In Yemen, throngs rail against president

October 7, 2011

SANAA, Yemen (CNN) -- Massive anti-government protests spread across Yemen on Friday as demonstrators called for the departure of the country's embattled president and his allies.

Activists dubbed the day "the Friday of al-Hamdi," a reference to Ibrahim al-Hamdi, a popular former president of North Yemen who was slain in 1977. North and South Yemen merged into the Republic of Yemen in 1990.

The estimated number of protesters across the country totaled three million, with 800,000 alone in the capital of Sanaa, according to a count of numbers from eyewitnesses. That count could not be verified independently.

People in the south as well as the north hailed al-Hamdi and called for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave government.

Yasser al-Nahmi, a youth activist in Sanaa, said al-Hamdi's mission decades ago was to lead Yemen in the right direction.

"Yemen wants a leader like him and not an oppressor like Saleh," he said.

Demonstrators and world powers have called for months for Saleh's departure and a transition of power. The Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional bloc of Gulf Arab nations, hammered out a transition plan months ago, but it hasn't yet been adopted.

Activists want to hold a mock funeral to mourn the failure of the GCC proposal.

Meanwhile, the Joint Meeting parties opposition bloc called for the U.N. Security Council to "take a firm stance for the killing of protesters," said Mohammed Qahtan, JMP spokesman.

Before the demonstrations, government forces cracked down on pro-opposition gunmen, eyewitnesses said.

Gunmen loyal to the Ahmar tribe and Republican Guards in Hasaba district of the capital traded fire. But no casualties were reported, despite the use of mortar shells and other heavy artillery.

In Taiz, government forces moved onto protesters before the demonstration there. Residents reported more shelling and more destruction of private property and businesses near that city's Liberty Square, in what is an recent increase of violence amid an intensified government crackdown.

Nobel prize "victory for Arab Spring," Yemen winner

SANAA (Reuters)- Oct 7, 2011- Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakul Karman said on Friday her award was a victory for Yemen and all Arab Spring revolutions and a message that the era of Arab dictatorships was over.

The peace activist, who was detained briefly during protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, told Reuters the peaceful revolution to topple the veteran autocrat would continue.

"This is a victory for the Yemeni people, for the Yemeni revolution and all the Arab revolutions," the 32-year-old mother of three said.

Karman shared the prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Liberian peace campaigner Leymah Gbowee. She drew praise from a Saudi Islamist preacher, who called her an inspiration to freedom-seekers.

"This is a message that the era of Arab dictatorships is over. This is a message to this regime and all the despotic regimes that no voice can drown out the voice of freedom and dignity," Karman told Reuters.

"This is a victory for the Arab Spring in Tunis, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen. Our peaceful revolution will continue until we topple Saleh and establish a civilian state."

Karman has been a key figure among the youth activists since they began camping out in an urban space dubbed 'Change Square' in central Sanaa in February demanding the end of Saleh's three-decade family rule.

She has often been the voice of the street activists on Arabic television, giving on-the-ground reports from the square outside Sanaa University, where dozens of activists have been shot dead by government forces.

Yemenis at the square reacted with joy at the news.

"Yemen will go down in history thanks to Tawakul Karman. She deserves the prize. She has kept fighting for the sake of her peoples' freedom," said Abdulbari Taher, a protest leader.

A government official also praised Karman's award, expressing hope it would lead to a resolution of a crisis that has brought Yemen's economy to a halt.

"I'm very happy with the news that she won the Nobel Prize and it's something that all Yemenis can be proud of," Deputy Information Minister Abdu al-Janadi said. "I hope this prize will be a step toward rationality."

Saleh, who survived an assassination attempt in June, has repeatedly refused to sign a peace deal arranged by Gulf Arab countries that would see him step down ahead of new elections.

Saleh has for long enjoyed Saudi and U.S. backing as their man to fight al Qaeda militants based in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state of over 23 million.

