Armies of Liberation

- How to help Yemen come unstuck by Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. Article details how the immunity plan and the general air of impunity is hindering military/ security restructuring and reform in general, gives detailed action plan Also see Transition Needs Accountability, Security Reform, Human Rights Watch Delegation Completes Official Visit in Sanaa

- a good paper by Yemeni expert Nadwa Al Dawsari, April 2012 Carnegie: Tribal governance and conflict resolution traditions will again play a part in helping to ease tensions and mitigate conflicts that will arise as Yemen moves toward political transition. Tribal mechanisms for conflict resolution need to be ntegrated with the formal system so that they work alongside and complement formal institutions. Issues related to the stresses that the tribal system is facing must be addressed within that framework.

- The Social fund for Development www.sfd-yemen.org issued a “qualitative study it carried out on a sample of 74 of its beneficiary communities. The study quantifies economic and social impact of the events of 2011 on those communities.”

- Senior UN Official Concerned About Worsening Humanitarian Situation in Yemen: New data shows that food insecurity in Yemen has doubled over the last two years. Five million people, or nearly a quarter of the population, are severely food insecure, meaning that they are not able to grow or buy enough food for their family and need urgent assistance. At least 800,000 children are suffering from acute malnutrition.

- Al Bab, Brian Whittiker’s blog, 4/9: The Saleh regime fights back

- HRW: US: Transfer CIA Drone Strikes to Military Ensure Intelligence Agency Abides by International Law

(New York, April 20, 2012) – Remarks by a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official suggesting the agency is not legally bound by the laws of war underscore the urgent need for the Obama administration to transfer command of all aerial drone strikes to the armed forces, Human Rights Watch said today.

The CIA’s general counsel, Stephen Preston, in a speech entitled “CIA and the Rule of Law” at Harvard Law School on April 10, 2012, said the agency would implement its authority to use force “in a manner consistent with the … basic principles” of the laws of war. The laws of war are not mere principles but legally binding restrictions on all forces of the parties to an armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said.

Building a Better Yemen Charles Schmitz Carnegie Paper, April 3, 2012, no comment; haven’t read it yet.

Bernard Haykel covers some of the basics so basic people seem to forget them, at his blog in Yemen after Saleh, What Next for Yemen?

Must read: Reforming Yemen’s Military by Chatham House’s Ginny Hill, March 22, 2012

Southern Observatory for Human Rights monthly report covering January 2012

Yemen – reported US covert actions since 2001 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, comprehensive list

There’s one more good one somewhere in last months emails that discusses the schism between tribal leaders and their publics that was fostered by years of Saudi and Saleh patronage, ie- thousands in monthly payments, and argues against excessive reliance on Sheikhs as proxies of governance.

NGO Resonate Yemen has issued their report on the 2012 presidential election in Yemen. It is available here at their website.

Update: As expected howls of dissent from southerners: the new leader is someone else, I hesitate to even write the name as bad things happen sometimes to emerging leaders, Nakhbi now is an Islah operative they say and there are no, repeat no, connections to Iran. But al Beidh has been talking about Iran for a long time, when he even bothers to talk at all, and I think its quite possible. For a run down on Aden TV and all Yemen private broadcasting, see this listing of who owns what at the Yemen Times.

Original: Bingo! I also do not agree with what is happening between al Beidh and Iran. The violence during the election boycott was an entirely new phenomenon which broke with the years long non-violence of the southern movement. As al Nakhbi says, it was likely due to Iranian influence through the al Beidh wing of the SM. Keep in mind Yemen Fox is affiliated with Ali Mohsen, who has his own motives for undermining the SM. But if this is an authentic interview, then that’s what it is.

While there’s noticeably a lot fewer al Beidh photos during the southern protests, its unclear the extent to which awareness of the alliance between al Beidh and Iran has filtered down to the street, although he himself has been threatening the west with Iran for years. General Nuba issued a warning to world about the danger of Iran’s growing influence in the south a few months ago. Many external former leaders are in favor of federalism as expressed at the Cairo conference. I think there’s a few more factions than the two broad ones described.

