9/23/11 HRF: Cables released by Wikileaks reveal that Slobodan Tesic, a Serbian arms dealer, contracted in 2009 to sell $95 million worth of sniper rifles, antiaircraft guns, and other arms and ammunition to the Yemen Ministry of Defense. As scores of unarmed protestors continue to be killed by the Yemeni government in renewed violence this week, possibly by these same weapons, Human Rights First renews its call for the United States to actively pressure the networks that enable brutal violence against civilians and grave human rights abuses.

Tesic has previously been connected with weapon sales in Liberia, Libya, Iraq, and elsewhere. He is subject to a U.N. travel ban for violating an arms embargo in Liberia. In 2002, he shipped “enough bullets to kill the entire population of Liberia,” enabling the former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s alleged war crimes. The arms dealer is also connected with weapon sales to Iraq and to terrorist regimes. Despite Tesic’s clear embargo violation and connection with atrocities, he was able to work with the Albanian Ministry of Defense to bring weapons into Libya in 2010, and contract with the Yemeni government in 2009. The influx and proliferation of weapons in the region has helped fuel significant violence against civilians and other human rights abuses.

HOOD Condemns arms dealing and Calls to “Stand together to stop war”

HOOD followed with great concern the developing military tension in Yemen, which form catastrophic internal war threatens the most significant human rights, right to life and safety first and other basic rights that require a reasonable presence of the State services.

Observing the fingers of military conflict from both ruling and opposition parties ready to pull the trigger, HOOD warns everybody that this war will not make any party a dominant force or win the regime, rather the military leaders will be lords of war who will secure shelter away from the fires of each others in a war harvested its benefits by arms factories and broker.

HOOD condemns the use of collective punishment policy, the management by crisis, denying citizens access to basic services such as water, electricity, fuel, creating a state of tension in the streets of the capital and the other cities, preventing the citizens from the right to move and cutting all roads leading to Sana’a, the capital.

Hood hails the steadfastness of the Yemeni youth in the squares, urging them to maintain their peaceful approach guaranteed by the peaceful Islamic laws, international treaties and the Constitution of Yemen, which confirms their concern for the safety of the country and its people.

The internal war is an expression of failure of all parties resorted to or engaged in violence, regardless of whatever justifications and reasons. Considering the long-term impacts of the political failure Yemen has suffered, Yemen at present is in a dire need of its loyal citizens and their sacrifice of their personal interest for the welfare of the country and to walk forward for the prosperous future and pass over the past aftermath.

HOOD calls the international community brothers and friends to help the Yemeni people to restore their right to elect who rules them and how, and to spare the Yemeni people the ordeal and destruction of war .

HOOD also calls for all countries of the world to stop exporting arms to Yemen, and condemns in particular the Russian continuous provision of arms and military equipment to the Republican Guards which makes Russia a war partner in the killing of the Yemeni people and the destruction of its infrastructure.

HOOD calls on all Yemeni rational people, civil society organizations & activists, human rights advocates, lawyers, scholars, and all Yemeni people to stand “together against the civil war” and spare the blood of Yemenis.

HOOD

4\9\2011

Mareb press

Tribesmen of the revolution – west of the capital Sanaa – were able to prevent the movement of a large force made ​​up of columns of tanks, vehicles and armored trains loaded with weapons and ammunition, which was on its way to the capital Sana’a. The sources said that the convoy is from an arms deals with Russia, which arrived at the port of Hodeidah recently and includes 40 tanks and many other equipment.

Marib Press has learned that the military convoy was intercepted by tribesmen and they burned a dozen tanks and injuring a number of locomotives in the sensitive parts “Tire – engines” resulting in a passing off, but the rest of the equipment delivered from the confrontations and continued its flight to the capital Sana’a.

To the transfer of witnesses in the province of Marib, Dhamar Press reported tonight that the columns of tanks out of the camp Qishla of the Republican Guard Dhamar province, which is destined to Sana’a.

Considered the source of military Marib Press, “that these actions reveal the intentions of the system to escalate the situation militarily in the capital Sana’a through the recruitment and drag and import of arms in a frightening confirm that there are intentions to escalate the situation inside the arena the Yemeni military, especially after the rejection in favor of the signing of the initiative Gulf.

