Armies of Liberation

The pillaging of the economy continues:

From Chatham House, the full ( PDF report is here):
The recent political crisis in Yemen has created a cycle of hyperinflation, currency depreciation and disruption to the supply of basic goods. This is already having a serious impact on the 10.3 million Yemenis living in poverty, with the prospect of worse conditions to come.

Yemen’s economy is in thrall to a complex, intertwined network of elites that control the oil industry, imports, processing, and packaging and distribution of goods. Many members of these elite groups are key actors in the current crisis. (Read on …)

The shipment of weapons is par for the course. Yemeni weapons shipments to Somalia are a leading cause of its instability and have been ongoing for years. The last shipment doesn’t necessarily show that AQAP and al Shabab are linked up in a new level of coordination; what it likely shows is that UN sanctioned weapons dealer Fares Manna is back in business. Its a very complicated relationship, check my category “Proliferation” or search “Fares Manna” for the chapter of the story about the shipload of Chinese weapons brought into Yemen with forged documents from the Defense Ministry. See Evaluating relations between Al-Shabab and Al-Qaeda for a review of the rhetorical and physical support between al Shabab and AQAP, including the arrest of Warsame. For earlier, see the 2006 arrest of eight westerners in Yemen (all later released) who were smuggling weapons to the fanatics in Somalia and the connection of Awlaki to those persons, who are hopefully all under the microscope now. Rahm’s report below seems to be from Sun Times: U.S intercepts ship suspected of carrying weapons for Al-Shabaab

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

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

The following is a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the inner workings of the criminalized elements of the Yemeni regime written by my sometimes guest-poster Abu Yemen whom I find entirely credible and in a position to know these details. It needs to be read in full as the information is both specific and accurate.

Yemen, A Kidnapped Country

Southern Grievances:
Over the past 3 years Southern Yemen has slipped further and further into discontent with some rural areas in full rebellion notably in Dalla, Radfan, Yafee, and Abyan.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has tried without success to buy out loyalties in the Southern Movement “Al Hirak” and used heavy handed tactics to no avail, according to Rt. Brigadier Ali Alsaddi (from Abyan). Alsaddi is considered to be an active leader in the Southern Movement in which 263 young, unarmed civilians have been killed by the Central Security Forces (CSF) during peaceful demonstrations or in jails under torture. The last two to die in Aden prisons were Firas Alessai who was interrogated by drunken officers who electrocuted his testicles and ended his life with a bullet to his head according to inmates who witnessed the event. The second was Al Darwish who was arrested during a demonstration in Aden and was beaten to death in a Criminal Investigative Department (CID) prison by Colonel Nasser Al-Sanabani (Northern Yemeni officer under the direct command of the Police commissioner).

The Press:
Freedom of expression has deteriorated steadily in Yemen since 1998, however the use of violence and kidnapping escalated during the past 4 years climaxing in May 2009 when the largest newspaper in the country “Al-Ayyam Newspaper” and 7 other independent newspapers were banned. These 7 papers have since resumed publication except “Al-Ayyam”. The Editor-in-Chief of “Al-Nidaa Newspaper” went as far as to say that the suspension of his paper and the 6 others was a smokescreen to detract attention from the real target which was “Al-Ayyam”.

“Al-Ayyam’s” headquarters in Aden were also brutally attacked by the CSF and the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) on May 12th, 2009 and January 5th, 2010 when the building was bombarded with rocket propelled grenades and an assortment of heavy machine guns. The Front-Bay area of the city of Aden was blockaded for several days as the Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Hisham Bashraheel, was arrested with several of his staff and family members.

The regime attempted to publicize the notion that the newspaper violated publication laws without providing any evidence to support these allegations. The accusation levied against the newspaper was then changed whereby it was claimed that the paper formed an armed gang. The newspaper owners have since provided evidence to the American Embassy that the weapons were licensed by the Yemeni government (an exercise not undertaken by many in Yemen which is awash with weapons) for use by security guards protecting “Al-Ayyam’s” premises.

Currently, President Saleh’s government is attempting to pass new laws aimed at curbing freedom of the press. These newly proposed legislations have been heavily criticized by the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York and other freedom of speech organizations. These new laws are the product of the Minister of Information, Mr. Hasson Al-Lawzi, who is coined by many journalists as “The Nazi” as his proposed laws resemble in many ways the propaganda law in Nazi occupied France.

The environment for free press is now described as the worst in 20 years, and if these new laws are passed, it will spell the end of independent media in Yemen.

Corruption in Yemen:
On the issue of corruption it is now clear that the Yemeni Agency to combat corruption is no more than a front to cover up even larger corruption. The Agency ignored several tips from the Central Bank of Yemen relating to activities in which the bank purchased insolvent or bankrupt assets and stocks belonging to President Saleh or members of the ruling family in the Dubai market at their book values. This was one method by which the ruling family recuperated their losses from the financial meltdown in Dubai during 2009 and 2010. The result of these buyouts was a marked deterioration in the Yemeni currency which sustained heavy losses during 2010, and the Central Bank was forced to inject additional foreign currency into the local market at more frequent intervals than in previous years.