Al Nakhbi also remarks that the several corporation including the mega Yemeni Economic Military Corp remits its profits directly to Saleh. He notes elite support of al Qaeda and the symbiotic relationship between the including the recent massacre in Abyan. He concludes that Saleh must be excluded from politics. (Actually it necessary to fully depose the Saleh regime in order to integrate the Houthis as well as the southerners.) Its an interesting interview, worth a read:

Yemen Fox: Brigadier General Abdullah al-Nakhbi- Secretary-General of Southern Movement (SM) – said that many politicians believe that who stand behind recent terrorist attacks are remnants of the former regime and that Ali Abdullah Saleh has turned from president of republic to president of terrorism. Priorities of Yemenis whether in National Reconciliation Government or Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) in coordination with Gulf States and Europeans are to dismiss Ali Abdullah Saleh from practicing political action.

Nakhbi added in an interview with “Yemen Fox” that al-Qaeda is supported by Ali Abdullah Saleh, his aides and remnants of his regime, pointing out that supervisors of GCC Initiative should put pressure to implement the second term of the Initiative which is to restructure the army and Republican Guards within Ministry of Defense and Central Security within Ministry of Interior.

Interviewed with Hashem al-Toromah

Yemen Fox: How do you see Yemen after presidential elections?
Nakhbi: after presidential elections, we as Yemenis stand at change door. The new President Abdu Rabo Mansur Hadi should have a courage to start change process. Change process should first prevent Ali Abdullah Saleh from practicing politics because recent events took place after swearing oath starting from Mukalla continuing to Bayda and now in Abyan Province. Many politicians believe that who stand behind that are remnants of the former regime and that Ali Abdullah Saleh has turned from president of republic to president of terrorism. (Read on …)

There were a lot of articles on the anti-Mohsen protest on Saleh regimists funded “independent” websites, but I finally found it on what looks to be a non-aligned site. Continuing and growing momentum in the protests against corrupt military leaders and other top corrupt officials (known jointly as the institutional revolution) is a good development. Ali Mohsen’s history and connection to extremists is just as bad as the Saleh boys and nephews. The protesters also demanded that Ali Mohsen release all the prisoners he’s holding without any basis. The hegemony of Islahis, because of their funding and muscle, in the square derailed the drive toward a civil state and divided the protesters.

Mersad: Observatory – rebounds: Protest this morning outside the house of the President Hadi Street, sixty in the capital Sanaa, thousands of officers described the soldiers of the north-west and the First Armored Division, demanding dismissal and the trial of General Almends Mohsen al-Ahmar commander of the First Armored Division – revolutionary youth popular- as a result of crimes committed against them and the rights of the people of Yemen. (Read on …)

Update: As we all learn together to be more sensitive, my Yemeni friends reminded me the word Akhdam itself is disparaging term, meaning slave I think, so this is why the PR is calling them the marginalized. Black racial minority is also acceptable. Maybe African-Yemenis. Update: A new article also discusses the marginalization and segregation of black Yemenis in Aden.

Sawa’a Organization launched its open line for monitoring violations against marginalized people

Sawa’a Organization for Minorities’ Rights Defense and Anti-Discrimination is concerned about the escalation of violence against marginalized people in Taiz.

Sawa’a organization for minorities’ rights defense and anti-discrimination is watching with extreme concern the escalation of violence against the marginalized people in Taiz city which resulted in the fall of two killed people recently.

The organization monitored ,during the last week, the kill of a cleaner at the age of 22 years and another in his 7th decade was working as a guard in a land which was a place of dispute.

Sawa’a Organization for minorities’ rights defense and anti-discrimination says that the Interior ministry bears the full responsibility for what happened,and demands it to adjust the perpetrators and bring them to justice as soon as possible, and confirms that it monitored a slowdown by the security agencies in the prosecution of those accused of committing the crime of murder despite they know them.

The organization calls the security authorities in Taiz city to allow the marginalized people to express their views and opinions and not to resist their protests and protect them form any further attacks.

In this context, Sawa’a Organization launches its open line for monitoring violations to which the marginalized people are exposed and they are 01565182-711199279-77080744

e-mail: sawaa.org@gmail.com

Sawa’a Org. for Minorities’ Rights Defense and Anti-Discrimination – Sana’a

Its too bad no body is seizing assets as this guy likely has uber bucks abroad. The National Petroleum Company is only a year old; it used to be the state owned Safer Oil Co. which was abruptly dissolved last March as protests spread, likely to give the books a new start and hide evidence of mass smuggling, embezzlement. ( Safer took over Block 18 , the big one, in 2005 after Yemen failed to renew the long standing license for Hunt Oil.)