Terror Free Somalia: The U.S Navy has intercepted a Somalia bound Yemeni cargo ship carrying weapons suspected to be for Somalia’s Al Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab militia.Somalia consulate in Yemen said the cargo ship en route from Yemen to Somalia coastline ended up in the hands of U.S Navy at the Gulf of Aden.The Somali consul Hussein Hajji Ahmed said U.S navy opened fire on the ship after the ship captain defied Navy orders to stop the vessel but later surrender to the United States navy.

He added that the ship is suspected of carrying military supplies for the Al-Shabaab militia in Somalia, a clear indication that Yemeni Al-Qaeda supports the militia in terms of weaponry.Ahmed said investigations into the issue are currently underway.He urged the Somali government to boost security along the country’s coastlines and seek supports from the neighbouring countries in making sure that no arms are illegally smuggled into the country through the coastal areas.The U.S has recently received critical information suggesting that Yemeni based Al-Qaeda network provides weapons and other military necessities to Somalia’s Al-Shabaab insurgents fighting the Somali government.

Euro news: LONDON (Reuters) – Somali pirates have been using Yemen’s remote Horn of Africa island of Socotra as a refuelling hub enabling their attack craft to stay restocked for longer periods at sea and pose a greater hazard to shipping, maritime sources say.

Despite an international naval presence in the region, seaborne gangs have been exploiting political turmoil in Yemen to pick up fuel, and possibly other supplies including food, sources told Reuters.

“Socotra has been used for months if not longer,” said Michael Frodl, with C-LEVEL maritime risk consultancy and an adviser to Lloyd’s of London underwriters, citing intelligence reports he was privy to.

“It is perhaps the most important refuelling hub for hijacked merchant vessels used as motherships, especially those operating between the Gulf of Aden and India’s western waters, mainly off Oman and increasingly closer to the Strait of Hormuz.”

“A hijacked merchant vessel, unlike a hijacked dhow, has a voracious thirst for fuel and needs a very well stocked refuelling station,” Frodl said…“Socotra has been a favourite stomping ground for pirates for centuries as both Marco Polo and the great 14th century Islamic scholar and traveller Ibn Battuta attest,” said J. Peter Pham, with U.S. think tank the Atlantic Council.

“A credible amount of evidence has emerged in recent years that Somali pirates have certainly taken advantage of jurisdictional issues to operate in and out of the Socotra archipelago with at least the tacit connivance of at least some Yemeni authorities.”

A maritime security source said there were transactions taking place between dhows in the Socotra archipelago as well.

“In addition to fuel, these exchanges involve arms, most of which are then shipped to Puntland for distribution either to pirates or to various armed factions,” the source said.

Pirates conducted several attacks in May in the Arabian Sea and some strikes in June. Maritime officials say the islands will become more difficult to reach in smaller ships until October because of wind, sea and swell conditions.

Yemen’s military is believed to have a base on Socotra, maritime sources said. “If the military wanted to supply mother ships with fuel from Socotra they could. Corruption in Yemen is rife,” another maritime source said.

NATO said it had ships in the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden since March 2009 and the presence of NATO warships and other nations’ navies had resulted in a significant reduction in pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden over the past two years.

“We are not complacent and understand there is still much work to be done,” a NATO spokeswoman said.

“As Yemen forms the northern coast of the Gulf of Aden and is only 200 miles from Somalia, it is feasible that the pirates could use Yemeni ports for supplies. However, we have no evidence to suggest that this is happening. Similarly with Socotra, there is no evidence to suggest it is used as a pirate hub.”

Al Sahwa

Sahwa Net- The commander of the Air Forces Mohammad Saleh Al-Ahmar has distributed 13500 pieces for thugs, loyal to the regime, well-informed sources told Sahwa Net. The sources affirmed that Al-Ahmar, half-brother of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, was supposed to distribute 25,000 pieces of AK-47 to arm soldiers and officers of the Air Forces, but that did not happen.

They affirmed that some officers of the Air Forces held a meeting with Al-Ahmrar a week ago and they were promised to receive the weapons, but his promises has not been fulfilled. Meanwhile, dozens of the Air Forces’ officials carried out last week an open strike, demanding to have their financial dues.

CAPE TOWN — South African- manufactured Ratel armoured infantry carriers have been photographed in strife-torn Yemen, leading the Democratic Alliance (DA) to call for an investigation by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC).

The Ratels were apparently being operated in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, by soldiers who had defected to protesters demanding the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.

