Armies of Liberation

SAN’A, Yemen: A Yemeni lawmaker says police shot dead a teenager during clashes between police and protesters in the south of Yemen.

Nasser al-Khabagi, an opposition member of parliament, says the 16-year-old boy died Saturday when police fired at locals demonstrating at a voter registration center. He says the crowds were protesting the government’s rejection of opposition attempts to amend the country’s electoral law.

Police declined to comment on the death and said they opened fire in self defense.

Yemen’s political parties have been preparing the amendment to the electoral law for the past year in an effort to bring more women into parliament, curb vote-rigging and limit the influence of government officials.

This is so bad, electoral related violence is really spreading. Taiz is a big city.

Al-Motamar paper of the ruling party.

Taiz security reveals psychological disorder behind bomb-throwing
Wednesday, 19-November-2008
Almotamar.net - Security chief of Taiz governorate General Yahya al-Haisami affirmed the release on Tuesday of all persons detained over riots against election committees in the governorate.

In a statement to almotamar.net on Wednesday General al-Haisami said his administration detained elements that carried out acts of riot and prevented people from registering in records and attempted to expel field committees from centres and all of them were released after few hours of their detention after they have signed pledges of not returning to acts of riot at electoral constituencies, adding there is no detainee at present at his administration.

On the other hand the chief of security at the governorate said investigations with the persons who pelted a bomb and caused the injury of 16 persons on Tuesday revealed that the perpetrator Muntasir Ali Hassan al-Duais, 40 years, from Ibb governorate is suffering from psychological disorder, denying any other motive of the incident of Tuesday and caused the injury of 16 persons, two of whom seriously injured.

al-Sahwa Sahwa Net – Security forces arrested on Tuesday dozens of demonstrators using live bullets to disperse those checkpoints to block protests.

The Joint Meeting Parties denounced those acts describing them as arbitrary and calling, in the meantime, its supporters to go on their peaceful struggle.

On the other hand, JMP of Sharab district held a massive march which roamed the constituency’s election centers, expressing refusal of manipulating electoral lists by the authorities.

Does anyone realize how hot the south is, and how far gone? These are not ungoverned regions; these are areas where the state lost its former control. There is NO HOPE whatsoever that the south will take part in the elections. The JMP has no say, and neither does the YSP- these are easy figures for the regime to blame but it just propaganda. The street is gone. It lost hope after the 2006 election when both the opposition and the international community signed off even as opposition party activists faced retribution for participating. The recent governor’s elections were a slap in the face, more smoke and mirrors. And in reality, there is also no hope that anything even resembling representative government will be produced by the Parliamentary elections, none at all.

Yemen Post:
An informed source told the Yemen Post that armed groups attacked security forces that were accompanying the committee for revising and amending voters’ tables in Habail Jabr of Lahj governorate. The source said that the armed group was able to enter the committee headquarters and forced committee members to leave the complex. Eyewitnesses said that the committee’s offices in the headquarter were shut down and the committee left the area immediately after being ordered to do so.

During the process, exchange of fire occurred which resulted in the injury of one governmental soldier.

“No side has yet to claim responsibility of the incident. We suspect anonymous militants who oppose the existence of the committee to be behind the attack”, said Sheikh Mohammed Saleh Al-Mzahmi, a local tribal leader at the scene of the incident.

From his part Hubail Jabr district’s Chairman Khalid Motlag told media outlets that what happened was a wrong action done by elements outside the law, adding he condemns the criminal acts and promised to punish those who cause chaos and damaged calmness and security in the region.

Yemen Times

SANA’A, Aug. 27 — An official from the General Union of Yemeni Students at Sana’a and Amran Universities has announced that following a five-day sit-in, Sana’a University’s rector has heeded the demands of protesting students.

The demands included raising the enrollment capacity, decreasing the required high school grade point average (GPA) and adding 125 seats to the public system of the Faculty of Science, all with the goal of increasing student enrollment. Sana’a University administration also has accepted registering 200 more students in the public system at its Faculty of Commerce and Economy and 300 in the parallel system. According to a statement by the General Union of Yemeni Students, university administration canceled 1,865 seats in the public system and 104 in the parallel system, thereby decreasing the university’s capacity and causing the students to protest between Aug. 19 and 25. Ridwan Masoud, head of the General Union of Yemeni Students, claims that the university is restricting access to education for less privileged students by decreasing acceptance rates in the parallel system and raising those for the public system.

(Read on …)

There was a two day lull. From the Yemen Times:

Alleged human rights abuses in Bani Hushaish

The Yemeni Socialist Party-affiliated Aleshtaraki.net reports that the Yemeni army has committed human rights abuses against several residents of Bani Hushaish, located east of Sana’a. It quoted local sources as saying that the army attacked Beit Al-Aghrabi village with heavy weaponry, although Houthi gunmen withdrew from the village and stopped fighting, according to a tribal mediation.

“The army destroyed residents’ homes and property before raiding the village. [Army personnel] evicted residents, including women and children, to a nearby school,” Bani Hushaish sources say, adding that the soldiers beat, badmouthed and insulted citizens.

According to the same sources, female soldiers from counterterrorism units deployed in the area arrested numerous women from Beit Al-Aghrabi village on suspicion of supporting Houthi gunmen. They further noted that the Yemeni army has arrested the majority of the village’s male residents under age 50.

