"Yemeni president Saleh opts to stay in country" January 01, 2012|By Ahmed Al-Haj
SANA, Yemen - Yemen’s outgoing president has decided to stay in the country, reversing plans to leave, his ruling party said yesterday in an apparent attempt to salvage his control over the regime, which has appeared to unravel in the face of internal revolts and relentless street protests.
Again?
In a sign of the fraying, the son and nephew of President Ali Abdullah Saleh launched a crackdown on suspected dissidents within the ranks of the elite security services they command, officials within the services said. The Republican Guard, led by the son, and Central Security, led by the nephew, have been the main forces used in trying to suppress the uprising against Saleh’s rule the past year.
It's what is known as a purge, and it's not good.
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis marched in the streets of Sana and other cities yesterday, demanding that Saleh be put on trial for the deaths of protesters killed in the crackdown since February.
“We will not let you escape,’’ protesters chanted, holding up posters of the president with a noose around his neck....
Opponents say he has tried since then to maintain his influence through loyalists in his ruling party and through the security forces commanded by his family.
His People’s Congress Party retains considerable power as part of a power-sharing government with the opposition, and critics say it has worked to undermine Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Meanwhile, protests have swelled after organizers rejected the accord because of the provision granting Saleh immunity. In recent weeks, the unrest has expanded with strikes breaking out within multiple government institutions and within units of the regular military demanding the removal of Saleh loyalists.
He better get moving along.
Hundreds of men in military uniform marched yesterday through the southern city of Taiz, a center of the uprising, calling for trials of top commanders over the killings of protesters. Some renegade units in other parts of the military have even locked their commanders out of military installations and demanded the removal of officers accused of corruption or involvement in the deadly crackdown.
Wow!
Saleh’s flip-flop on leaving the country was the latest show of the mercurial way he has handled the crisis since it erupted.
Last weekend, he told reporters he would travel to the United States for a period to help bring calm to his nation. But yesterday, he met with figures from the People’s Congress Party and decided to stay.
“It is not possible in any way, shape or form to allow the collapse of state establishments and institutions that have been built over the last 49 years,’’ Saleh said in a prepared statement addressing the new threats.
He did not mention his plans to stay in Yemen. But tribal chief Sheik Mohammed al-Shayef, who is also a leading member of Saleh’s People’s Congress Party, said separately that the president had decided to remain because of the unrest, which Shayef blamed on the opposition and said was a violation of the power-transfer agreement.
Washington has been hesitant to allow Saleh to enter the United States, wary of being seen to give refuge to a leader considered by many of his people to have blood on his hands. That may have played a major part in Saleh’s reversal.
I was hoping the furor raised by the blogs had something to do with it.
But the president probably also wants to be present to direct his loyalists and put pressure on Hadi and the unity government, said Abdel-Bari Taher, a political analyst.
“He won’t let the new government work without interruptions,’’ said Taher. But “eventually, things are going to get out of control. . . . The strikes and government concessions only mean that Saleh’s regime will eventually lose its share in power.’’
The Republican Guard and Central Security forces, the best trained and armed security forces, have so far not suffered significant defections to the opposition, unlike the regular military units, making them a major cornerstone for Saleh’s control.
But with more frequent and serious acts of rebellion breaking out in other parts of the security services, Saleh’s son Ahmed has led an internal sweep to prevent any outbreak within the Republican Guard, said a military official.
It's just a matter of time now.
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"3 die as troops, opposition clash in Yemen" January 02, 2012|By Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - Yemen’s opposition yesterday accused outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh of trying to torpedo a power transfer deal by sparking a new crisis, as troops loyal to him clashed with opposition forces, killing three.
The violence was evidence that the president’s signature on a power transfer deal has not ended months of turmoil that have benefited Al Qaeda-linked militants....
The new government’s first task is to push through the law shielding Saleh from prosecution for alleged corruption and for violence against protesters. Saleh made that a condition for signing the deal to relinquish power after 33 years of rule.
Yet more than a month after Saleh signed, and after the possibility of his flying to the United States was raised, Saleh is still in Yemen, wielding significant power and showing few, if any, signs of giving in.