The presence of the vehicles either means SA authorised their export or that another country sold Ratels to Yemen, which would constitution a violation of the end- user certificate.

DA defence spokesman David Maynier said in a statement yesterday that NCACC chairman Jeff Radebe should launch an investigation into how the converted Ratels, previously operated by the South African National Defence Force, had found their way to Yemen.

“Over 100 pictures of demonstrations in Yemen were recently published by Reuters and the Associated Press. The series includes a number of pictures of a converted Ratel infantry vehicle in Yemen,” Mr Maynier said.

“The NCACC’s latest annual report records that R373,8m worth of conventional arms were sold to Yemen in 2010. Conventional arms exports to Yemen last year included R239,4m worth of Category A conventional weapons, which are described as major conventional implements of war that could cause heavy personnel casualties.”

Mr Maynier was ejected from the National Assembly in March when he questioned whether SA had supplied sniper rifles to Libya and asked Mr Radebe how it felt to have “blood on his hands”.

Mr Maynier yesterday there was no evidence suggesting Ratels were exported directly to Yemen, but some were reportedly sold to Jordan.

He said: “The Paramount Group, in co-operation with the King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau (KADDB), produced a converted version of the Ratel infantry vehicle in Jordan; and the infantry vehicle depicted in the photos appears to be the converted version of the Ratel infantry vehicle produced by the Paramount Group and KADDB in Jordan.

The NCACC annual report in April showed significant military hardware sales to North Africa and the Middle East. Last year R68,9m worth of conventional arms were exported to Libya, R7,7m to Syria and R373,8m to Yemen. This included Category A weapons such as explosives, large-calibre arms and automatic weapons, guns, missiles, bombs, grenades and tanks.

Leaked document reveals that the regime is planning to blow up civil war.

A secret document issued by the People’s Committee for Defending the Constitutional Legitimacy and the President in Dalii city revealed the distribution of weapons to citizens through the President of the GCP in preparation for civil war.

The document is to direct to governor of Dali city, President of the People’s Committe, Major General. Ali Qassim Talib to the cheif of security of Dalii to give out 325 pieces of Kalashnikov to Qataba directorate and handing it to President of GCP in that directorate Sheikh. Abdulrab Al-Marah according to the plan that was submitted to him as it is shown in the document.

Al-Wahdawi website published the document quoting other confirmed sources that the governor had distributed weapons to security personnel. More sources pointed that the ruler has already distributed some weapons to its members confidentially.

So this military unit is supposed to patrol without weapons? They sound like sitting ducks to me.

People’sDaily: An outbreak of disputes and divisions erupted on Wednesday between soldiers loyal to former military commander Abdul aIlah al-kadhi, who resigned and announced his support for the youth peaceful protest movement, and their new appointed leader in Yemen’s southern province of Lahj, local military officers told Xinhua.

The disputes aroused as the new leader withdrew the weapons of the soldiers in order to avoid rebellion following the resignation of al-kadhi and refused to give back to them so far, the officer said on condition of anonymity.

“As a result, the soldiers in the military base organized a demonstration in front of the military camp and threatened to escalate protest in case there is no response to their demands,” he added.

Original: That makes sense, anybody remember the lab that was found in oh 2009 in Sanaa. The Saddamists in Sanaa have always been a negative influence, including in Saaada, where co-incidentally there were also reports of chemical weapon use. I can’t believe the international community hasn’t rushed in there to test it at the first report and that the US embassy came out with some mealy mouth statement that the US does not have the capacity to determine the ingredients and can’t help in any way on the issue. Imagine the response if it was Iran? If its homecooked, the US really should get some testing going otherwise it is going to be widely perceived as of US origin. And you would think the US would want to know if anyone in Yemen is cooking their own nerve gas for many reasons. Mohammed Qatan is a leading reformist member of Islah. France24 has more doctors disputing the possibility that tear gas caused the symptoms of some protesters.

al Baida News: The protesters called for allowing ambulances to transport the injured, and demanded from the Yemeni army forces to protect them from the special forces, security and ruling party militants, according to one of the protesters.

Medical sources said that the U.S. made gas as it is written on it in bottles

To that revealed to Muhammad Qahtan spokesman for the joint opposition bloc that “they have information that the gas in which they are beating the protesters are prepared in private rooms in the special forces led by the son of Yemeni President Ali Ahmed and Dean are being prepared by Iraqi experts.”