Although books begin in 2011, corrupt institutional practices (like beating employees) remained. The reason for the institutional revolution is not only the upper management withholding (stealing) workers salaries but quite frequently beating and imprisoning employees. Most ministries have “private prisons” including the Endowments Ministry.

Yemen also needs good labor unions but with hyper-politicization, corrupt Sanaa regime loyalists are management, and the state often “cloned” the workers unions with a regime created look-alike.

Yemen Post Director of the Yemeni Petroleum Company Omar Al-Arhabi has resigned following a wave of protests organized by the company’s employees.

They accused Al-Arhabi of standing behind assaults against some of the employees who headed to the cabinet demanding the resignation of Al-Arhabi. (Read on …)

In a speech this week, the US Attorney General Eric Holder laid out the Obama administration’s legal criteria for drone use and in particular for assassinating American al Qaeda members abroad. The criteria is summarized below by the Lawfare blog. More importantly than the targeting of Anwar Awlaki and Samir Khan for me, and for the residents of Abyan, Marib, Shabwa, etc., AG Holder reaffirmed the Obama administration’s firm commitment to act within the “international rules of war.”

With the recent uptick in AQAP activity and growing territorial occupation, people too poor to flee al Qaeda are terrified of both AQ and drone attacks. Hopefully this statement by AG Holder represents a real and ongoing commitment by the Obama administration to the principle of civilian immunity and US respect for the value of Yemeni lives.

AQAP does not follow the rules of war, and uses human shields, sheltering in civilian populated areas. The US has been targeting vehicle convoys, not towns. The shelling in Zinibar was from the Yemeni military, not US drones.

After grave US errors like al Mahfad (and the utterly shameful US statement that nearby Bedouins and their children were guilty of material support for selling vegetables, although the villagers had appealed to local authorities to expel the terrorists) and Saleh’s murder of his political enemy Sheik al Shabwani via US drone, visible US drones make parents very concerned. At the same time, the drones have been visible in Marib and many other locations since 2010, and I would think they are collecting surveillance photos.

I think/hope/pray the US understands that these are unwillingly occupied towns, that intel from the Saleh family is entirely unreliable, the CT units have been partially subverted by AQ and that in all cases, children under 14 cannot be terrorists.

The attitude of Yemenis is that al Qaeda should be captured, given a fair trial and imprisoned if there is actual evidence of crimes. They do not oppose counter-terror operations per se but summary execution without trial, just like many Americans who raised objections over Awlaki and Khan.

Boston Herald: Speaking at Northwestern University law school, Holder gave the most complete explanation to date of the Obama administration’s legal rationale for killing people like U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki, who was targeted in an airstrike in Yemen last year.

Such killings can be ordered “in full accordance with the Constitution” but require “at least” an imminent threat in a situation where capture is not feasible, and when the strike is “conducted in a manner consistent” with the rules of war, Holder said.

The lawfare summary brings up another issue though, “a senior operational role,” which presupposes that the US knows who it is droning. While the criteria Holder outlined is for deliberate targeting of US citizens, it would be nice to think that the US has some clue as to the names of its Yemeni targets and doesn’t just look for random gatherings of bearded men. In Yemen, the most accurate fatality listing of US drone strikes comes from al Qaeda itself, and the Yemeni government announced Qasim al Reimi was dead four times.

While I imagine there are vast challenges to intelligence gathering on AQAP, it is this imprecision that can lead to collateral damage or more accurately, dead children. I still haven’t gotten over the photos of the crucifixion of the “spies,” but logically a modicum of respect for southerners as southerners in general would go a long way. The language of SD spox Victoria Nuland’s Press Briefing 3/5/12 blew southerners minds, and she probably had no clue how very poorly and furiously it would be received.

via Lawfare’s summary: That is, the speech asserts that Due Process permits targeting of a citizen at least when the target is:

(i) located abroad rather than in the United States,

(ii) has a senior operational role

(iii) with al Qaeda or an al Qaeda-associated force,

(iv) is involved in plotting focused on the death of Americans in particular,

(v) that threat is “imminent” in the sense that this is the last clear window of opportunity to strike,

(vi) there is no feasible option for capture without undue risk, and

(vii) the strike will comply with the IHL principles of necessity, distinction, proportionality, and humanity.