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"Despite US aid, Yemen’s fight against Islamists slips" by Sudarsan Raghavan | Washington Post, January 03, 2012
ZINJIBAR, Yemen - Each day, American-backed Yemeni forces struggle to retake territory from militant Islamists - a conventional army pitted against a guerrilla militia with grand ambitions to stage an attack on US soil. The soldiers feel increasingly besieged.
“We are like an island in a sea of Al Qaeda,’’ said Lieutenant Abdul Mohamed Saleh....
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has a mixed record of combating extremists. He is a nominal US ally who has pledged to defeat Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but critics say his government is primarily responsible for the instability that has allowed the group to thrive.
Prodemocracy demonstrators have no sympathy for Al Qaeda, but many fear Yemen could face years of turmoil before a system emerges to unify the country.
With Saleh’s government in disarray, the United States has stepped up operations against the Al Qaeda group, using drone strikes to kill several of its top officials, including Anwar al-Awlaki, the cleric implicated in helping to motivate several attacks in the United States.
See: AmeriKan Missiles Keep Things All in the Family in Yemen
But such a strategy has its limits in Zinjibar. The Islamists emerged in March, taking over the town of Jaar. By the end of May, they had entered Zinjibar, where they seized government buildings and looted banks and military depots. Most troops, police, and local officials fled Zinjibar, along with thousands of residents.
The soldiers of Brigade 25, the only government forces who did not flee, have been pummeled almost daily; Islamist fighters control half of the city. The US-trained units are too small, said General Muhammad al-Somli, the brigade commander, and his soldiers lack skills and equipment.
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"Militants burn Yemen hotel, kill two" January 05, 2012|By Associated Press
SANA, Yemen - Islamic militants stormed a hotel where alcohol is served in a southern Yemeni city yesterday, setting the building on fire, killing two people and wounding 20.
The attack illustrated how the militants, including Yemen’s Al Qaeda branch, have gained strength and are showing increased boldness in southern Yemen.
The militants have taken advantage of a security vacuum resulting from nearly a year of internal political turmoil over demands that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down....
A hotel guest said about five masked gunmen stormed the hotel in the morning, shooting in all directions. Then they poured fuel on the hotel’s carpets and set them on fire....
Three years ago, Islamic militants attacked and set fire to a social club of the Ethiopian community in Aden because it served alcohol. No one was hurt in that incident. They also attacked and damaged several shops that sold music videos.
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"Opponents fear Yemen’s president may renege on exit plan" January 06, 2012|By Ahmed Al-Haj and Ben Hubbard
SANA, Yemen - Suspicions are mounting in Yemen that outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh is trying to wiggle out of a US-backed deal meant to bring his 33-year, autocratic rule to an end.
Both opposition leaders and officials close to the president said yesterday that they remain unconvinced that Saleh is serious about leaving power. They fear he will try to use the unstable country’s continued unrest to keep his seat on the grounds that Yemen’s active Al Qaeda branch will step up operations if he leaves....
Saleh remains president, Yemeni state media still speak of him as leader of the nation, and his allies frequently hinder the work of a new unity government sworn in by his vice president.
“The president is basically not convinced that he has to leave power, so he will resist with all his remaining force,’’ said a ruling party figure in Saleh’s last government who was close to the president. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Adding further fuel to the concerns over the past week, Saleh changed his plans to travel to the United States. Mediators have been saying for weeks that he would seek medical care in the United States for continued treatment of wounds sustained in a June attack at his palace. In late December, Saleh said he would go to help calm the turmoil in his country. Then on Saturday, he announced he would stay.
Saleh’s request for a visa put US officials in a bind. Allowing him in would open them to criticism from protesters who want Saleh to stand trial in Yemen for deadly crackdowns that have killed hundreds of protesters. Refusing him entry, however, would be hard to explain since he remains a US ally. Washington says it is still considering whether to grant it.
On Wednesday, a leader in Saleh’s ruling General People’s Congress party said Saleh had decided to remain in Yemen in response to concerns that his departure could be bad for Yemen and the ruling party....
The United States has long considered Yemen a necessary if not entirely reliable ally in the fight against the country’s active Al Qaeda branch and has provided Yemeni antiterrorism forces with funds and training.
