Yemen: mines continue to maim and kill civilians

News Release 12/73

April 4, 2012

Sana'a (ICRC) – Anti-personnel landmines are still causing casualties in various parts of Yemen where fighting is taking place.

Civilians, including women and children, are usually the victims. The deadly devices pose a serious threat in areas such as in Sa'ada and Hajja governorates in the north, in Arhab region in the central part of the country as well as in the south.

"We have noticed an increase in the number of newly planted anti-personnel mines in some areas," said Eric Marclay, the head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen. "The mines have resulted in an upsurge in casualties, especially among displaced people attempting to return to their villages. For us, this is unacceptable and a cause of great concern."

Decades of conflict have left Yemen with a legacy of thousands of anti-personnel mines despite clearance activities that have taken place in recent years. Any use of these weapons is unacceptable. In Yemen the use of mines is also illegal, not only under Yemeni law but also – as in 158 other countries – under the Anti-Personnel Mine-Ban Convention of 1997.

This year will mark the 15th anniversary of the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine-Ban Convention. A total of 159 States are party to the convention, including at least 35 that still have mine clearance obligations. The 2003 Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War has attracted 76 States Parties. A total of 70 States are party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions and an additional 41 States have signed it.

Gasoline price decreased, diesel and kerosene's increased

SANA'A, April 04 (Saba) - Oil and Minerals Ministry announced on Wednesday changing the prices of oil derivatives in the Yemeni local market.

A source in the ministry, said that the price of diesel and kerosene now is YR 100 per liter, while the gasoline liter price was cut to YR 175.

The new prices will be effective starting at 3 p.m. local time today, he said, stressing the prices are unified for all sectors except the foreign companies.

Yemeni tribesmen free three Filipino sailors

SANAA, Wed Apr 4, 2012

(Reuters) - Yemeni tribal militants freed three Filipino sailors they kidnapped last month in the central province of Maarib, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry gave no further details about the release, but it had said last month that the tribesmen held the sailors to press the government into releasing a tribesman held by the authorities.

In a separate incident, an Oil Ministry official said Islamist militants fired at a team of engineers as they attempted to fix an oil pipeline that the militants blew up on Monday. One person was injured in the attack.

Just over a month after former President Ali Abdullah Saleh quit office under a power-transfer deal, security in much of the country is shaky, with Islamists militants in the south controlling swathes of territory, and the military - which split after mass protests against Saleh last year - remains divided.

The Yemeni capital itself is split between rival forces, including those controlled by renegade general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and the Republican Guard, commanded by Saleh's son Ahmed, and saw bouts of open warfare in May and September.

A military committee tasked with restructuring the armed forces is to ensure feuding factions evacuate the streets of Sanaa and remove checkpoints, but there has been little progress toward that goal.

Yemeni authorities arrested 3 Al-Qaeda militants in Aden

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, April 4, 2012- At least 3 suspected Al-Qaeda militants were arrested on Tuesday in Yemen's southern sea-port of Aden by Yemeni authorities.

Yemen's Interior Ministry said that the 3 militants, who were detained in Sheikh Othman district were accused of killing, looting, criminal activities, and abuses against civilian population in southern provinces.

No more details were reported.

Meanwhile, tribal sources said that the kidnapers of abducted Swiss teacher woman, Sylvia Abrahat was handed over to Al-Qaeda militants for $50,000.

Last month Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, put new demands to release Abrahat.

The group, which belongs to Ansar al-Sharia, demanded the immediate release of Osama bin Laden's wives, along with the release of 100 prisoners in Yemeni jails with links to Al-Qaeda, and demanding a ransom of 50 million Euros

A tribal source who has been mediating with Sylvia Abrahat kidnappers said that their demands were impossible.

The militants demanded the release of numerous widows in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia jails.

The Swiss national, a language teacher, was kidnapped on March 14 in the western sea-port of Hodeida where officials admitted that a breakdown in security had allowed gangs and criminals to flourish.

Sylvia was transported by her abductors across 3 provinces to the oil-rich and restive Shabwa, where al-Qaeda militants have established yet another stronghold.

Kidnappings of Western tourists or workers by tribes seeking ransom or concessions from the government have been frequent in Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries. Most of the hostages have been freed unharmed.

Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar's gunmen return back to Hasba

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A: April 4, 2012- Eyewitnesses told Bikyamasr.com that gunmen belong to Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, a powerful tribal leader returned back on Tuesday night to their previous sites in Hasaba Street.

This came just hours after a meeting of the Military Affairs Committee headed by President Abdo Rabu Mansour Hadi warning of any attempt to hinder the job of the Committee.

President Hadi stressed at the meeting on the importance of committee to achieve security and stability in the country under the committee's tasks which was formed in line with the Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered initiative and its executive mechanism.

"There are still specific duties and tasks for the committee to carry out in order to attaining security and stability as well as opening blocked roads and protecting power lines and oil and gas pipelines,'' Hadi said.

President Hadi directed the Interior ministry to hold its responsibilities in supervising process to implement security plans and following up security defaults wherever they occur.

Lately tensions were running extremely high with sporadic clashes being reported in and around the capital, Sana’a. This act of spreading militants belong to Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar came amidst reports that warring political factions were once again on the war path with armed militias being back in the streets of Sana’a and tribal fighters being embroiled in violent clashes against the Republican Guards some 40 kilometers north of the capital, near al-Sama’a military base.