What is the acceptable metric of civilian causality per each suspected al Qaeda targeted? Much, much lower than Afghanistan I hope. Its a very volatile situation.

In order to restructure the military, the transitional govt needs to know what exists and where; a US congressional report in 2009ish found that the Yemeni CT forces and military could not account for or locate some equipment granted as US military assistance. Furthermore, direct and brokered Yemeni arms purchases are sometimes sold in bulk to the black market, and individual soldiers (who sometimes aren’t paid for months) have been known to sell their weapons.

In reality, all ministries and government offices should be subject to an inventory (including cars). However, considering the gargantuan levels of corruption and mismanagement at all levels, a secondary audit is imperative. Asking the people responsible for the embezzlement to count the inventory is a recipe for more subterfuge.

A secondary audit of the inventory would be a good job for the revolutionaries, many of whom have accounting and computer degrees. As outsiders they would be independent, and its a good method to enfranchise them in the transition process while generating trust through transparency. International assistance by experienced accountants of the process may also increase the Yemeni auditors skill levels and employ-ability. Of course the US will be embarrassed by how much of its intended CT aid was stolen, diverted and/or resold, but sunlight is good for everybody.

Its very important however to standardized the inventory process regionally and from ministry to ministry–from the beginning. Starting with compatible processes, methods, computer systems and software is essential. For example, Yemen’s years long difficulty in generating stats and paperwork on the Somali refugees arises in large part from technical obstacles generated by using different accounting methods, incompatible databases and different computer systems, both vertically and horizontally. This impending pitfall is easily overcome with a little forethought at this point.

al Sahwa, President directs to count properties of military

Alsahwah.net- Yemen President Abdu-Rabo Mansour Hadi has directed on Wednesday the Defense Ministry to form technical committees to count the properties of the army in a move that precede the reconstruction of the military and end the division.

Meanwhile, the government tasked the Oil and Mineral Minister, Hisham Sharaf, to appoint a new director-general of the Oil Petroleum Company after the resignation of the former director in response to waves of protests by the employees of the company.

According to the Yemeni News Agency, Saba, military commanders held on Wednesday a meeting presided by the Defense Minister Ahmed Nasser Ahmed. The meeting discussed the counting of the military’s properties and how to halt the squandering of the public resources.

Also see “Fixing Broken Windows”: Security Sector Reform in Palestine, Lebanon, and Yemen Carnegie 2009

Where is the actual budget break down posted? These numbers are meaningless. The new law of the land in Yemen (the GCC document) guarantees fiscal transparency, and anti-corruption measures are one important demand of the people. Normally there is an end of the year supplemental that increases spending by about 25%.

Bloomberg: Yemen’s government plans to spend 2,111 billion rials ($9.8 billion) this year, according to draft budget plans reported by state-run news agency Saba. The draft expenditure, which requires the approval of parliament in Sana’a, represents a 17 percent increase over the 2011 budget that was approved Dec. 5, 2010. Yemen has been using last year’s budget for the first quarter of this year as unrest forced President Ali Abdullah Saleh from office last month and repeated clashes undermined business activity.

Government recognizes the state budget for fiscal year 2012 by 2 trillion and 672 billion and 740 million rials
[06 / March / 2012]

Sana’a (Saba) -

Council of Ministers approved in its weekly meeting today, chaired by Council President Brother Mohammed Salem Basendwah the draft state budget for fiscal year 2012, and projects of independent and attached budgets and special funds budgets and the economic sector and laws linked to .. And the allocation to the House of Representatives to complete the necessary constitutional procedures.

The Council instructed the Minister of Legal Affairs and Minister of State for the House of Representatives and the Shura Council in coordination with the Minister of Finance to follow up those actions.

The estimated resources of the state budget at both central and local levels for the current year 2012, the amount of two trillion and 111 billion and 129 000 453 thousand, from various sources or resource for linking resources to the last year of $ trillion and 519 billion and 589 thousand, and an increase of 9.38 percent.

The estimated use for 2012, the amount of two trillion and 672 billion and 740 000 773 thousand, distributed at the gates of various budget, compared to connect to the year 2011 of $ trillion and 835 billion and 956 million riyals, an increase of 6.45 percent. (Read on …)

Barak Obama’s friend, the war criminal Ali Saleh departed the US and is back in Yemen. Saleh’s immunity is a central part of the US sponsored “transition” plan that followed a 48 million dollar, single candidate (sham) “election.”

