Armies of Liberation

Yemen Post

Water scarcity, population growth and internal conflicts are major reasons for food insecurity in Yemen, a recent report has said, warning if immediate action is not taken, food security will remain at extremely low levels until 2010 and the country will be vulnerable for external shocks and disasters.
The report issued by the Institute of Food Research (IFR) noted that food insecurity is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. (Read on …)

A nice solid report from the Yemen Times.

SANA’A, July 20 — The population of Yemen has multiplied five times in the last 54 years, and is predicted to triple again by 2035, according to the Health and Population Committee of the Yemeni Parliament.

The committee produced a report which was discussed earlier this month on the occasion of World Population Day, July 11, highlighting the dangers of rapid population growth in Yemen.

The report predicts that by year 2035 the country’s current 23 million inhabitants will have increased to at least 61 million, almost triple the size today. Yemen’s population growth rate is 3.7 while its fertility rate which is the average number of children for every Yemeni woman during her life time is 6.1.

Moreover, the infant mortality rate in the country is also considered one of the highest in the world at 53 deaths per every 1000 live births according to UNICEF’s 2008 statistics. Child mortality for children below five is also high at 69 deaths for every 1000 live births. The report also indicated that maternal mortality is quite high in Yemen as 365 mothers die while giving birth in every 100 thousand live births. (Read on …)

CPJ, By Mohamed Abdel Dayem/CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator

One opinion was relayed to me repeatedly by numerous journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders during the week I just spent in Yemen: The crackdown against independent and opposition media in the country has not been this concerted at any time since the reunification of the southern and northern halves of the country in 1990. (Read on …)

Update: attack was from a Saudi car registered to one on the Kingdom’s most wanted list. I guess they are not comparing the list of cars entering Yemen with the most wanted list.

SANA’A, July 24 (Saba) – A pickup with a Saudi number plate was used in Thursday’s attack on a security patrol in Shabwa Province in which five soldiers were killed, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

The white car entered Yemen 17 days ago through the Alwadiah crossing, it said.

The ministry circulated the car throughout the country and blacklisted its owner identified as Ahmed Saleh Hudeij Al-Hamami, a Saudi.

Reuters – Gunmen killed at least five Yemeni soldiers on Thursday in a suspected al Qaeda ambush of a military convoy in the south, the third assault on state targets in five weeks blamed on the group’s resurgent regional arm.

Al Qaeda in Yemen previously focussed on high-impact strikes against Western and Saudi targets, but appears now to be targeting government forces in response to enhanced Yemen-U.S. security coordination and a government crackdown.

“There was an ambush targeting the soldiers’ vehicle and five were killed and a sixth was wounded. There is suspicion that al Qaeda was behind the operation,” an official in the southern province of Shabwa told Reuters.

The attackers then seized the soldiers’ vehicle and weapons before fleeing into nearby hills, another official said. The defence ministry blamed the attack on “terrorists,” using language it typically reserves to refer to al Qaeda…Last month, gunmen raided the regional headquarters of the political security office in Aden, killing 11, an attack al Qaeda said was revenge for a state assault on a militant stronghold. Last week, more suspected al Qaeda gunmen attacked two security buildings, igniting clashes that killed four people.

That’s the number the Saudis caught.

Arab News: JEDDAH: Immigration authorities in Jazan said on Wednesday that 2,454 Yemeni infiltrators, illegal residents and beggars were caught in the past one month.

“Infiltration of Yemenis into Saudi Arabia from the southern border is still continuing despite the heavy presence of border guards,” said a written statement from the local Passport Department, pointing out that border officials have increased their vigilance since the conflict with Yemeni rebels earlier this year.

“Border guards have cut new passages in (mountainous) areas that were not accessible in the past in order to be able to patrol the area and prevent infiltration and smuggling,” said the statement.

Saudi Arabia’s long and porous border with Yemen is one of highest concern for the authorities. Last year, officials responded to more than 130,000 smuggling attempts, including weapons and humans, compared with about 140,000 such incidents in the rest of the Kingdom.

AFP SANAA — Officially, slavery was abolished back in 1962 but a judge’s decision to pass on the title deed of a “slave” from one master to another has blown the lid off the hidden bondage of hundreds of Yemenis. The judge in the town of Hajja, which is home to some 300 slaves, according to residents, said he had certified the transfer only because the new owner planned to free the slave. But his decision has triggered a campaign by local human right activists. (Read on …)

Yemen Online

YemenOnline.July 21- Yemeni authorities released 82 prisoners detained during anti-government protests in the south in a step towards implementing the Yemeni president decision which anounced in the last celebration of Yemen unity .

