. The villagers demanded security and compensation for what was stolen by Sheikh Mansour and his followers.

“We want to live with dignity as human beings in Allah’s land. Islamic Sharea’a and Yemeni law should protect us from Sheikh Mansour and his soldiers and provide all weak people a life with dignity and peace,” the statement declared.

Parliament ordered a new committee to consider the issue of al-Ja’ashin and scheduled discussions for next Monday. A Parliamentary report issued in March said that while the nearly one hundred villagers were camped out in the capital, Mansour’s militia “looted their cows, ships, gold and all their home furnishings.”

“Mansour has unauthorized private prisons in which he punishes citizens, indicating a lack of the state sovereignty in the district,” Parliament found.The findings echo a 2007 Parliamentary report that concluded that Parliament must “compel the Government to impose the authority of the State in Al-Jasheen area as part of the territory of the Republic of Yemen.”

Many parliamentarians, journalists and human rights activists joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the al-Ja’ashin civilians including MP Ahmed Saif Hashid, MP Sahwqi al-Qadhi, Tawakul Karman, the head of Women Journalist Without Chains and Mohammed Naji Allaow, the General Coordinator of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD).

“As Muslims and Yemenis, we have the rights of citizenship, equity and advocacy. We are oppressed, however, for eight months. We have been humiliated from you, the police officers and others who may relate to you or not, until we are disappointed and willing to die. Your negligence and humiliation make us feel we are unseen insects,” said the villagers’ statement.

HOOD called on all free people to declare their solidarity with Al-Ja’ashin and their demand to live under the protection of the law. For their courage, the al Jasheen villagers won HOOD’s 2009 Human Rights Award. In presenting the award, HOOD’s director, Khalid al Ansi said that the villagers overcame “historical inherited fear” in challenging the Sheik’s tyranny.

Bingo. Yemen Post

Government Hoping for more Qaeda Attacks in South

The more attacks in the south means that the international community will support Yemen’s unity, fearing that if separation takes place, the south could be an Al-Qaeda safe haven.
Every Al-Qaeda attack in the south comes with great relief for the government and more pain for those who call for separation. The government gains even more financial support from the international community as it is funding Yemen’s fight against extremism.
So, it seems like President Saleh is finally getting something his way.
The last three Al-Qaeda claimed attacks took place in less than a month, and in three different provinces in the south, first in Aden, then in Abyan and Shabwa. It seems to me as if the government is linked to the Al-Qaeda attacks as it is the only one benefiting from the attacks and losing nothing.
Yemen is trying to picture to the world that the south is the backbone of Al-Qaeda, as it is also the homeland for its leader Osama bin Laden.
We also need to remember that Anwar Awlaqi, a Yemeni American preacher is from the south of Yemen. He is now internationally wanted for terrorism related claims.
Yemen is receiving almost $500 million dollars annually from western countries to fight extremism.
So, from the south comes oil, gas, cement, international support to fight Al-Qaeda, a 2000 kilometer coastal line, and 2/3 the size of the current Yemen, which proves that the northern part would do anything in its power to keep Yemen united.
We do not believe any attacks will take place in northern Yemen anytime soon, while on the other hand, we will see another attack in a different part of the south, maybe Mukalla or Seiyun. Such attacks will convince the west that southern Yemen could never be an independent state if it’s goal is to fight Al-Qaeda.

They seem to have it out for al-Gamish, the question is why. There was some flaky back story on al-Gamish earlier retaliating for not getting his cut on some land thefts and the blow-back from that. Earth Times

Sana’a, Yemen – Yemen’s wing of al-Qaeda on Friday claimed responsibility for a pair of week-old coordinated attacks on security agencies in the south of the Arab country, saying they were meant to avenge the killing of two of its members. (Read on …)

I had thought the peace convoy from Taiz had more of a lasting effect. Also its the anniversary of the clashes in Zanzibar which killed 17 and wounded more than 20 “because they raised their voices demanding the restoration of the state and still the occupation regime committed massacres and crimes against our brothers in the south, but today Dali is surrounded and encircled from all sides that the area of the city of Dali five square kilometers There are five military brigades and more than twenty military barracks to prevent food and medicine from our brothers in Dali.”