Yemen’s first new president in 33 years, Abdo Mansour Hadi, previously Saleh’s Vice, was sworn in on Saturday. Hadi received 6.6 million votes of 10 million registered and two million eligible new voters. On election day, the electoral commission said 13 million votes were printed and they had run out of ballots during the day.

Also on Saturday, a suicide bomber in a slow moving pick-up truck killed 28 soldiers in Hadramout. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility via a text message to Reuters.

Link save: April 9, 2010, Yemen National Dialog Coalition Seeks Reform, Broad Political Inclusion

Voting day updates:

Its over! Hadi wins in a landslide. Many people happy to be rid of Saleh. Inauguration Saturday Feb 25.

The first test of the new Yemeni government is how honestly they deal with today’s election; while much was good, even stellar, hiding, minimizing or outright lying about the hot spots isn’t going to encourage confidence.

This is very encouraging because it reflects reality instead of the normal knee jerk propaganda:

Egypt Ind Separatists who had vowed to mark Tuesday’s presidential vote as a day of “civil disobedience” have seized half of the polling booths in Yemen’s main southern city Aden, a government official said.

“Half of the polling booths in Aden have been shut down after they were seized by gunmen from the Southern Movement,” a local government official told AFP. He said the gunmen had closed 10 out of the city’s 20 voting stations.

Beeb Four soldiers killed in Hadramout, half voting centers closed in Aden. Nothing on the wounded people. Everything peachy in Sanaa.

Why we reject the elections by Noon

A few Houthis in Taiz but otherwise voting smooth, needed and got more ballots.

No confirmation or news updates on the foreign workers, must have been a rumor, the best possible outcome. OR something happened and everyone is fine.

Also report: “News confirm the filling of election boxes (by votes of those who didn’t vote) just before closing time at six o’clock in the evening in most of the election centers in the Governorates of Omran and Hajah..”

Voting in the South is not smooth, tension and clashes in Aden, Hadramout and Shabwa. One report injuries, shooting ongoing in Aden. Violence reported in Amran, Aden Taiz, Lahij, Mukalla and Shihr. Half polling stations closed in the south by one report. After five years, there is still no official southern spokesman to explain why there is a boycott, or what happened where, to the world in Arabic or English. There are people getting shot because of the boycott and there’s no statement.

The Houthis on the other hand are very good with statements:

In an attempt to pre-empt failure inevitable for the proportion of citizens’ participation in (the province of Saada and Harf Sufian and the provinces of argument and the cavity) has the authority to distribute the ballot boxes in areas outside their constituencies so that the distribution of funds in (Imran and incited, Sana’a and argument) on behalf of the circles (Saada).

We emphasize that polling stations are open and there is no interference from us towards those who want to vote and to exercise electoral commissions operate without any hindrance Remember, all that is said in some of the media tendentious is an attempt to justify the failure and cover the popular rejection of the real adjustments unilateral imposed on people by force and ignored the suffering and demands .

And began to crowd in (Saada) out of hours marched Tazahria mass to reflect the absolute rejection of this farce is the predetermined and practice of form, and confirmed its progress continued in the popular revolution, without regard to any attempts at misleading the people deterred from continuing the path of revolutionary even up to achieve the goals of the revolution and you will detail later.

The difference in perspective between people in Sanaa and Taiz where everyone is happy and the south and Saada is striking. Hopefully the election overcomes the schism enough to enable conversation instead of making it worse.
(Read on …)

Bios below. Hadi’s not a “southerner” in that he defected to Saleh in 1986 and fought against the south in 1994. Hopefully he will rise to the occasion, sometimes people do that. We’ll have to see. Its going to be lovely though to see Saleh out of office after all these years.

SANA’A — Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi used to be known as a silent man who never objected to, let alone disobeyed, any of Ali Abdullah Saleh’s orders.

This manner of managing the country resulted in the peaceful youth revolution, which began in February of 2011 and which led to Hadi becoming Yemen’s new president.

Hadi departed from the south with Ali Naser Mohamed after the January 1986 war between leaders of the Aden’s Socialist Party. He and Mohamed left for Sana’a after they suffered defeat in Aden.

