The numbers keep doubling annually. The UN at best has a serious lack of capacity in providing services to the refugees at arrival or later on.
SANAA, 1 (IRIN) :- The past 10 months saw the highest number of Africans reaching Yemeni shores over figures for the same period in 2008 and 2007, when large numbers began travelling to Yemen by boat, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). (Read on …)
Continuing our previous discussion of the huge explosion on Midi Island, news from Al Motamar
On the other hand Yemeni security apparatuses arrested 107 African migrants in the island of Midi holding Nigerian, Chadian and Sudanese nationalities. The security men also said 2 of the African migrants; one Nigerian youth and a woman in her 6th decade have died and doctors said the death was natural.
The rest of the African migrants were transported to the Centre Al-Jazeera Leadership for investigation and then they were detained in Hudeida province. It is to be noted that this is the third rime African migrants to attempt to infiltrate into Yemeni territories via the island of Midi. On most occasions investigations proved that the African migrants, mostly Sudanese, were intending to infiltrate into Saudi territories across Yemeni territories.
This is really getting messy now…
Iran to send third fleet to Gulf of Aden, TEHRAN, Aug. 30 (MNA) – Iran will dispatch the third fleet of its warships to the Gulf of Aden on Monday to protect the cargo ships against the pirates, Iranian Student News Agency reported on Sunday.
So far the Army and the IRGC have sent two fleets of warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian oil tankers and trade vessels. The third fleet of the Navy will leave Bandar Abbas port at 8:00 local time on Monday.
Shortly after its first fleet of warships returned home in July, Iran dispatched a second group of warships to the region that came back to the country on Aug. 28.
(Hat tip, Eagle Speak, the place to go for maritime news.)
Meanwhile back in Sana’a, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi warned Sunday the Iranian government of negative impact on the Yemeni-Iranian relations in case the Iranian media outlets continued in adopting stands of sabotage elements in Saada through publishing lies and fomenting against Yemen, waving in this regard of Yemen’s taking of hard decisions.
Update: United States Actions To Counter Piracy Off the Horn of Africa , Fact Sheet, 9/1/09
Piracy in the Gulf of Aden has cost Yemen $350 million, a sum that includes $200 million in losses suffered by fishermen, official documents indicate.
Government reports cited Wednesday by Saba, Yemen’s official news agency, showed that direct government losses from maritime piracy amounted to $150 million. Also included in the total was costly piracy insurance purchased for ships that ply the pirate-infested gulf waters. (Read on …)
TEHRAN, July 6 (Bernama) — Iran has sent two more warships to the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden to protect merchant vessels, the official IRNA news agency reported, citing an English-language satellite channel Press TV as reporting Monday. (Read on …)
Wow. What are the Iranians going to be delivering? All the Yemeni accusations that Iran was supporting the Shiite rebellion must be resolved. I’m joking, that was posturing.
PressTV Tehran and Sana’a have agreed to confront piracy off the coast of Yemen and the Gulf of Aden, says the Iranian foreign minister.
“Yemen has agreed to permit Iranian warships to dock at Yemen’s port (of Aden) to provide security to Iranian commercial ships in the region,” IRINN quoted Manouchehr Mottaki as saying.
The deal was reached during a meeting between Mottaki and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana’a. The agreement came a month after Iran announced that six Iranian vessels were joining the international efforts against piracy off the coast of Somalia.
“Six warships and support vessels have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden region and international waters,” said commander of the Iranian Navy Real-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari…Iran’s first deployment came after Somali pirates hijacked the Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship, Delight, operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) in the Gulf of Aden in November, 2008.
The latest incident involving an Iranian ship came in March when pirates attacked an Iranian vessel for what they called “illegal fishing” in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland.
Related: Prime Minister flies to Syria to firm up transportation agreements
SANA’A, June 27 (Saba) – Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Mujawar will leave today for Syria on an official visit during which he will head the Yemeni side in the 9th meeting of the Yemeni-Syrian Supreme Committee.
