Yemen's Ruling Party, Opposition Disagree over whether they're Talking

By Mohammed Jamjoom

Sana'a- Mar 3, 2011- Confusion reigned in Yemen on Thursday with the ruling party claiming that it is continuing a dialogue with the opposition -- and the opposition denying it.

"We will not have any dialogue with the ruling party. Our only demand is that this regime leaves and then we can talk about dialogue," said opposition bloc spokesman Mohammed Al-Qubati.

The two sides both said that the opposition delivered a list of five points to the ruling party via a committee of Islamic scholars, but did not agree on whether it was a "plan," as the government says, or "advice for the ruling party," as the opposition says.

Opponents of Yemen's long-time President Ali Abdullah Saleh have been demonstrating against him since the beginning of the year, part of the wave of popular protests that has been crashing over the Arab world.

Source: CNN

Five People killed and others Wounded in Lahj

By Fatik Al-Rodaini

Lahj- Mar 3, 2011- At least five people were killed, including three soldiers in two separate attacks in Yemen's southern province of Lahj.

Sources said that two armed men from Taben were killed and two soldiers wounded during clashes between security forces and an armed group when they attacked a project of Al-Saleh town in Marekh Naji district and tried to occupy the apartments within the project.

The clashes resulted of damaging a patrol vehicle and stealing another, according to eyewitness.

On the other hand, three soldiers were killed and several others wounded in an exchange of gun fire between lawbreakers from the Southern Movement and security forces in Al-Habelin district. During the clashes heavy weapons were used.

Yemen's Interior Ministry Warns of Potential Al-Qaeda Attacks

By Fatik Al-Rodaini

Sana'a- Mar 3, 2011- Yemen's Interior Ministry expected terrorist attacks by Al-Qaeda militants in five southern provinces.

The Ministry ordered the security apparatus in Aden, Abyan, Hadramout, Lahj, and Mareb to be cautious and to take precautionary measures.

Source told the Yemen 24 News that the Ministry stressed on the importance of activating plans to hunt Al-Qaeda militants in these provinces and to offer them to the court.

Al-Qaeda training Nigerians in Yemen – Ambassador designate

By Ben Agande

Riyadh- Mar 3, 2011- ABUJA-Head of the Economic Desk of the Nigerian Embassy in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia, and Ambassador designate, Ambassador Ahmed Magaji, has warned that the ongoing crisis in Yemen posed a great danger to the national security of Nigeria as Al Qaeda and other fundamentalist elements in that country could use the opportunity of the fall of the Yemeni government to send their trained elements to destablilise Nigeria.

Ambassador Magaji, who disclosed this during a confirmation hearing of ambassadorial nominee by the Senate Committee on Foregin Affairs, led by Senator Jubril Aminu, yesterday, said there was a large presence of Nigerians in the Middle East country, some of whom were being trained by Al Qaeda.

It would be recalled that a Nigerian, Abdulmutallab, who attempted to bomb a United State of America-bound aircraft on Christmas day in 2009, was trained by Al Qaeda in Yemen while purportedly in a language school in Yemen.

Appearing before the committee yesterday, Ambassador Magaji said the crisis in the Middle East should be of particular concern to the Nigerian government as a fall by the governments of these countries could pose serious security implications for Nigeria.

According to him, since Al Qaeda had specifically mentioned Nigeria as a country that is ripe for fundamentalists operation, events in the Middle East shoul be of concern to Nigeria.

Ambassador Magaji told bewildered members of the committee that Gaddafi, the Libyan President had, at a meeting with the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister in October last year, said that while Nigeria was not in a position to threaten the security of Libya, his country could destabilise Nigeria by using its internal weaknesses.

Source: Vanguardngr

Yemen's president under new pressure

By Portia Walker

Thursday, March 3, 2011

SANA'A- Mar 3, 2011- Yemen's leader came under new pressure Wednesday as influential clerics, tribal leaders and some members of Yemen's opposition presented a plan for a peaceful transition of power.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh earlier pledged that he would not seek reelection in 2013. But some protesters who have taken to the streets here in recent weeks have demanded that he step down immediately, and the opposition's proposal Wednesday marked an attempt to find a middle ground.

By late Wednesday, there had been no official response to the plan. But one government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the developments, said that the country's political leadership and representatives of the opposition had reached "common ground" during a Wednesday meeting and that Saleh had reacted favorably to the proposal.

The precise details of the road map remained unclear, but an earlier version presented by the opposition coalition called for the president to agree by the end of the year to the terms of transition and for a full investigation into the recent deaths of protesters and compensation for their families.

The proposal could intensify divisions between protesters, who, inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, have demanded Saleh's quick departure, and the country's established political opposition, which until recently has largely stressed the need for reform.

Saleh, a close U.S. ally, called the White House on Wednesday to apologize for accusations he had made the day before. He had said that the United States and Israel were fomenting the wave of unrest spreading through the Middle East.

Saleh also had charged that opposition members regularly met with the U.S. ambassador in Yemen, Gerald Feierstein, and admonished President Obama for criticizing Arab leaders in Egypt and Tunisia. "What do you have to do with Egypt? Or with Oman?" Saleh said. "Are you president of the United States or president of the world?"

In a Wednesday phone conversation with John O. Brennan, Obama's top counter-terrorism official, Saleh affirmed his commitment to meaningful reform in Yemen and to reaching out to the opposition, according to a White House press statement.

Saleh is seen as an important U.S. partner in combating the threat of al-Qaeda in the region. Last year, Yemen received $300 million in aid from the United States.

At the ongoing popular demonstrations in Sanaa, news of the proposed road map for Saleh's departure was met with skepticism. "The opposition coalition are not part of our revolution," said Mohammed Jahaf, 40, a teacher who was reading a newspaper inside one of the many tents pitched outside Sanaa University. "They can deal with each other, but we are not going to leave this place until the regime allows us to rule ourselves."

Since the Feb. 11 resignation of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, there have been daily demonstrations in Sanaa and other cities across Yemen, including Aden and Taiz .

On Monday, the opposition coalition rejected the president's offer of a unity government and urged supporters to join the anti-government demonstrations held throughout the country Tuesday.

Source: Washington Post