In a statement published by state-run Al-Thawrah daily newspaper on Wednesday, an official government source in Bani Hushaish denied the authenticity of the report by Aleshteraki.net, clarifying that the Yemeni army is searching for wanted fugitives and that no human rights abuses have been committed.

Various sources allege that several army commanders, tribal leaders and regional forces have intervened to foil the mediation efforts that played a notable role in ending the war, unblocking the Sana’a-Sa’ada Highway, releasing besieged troops and transporting food supplies to the war-affected governorate.

Regarding the proposed “Popular Army” to be comprised of 27,000 recruits under the command of the Hashid tribe to fight Houthis, tribal sources affirm that the establishment of this army is underway.

In its most recent issue, Al-Ahale independent weekly newspaper blamed the Saudi Special Committee, chaired by Emir Sultan Bin Abdulaziz, for establishing and funding what it described as the “Janjawid Army,” hinting at the prospective popular army.

The weekly continued, reporting that an unnamed Saudi committee member recently visited Yemen to meet with tribal leaders, encouraging them to back the government in its war against Houthis.

Worries over potential sectarian conflict

A religious forum including Salafi members and tribesmen was held Tuesday, chaired by Sheikh Abdulmajid Al-Zindani, rector of Al-Iman Islamist University and also on the U.S. terror list. At the forum, participants agreed to contribute to the gathering of tribesmen under the name of a “Popular Army” to fight against Houthis, who belong to the Zaidi Islamic sect.

Reliable sources report that Salafi leaders promised to gather thousands of well-trained jihadists, most of whom are called “Yemeni Afghans,” to back the Yemeni army in its fight against Zaidi Houthis in Sa’ada and other areas.

The Yemeni government’s intent to form a religious committee in collaboration with Salafis to fight against Zaidi Houthis has raised sharp controversy among all of those concerned, who predict that doing so will create a new crisis, as well as sectarian and political conflicts that may harm Yemen’s social fabric.

Various social figures believe that establishing such a committee with religious powers constitutes a threat to personal and civil freedoms, noting that it also creates obstacles to Yemen’s emergency democracy.

This is a good comprehensive article on the trial of Baoum and the southern civil unrest where it remains illegal to chant slagans, in the north or in the south.

SANA’A, May 30 (The National)- Amid a crowd of opposition party members, democracy activists and lawyers, three senior members of the Yemen Socialist Party went on trial at the state security court yesterday.

(Read on …)

M&C:

Sana’a, Yemen - Four soldiers were wounded in a clash with armed tribesmen in the north-western Yemeni province of Amran on Thursday, local sources said.

The sources said the shootout broke out after security forces tried to capture gunmen besieging a local government building in the Harf Sufian district of Amran.

Harf Sufian, about 150 kilometres north-west of the capital Sana’a, is on the main road linking Sana’a with the restive Saada province where skirmishes between the army and Shiite rebels have been raging on and off since 2004.

It was not immediately clear whether the gunmen were members of the Shiite rebel group.

Armed clashes between tribesmen and government forces are not unusual in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country where tribes are heavily armed.

Houthis? In Amran?

SANAA (AFP) — Four Yemeni soldiers were killed and two others were wounded on Thursday when they were ambushed by suspected Shiite rebel gunmen in the northwestern region of Amran, a local official said.

The attack targeted the convoy of army colonel Hamid al-Qoud as it passed through Harf Sufian market in Amran, 55 kilometres (34 miles) northwest of the capital Sanaa, the official said, requesting anonymity.

He said that the gunmen, thought to be Huthi rebels, fled the scene in a car after the attack.

Amran is on the road linking Sanaa with the rebel stronghold in Saada. The official said that police have set up roadblocks on the route in the hunt for the attackers.

More than 50 people have been killed in renewed violence between security forces and rebels over the past week, including 18 who died in a blast outside a mosque after Friday prayers six days ago.

Mareb Press

A decree banning protests in Yemen has left the country in an “undeclared state of emergency” according to opposition parties that can no longer take to the street without prior permission from the government.

The decree was issued last week by the country’s highest defence council, chaired by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, after a series of protests demanding “genuine reforms” in southern provinces led to riots and violence.

Two days after the decree, Saleh issued another setting the date of 27 April for electing the chiefs of the country’s 22 provinces instead of appointing them — an attempt to show flexibility in giving more powers to provinces, especially those of the south where some protesters over the last few months were demanding secession.

The opposition alliance, Islamists, Socialists and Nasserites, has refused such measures demanding serious solutions to the country’s problems. Hundreds were arrested over the last few weeks when the government used force to quell riots in more than three southern provinces. “Using force will make things even worse. Using force has failed in the past,” read a statement issued Monday by the three main opposition parties.

The Yemeni government accuses the three main opposition parties of incitement via protests that began about one year and a half ago when thousands of retired military and security individuals took to streets complaining they were ousted from their posts after the civil war of 1994. The opposition says it supports only peaceful protests that seek solutions to the lasting effects of the 1994 war in the framework of national unity.

The retired and jobless protesters, however, though affiliated mostly to the Socialist Party, are apparently in disagreement with most political opposition parties that call for preservation of national unity. In some protests, the retired and jobless, or the “Southern Movement” as they call themselves, used slogans that eschew unity. They also clashed with opposition Islamist and socialist and Nasserist figures that call for peaceful struggle.