The two-day session, which will start on Sunday, would be held in Syrian capital, Damascus. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Etri will head his country’s side.
The meeting will focus on finding ways to strengthen Yemeni-Syrian economic cooperation and deal with six documents including one on transport cooperation between the two countries.
Very interesting, I’ve been waiting for more Sudan/Yemen news after the Yemeni fishing boat exploded in Sudanese waters and the Yemeni small plane crashed after take-off in the Sudan.
Cars waiting to take them to the Saudi border is well coordinated, indicates good communication and, for human trafficking to Yemen, elaborate. Landing is not the norm. Often the poor refugees get dumped from the boat and swim to shore; no one is waiting. Landing on the islands I think is new also. I wonder what the boats are taking back? Drugs, guns, diesel? Article is from the Yemen Observer:
Yemen’s Medi Island of Hajjah province close to the Saudi borders has become a new passing point for African refugees to the Gulf countries. The past few days witnessed the arrival of large groups said that an anonymous groups of African refugees from different nationalities-Nigerians, Sudanese, Chadian.
The Red Sea has become also the new passing through point for African refugees after it was only confined to Somalis and their fatal trips in the Gulf of Aden.
Yemen’s Coastguards have captured more than 500 Africans while attempting to sneak into the lands of Saudi Arabia. The coastguards also have captured 110 African refugees in the Medi Island after thie arrival on a smuggling boat. Sources at the coastguards said that there were several cars that were waiting for them to carry them to Hardh district located at the Saudi borders to smuggle them into Saudi Arabia. (Read on …)
The network of spotters is interesting, but the several Yemeni ports more so.
Yemen Times: But how did Yemeni fishermen become pirates? The answer was disclosed by the fishermen themselves, who explained that many times they have been kidnapped by Somalis pirates, who use the fishing boats to attack commercial ships. (Read on …)
First of all, lets keep in mind that the report that “a missile” from the international fleet targeted the first Yemeni fishing boat that exploded Tuesday off the coast of the Sudan is entirely unsubstantiated and a product of the Yemeni State Media, which often lies, blatant absurd lies.
In the second case this week, the official story that follows is three fishermen exited the boat at Yemen’s Honey Island (what a nice name!) and triggered a land mine. It could be, or it could be something else like a new trade in more volatile explosives. I haven’t a clue, there are a lot of land mines in Yemen, but one exploding Yemeni fishing boat is odd, two is flakey. Both stories were announced by Saba:
Mine explosion kills two Yemeni fishermen in Red Sea island
HODEIDA, May 28 (Saba) – Two days after a missile hit a Yemeni boat in the Red Sea killing and injuring its crew members, two Yemeni fishermen died on Thursday but this time a landmine explosion was probably behind the catastrophe which took place in the Honey Island near the Yemeni island of Al-Zubair in the Red Sea.
A third Yemeni fisherman was seriously injured and taken to a hospital in Hodeida and he is still in the intensive care unit.
Sources told news websites the boat had a crew of 11, but only three were at the boat when the explosion took place, while the other crew members were preparing a meal.
When the three left their boat in the island, an explosion was heard which preliminary investigations revealed it was a mine detonation killing two and hurting the third.
The two killed were identified as Abdu Ibrahim, 20, and Ahmed Ibrahim,35.
However, speculations arose that the explosion was a missile that targeted the boat, raising fear international troops are aiming to cleanse Yemeni fishermen under the pretext of being suspected pirates.
On Tuesday, a missile, believed to be fired by one of the international naval ships patrolling the region, hit a Yemeni boat killing and injuring its crew members.
OK lets get the deisel smuggling out of the way- daily shipments from Yemen to Africa of government subsidized diesel. (Related: Daily Star: US Navy rescues 52 stranded Somalis.)