As reported by Terror Free Somalia:

After 10 days of investigation, leads are pointing to two Pakistani nationals who include a top manager at a Ugandan telecom company as the main financiers, and a Yemeni national as the mastermind of the July 11 synchronised bombings that killed at least 76 people in Kampala, reliable sources say.The new findings widen the investigation that had hitherto largely focused on the Al Shabaab, an Islamist militia in Somalia reportedly with links to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda that claimed responsibility for the bombings and issued a congratulatory message to the bombers.

The Yemeni national whose identity could not readily be established entered the country in January this year through the eastern Busia border post, sources close to the investigation say. He is then said to have approached a land lady in Kisigula Zone, Mutundwe, a Kampala suburb, for accommodation. He rented her six-bedroom house at Shs 600,000 per month for six months. He paid four months’ rent straight and promised to pay the balance later.The Yemeni man moved into the spacious house quietly, with a young man believed to be of Ugandan origin. In April, the Yemeni man stealthily left the house to the young man, who is now believed to have been the suicide bomber at the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala, according to sources.The land lady, who doesn’t live on the premises, did not notice the suspicious behaviour of the young man and whenever she went to demand the balance on rent, the man would humbly tell her that his boss (the Yemeni) ‘had gone on safari and would be back soon to pay the money,’ our sources told us. In the meantime, the house became a bee-hive of activity with lots of people moving in and out, including teenage girls, sources told us.

Earlier on Uganda.

UN

22 July 2010 – The United Nations is expressing concern about the humanitarian situation in northern Yemen, where the needs of the local population displaced by ongoing fighting vastly outstrip the funds provided so far by donors.

Less than $70 million, or 36 per cent, of the $187 million sought this year by aid agencies for assistance in Yemen has been received, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today.

UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been providing relief to civilians in Yemen’s north, where Government forces have engaged rebels in sporadic armed conflict in recent years. (Read on …)

These scum sucking dogs are who Obama is applauding, its unbelievable.

Yemen – Increasing harassment of human rights defender Ms Afrah Sa’eed, Front Line Defenders

Since March 2010, human rights defender Ms Afrah Sa’eed has been subjected to increasingly serious harassment and intimidation because of her work in defence of others. Afrah Sa’eed is the Secretary General of the Arab Foundation for the Support of Women and Juveniles and the information coordinator at the Yemeni Organization for the Defense of Democratic Rights and Freedom.

For the last four months, Afrah Sa’eed and her daughter have received a number of threatening and abusive phone calls. Afrah Sa’eed’s telephone usage has been monitored and she has been followed in the streets. The door of her apartment has been knocked on and the glass in the windows smashed in the middle of the night, while her electricity supply and internet connection have been regularly cut off. Her computer system
has also been hacked. In an attempt to force her to sign a pledge agreeing to stop her human rights activities, Afrah Sa’eed’s salary has been cut for two successive months and a government scholarship
which her son had been receiving to finance his studies in Syria has also been reduced. This came after he was summoned to the Yemeni embassy in Damascus and accused of participating in a sit-in in front of the embassy.

Afrah Sa’eed has been active in reporting on human rights violations, including those by the army and security apparatus, in southern Yemen. Since 2009, she has liaised with and met representatives of
many international human rights organisations, including Front Line. It is believed that this is one of the reasons why the current campaign of harassment and intimidation has been launched against her.

Front Line believes that Afrah Sa’eed and members of her family have been targeted and harassed because of Afrah Sa’eed’s work as a human rights defender, especially in relation to monitoring and reporting human rights violations in southern Yemen.

Front Line calls on you to urge the authorities in Yemen to:

1. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial
investigation into the harassment against Afrah Sa’eed and her family, with a view to
publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in
accordance with international standards;

2. Take all necessary measures to
guarantee the physical and psychological security and integrity of
Afrah Sa’eed and members of her family

3. Guarantee in all circumstances that human
rights defenders in Yemen are able to carry out their legitimate
human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all
restrictions including judicial harassment.