Yemeni Minister of Interior Rashad Al-Alimi, when summoned by parliament last week to account for developments in the south, accused Yemeni expatriates living abroad of supporting anti-unity protesters. The government said it would put on trial all those involved in breaking the law by inciting riots and acts of sabotage.

Dialogue between the government and opposition remains at a standstill. The two sides have been trading accusations over the deteriorating situation, including armed rebellion in the north and rising prices in general.

The opposition alliance boycotted last Thursday a meeting held by Saleh in the presidential palace with the aim of addressing the causes of protest in the south. President Saleh in turn accused the opposition of spreading a “culture of hatred” and of attempting to block his reform programme which he vowed to implement after winning the 2006 presidential elections.

The opposition accuse Saleh of excluding them as partners in the political process and threatening “the peaceful democratic project” by resorting to the use of state force.

Very nice work from Mareb Press:

Yemen is facing a number of crises and failures and we can not realize the dangers of this situation. Mareb Press is presenting in cooperation al Masdar Newspaper a political read for the current situation in Yemen from the perspective of Yemenis abroad.

The discussion is based on two topics which are describing the Yemeni and southern political scene and suggesting the ideas and visions for bring the country out from this difficult and dangerous political dilemma.

The dialogue

Ali Nasser Mohammed, former Yemeni President, Damascus, said “The southern issue is entirely a political issue and partly a demand. Some people want it to be a demand in one night for unknown reasons.”

He said, “The practices since 1994 have been implementing the policies of the winner who ignore everything including the humanitarian factor. By doing this, the winner does not protect the Unity and loses his military victory.”

(Read on …)

Mareb Press

Campus patrolled by military

45 violations were recorded
Local News: Symposium on violations against Sana’a University students
Thursday 17 April 2008 / Mareb Press

The Yemen Student Union in faculty of education held Yesterday, Wednesday, a symposium outside Sana’a University after the refusal of the University Head to hold the symposium in one of the university halls.

The symposium which was described as a sit-in focused on violations against the rights and liberties of the student’. In the symposium, the university students refused the presence of the soldiers inside the university

Political Sciences Professor in Sana’a University, Abdullah al-Fakih, demanded for the independence of the universities saying there is no future for the students without the independence of the universities.

He urged the students to continue their peaceful struggle to obtain their rights and liberties warning them from violence.
“Imitating the ways and methods of the tyrant is a failure and the peaceful struggle is the goal and the solution for the independence of the university,” he added.

Dr. Mohammed al-Mekhlafy, chairman of the Yemeni Observatory Center for Human Rights, said, ” preparing the generation of the future depends on two pillars: liberty and democracy.”

At the end of the symposium, the General Student Union announced the black list of the violations against the students since 2005 in a report prepared by the committee of rights and liberties in the education faculty.

According tot the report, about 45 violations against the students were recorded; 10 violations were taken place in 2005, 13 violations in 2006, and 15 violations in 2007.

These violations were carried out by the political security (intelligences), the University security, the head of the university, the deans and the administrators of the collages, the report says.

al-Motamar

Cabinet approves anti-terror draft law
Tuesday, 15-April-2008
Almotamar.net - In its meeting on Tuesday the cabinet has approved a draft law on combating terror after it was reviewed by a specialised ministerial committee chaired by Deputy Premier, the Minister of Interior.

The draft law aims at strengthening legal measures regarding terrorist crimes and determining the decided punishments on them and that reach death sentence specifically against the one proved to be leading a gang for kidnapping or highway robbery or plundering public or private property by force including the accomplice in any of those crimes.

The third article of the draft law defined the terrorist acts in the concept of this law as acts of highway robbery, plundering public and private property, destruction of public roads and bridges, dams, high tension electric lines and oil and gas pipelines and other than that which has vital importance for the national economy or constitutes terror for the life of the citizens and their properties directly or indirectly.

The government decides it may stop stealing land.

President directs the government putting an end to illegal seizure of lands
Tuesday, 15-April-2008
Almotamar.net - President Ali Abdullah Saleh has given the government his directives to take measures guaranteeing the curbing of the phenomenon of seizing public and private lands illegally and that is in coordination with local authorities in the governorates in the manner guarantees protection of the state’s lands and real estates and properties of the citizens against all forms of aggression or plunder or seizing them in illegal methods.

The message the President of the Republic addressed to the Prime Minister included directives on tackling problems of this phenomenon that has increased lately, according to the President’s message.

Mareb Press

Governmental report reveals that secessionist elements from inside and outside Yemen have involved in the riots and sabotage acts taken place in some of the southern governorates of Yemen from March 30 to April 9.

According to the report, 22 soldiers were injured, a number of police cars, ambulances and citizens’ cars were destroyed, 75 shops were looted, and governmental facilities were burnt and looted.

The security apparatus in cooperation with prosecution have arrested the people who were involved in the riots. About 283 people had been arrested in the protests but 161 of them were released, the report added.

The report recited by the prime minister during the meeting of President Ali Abdullah Saleh with members of Parliament and Shura council mentioned the sabotages acts carried out by these elements in the southern provinces, the main of which are firing at the soldiers in Dhale’e province and Al Habilain in Lahj province, throwing bombs on the army vehicles, attacking citizens and travelers, cutting the main streets, sitting fires to wheels, looting and setting fire on the buildings of General People’s Congress party (GPC) in Lahj province, looting private and public properties and the shops, and chanting slogans against unity seeking to drive the country into sedition and fighting between the sons of Yemen.