In the 1994 war, Hadi sided with Saleh against the secession movement which surfaced in the same year and which, by year’s end, was aligned with Saleh. During the outgoing president’s 33-year rule, Hadi received the respect of all parties, due largely to a perception that he kept his hands clean of political and moral corruption.
(Read on …)

This video purports to show SCER workers in Aden have issued several voter cards to the same individual voters as well as certified checks as payment for voting for Hadi. This kind of fraud was quite common in 2006 when registered male voters exceeded Yemeni men. Then the regime also redeployed army units to opposition strong holds as there are several definitions of domicile in the law.

(Update: I posted the video to the SCERs FB page and asked if it was true, and they deleted it, so I guess it is true. They didn’t deny it, explain it as a rogue worker, say they would investigate or call me a zionist, they just deleted it. Update 2: Some Yemenis are saying these are old voter cards from the 2006 election as southerners claim people have been trucked in to vote. )

While its absurd to buy votes in an uncontested election, the registration fraud in Aden is likely meant to undermine the southern boycott of the poll. Its unclear to me from the vid if these are new double registrations or if these are these duplicates from the last “free and fair” election. But they are current checks. With all the new donor cash floating around, there could be quite a high turn out in Aden on paper. With all the prior strong-arming of those who objected to the plan and the election, I doubt the US would discourage buying votes as long as the result looks good in the western media in time for the US presidential election.

The point of the bizarre 48 million dollar single-candidate election is to give constitutional legitimacy to Hadi by a public mandate, but the public overtly and continuously rejected the GCC blueprint which supersedes the constitution and all Yemeni law anyway.

I don’t think it has really sunk in yet to the pubic that GCC document is the law of the land for the next two years and cannot be challenged within Yemen. In the event of a failure of consensus, Hadi makes the final decisions. The plan creates a new dictatorship that is required to accept international supervision. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t widely published or discussed. It’s an international trusteeship, which might not be bad with the right administrators, but the UN and US embassy are trying to sneak it by the citizenry while calling it democracy.

Under the GCC plan, Southerners are invited to the upcoming national conference to discuss how to best accomplish a stable unified Yemen. A future referendum on unity is not an option. (But if the military restructuring is done prior to the enfranchisement of southern citizens, it will inflame passions and harden positions.) The causes of the Saada war will be explored. The new constitution will be written in three months (although the 1990 constitution before the later amendments isn’t so bad, it was just never enforced or interpreted and needs a bill of rights.) There will be some kind of justice for the protesters harmed in 2011. Those injured or killed before are unacknowledged and there’s no proposed remedy for them. Saleh and his regime got immunity and maybe the past war crimes and theft will all fade into smoke.Or else the US is creating another red line, another false reality and another source of tension to bubble on the streets until it explodes.

The framers of the GCC transitional document didn’t study the 2006 JMP National Reform Plan that was published after a year of rigorous discussions, compromise and work. The document reached agreement among the divergent parties on many vital issues including the south and Saada. It created structures for implementation. There were other important reform blueprints including the tribally based National Dialog Committee’s in 2009. The GCC document, now the highest law in Yemen, seems a hastily written, simplistic, non-Yemeni product designed to re-install the regime while convincing the protesters into returning home with a vague assurance of progress.

The US is seeking to replace the regime’s figurehead (temporarily) but not the regime. Saleh is welcome to return as head of the GPC, Feierstein says. Its so disturbing the mass murderer gets to return to the blood stained streets with total immunity and no one has any recourse.

The US ambassador has repeatedly trashed the Yemeni air force pilots (among many other groups) seeking the ouster of Mohammed Saleh al Ahmar, instead of taking this opportunity to push for his resignation. The Air Force is among the biggest financial black holes in the line item military budget. Yemen owes Russia six billion dollars, primarily for Air Force expenditures like MIGs, upgrading and repairing the MIGs and MIG parts, although most of the MIGs are off line. Where all the money actually went is an interesting question indeed. Russian will have a place in the internal political reconciliation process.

Brennan re-creating the Saleh dictatorship as a tactic in the battle against al Qaeda makes as much sense as Holder approving weapons shipments to Mexican drug cartels as a tactic in the battle against arms smuggling, and likely will be just as effective. However Saleh finally and officially dethroned, after 33 years and despite all the earlier US obstructionism, is quite an accomplishment for Yemenis.