Saleh’s ruling elite are also undergoing change, whereby his previously favored clique including the likes of Ali Mohsen Al Ahmer (President Saleh’s half brother and Commander of the 1st Armored Brigade) and Al-Qadi family elders have now been replaced with his son Ahmed and his nephews Yahya, Amar, and Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh. The four are young (in their late 30s to early 40s) and have no experience, but are ruthless and deeply corrupt. They have been nicknamed “The Four Thugs” or in Arabic “Al-Balatega Al-Arbaa” in political circles.

The Four thugs have different and varying interests although they protect each other. Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, Commander of the Republican Guard, has shares in the oil production sector and received $1.2 for every barrel of oil refined at the Aden refinery. He also owns hotels in Yemen and outside. He was reported to have bought a luxury hotel in Paris late August 2010 worth $275 million.

Yahya Mohammed Abdulla Saleh, Commander of the CSF and CTU, has cotton production farms in the Abyan governorate which yield handsome returns through export.

Amar Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, effectively the Head of the National Security Agency, has an infamous reputation for ruthlessness and for his connections with the AQAP operatives network. Furthermore, he was knighted by the French government for his role in securing Mayoun island as a French Naval Base under the guise of building a base for the Yemeni coast guard.

It is of particular interest that the four thugs are the major facilitators and partners for companies such as the oil services company Schlumbergur. An employee of the company has disclosed an account of how Schlumberger paid up to $2.6 million on gifts and ran five brothels in the upscale Hadda district of the capital Sana’a in order to secure contracts in upwards of $12 million. The said employee described how an accountant form one of the company’s European offices arrived in Sana’a in mid-2010 for a 2 day visit, after which all the discrepancies caused by these gifts in the accounting system vanished.

Arms, Drugs, and Counterfeit Currency Trafficking in Yemen:
The Four Thugs also share in arms and drugs trafficking through Aden sea port and the cost lines of Shabwa, Hadramout, and Mahra. They run a vast network of smugglers with police commissioners in these cities making up the backbone of this network.

The main route for drugs and counterfeit currency (Saudi Riyals and American dollars) trafficking is firmly in the hands of Brigadier Gen. Abdullah Quairan who is the Police Commissioner in Aden. He oversees drugs and counterfeit currency trafficking through Aden Seaport, and plays a huge role in all aspects of corruption, torture, threatening judges in their homes, and embezzlement from investors. He is, without doubt, the most powerful man in Aden and is the Four Thugs’ man on the ground.

Abdullah Quairan has a very close relationship with Ahmed Ali Saleh and Yahya Mohammed Saleh. In February 2010, the head of the CID in Aden complained of the Commissioner’s constant interference in his department including, as he mentioned, interference in a huge drug bust at the Aden seaport in which an officer reporting to the Commissioner was involved in clearing the shipment from customs at the port. When the CID arrested the officer, he was released by the Commissioner personally who sighted the instance as a covert operation by the Commissioner. The following day, agents from the National Security Agency (NSA) arrived at the CID requesting samples of the drug shipment. When a bag containing 10 capsules was provided, the agents insisted on confiscating the entire shipment. The CID refused to hand over the shipment sighting procedures and laws requiring the shipment to be released only to a court Agents. The NSA agents subsequently produced a written order by Amar Mohammed Saleh ordering the CID to hand over the shipment to his agents. The shipment left for Sana’a never to be heard of again.

The head of the CID has also affirmed that he has amassed evidence implicating the Police Commissioner in Aden with distribution of counterfeit currency especially Saudi Riyals and Dollars. In one case, he claimed that a witness who came to the Commissioner to provide information on a counterfeit currency shipment that was being processed at the Aden seaport, was arrested on the spot. He was later tried and executed for trafficking counterfeit currency.

The network in Aden includes the Deputy Governor Mr. Abdul Karim Shaif who has become considerably wealthier along with the commissioner over the past 4 years.

In June 2010 a passenger travelling on the Damascus-Sana’a-Mukalla line arrived at Mukalla Airport (AL-RAYAN) with a carry-on bag containing automotive spare parts. The passenger was arrested upon arrival after a tip-off from the Syrians to the customs officers in Mukalla. What were believed to be spare parts in his luggage, turned out to be professionally hidden narcotics with the aluminum cast over the drugs in the shape of various spare parts.

During the initial investigation in the airport the passenger admitted to being only the carrier of the narcotics from Damascus to Mukalla. He refused to divulge the names of his accomplices but he insisted his role was only to bring the shipment into Mukalla where it was to be delivered to Saudi Arabia the next day.