The report considered these acts outlaw according to penalty law and the perpetrators of these sabotage acts should bring to justice to receive their fair penalty according to the law.

al-Sahwa

April 12, 2008- Over 30 armed men took over on Friday a government corporation in Joar ,Abyan, claiming their possession of its land

Eyewitnesses affirmed that shootout broke out between the gunmen and army’s forces.

Three gunmen were arrested while they were heading to the house of the governor of , Mohammad Shamlan to explain the reasons behind their act.

On the other hand, another government club was dominated by gunmen in Khanfar, Abyan, claiming that they possess the club which was nationalized by the government prior to Yemen’s unification.

Guest Post:

Yemen is on the verge of another civil war if the regime continues to use excessive use of force against citizens and prohibits democracy.

Please pay your utmost attention to the content of this email as it contains important information.

Background information:

Last March the people in southern regions of Yemen have marked the elapse of one year since the start of their peaceful demonstration and rally against the ill-treatment, inequality and discriminations of the Yemeni regime against the people of south Yemen. The majority of officials and government personnel in the current Yemeni regime are inhabitants of what was called the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) before the unification in 1990 with Public Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY).

Since the civil war in 1994 and the northern army took control of the southern regions of Yemen. The regime guaranteed and assured the international community during security council meeting in 1994, to preserve equality, reinstate law and order and finally compensate and repossess properties which were confiscated by northern high rank army and government officials. In the contrary, the regime has been treating southern people as second or even third class citizen and there have been numerous and outrageous decisions by the current regime against southerners, some of those decisions were:

1. Ejection of tens of thousands of soldiers and civil personnel from their jobs with no legal reason.

2. Confiscation of lands and properties of people of the south Yemen.

3. Ill-treatment of people and perverting the course of justice.

4. Use of force with any outspoken demand of rights.

The regime and members of Yemeni President Ali Abdulla Saleh and his close elite have monopolised Yemen main source of income and revenues. Also, President Saleh’s elite have confiscated the binding treaty and agreements between the (YAR) and Public Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) which took place prior to unification in 1990.

The full picture

Since March 2007, the people of the south have been demonstrating against the aggression, oppression and injustice the regime has been practising against them for the past 13 years. So, March 2008, a year has past since the start of the peaceful demonstrations of people of the south Yemen in pursuit of democracy, justice and equality accomplishing self-determination and national referendum. During this year, the demonstrators have gone through difficult times where more than ten people shot dead in various regions by security forces and hundreds were detained but then released later.

Facts and Figures since 1st of April 2008

The government and current regime declared war against democracy and failed to tackle the demands by peaceful means and a more civilised manner as normally pursued by governments around the world. This regime knows only one way to engage with the demands of citizens. This method is the use of state terrorism and the use of prohibited weapons against unarmed and peaceful demonstrators as stated in many international treaties and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For the purpose of providing a more realistic picture to the situation in Yemen in the past months and particularly last week or so, I have divided escalated situations into regions, as depicted below:

Saada region:

In this region a war broke out between inhabitants and Yemeni army which deployed all types of warfare weapons. The war is still ongoing which claimed hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives. This was simply due to the provocative regime failed to solve a minor dispute at the time. Reports from soldiers who served in the army provided horrific stories that without any doubts indicate violation of international treaties and could be considered as war crimes. Unfortunately, the world turned a blind eye to the atrocities took place which claimed lives of children, women and elderly.

Thus, since there was no condemnation largely by international decision makers, the regime with no hesitation could commit other atrocities in the southern regions.

Since the 1st of April 2008, the regime has committed the following acts of international violations in the regions below on a daily basis until the time of writing this report:-

Aden region:

The security forces detained leaders of the southern movements since the first of April without charge and no one until this moment knows their whereabouts. The names are as follows:

1. Hassan Ba-Aoom (civil right activist and suffers from many serious illnesses)

2. Yahia Ghaleb (solictor and civil right activist)

3. Ahmed bin Fareed (journalist and civil right activist)

4. Ali Munasser (Socialist Party memeber and civil right activist)

Lahj region:

The students of Saber University have demonstrated against the oppression and excessive use of force and siege that segregated Dhala and Radfan from the rest of Yemeni regions and decalaration of State Emergency. On a daily basis demonstrations took the streets of Lahj region and it has been reported that Dr. Mohsen Kassim Waheeb a lecturer in Saber’s university has been detained in Lahj security prison until the time of writing this report.

Dhala region:

However, the situation escalated since the 1st of April where state of emergency has been declared in Dhala after the security forces opened fire, wounding one person and detained demonstrators which angered other people who then set tyres on fire and blocked the main street with stones and large objects disconnecting Sana’a – Aden main route. Tanks took up positions within the city main gateways and jets broke the sound barrier with hundreds of security forces patrolling the streets where a curfew has been implemented that segregated Dhalas’ main districts.

The curfew has prevented people from getting their daily necessities such as food and water from shops and markets. The people of Dhala have been destitute and human crisis have escalated where the live of tens of thousands of people inhabit this region.