(Read on …)

29,000 boxes committees

26 Sept: SCER: 103,000 officers and soldiers to secure the presidential election Saturday 18 February 2012

The Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum (SCER) has used over103,000 officers and soldiers from military and security units to secure all electoral committees and constituencies. (Read on …)

In the first half of the story, South Korea was paying well under fair market price since 2005 despite opposition and activists strenuous objections.

Yemen LNG and Total Gas LIFT gas shipments redirected to Korea
[18 / February / 2012] Saba

Agreed Yemen LNG, Total Gas & Power to increase the number of shipments transferred by 20 shipments per year to Korea during the years 2012.2013 and 2014 m due to the continued low gas prices in the U.S. market.

Under the new agreement which was signed in Paris on the fourteenth of February, the ongoing presence of the Minister of Oil and Minerals Engineer Hisham Sharaf Abdullah, will be selling LNG to Kogas, according to the current price of the market. (Read on …)

The GCC plan in English from and thanks to the Yemen Peace Project which on 2/12 said, “Although the GCC agreement was signed in Riyadh almost three months ago, most people have never seen a full text of the document, or of the implementation mechanism that was signed with it. Newspapers have only published quotations or summaries…we’re able to finally publish here the official English translation of the Implementation Mechanism.

Agreement on the implementation mechanism for the transition process in Yemen in
accordance with the initiative of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

Contents:

Part I. Introduction

Part II. The transition period

Part III. First phase of the transition

Part IV. Second phase of the transfer of power

Part V . Settlement of disputes

Part VI. Concluding provisions

Annex: Draft Presidential Decree

Part I. Introduction

1. The two parties recognize that (Read on …)

At least 184 protesters are confirmed as “disappeared” and assumed to be under torture by security forces. My concern about the missing protesters since February 2011 has been the mass graves.

Yemen Post: A Yemeni human rights group, HOOD, revealed that 184 protesters enforcedly disappeared, emphasizing that no official authority has stated about their fate.

A senior officer of Hood, Abdul-Rahman Barman, said that the organization handed over a list of the disappeared names to the Interior Minister, pointing out that their families look for them everywhere and they become more worried every day.

Hood expressed deep concern about this case, demanding the newly-formed military commission to disclose the fate of these people enforcedly disappeared, stressing that the enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity.

One family had found out its relative in the morgue of Alshorta hospital six months after he was arrested by armed men loyal to the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yemen protesters had alleged that security and army services arbitrarily detained hundreds of peaceful protesters across the country, subjecting them to torture and ill-treatment, since anti-government demonstrations began in February 2011.

Some released prisoners affirmed that huge numbers of protesters and soldiers of the defected First Armored Division were being held in custodies belonging to military camps loyal to Saleh.

During several conferences held in Sana’a with some of freed prisoners, they made clear that they were subject to brutal forms of tortures, including electro-shock devices and beating with cables and whips after being blindfolded and handcuffed.

Yemenis have been demonstrating across the country demanding the release of detainees held by Security services which are still controlled by people loyal to Saleh.

The exact number of detainees being held by the authorities is unknown, but activists say that it could be as high as 1,400.

There seems to be the distinct impression the UN and the US ambassador said that anyone who causes trouble during the election will be designated as a terrorist organization. They are really sinking to Saleh’s level by playing the terror card and using the implied threat of drones. The Houthis have said they will not participate but will not stop anyone who wants to “vote.”

One link: Alsahwah.net – UN Envoy Jamal Benomar has affirmed to the leader of Houthi group Abdul-Malki Al-Houthi that his group must take part in the presidential elections, otherwise it would be included in the list of terrorist groups, AFP quoted sources close to Benomar .

Some southerners will boycott peacefully as they think voting will reaffirm unity. The Beidh allied faction said they will violently prohibit voting, and there was more violence in the south today. I am starting to understand the earlier Nuba statement waring about Iranian influence in the south.

From Nasser Arrabyee today: This violent group is refused by the majority of the separatists and it is loyal to the German-based former president of the south, Ali Salem Al Beidh, who is reportedly receiving support from Iran. Al Beidh said a several times over the years that he would turn to Iran if he did not get western support. I couldn’t imagine he was that stupid. Maybe I should have.