Yemeni officials said Saleh is seeking to preserve his rule by using the same scare tactic he has used for decades: telling the United States and Saudi Arabia that Al Qaeda will have a freer hand to operate on Yemeni soil if he leaves.
Al Qaeda remains active in Yemen. Military officials said four soldiers and six militants were killed in new clashes yesterday near the city of Zinjibar.
The militants took advantage of chaos early in the anti-Saleh uprising to overrun Zinjibar and a number of other towns. Government troops have been fighting to dislodge them since....
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"Al Qaeda takes key town in Yemen; Militants make significant inroad to capital city" by Ahmed al-Haj | Associated Press, January 17, 2012
SANA, Yemen - A band of Al Qaeda militants took full control of a town 100 miles south of the Yemeni capital Sana yesterday, overrunning army positions and storming the local prison, freeing at least 150 inmates.
????
Related: "CIA-Duh" Takes Control of Yemen
Hey, that was then.
The capture of Radda expanded already significant territorial conquests by the militants, who have taken advantage of the weak central government and political turmoil roiling the nation for the past year during an antiregime uprising inspired by Arab Spring revolts.
Authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh recently agreed to step down after months of resisting the protests against his 33-year rule. But he remains a powerful force within the country and a spark for ongoing unrest.
Fragmented Yemen is the poorest nation in the Arab world. There have long been fears that the chaos there, if unchecked, could lead to the breakup of the country along tribal or regional lines, with the militants in control of inaccessible and heavily fortified pockets deep in the country’s mountainous interior.
Such an outcome could turn Yemen into something akin to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, a sanctuary where militants from the world over could plot high-profile terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies.
The NEW AFGHANISTAN!
Yemen’s active Al Qaeda branch has already been linked to terror attacks on US soil and on neighboring Saudi Arabia. It is believed to be one of the international terror organization’s most dangerous franchises.
The United States and its western and Gulf Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia long considered Saleh a pivotal, though not entirely reliable, partner in the fight against Al Qaeda. But the United States withdrew its support last summer and said Saleh should step down.
The militants in Radda were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles, and other weapons. He quoted residents as saying that the black Al Qaeda banner had been raised atop a mosque the militants captured over the weekend.
According to security officials, a band of about 200 militants pushed into Radda yesterday from several points they had captured over the weekend, including an ancient castle that overlooks the town, a school, and a mosque. They stormed the local jail and freed 150 to 200 inmates, including an unspecified number of militants loyal to Al Qaeda.
Some of the freed inmates joined the militants after they were given arms, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.
The officials said the Al Qaeda fighters were led by Tariq Al-Zahab, a Yemeni whose sister was married to US-born Al Qaeda cleric and key recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a US airstrike last September.
Unreal.
If they lie about one thing....
Awlaki issued English-language sermons on jihad on the Internet from his hideouts in Yemen’s mountains, drawing Muslim recruits like the young Nigerian who tried to bring down a US jet at Christmas 2009 and the Pakistani-American behind the botched car bombing in Times Square in May 2010.
PFFFFT!
The fighters later threw up a security ring around the town, preventing residents from leaving or entering, and killed two soldiers and wounded a third in clashes with troops. They also seized weapons and vehicles from the security headquarters.
Later yesterday, clashes erupted between the Al Qaeda militants and armed tribesmen, leaving one dead and two wounded, according to a member of Al Qayfa tribe, which took part in the clashes.
Yesterday’s violence prompted stores and schools in Radda to close. Thousands demonstrated in the provincial capital of Bayda to protest the perceived failure of security forces to protect the town, which has a population of about 40,000.
The opposition accused Saleh, who is to step down this month in line with a power transfer deal, of allowing the militants to overrun Radda along with two other towns in southern Abyan province captured previously - Zinjibar and Jaar - to bolster his claims that he must remain in power to secure the country against the rising power of Islamist militants.
Some tribal leaders also accused Saleh of giving the green light to the militants to overrun the city.
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"Yemeni hints elections could be put off; Vote is key part of deal for Saleh to give up power" by Kareem Fahim | New York Times, January 18, 2012
BEIRUT - Adding to fears of a worsening political crisis in Yemen, a top government official hinted that presidential elections set for February that would mark the formal end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule could be delayed.