It has been known that the security forces have orders to arrest 40 civil right activists and are looking for 3 leaders of southern movement, those names are as follows: (Read on …)

Almotamar.net - An information source at the General People’s Congress (GPC) ruling party on Tuesday expressed the GPC solidarity and sympathy with the Yemeni writer and political activist Ms Tawakul Karman against the threat of killing she has been exposed to in addition immoral words on the phone; as it was reported in media instruments.

The source affirmed that differences in opinion in the national arena whatever they were must not slide to this immoral level of personal assailing and insult that is inharmonious with religious, ethical and human values as well as with bases of democratic freedom and opinion and other opinion.

The GPC information source asked all to stand against such inconvenient practices and asked the security authorities to take their measures for providing protection for the activist Tawakul Karman and hold accountable those who carried out such irresponsible and condemned action.

Alsahwa.net

April 7, 2008 – Three protestors were injured and 13 others were arrested including a former member of parliament, Mohammad al-Rasini, when Taiz province’s security forces dispersed Monday protestors using live bullets, tear gas and batons.

Before the building of the Political Security Organization, policemen shot fire against demonstrators.

In a press release, the Joint Meeting Parties of Taiz held the authorities responsible for any possible tensions and strains, demanding in the meantime civil society organizations and all activists to press on Yemen’s authorities in order to respect human rights and be adhered to laws.

In a statement, the protestors strongly denounced arresting the comedian Fahd al-Qarni , shooting fire against them and arresting a number of political activists in Aden , Al-Dhala’a and Lahj provinces.

Bomb attack, last time it was RPG’s.

SANAA, April 8 (Reuters) - Six soldiers were wounded in a bomb attack on their checkpoint in a town in south Yemen where violent job protests have raged for 10 days, a security official said.

“Two of them are in a critical condition … They were wounded in an bomb attack last night (Monday),” the official told Reuters.

Fifteen people suspected of involvement in the attack are being questioned. The official gave no further details about the incident in Lahj province near Aden, the Arab country’s main port city.

Rioting by youths demanding jobs has erupted in several southern towns over the past 10 days. Politicians have said they are concerned the unrest could be used to drum up calls for the secession of the south, home of Yemen’s oil industry.

One soldier was killed and seven people were wounded on Monday when government forces clashed with protesters in Dalea province.

State jobs or joining the army are among the main sources of employment in Yemen, one of the poorest countries outside Africa. More than half the workforce is in the agricultural sector and one diplomat estimated unemployment at 17 percent.

Ran out of comedians to harass?

Mareb Press:

Members of the political security ( intelligence ) arrested Sunday the correspondent of Mareb Press, news website, Muneer al-Akhali, in Taiz provine.

Al-Akhali was covering the protests in Taiz province which demanded the release of the popular singer Fahed al-Qarni.

Al-Akhali confirmed to Mareb press that he received personal threats with the detention from the head of political security in Taiz province, after reports in the website that al-Qarni was arrested according to higher instructions.

On his part, the editor-in chief of the Mareb Press, Ahmed Ayad, condemned the detention of al-Akhali and demanded the minister of interior and head of political security to release of AlAkhali.

And it goes on, five soldiers and two citizens injured in Dhalie. It is unclear who would have the motivation to cut the electricity.

Almotamar.net - Sabotage elements in Al-Dhalie have Sunday cut high tension electric power posts that connect electric power to Danat district of Dhalie governorate. Director of electricity station in Al-Dhalie Saif Saleh Hamoud said today he has received a report by a driver of garbage truck in Qaataba yesterday on the fall of electric posts in the area.

He added that he immediately reported the incident to security authorities and electricity workers rushed to the area of the incident and they found out that the sabotage act was done with large saws. Saleh also said investigation was conducted to know who have committed that criminal act.

On the other hand five soldiers and two citizens were wounded during an attempt by security forces in Dhalie today to foil chaos operations which a group of young persons began to carry out there.

A group of outlaws have today tried to storm a security checkpoint in Dhalie on Dhalie-Qaataba road.

More injuries, SANAA, April 7 (AFP)

10 police among 21 hurt in Yemen clashes: witnesses
At least 21 people, 10 of them policemen, were injured in southern Yemen on Monday during renewed clashes between security forces and thousands of protesters, witnesses said.

The clashes broke out in the provinces of Lahij and Dhaleh, which have been the scene of demonstrations and riots for more than a week after residents took to the streets to protest at the army’s refusal to enrol would-be recruits from the area.

Six policemen were hurt while dispersing protesters in the province of Dhaleh, where demonstrations were held in the towns of Dhaleh and Shuaib, the witnesses said.

Another four policemen were injured in the town of Habilayn in Lahij, where protesters hurled a hand grenade at police near a dais used by protest leaders.

A high-level committee dispatched by President Ali Abdullah Saleh meanwhile arrived in Lahij to “help the local government restore security and stability in the area,” a provincial official told AFP.

Five cities

DPA Sana’a, Yemen - At least 14 protesters and two policemen were injured Monday after security forces clashed with protesters in five cities in southern Yemen, witnesses said. The clashes took place in the southern cities Dhalea, Habileen, Karish, Zunjubar and Taiz, according to the witnesses.

They said thousands of people took to the streets of those cities to demand the release of opposition activists arrested following violent protests that raged in the country’s south in the past few days.

al-Motamar

NDC approved speeding up measures of governors election
Wednesday, 09-April-2008
Almotamar.net - The National Defence Council (NDC) on Wednesday affirmed the measures taken by the government and judicial authorities by sending to court all the elements violating the constitution and the law and involved in the acts of sabotage, unrest and chaos.