The much bigger issue is the exploding fishing boat. Its unclear that any missile hit it at this point; its could have been laden with explosives or carrying an aged gas canister and blew up accidentally. Its important for the international fleet to remain vigilant about the danger of maritime terror attacks in the Gulf of Aden. There is good reason to assume a defensive position after the USS Cole bombing (and the later Limburg). The sailors on the Cole waved at the approaching boat; the Navy cannot repeat that mistake, especially now when its easy to be desensitized by having dealt with the Somali pirates for a year or more. The rules of engagement should not allow hapless lost Yemeni fishermen to approach military vessels, blame it on al Badawi.
A statement from al Qaeda Central called for naval jihad (May 26 2008), the October one by a Yemeni forecast a major event around Somalia. The links between AQAP in Yemen and al Shabab go back to the ICU and before. Its a predictable scenario that AQAP would attempt to outdo the Cole bombing when the waters are full of such tempting targets. And I don’t necessarily mean al Wahishi.
Why Yemeni fishermen are near the Sudan is another question. The Yemeni flight school for small planes that flies back and forth between Yemen and Sudan is something, what I don’t know. Its could be normal criminal smuggling activity, spotters for pirates or something entirely innocuous.
Yemen Post
Two Yemeni fishermen were killed and one was injured while the fate of a fourth one is still unknown after their boat came under an aggressive assault by one of the international naval ships patrolling the Red Sea near Sudan on Tuesday.
A source at the Coast Guard said Abdu Marwani and Muhammad Naj’e were killed immediately after their boat was totally destroyed by a missile which some suspect was an air strike. Sources at Yemen’s navy said it probably came from sea.
While the third fisherman made it to Sudanese coast and is now in critical condition. The fishermen came from the Midy area, Hajjah before their boat was hit near Sudan’s waters.
A coordinated investigation by Yemen and Sudan is underway to explore reasons for the attack.
Meanwhile, director of the Midy district Abdul Majeed Al-Himyari dismissed reports a Yemeni boat was attacked in Yemen’s territorial waters, saying the incident took place while the boat was in Sudan’s territorial waters. He told the media the survivor is being investigated by Sudan.
Tuesday’s attack comes in a series of attacks against Yemeni fishing boats by international forces patrolling the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Early this year, two Yemeni sailors were killed as their boats came under separate attacks by international troops in the Indian Ocean. Few others were hurt, with troops saying they suspected the boats were for pirates and then hit them.
And this month, the Interior Ministry said a Yemeni boat was provoked, with NATO’s mission in the region intimidating its crew.
The area where the boat was hit on Tuesday is witnessing large fuel smuggling, with eyewitnesses affirming boats smuggle diesel to African Horn States daily.
A compilation post, a bit more detail on this in an article I wrote for the Yemen Times in December. The VOA article is very good:
VOA: UN Warns of Ties Between Lawless Groups in Somalia and Yemen
For years, criminals have used ports in the Arab world’s poorest country, Yemen, as staging areas for trafficking humans, drugs, and weapons. There are growing fears that criminal groups in Yemen and pirate gangs in Somalia are moving closer together, further complicating international efforts to stabilize the region. (Read on …)
Another case of the regime’s interests dovetailing with AQAP. CBS:
(CBS)A senior Saudi Arabian al Qaeda operative has called on Somali jihadists to step up their attacks on “crusader” forces at sea in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, and on land in neighboring Djibouti, which hosts France?s largest military base in Africa. (Read on …)
In an official report: Yemen Post
Despite its approval for foreign intervention to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Yemen has recently accused international forces of aiding pirates to attack ships off the cost of Somalia, media sources reported.