“Eighty-two prisoners were freed in Al-Mukalla,” the main city in the southeastern province of Hadramawt, “on the orders of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after the deal was signed with the opposition,” the official said.

All of those released have “participated in protests” in support of Yemen’s Southern Movement, the official added, referring to a coalition of groups with demands ranging from greater autonomy to full independence for the south.

The agreement to embark on a national dialogue was signed on Saturday with the opposition Common Forum, which groups the main Islamist opposition — Al-Islah (Reform) — the Yemen Socialist Party — which was once the ruling faction in the formerly independent south — as well as other smaller groups.

It focuses on mechanisms to implement a February 2009 accord for national dialogue and the postponement of a parliamentary election until April 2011 to allow time to amend Yemen’s constitution and restructure its political system….Officials in the region estimate that some 300 southern activists are in custody.

Losers!!!

NYDNA slick new Al Qaeda magazine written in English to lure U.S. jihadists may be the work of a former New Yorker with an eye for graphics – and a lust for American blood. Intelligence officials see chilling similarities between a militant blog Samir Khan produced and the Internet-based magazine Inspire. Khan landed on intelligence radar in 2007, when he was 21, after posting an Osama Bin Laden screed to the blog he maintained from his parents’ basement.

The blog boasted crisp graphics, an easy familiarity with American culture and attitudes, and a pipeline to hard-core rhetoric. Fast forward to last month, when Al Qaeda put out Inspire, with the message that U.S. military action in the Arab world must be avenged. The packaging spooked experts with its potential for recruiting Western youth. It also seemed familiar to those who track militants, like the Jawa Report blog…

Khan has been in Yemen since October – and the mag was posted by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen branch with ties to American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki uses English to get his message out in the West.

(Read on …)

Ali Nasser Mohammed President of the PDRY “vehemently denied published allegations that he and other opposition leaders in exile were consulted before signing of the Framework agreement between the GPC and the JMP, Naba News reported. Nasser described the claims as “a slander with only one goal, to smear, with no basis in reality, adding that he would love it so much if the ruling party as well as the opposition parties could start solving the big problems rather than get trapped in small ones.” Southern leaders within Yemen are unanimous in their denunciation of the accord, calling it a conspiracy. More on the agreement below the fold.

Daily Star: SANAA: Shiite rebels Monday came out in support of an agreement between the ruling party and the opposition to embark on a national dialogue between Yemen’s numerous rivals. “We express our satisfaction and support for the agreement between the Common Forum and the [ruling] General People’s Congress,” the rebels said in a statement. (Read on …)

Its a powder keg waiting to go off. Its unclear if its a tribal clash or a military one since the Houthis are fighting with “Army backed tribes.”

SANAA — Fighting in mountainous north Yemen between Shiite rebels and army-backed tribes over the past four days have left at least 49 people dead, threatening a fragile truce, tribal and rebel sources said on Wednesday.
(Read on …)

They plead guilty to lying about a hit list. Below is the State Department’s notice about Awlaki addition to the UN’s 1267 terrorism sanctions list. The list is meaningless in Yemen; Sheik Zindani is on it and his assets were not seized and in fact he traveled with President Saleh to Saudi Arabia a few years ago. Update: Zach Chesser, arrested after admitting to trying to join al Shabab, is another Awlaki drone.

NWCN: ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Alaska couple accused in a domestic terrorism plot is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to federal charges of lying about creating a hit list of possible targets. (Read on …)

Two entirely unrelated stories, 1) US freezes Anwar Awlaki’s assets and criminalizes providing material support to him; 2) After February truce agreement and May’s amnesty announcement, there’s still over 400 rebels in jail and dozens of southerners. In theory, Saleh agreed to release them but we’ve heard it dozens of times before. He uses the prisoners as a bargaining chip against the opposition and the general public.

Gulf Times: Yemen’s government has agreed to free more than 400 people, mostly northern rebels, as the Arab state tries to launch a dialogue with opposition groups, an opposition leader said yesterday.

An opposition coalition and the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party signed an agreement yesterday to set up a joint body for a national dialogue, state media reported.

The government is trying to halt conflict in the northern province of Saada with Shia rebels as well as with secessionists in the south.

“As demanded by the opposition in order to sign the agreement, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has issued a directive to free 27 from the southern movement and 400 with links to the fighting in Saada,” the opposition figure, who declined to be named, told Reuters. (Read on …)

Mareb Press quotes Interior Minister Rashid al Masiri that “rallies witnessed by the southern provinces since 2009 and until mid-year 2010 amounted to 445 process in addition to 87 cuts and looting.” ( Yemen Observer has English.)