The NDC stressed, in its meeting today chaired by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the commander in chief of the armed forces, on the speed of carrying out what the cabinet approved of transferring all financial appropriations concerning development and services projects in governorates to the local authorities in the manner enhancing powers of the local authorities as stipulated in the law.

The National Defence Council also considered the report presented by the committee formed by the cabinet concerning the follow-up of the events and developments in the national arena and settling the issues. The committee is chaired by the Vice-President Abid Rabu Mansour Hadi. the report includes the measures and decisions the committee has taken regarding the issues and subjects that have been presented to it and has discussed them in the past period pertaining to the events and their field developments and in the fields of security, information and administrative and development.

The NDC approved referring all that was mentioned in the report to government authorities, the local authority and the judicial authority for taking executive measures that would lead to achieving public peace and safeguarding the social peace as well as to speed up development efforts in various Yemeni governorates.

The council also studied proposals on developing the local authority system and the moving to the local rule of wide-range powers. As a first step the council approved acceleration of the legal measures for amending the law of the local authority concerning the election of governors of provinces via elector body in each governorate composed of members of local councils of governorates and districts and that is due to the dictates f the public interest and for expansion of the people’s participation in running local affairs in embodiment of the democratic exercise and in service of goals of development. The candidates to the governor post are the chairman of the local council provided he meets the legal provisions. This would be a first step to be followed by election of the heads of districts.

The council also studied the fabrication of demonstrations for destructive motives aimed at impeding the march of development and investment and directed the concerned authorities to take the executive and security measures for preventing unlicensed demonstrations. The council also approved the basic goals of the strategy of the political and executive work and the information address of the next period and directed to the speeding of finalizing the plan and to be referred to the cabinet to approval and execution.

The council also listened to report on the terrorist events and operations perpetrated by some terrorist elements and the measures that have been taken about them and the council emphasized on the security apparatuses to take measures of investigation and arrest perpetrators of those acts and to send them to court as well as taking precautionary and preventive measures.

al-motamar

Almotamar.net - Yemen’s General Prosecution is preparing two files on the two MPs Salah al-Shanfari and Nasser al-Khabji for lifting their immunity to arrest them and send them court.

A source at the General Prosecution said Saturday that the prosecution in the mid of last week a request from the Ministry of Interior on lifting immunity from the two parliament members al-Shanfara and al-Khabji due to their involvement in acts of riot and sabotage happened in some towns in Yemen recently.

The source expected that the two files during this week and delivered to the Ministry of Justice that would submit with the Interior Ministry to the parliament to decide the demand. The source indicated that among the accused is also the former MP Ahmed Bamalam on whom the prosecution is preparing a file for his arrest and sending to court.

The three persons are accused of impinging upon the national unity and agitating mutiny against the existing authority according to the constitution and their secessionist calls and fomenting acts of unrest and destruction.

Deputy Premier, the Minister of Interior Dr Rashad al-Alimi had last Monday informed the parliament in a closed-door meeting that the Ministry of Interior tendered a request to the General Prosecution for lifting the parliamentary immunity of the MP Salah al-Shanfari in order to arrest him and send him to justice authorities.

Al-Alam

South Yemen Eager to Decide Fate

LONDON, April 4–Vice-president and Foreign Affairs’ Secretary of Yemen Southern Democratic Assembly, Awadh karama Rashed, said southerners held peaceful demonstrations over recent days with the cause of gaining the right to decide their fate.

Rashed told Alalam Friday that the demonstrations were held in southern Yemen to raise protest of southerners to the country’s cohesive plan.

He said after the 1994 war and following division of southern Yemen into several military zones, the southern part of the country was in fact occupied by the military commanders close to the president.

He added that now each part of southern Yemen is ruled by a military commander close to the president.

Furthermore, he noted, most of governors general are from the north.

Rashed said though cost of living is high, the southerners’ demand is not related to job or welfare, rather regaining the fate deciding right.

Unrest flared up in the Radfan region of al-Dalea province March 30 and spread the next day to the province of Lahj.

Rising food prices helped trigger the protests.

Disaffection in southern Yemen has been long-standing following the civil war of 1994, in which the south lost its independence.

Southerners say a government amnesty granting former southern soldiers re-admission to the army has not been fulfilled, and that they are kept out of government jobs.

32 Arrested

al-Motamar.net - Deputy Governor of Al-Dhalie Lahsoun Saleh Muslih said Saturday that preliminary interrogations with those involved in events of riot Al-Dhalie resulted in handing over thirty persons to the general prosecution after it has been proved they are involved in those acts while other 32 were released for commercial guarantee and it was revealed they have no previous records.

In his statement to almotyamar.net Mr Muslih pointed out the sending of 12 soldiers to military justice and those have taken part in riots and have deserted from military service.

Mr Muslih stressed on the concerned authorities to take strict legal measures against whoever is proved of being condemned and he who tries to impinge upon the homeland’s security and stability.

Ali Nasser Mohammed said something, who knows what

Almotamar.net - An information source on Thursday expressed his regret for statements given by the ex-president of former Democratic Yemen Republic Ali Nasser Mohammed who was ousted following the bloody events on 13 January 1986.