A report issued by the external and political affairs committee in the Shoura Council noted that the international forces patrolling the Arabian and Red Seas on anti-pirate operations provide Somali pirates with information over ships passing through the waterways in the region and other equipment such as boats in an attempt to make piracy appear as unchallenged force. (Read on …)
This is an accurate though dire asssessment of Yemen’s oil future and the late arrival of “self-awareness” and the current scramble to court oil majors. The whole thing is worth a read but here’s a bit:
IHS Global Insight Perspective
Significance Yemen is offering radically revised production-sharing agreement (PSA) terms and the opportunity of one-on-one bilateral negotiations with the Ministry of Oil and Minerals (MOM) in order to rekindle IOC-and especially oil-major-interest in exploration and production (E&P) investments in the country and reverse its rapidly evaporating fortunes.Implications
Yemen’s completely failed offshore licensing round late last year served as a wake-up call, bringing the realisation that term revisions, institutional and legal reform, the cutting of red tape, and depoliticisation, are all necessary to kick-start investment.Outlook
Even with this realisation the country’s deteriorating security situation-both on- and offshore-is likely to present a formidable obstacle to attracting new investment, while doubts about Yemen’s continued prospectivity seem well founded…For companies looking to undertake virgin exploration, this would today most likely mean venturing out into areas where government authority is completely absent and where the possibility of this being reasserted might well come down to formal military conquest of the territory in question.
Also largely avoided is the topic of piracy emanating from neighbouring Somalia, which is making all sea journeys in the Gulf of Aden, around its far-flung Socotra Island and through the Bab al-Mandab Strait into the Red Sea perilous. The upsurge in incidents over the past year has made undertaking offshore exploration with slow-moving-and extremely expensive-hi-tech seismic vessels virtually impossible, not to mention placing static drilling rigs in the waters.
Not even on a per case basis when in hot pursuit, Yemen Observer:
Yemen has denied foreign navies access to Yemen’s territorial waters whilst in pursuit of pirates. Yemen’s Deputy-Foreign Minister for Arab, Asian and African Affairs Ali al-Ayashi, denied the news currently being circulated by some websites that quoted a French diplomatic source saying the Yemeni government had permitted foreign warships to chase pirate vessels into its territorial waters on a case-by-case basis when Yemen is unable to act.
Al-Ayashi said these claims were baseless, and go directly against the sovereignty of Yemen. “The issue of fighting piracy by foreign ships in Yemen’s territorial waters is baseless, and Yemen has never agreed to any such procedures,” said al-Ayashi. He added that Yemen had affirmed many times that it would fight piracy in its territorial waters through the use of Coast Guard patrols, and through joint-operations between the Yemeni Navy and Coast Guard.
(Read on …)
Pirates are hiding in Yemen’s territorial waters, so the international task force moved the protected corridor further from Yemen.
a) the multi-national force doesnt have permission to go into Yemen’s waters?
b) if the Yemeni govt can wire the phones of journalists and activists, and cut off service to the entire region of Sa’ada, do you think they could intercept the pirates communications?
c) interestingly, Yemen’s “anti-piracy center” is almost built, the equipment will come later… I don’t think they were invited to the last meeting.
Lloyds: The protective corridor has been moved further away from Yemen’s coastline since it was first established. This was done partly to route vessels away from domestic fishing traffic but also to escape the reception area of Yemen’s mobile phone network, which UK naval officials suspect was being used to co-ordinate pirate attacks.
It has also been suggested that the pirate’s motherships are using Yemen’s territorial waters to hide from naval patrols in the region.
While pirate attacks in the Gulf have dropped off significantly this year, recent estimates suggest that piracy in the region has cost the shipping industry over $60m in the last 12 months. Lloyd’s Market Association senior executive Neil Roberts estimates that $30m has been paid in ransom demands but another $30m should be added to that figure as a conservative estimate of negotiation and delivery costs.
More from Lloyd’s
EUROPEAN Union legal teams are closing in on a deal that will allow naval forces operating in the Gulf of Aden to prosecute pirates in several regional states. Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Egypt have all been identified as potential jurisdictions. While bilateral agreements between states have allowed limited prosecutions to take place, no over-arching legal framework has yet been established…Despite a recent pledge by authorities in Yemen to strengthen anti-piracy efforts, it is understood that the country, which retains the death penalty, will not form part of the EU legal agreement. Bilateral discussions with US authorities are also understood to have stumbled over concerns regarding the strength of Yemen’s legal system and its ability to prosecute suspects.