During an interview broadcast yesterday on Al Arabiya, Yemen’s foreign minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, said it would be difficult to hold the elections on Feb. 21 as planned because security in the country was deteriorating....
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, during a visit to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, expressed concern when asked about any delay in Yemen’s election. And more explicitly than any US official so far, she said Saleh should not only step down, but leave the country....
Wow, she is really out there bossing everyone around, isn't she?
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"Yemeni president to seek medical treatment in US" January 22, 2012|By Ahmed al-Haj
SANAA, Yemen - Outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh will leave soon for Oman, en route to medical treatment in the United States, Yemeni officials said yesterday, part of an American effort to get the embattled strongman out of the country to allow a peaceful transition from his rule.
Washington has been trying for weeks to find a country where Saleh can live in exile, since it does not want him to settle permanently in the United States. The mercurial president, who has ruled for more than 33 years, has repeatedly gone back and forth on whether he would leave.
The officials’ comments yesterday suggested that Oman, Yemen’s neighbor, could be a potential home for him. Three officials said he would go, but they were divided on whether he would remain in exile in Oman or return to Yemen after treatment. His return, even if he no longer holds the post of president, could mean continued turmoil for the impoverished nation at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
After nearly a year of protests demanding his ouster, Saleh handed his powers over to his vice president in November and agreed to step down. A unity government between his party and the opposition has since been created. But Saleh - still formally the president - has continued to influence politics from behind the scenes through his family and loyalists in power positions.
The US does not want to take him in, concerned it would be seen by Yemenis as harboring a leader they say has blood on his hands for the killings of protesters. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates already have rejected Saleh, American officials said.
Senior ruling party figure Mohammed al-Shayef said Saleh would travel to Oman, then head to the United States for treatment of wounds he suffered in an June assassination attempt.
It's like the Shah all over again.
Saleh would then return to Yemen to head his People’s Congress Party, said Shayef.
Another top party official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk of the plans, gave the same itinerary, though he said Saleh would pass through Ethiopia en route to the United States.
Saleh himself has spoken of working as an opposition politician after he leaves the presidency.
But an official in the prime minister’s office said Saleh “is supposed’’ to return to Oman to stay after his US treatment is completed.
The official said Saleh’s powerful son Ahmed was currently in Oman, arranging a residence for his father. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk the press.
It did not seem that Ahmed, who commands the elite Republican Guard that has been at the forefront of the crackdown on protests, would remain in Oman.
The unity government has been struggling to establish its authority in the face of Saleh’s continuing strength in the country. Like Saleh’s son Ahmed, Saleh’s nephew also commands one of Yemen’s most formidable security forces, and the president’s loyalists remain in place in the government and bureaucracy.
Saleh agreed to step down under a US-approved and Gulf-mediated accord with the opposition in return for immunity for prosecution.
Yemen’s Parliament yesterday approved the immunity law, a key step toward Saleh’s formal retirement from his post. Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi signed it into law later in the day.
Saleh is scheduled to hand over the presidency to his vice president on Feb. 21.
The law grants Saleh complete immunity for any crimes committed during his rule, including the killing of protesters during the uprising against his regime. However, Parliament limited the scope of immunity for other regime officials and excluded immunity for terrorism-related crimes.
Initially, the law would have similarly given complete immunity to everyone who served Saleh’s governments throughout his rule, sparking a public outcry and a new wave of protests.
In response, the law was changed to grant them immunity only on “politically motivated’’ criminal acts. That apparently would not cover corruption charges.
Most protesters have rejected the accord entirely, saying Saleh should not be given immunity and demanding he be prosecuted.
Human Rights Watch has said in a statement that the law allows senior officials to “get away with murder’’ and “sends the disgraceful message that there is no consequence for killing those who express dissent.’’
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"Yemen’s ailing president hands over power, heads to US" January 23, 2012|By Ahmed al-Haj
SANA, Yemen - Yemen’s president left his battered nation yesterday headed to the United States for medical treatment after passing power to his deputy and asking for forgiveness for any “shortcomings’’ during his 33-year reign.
But in a sign that Ali Abdullah Saleh’s role as Yemen’s top power broker is likely far from over, he said he would return to Yemen before the official power transfer next month....