The information source said Ali Nasser Mohammed has unmasked his real face by those statements published in one of electronic websites on Wednesday evening when he admitted of his support and his backing up of elements of sabotage and riot. Those elements have committed criminal acts against innocent Yemeni citizens and plundered private and public property, blocked roads and terrorized the citizens in Dhalie and Hubailan Radafan districts.

The source said it has been a regrettable matter and wished he would not have got himself involved in it especially for a person of his like.

IHT

SANA, Yemen: Yemen security forces killed one demonstrator and wounded four others Wednesday in the fourth day of rioting that has engulfed the country’s south.

The death was the first since clashes broke out between security forces and thousands of former southern Yemen Army officers, political activists and unemployed young men who accuse Yemeni authorities in the north of unequal treatment.

The worst violence took place in the south’s Lahaj Province, where troops opened fire on 5,000 demonstrators in the town of al-Hablain, killing one and wounding four others when they dispersed the protest.

Nasser Mohammed Thabet, a parliamentarian from al-Hablain said that at least 40 tanks and 100 other military vehicles had been deployed in the city.

“Local activists are trying to convince the government to pull its troops off the streets so that they can persuade people to stop their protests,” he said.

In the nearby town of Tora al-Baha, 1,500 people attacked a government compound and set fire to the ruling National Congress Party headquarters.

In Dhalae Province, 5,000 protesters hurled stones at security forces, who fired back with tear gas and bullets in the air, a security official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

At least 120 people have been arrested over the last four days, added the official.

The clashes underline tensions between northern and southern Yemen 14 years after a civil war. Northerners dominate the government and economy in this impoverished country.

Though the country’s modest oil resources are located in the south, the bulk of investment and government spending is in the more populous and affluent north.

Many of the protesters are former members of the defeated southern army which, after the civil war, fled to the mountainous hinterlands and Saudi Arabia. They returned only when the government issued an amnesty and promised to readmit them to the army - a promise southerners say has not been kept.

The head of the opposition Yemen Socialist Party, Yassin Noman, accused the government of cracking down on peaceful calls for reform.

“Arrests are aimed at terrorizing activists,” he said.

But ruling party spokesman, Tarek al-Shami, called the riots an “act of sabotage that targets national unity, incites hatred and sectarian tensions.”

Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, is home to heavily armed tribes that barely acknowledge the authority of the central government. There is also a persistent Al Qaeda movement that has attacked and killed foreigners on several occasions.

The predictable slew of propaganda from al-Motamar

Al Motamar

The statement said the women union has followed up with great anxiety the acts of riot, sabotage and looting public and private property and horrifying the innocent people carried out by saboteur elements that hate the democratic experiment in Yemen. It said those elements are concerned with mercenary trends and rousing seditions and chaos as well as to hinder social and economic development and harming the national unity and social peace just to achieve purposes of those rancorous towards the homeland unity. Aden branch of the Women Union also expressed its great regret for what that those elements have perpetrated.

More, the stooge opposition

The Opposition National Council in Yemen considered the acts of riot that took pace in Dhalie and alahj governorates are flagrant aggression on order and law and violation of national constants.

In its statement which almotamar.net obtained a copy of it the opposition council strongly denounced those sabotage acts, stressing they don not have relation to the freedom of expression and have nothing related to democracy.

The opposition council also called on local authorities in Dhalie and Lahj to undertake their responsibilities for repelling all irresponsible sabotage acts and to send to justice all that violate security and stability whatever the alleged justifications were.

It has also held all the sides standing behind those regrettable events fully responsible for them affirming the right to expression by legitimate ways and democratic methods far from personal whims.

Shamy opines. Bahgdad Bob, Sanna Shamy? Exploiting democracy. Thats funny but its not.

In statements to Al- Jazeera and BBC TV satellite Channels Wednesday, the General People’s Congress (GPC)’s Head of the Information Office Tareq al-Shamy affirmed that the events happened in the governorates of Al-Dhalie and Lahj on Monday are acts of sabotage targeting the national unity and endeavouring to spread the spirit of hatred and secessionist feuds and to impede development, blocking roads, robbing public and private property and trouble security and stability in some governorates.

Al-Shamy said those who are behind those acts are a few people who have lost their interests and work for taking advantage of simple people in instigating secessionist goals targeting the homeland unity. He called the attention that no one can allege representing sons of the southern governorates saying ,” There are leaderships elected by the people in all Yemeni provinces, among them the southern, in the parliament and local councils and they alone represent their regions and have the right to talk in their name.”

Mr al-Shamy emphasized that there is no relationship of what happened in Al-Dhalie and Lahj governorates with rights demand, reminding of the measures that had been taken for solving the retired people demands. He said what were so-called demands of the retired were cured and their situations were settled and they were granted ranks and financial dues retroactively. He added those treatments were done under a political decision and with direct supervision of the president of the republic.

Furthermore, al-Shamy made it clear that there is a political exploitation of some issues by parties of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) alliance, indicating that some refuse results of democracy and want to impose themselves on the political life in the country away from the democratic approach and affirmed that elections are the sole way for attaining power.

What is the Common Forum? Is that the new name for the JMP or is that the stooge opposition coalition?

Thousands of Yemenis protest soaring prices, corruption

AFP
SANAA (AFP) — Thousands of Yemenis gathered on Thursday to protest at rising prices, accusing the government of failing to curb the increasing cost of living and corruption, an AFP correspondent reported.