"This is a confirmation from the world that Yemen is on the brink of a new era, an era of freedom and equality," Karman said. "I dedicate this award to the Yemeni people and the youth of the Arab Spring, and to the Arab world and to every martyr who has died for freedom."

Karman, a member of the Islamist Islah party, is a feisty activist whose global notoriety could provoke ire among religious conservatives.

But Saudi Islamist preacher Mohsen al-Awajy praised her.

"I am proud of her. Conservatives have some reservations and narrow views but they won't make those assumptions about these global achievements," he said.

"I think most Saudis and anybody who is calling for freedom or reform would look at her as a good woman. She should be appreciated."

Yemenis began their uprising after Tunisians stunned Western powers and Arab leaders by bringing down Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office in February after three weeks of protests.

But Bahrain's rulers crushed a democracy movement in March, and activists in Syria and Yemen have spent months in deadly conflict with their governments.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in August after months of fighting with a protest movement that transformed into an armed rebellion with backing from NATO.

2 children killed from explosives in Yemen

By AHMED AL-HAJ

The Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen — Two children were killed in southern Yemen Thursday when they set off a rocket-propelled grenade as they tried to extract metal from it to sell, residents and medical officials said.

The children, aged 9 and 13, died in the city of Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan where government forces have been battling al-Qaida militants for control for the past five months.

Resident Mohammed Hamel said the children were trying to extract iron from the grenade to sell, a common practice among impoverished residents in southern Yemen. The medical officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Elsewhere in Yemen, officials said an oil pipeline in Marib province was attacked for the sixth time this year. The attack took place 100 miles east of the capital Sanaa. It was not clear who was behind it, but officials have blamed past pipeline attacks on disgruntled tribesmen calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ouster.

The attack came on another day of massive street protests across the country demanding that Saleh, who has ruled for 33 years, step down. Yemeni security forces loyal to the president opened fire on thousands of protesters in the southern city of Taiz, wounding eight, according to medics and activists.

Blast hits Yemen's main oil pipeline

06 October 2011 | FOCUS News Agency

Sanaa. Yemen's main oil export pipeline was blown up on Thursday in the Wadi Obeida region, east of Sanaa, a local tribal chief told AFP, ruling out an attack by Al-Qaeda.

"The pipeline was sabotaged at around 5 pm (1400 GMT) and the explosion holed the line and sparked a fire," said Sheikh Mohsen Mabkut bin Mayili, a tribal head in Marib province.

He said the attack was probably the work of tribesmen seeking concessions from the government, not Al-Qaeda. It was the sixth act of sabotage this year on the pipeline to Ras Issa terminal on the Red Sea, he said.

Some 125,000 barrels a day normally flow through the line, accounting for the bulk of Yemen's oil exports.

YEMEN: Al Qaeda group remains threat to U.S.

October 6, 2011

REPORTING FROM WASHINGTON -- Despite the drone-launched missile strike that killed Anwar Awlaki, the American-born radical cleric, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen remains a significant terrorism threat to the United States, according to Obama administration officials.

“Awlaki's death last week is a major blow” to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, Matthew Olsen, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, which coordinates terrorism information across the government, told a House intelligence committee hearing Thursday.

“But it does not end the threat from AQAP,” he added. “We remain concerned about the group's intent to attack Western targets as well as its propaganda efforts designed to inspire like-minded Western extremists.”

The Al Qaeda franchise’s role in several high-profile plots, including the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009, and another attempt to blow up cargo planes headed to U.S. cities in October 2010, “demonstrate that AQAP is a determined enemy and that it is capable of adjusting its tactics to achieve its goals,” Olsen said.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said AQAP “has proven its capability to direct attacks into the United States. And a strike against its leadership -- even a significant one -- does not eliminate the potential for retaliation or other action” by the group.

In response to a question, Mueller said Awlaki’s death does not lower U.S. concerns about signs of cooperation between AQAP and al Shabaab, an Al Qaeda-linked group battling for control of Somalia.