After 5 hours in detention, a group of soldiers from the Republican Guard arrived at the airport and ordered the customs officials to hand over both the detained man and the shipment for their transfer to Sana’a. The man was subsequently released beyond the airport gates and the shipment has not been heard of since.
The Second rout for Drugs and Arms smuggling into Saudi Arabia Starts form the coastline in Shabwa-Hadramout-Mahra. Smugglers await small skiffs and dhows on the beach in three major locations in order to receive drugs shipments (AArqa in Shabwa, Muqra in Hadramout, and Khater in Mahra). Handover at the beach is done in broad daylight with several witnesses and fishermen observing the handover and the drug lords waiting in their luxury cars. The shipments are then loaded on to military transport vehicles or in the case of Hadramout and Shabwa, military camp ambulances which are used for transport from the beach to the sorting location. Other military convoys then transport the shipments to the Saudi boarders. The most prominent officers involved in this trade are General Mojahed of the Cost Guard, and General Awadh Bin Shuhna in the Hadramout Valley.

In this regard, local residents in the Mahra province have noticed the construction of a new military camp in an area known as Haat which is 70 kilometers north of the governorate capital Al-Gaidah and 150 kilometers east of the port of Shahn. The residents describe this camp as the central location for arms and drugs smuggling into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Secretary Clinton’s Visit to Yemen:
Before the Secretary left Sana’a the Ministry of interior issued an order effectively banning any Yemeni from entering any foreign embassy without the prior approval of the Ministry. This came as a response to the meeting between Secretary Clinton and the JMP (opposition) leadership at the American Ambassador’s residence. President Saleh is said to be fuming at the meeting, and in this connection, the video being circulated on the internet showing Secretary Clinton falling at her aircraft doorstep was released by the Deputy News Manager of the Channel 1 TV station in Sana’a. According to colleagues of his, he was ordered to leak the video to opposition websites by Abdo Bourgi, the Yemeni President’s Press Secretary. However, most opposition websites refused to use it.

Furthermore, several parliamentarians met the day after meeting Secretary Clinton at the Movenpick Hotel in Sana’a along with civil society NGOs. The main theme of the discussion was disappointment at the absence of a statement by Secretary Clinton condemning the use of excessive force against unarmed demonstrators and arbitrary arrests which should have been protested as a matter of principal.

Conclusion:
We appeal to the forthcoming meetings of the Yemen Forum and Friends of Yemen to seek immediate intervention to redress the situation prevailing in Yemen. To this effect, the removal of a tyrant along with his junta in Yemen is the sole and only solution to overcoming the long lasting miseries borne by the Yemeni people. The emergence of a new, democratic Yemen on fresh grounds and on the basis of 2 states connected through federal or confederal links, might be a better arrangement once the tyrant and his junta are removed from power and forced out of the country in a peaceful method similar to that which took place recently in Tunisia.

January 20, 2011

Its not hidden, its just that no body talks about it.

JPost: According to Dr. Hisham Al-Nabhani, a psychiatrist at Al Amal psychiatric hospital, about six cases like Samir’s cross his door every month seeking treatment for alcohol abuse.

“They usually come after drinking for three or four years,” Al-Nabhani told The Media Line. “Most of them have high economic status, are the sons of military officers or businessmen who have money and therefore access to alcohol.”

Al-Nabhani said most of them had lived in Saudi Arabia for extended periods. (Read on …)

Several years ago the Central Bank began stamping the bills as counterfeit to prevent General Ali Mohsen from putting them back in circulation, as told by a bank employees present at the time. As often occurs, the counterfeiting rings are often simultaneously engaged in other criminal activity such as drug smuggling etc.

Counterfeit Saudi riyals sees upsurge in Yemen, ARAB NEWS Published: Jan 5, 2011

SANAA: Yemen has seen a recent upsurge in the number of currency counterfeit crimes and police reports show that the scale of the problem in the country is grave. A day hardly goes by without a new case involving fake currencies being disclosed. (Read on …)

In plea documents, LatiNode admitted that from about March 2004 through June 2007, it paid $1.1 million to third parties, knowing that some or all of those funds would be passed on as bribes to officials of Hondutel. In addition, from about July 2005 to April 2006, the court records show LatiNode paid $1.2 million to a third-party consultant, knowing some or all of the money would be passed on to Yemeni officials in exchange for favorable interconnection rates in Yemen: Miami Herald

Amnesty International statement issued today:
JUVENILE OFFENDERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Amnesty International has received information that the President of Yemen has signed the death sentences of two alleged juvenile offenders. One of them has been scheduled for execution on 19 December. They are both at imminent risk of execution. (Read on …)

Five women were taken into custody after a spot check of passing traffic uncovered narcotics and TNT in the vehicle. Its unclear if the components were assembled. The story highlights both the effectiveness of random vehicle searches and the AQAP push to recruit women. Update: we have the story today in English and learn the drugs are pills. Keptagon is a pill smuggled in large quantities.

EPD: Yemeni police have captured a highly explosive TNT device in a car in Sanaa, the country’s Interior Ministry said Tuesday. The explosive device were found along with drug pills concealed inside a handbag of a 40-year-old woman, who was driving a car carrying another four women aging between 20 to 60 years old, who are Yemeni nationals, the ministry said in a statement on its website. The car was caught during a routine search in a main street in the old city of Sanaa, the statement said without giving the date. The five women were under investigation to probe links behind them and the TNT bomb, the ministry added. However, the ministry didn’t label the women to any terrorist group.

(Read on …)