Saleh’s departure marks a small achievement in months of diplomatic efforts by the United States and Yemen’s powerful Gulf neighbors to ease the nearly year-old political crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country. An active Al Qaeda branch has taken advantage of the turmoil, stepping up operations and seizing territory....
Presidential spokesman Ahmed al-Soufi said Saleh left Yemen’s capital, Sana, late yesterday on a plane headed for Oman. He did not say how long Saleh would remain there but added that he would make “another stop before heading to the United States of America.’’
A senior administration official said Ali Abdullah Saleh would travel to New York this week and probably stay in the United States until no later than the end of February. US officials believe Saleh’s exit from Yemen could lower the risk of disruptions leading up to presidential elections planned for Feb. 21.
The Obama administration faced a dilemma in deciding whether to allow Saleh into the United States after he requested a visa last month. It has long seen getting Saleh out of Yemen as an important step in ensuring the power transfer goes forward. But some in the administration feared that welcoming Saleh would spark charges from the Arab world that the United States was harboring an autocrat responsible for deadly crackdowns on protesters.
To guard against this, the administration has sought assurances that Saleh will not seek to remain in the United States.
An official close to Saleh said yesterday the president would undergo medical exams in Oman before traveling to the United States, where he has been forbidden from any political activity, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose diplomatic talks.
Saleh is probably seeking treatment for injuries sustained in a blast in his palace mosque last June 3 that left him badly burned. After the attack, Saleh went to Saudi Arabia for treatment, leaving many to suspect his power was waning. But a few months later, he made a surprise return to Yemen and resumed his post.
Under the power-transfer deal signed in November, Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi will be rubber-stamped as the country’s new leader in presidential elections. The political parties that signed the deal agreed not to nominate any other candidates....
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Also see: 750,000 children in Yemen malnourished
"US strikes believed to kill 4 Yemen militants" Associated Press, February 01, 2012
SANA, Yemen - US airstrikes targeting leaders from Yemen’s active Al Qaeda branch killed four suspected militants, including a man suspected of involvement in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, officials said yesterday.
Missiles struck a school and a car late Monday in the southern Abyan Province, Yemeni security and military officials said. Large swaths of the province have fallen under the influence of Al Qaeda as the militants exploit a security vacuum stemming from an uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh that began last year.
The United States considers the Yemen branch of Al Qaeda to be one of the most dangerous arms of the terrorist group. US aircraft have targeted Al Qaeda leaders there before, notably killing Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen, last year.
Tribal officials in the area said the latest strike hit the militants as they were holding an important meeting at the school. Airstrikes also hit targets in the surrounding mountains and a car carrying people to the meeting between the towns of Lauder and Moudia.
Yemeni security officials originally put the death toll at 15 people but later lowered that figure to four. They also said 12 militants were wounded in the strikes.
They said one of the suspected militants killed - Abdel-Monem al-Fathani - was involved in bombing the USS Cole in October 2000, which killed 17 American sailors.
More lost souls to s*** lies.
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"Alleged architect of USS Cole bombing arraigned; Attack in Yemen in 2000 killed 17 US sailors" November 10, 2011|By Peter Finn, Washington Post
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - After more than nine years in US custody, four of them at a secret CIA prisons, the alleged mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole bombing finally appeared in public yesterday, when he was arraigned in the first death-penalty military commission under President Obama.
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent, was one of three detainees waterboarded by the CIA. He entered the courtroom in Guantanamo Bay with a shoulder-rolling swagger, leaned back in his chair, and gave a thumbs-up to his team of defense lawyers.
A short time later, he glanced back at the public gallery, where relatives of victims, the media, and human rights activists sat behind three panes of glass. He then raised his right arm and gave an insouciant wave to the gallery.
Nashiri - clean-shaven, stocky, and wearing white prison garb - was arraigned on charges of murder and terrorism, as well as other violations of war for his role in the Al Qaeda attack, which led to the deaths of 17 US sailors.
In addition to being waterboarded, Nashiri was also subjected to mock executions in which CIA operatives held a power drill and a gun to his head. The waterboarding was sanctioned by Justice Department lawyers, but the use of the drill and the gun fell outside interrogation techniques approved during the George W. Bush administration....
Not only is it torture, it renders any evidence or confession useless.
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Yeah, about the Cole....
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