Yes thank you. I was wondering why China embarked on its first naval operation in centuries. Concern for Yemen didn’t seem a likely motivation. The internationalization of the waterway in the last year is dramatic.
Hong Kong, China — “Anti-piracy operations” have given China’s PLA Navy the best excuse to penetrate the Indian Ocean and station forces there permanently.
As fighting piracy around the Gulf of Aden becomes a long-term mission, the PLA Navy South Sea Fleet is likely to set up a sub-fleet to handle that task – perhaps the “Indian Ocean Sub-fleet of the South Sea Fleet” – and the PLA Navy will become the new owner of the Indian Ocean.
In recent months, Chinese military publications have carried a number of articles stating that “the Indian Ocean does not belong to India.” The intent of these articles is increasingly clear.
While carrying out anti-piracy operations, the PLA Navy’s battleships will gain experience in long-distance maritime combat operations in preparation for the establishment of an ocean-going aircraft carrier fleet. The navy may dispatch other battleships, such as its 054A FFG, on similar missions in the future.
China has a key military objective in dispatching battleships to the Gulf of Aden. The “Chinese Aegis” class DDG it has sent to the region has the most advanced radar detection and C4IRS capabilities, and therefore can conduct effective battlefield monitoring exercises in this region. The Gulf of Aden provides the best geographical environment for the PLA Navy to conduct surveillance on the activities of the U.S. 5th Fleet.
The powerful detection capability of the Chinese Aegis DDG relies on the “Sea Lion” active phased array radar installed on the battleship.
Yemen offers its Perim island for NATO-led anti-piracy fleet
Sanaa, 21 February – As NATO is expanding into the Red Sea and towards the Horn of Africa, the improvised naval and military base in Djibuti is perceived to be insufficient. French sources now revealed that French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to build an artificial port on Yemen’s Perim island, to harbour the international NATO-led naval forces that have been tasked by the United Nations Security Council with future large-scale and enduring anti-piracy missions. The Yemeni Perim island has been chosen for its strategic location at the entrance to the Red Sea between Yemen and Djibouti. Bernard Kouchner is expected to arrive in Djibouti tomorrow for talks with the local government and that of Somalia about a future coordination between their executive forces and the newly to be allocated international anti-piracy mission
OK the better title is: Presidential relatives held in connection with Embassy bombing or maybe Military Commanders’ sons financed attack? Akhbaralsr
News today – Munir Maori – The Yemeni sources said that two officers from the rank of the relatives of the President and members of his clan close, the son of one senior military commander and nephew of the second military commander, Iqavan currently in detention and investigation of alleged involvement in supporting terrorism. The same sources that the intelligence military and national security with the investigating officers since the authorities discovered that the vehicles participating in the attack on the U.S. embassy of the two, and they have contributed in one way or another in the financing and facilitate the work of the cell Almhahjmp. (Read on …)
Coast Guard Forces and Border Guards integrated.
YemenOnline. Sunday 25, 2009 – The President of the Republic, H.E. Ali Salih, declared yesterday that the Coast Guard Forces and Border Guards are intended to be combined into one authority reporting to the Ministry of Interior.In his speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the Ministry of Interior Leadership’s 19th Conference under the motto “Homeland’s security is a national and collective responsibility”, he said” We have recruited 1000 soldiers to enhance security capacities of Coast Guard Forces (CGFs) in particular after the recent increase of marine piracy.” In addition, these forces are to be provided with the necessary arms and equipments.
Armies of Liberation website was banned by Yemeni authorities in 2007 and remains blocked by government censors despite a partial regime change in 2012.
Yemen Articles 2004-2010
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