Hassan Zaid said in an interview that there was an explicit threat from the western nations that if they did not sign the GCC deal, the protest squares would become a blood bath like Syria. It was not a prediction, an analysis or an implication; Zaid says it was an overt threat. The ambassador has said many shocking, aggressive and undiplomatic statements, so the benefit of the doubt is gone. Its also pretty ironic the US ambassador is lamenting foreign intervention after imposing the GCC deal despite public objections and while leaning on the wrong faction.

al Sahwa: Alsahwah.net- The US Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein has expressed sorrow at foreign intervention in Yemen, pointing out to the Iranian support to the Houthi group.

“We would be so worried about any foreign interventions in Yemen that aim at raising security or political troubles,” he said In an interview with a Yemeni state-run TV.” We are so concerned about the Iranian attempts to undermine stability and security in Yemen.”

He had renewed the attitudes of his country toward the power transfer and the efforts of the political settlement under the GCC-deal and working with all political parties to sustain the interim government.

This is really nauseating and indicates the whole thing is a total sham. The US hanging on to Saleh’s relatives and Saleh himself: Saba (Feierstein) criticized the protests within the government institutions, in particular military units, affirming the legal actions against any government leaders accused of corruption must be taken. “The accused should have the opportunity to defend themselves”, he underlined.

Regarding the President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s political activity, Feierstein said the US does not have any reservation about the President’s political activities after ending his current presidential term, via leading the General People Congress Party.

Governors were appointed by Saleh untill 2008 when he allowed the GPC packed local councils to approve his selection by “voting.” The US hailed the indirect elections as a major step toward democracy. The results were overturned in the two provinces where reform minded GPC members ran as independents and won. The GCC plan takes a step back from even that innovation. Apparently “consensus candidates” are going to be the new black and in this case, the quickest way to unseat those governors (some of whom resigned or were otherwise replaced by Saleh since the 2008 election. The article notes correctly that there are significant problems with the way the electoral districts are drawn up.

Minister of Local Administration: Provincial governors will be appointed in May next in line

Barakish – said Minister of Local Administration in the government of national reconciliation on the Yazidi will be appointed governors of the provinces of Yemen by consensus after the expiration of the current conservative, and Yazidis, said that the current period of the Governors of the provinces will end in May next

The Minister of Local Administration in an interview with the newspaper “Republic” that after the early presidential elections will be reconsidered in the development of provinces and districts in which the problems, noting that there were positions vacant for some of the governors of the provinces and that will be a review of the situation of Governors of the provinces all.

“We should get to reset the governors of the provinces Twafiqian as we form a government of national consensus and everything will be by consensus and through dialogue.”

He pointed out that the Yazidi conservative current period will end in May next, adding that he should put everything to the dialogue harmonic «in order to lay the correct and current systems for running the country during the next two years».

In dismissing the factions in the southern movement of the presidential elections on 21 February, The Minister of Local Administration for communication between the government and «some of the leaders of the movement», as it seeks «to convince them that participation in elections is the practice of democracy« No one should compel any citizen had to make vote or not to force him to cast his vote in the elections ».

The national dialogue conference to be held after the election, which will be where all the issues and outstanding problems, particularly the Southern cause, and Yazidi said that «the issue of the South to deny deny Yemen».

to avoid tribal revenge. Later in the day, Tariq’s gang attacked Hazam’s house and in total 17 are dead. Several articles are citing an inheritance dispute among 20 brothers, but that was in play by 2007 when Nabil was released from prison alongside Anwar al Awalki. The overt enmity between these two began last month when Tariq tried to occupy Raada, al Baydah in order to release his brother, Nabil.

Al-Qaeda leader in southeastern Yemen killed by elder brother

Yemen Post Staff: Hazam al-Thahb, Yemeni tribal chief from the southeastern Yemeni town of Rada, which was briefly taken over by al-Qaeda militants, killed his younger brother, Tariq al-Thahb, a high-profile leader in AQAP.

Hazam broke on Wednesday evening into a mosque, where his brother and some of al-Qaeda militants were living, and killed his Tariq and some of his followers, tribal dignitary from the area told Yemen Post on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

“He has killed his younger brother after he repeatedly warned him not to align himself with the islamists, however his brother was obstinate and did not pay heed to his warnings and advice. That’s why he had to kill him before he is killed by the authorities, said the tribal dignitary. (Read on …)