The World Food Progam set up a donate page for receiving contributions for starving people in Yemen:

You can donate below to support the World Food Programme’s relief operation in Yemen

Hunger and malnutrition are widespread in Yemen and require urgent intervention. The UN World Food Programme (WFP), facing funding shortfalls, has been forced to cut rations for those displaced by fighting in the northern part of Yemen. Without new funding, more ration cuts will follow.

WFP reports: For the Sa´ada operation for displaced persons, the agency is facing a shortfall of US$ 20 million until the end of 2010. In the current situation, the agency will be forced to continue distributing reduced rations until food runs out entirely before the end of October.

Based on planned activities for 2010, the estimated budget for all WFP Yemen operations is some US$108 million. Of this budget, nearly US$70 million still needs to be resourced. Without increased support, the agency will be unable to provide critical monthly food and nutrition support to 3.1 million beneficiaries during the second half of 2010.

Click here to donate to the WFP.

170,000 migrants from Somalia and 330,000 internally displaced by the Saada Wars, Yemen Times:

Head of the UNHCR Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, Ambassador Peter Woolcott, visited Yemen from July 5 to July 10 to observe the situation of refugees and internally displaced persons in the country, an especially important visit since the UN refugee agency is in the midst of a funding crisis…“We are dealing with something like 170 thousand refugees and 330 thousand IDPs,” he said. “These are very large numbers from any standpoint.” (—) But he believes that for many, resettlement is only a dream because of the small number of refugees who are able to start new lives in countries outside Somalia.

“Some one thousand are resettled from Yemen each year, but the number of refugees is 130,000,” he said. “They are very dependent on essentially the handouts and generosity of the donor community and UNHCR.” (—) UNHCR Yemen appealed in February 2010 for USD 39.1 million. Afterwards, this figure was revised to USD 52.1 million to cover the needs of both refugees and internally displaced persons in 2010. So far the Yemen Appeal remains funded at just 44 percent of overall needs.

It was billed by Awlaki as the first face to face confrontation between the military and AQAP. Does anyone really think that Anwar Awlaki was at the battle of Marib? Whoever wrote that post on his site at the time was still pumped with adrenaline. Let give it two years and see if the sentence is still standing.

July 7: AFP: A court in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday sentenced to death two young men suspected of being Al-Qaeda members for a series of lethal attacks. The men, Mansour Saleh Salem Daleel, 18, and Mubarak Ali Hadi al-Shabwani, 23, who denied the charges, were arrested on December 11 in the Marib province of eastern Yemen.

The pair were accused of “participating in an armed gang which carried out criminal actions against military and security officials and members of the armed forces,” according to the list of charges…The two men were likewise accused of killing three officials along with their two companions while they were driving on November 3 in the southern province of Hadramut. Also, the prosecution said they killed a soldier in a July 2009 attack on an army truck loaded with weapons and ammunition.

Mmareb Press reports some instances of civil disobedience following the sentencing of two from Marib, accused as al-Qaeda: He said a local source for “Marib Press” Gunmen, believed to have ties including convicted today of the Specialized Penal Court in Sana’a, they opened fire on a military post at the entrance to the city of Marib (point of the airport), had cut off the tribe (Al until you Ubaydah) by Whistler Sana after the verdict.

NEFA has an account of Awlaki’s write up which includes more misdirected artillery: “The army used artillery to bomb the houses of the brothers but the shells fell on houses of members of the tribe who were against the mujahideen. The fight started at noon July 30th and ended at sunset…The first face to face fight between the army and the mujahideen ended in a resounding victory for the mujahideen.”

Yemen Post

Head of the Association for Rehabilitation and Care of Yemeni Disabled Ali Ahmed Al-Wajih said on Thursday that 10 per cent of the Yemeni population is disabled. Roughly two million of the total population estimated at more than 20 million people are disabled, he said.

Hundreds of Yemeni people become physically and mentally disabled a day due to conflicts, tribal disputes and road and work-related accidents, he made clear. (Read on …)

This is from the 8th but I need to get it into the archives.

Arab News: SANAA: A third power station in southern Yemen caught fire on Thursday after two others were engulfed in flames earlier in the week in what the government said were attacks by secessionists. (Read on …)

Later reports indicate five dead, three security and two attackers. Al Teef is reporting that the gunmen shot up Tariq al Fadhli’s house after they left the scene of the attack.

At least two people are dead after gunmen attacked two security buildings in southern Yemen on Wednesday, local officials say. (Read on …)

Paperwork too much to tackle.

Yemen Post: The Ministry of Electricity and Energy has not yet drawn down all donor funds estimated at more than $ 1 billion allocated before and during the 2006 London Donor Conference for the power sector in Yemen, an official who asked not to be named told the News Yemen on Thursday. (Read on …)