Answering a call by the Common Forum, which includes five main opposition parties, over 10,000 protestors took to the streets of Sanaa chanting slogans denouncing the government.

“Oh, corrupt government, high prices have overwhelmed the country,” protestors yelled, calling upon President Ali Abdullah Saleh to honour earlier electoral promises of fighting poverty in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The Common Forum issued a statement during the protest saying that the gathering was a “cry by the people to reflect their suffering of the horrific deterioration of their standard of living in light of soaring prices, unemployment, and organised corruption.”

The gathering was not the first protest against the rising cost of living.

In August, thousands of Yemenis waved bread loaves as they staged a sit-in organised by opposition parties in the southern town of Taiz to protest at rocketing prices and to demand better services.

Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Majur had vowed that he will no longer tolerate corruption as he was sworn into office last April.

19 total by my count. The youth are less disciplined and more violent than the retired military association. Mareb Press:

Dozens of young people protested today, Sunday, over not recruiting them in the Republican Guards in Dhale and al-Jabelain districts in Dhale province.
The protestors cut the main street and set fire to wheels three kilometers along the street. They threw the garbage and cars’ bodies on the streets.

The protestors carried out an angry march carrying a donkey to the headquarter of the General people’s Congress (GPC), the ruling party, in the province and chanting “No donkeys after this day”. They pelted the GPC’s headquater with stones.

(Read on …)

World News: Large rally in Dhale provincve
Tuesday 25 March 2008 / Mareb Press

Thousand of people participated yesterday on a rally on the occasion of the first anniversary of southern movement demanding to return their blunder properties and improve their situations.

The rally attended by thousands of people from Hudhramout, Abyan, Shabwa and Aden governorates and Radfan was organized by the Retirees Association in Dhale province.

The demonstrators raised the orange flags of the South before the Unity and chanted for revolution “Towards liberating the south”

Dr. al-Matari, member of preparatory committee of the rally, said the issue of southern people has become a reality that can not jump over and the demands of the southern people are to restore the the state of southern state.

He announced that London-based satellite channel London and Radio will start transmitting soon.

The rally issued a statement in which they hold what they called Sana’a regime the responsible for frustrating the unity.

The statement demanded Sana’a regime to return all their blundered properties and to compensate the southern people.

The statement a copy of which obtained by Mareb Press called the International Community to interfere to stop the killings and arbitrary detentions against some southern activists.

I have a tee shirt that says, “Ali Saleh is scared of a blog.” And apparently he really is. In a rather Stalinist reaction to growing civil unrest, Yemen blocked 1126 Yemeni blogs.

Maktoobblog.com, one of the most popular Arab blogging platform, has been recently blocked in Yemen. The OpenNet Initiative testing has confirmed yesterday, through technical investigation, that the blog hosting service has been blocked by Yemennet ISP, a service of the government’s Public Telecommunication Corporation (PTC):

ONI technical investigation verified that the service has been blocked by Yemennet, Yemen’s government-run ISP. Access is blocked to the entire domain maktoobblog.com, effectively to every blog hosted by the service. Interestingly, users who attempt to access the site receive a network error message instead of the standard blockpage, which is served when users attempt to access sexual content.

This significant blocking is expected to hinder Internet users in Yemen from blogging and reading blogs because maktoobblog.com is home of one of the largest blogging communities in the Middle East and North Africa.

People get the network error message for this blog too. My article on internet censorship appeared at the Yemen Times earlier this month.

40 year old guy teaching three teen-agers how to use a hand grenade in Sana’a blows himself up, killing one of the teen agrers and wounding two others.

Saba describes it as a friendly Qat session.

26 September Net

SANA’A, (26 September Net0 - A hand grenade exploded in Sana’a on Friday, killing at least two people and wound two others.

Security sources in the capital Sana’a said to 26 September Net that the first victim Foa’ad Saleh Al-Bahloli, the bomb’s owner, aged 40, had taught Ibrahim Hasan Al-Masmari, the second victim, aged 18, how to separate, install and use the bomb in one of Qaa Al-Alifi’s maqi’ils (divan for qat chewing) in the capital Sana’a.

The sources added that the two injured others, Salah Hasan Abdullah, aged 20, and Yousif Hamoud, aged 15, who were among the attendees in the maqi’il, had been wounded on the left shoulders as a result of the bomb’s shatters and be hospitalized to Al-Jumhori hospital.

Thats good if the government can pay for it, maybe cancel some of the weapons deals

Government raises salaries of state employees and raises social security by 100%
Tuesday, 18-March-2008
Almotamar.net - The Yemeni government approved Tuesday granting all government employees at all levels an increment in the salaries amounting to YR 3 thousand as allowance in addition to granting pensioners 50% of the decided increment.

In its weekly meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr Ali Mohammed Mujawar on Tuesday the cabinet decided raising assistance to social security by 100% and instructed the ministry of social affairs and labour to continue determining the new cases and study them and decide them in accordance with operative mechanisms.

The cabinet considered directives of President Ali Abdullah Saleh concerning alleviation of the impact resulting from the rise in prices of basic stuffs. It urged intensive and strict monitoring prices and taking strong legal measures against those who violate and manipulate prices.

The cabinet also stressed the importance that the Yemeni economic establishment encourages the focus on its commercial activity in the area of wheat, flour, rice and other necessary stuffs. The cabinet asked deputy premier for economic affairs,