Yemen's ex-president insists on role for loyalists

By AHMED AL-HAJ - Associated Press

April 12, 2012

SANAA, Yemen -- Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Thursday his loyalists should maintain leading roles in running the country's affairs to ensure stability, in a clear warning against attempts by his successor to purge them.

The opposition has accused Saleh, who stepped down in February as part of a power transfer deal negotiated by Gulf countries and backed by the U.S., of trying undermine his successor, former Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, in a bid to return to office.

"Yemen will not see stability without an effective role for the leadership and the bases of the General People's Congress party," Saleh said in a statement, referring to his ruling party.

Saleh was the fourth Arab leader to step aside in the wave of revolts that have swept across the Mideast over the past year. After months of mass protests demanding his ouster. But the Gulf-brokered deal that ushered Saleh out of office allowed him to stay on as the head of his party and keep half of the Cabinet ministers in place. It also did not stipulate that the former president must leave the country, and Saleh said he would use his presence to continue to lead the ruling party, to which Hadi also belongs.

"We have always said if this man remains in the country, it will be a big problem," said Mohammed al-Sabri, an opposition spokesman. "The other problem is the international mediators who pressed the opposition to offer him immunity. They have a moral responsibility."

The agreement granted Saleh immunity from prosecution for the killing of protesters in exchange for leaving office.

In his more than 30 years in power, Saleh stacked key security and government posts with relatives and cronies, and one of Hadi's biggest challenges is weeding them out as part of urgently needed reforms.

Hadi has moved in that direction, and last week sacked several generals and other former regime figures as part of reforms in the country's security services. In response, outraged Saleh loyalists seized the capital's main airport, disrupting flights for a day.

Among those fired were Saleh's half brother, air force commander Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar, and his nephew, Tariq, who headed the presidential guard. Both so far have refused to step aside.

The restructuring didn't touch the ex-president's son Ahmed, who has retained kept command of the well-equipped and powerful Republican Guard, or Saleh's nephew, Yahia, the head of the Central Security Forces. The show of force appeared to be an attempt to intimidate Hadi and dissuade him from trying to implement more sweeping reforms that would remove them and other family members.

8 Al-Qaeda militants killed in Abyan province

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, April 12, 2012- At least 8 al-Qaeda militants were killed on Thursday in air strikes conducted by the Yemeni forces in Yemen's southern province of Abyan where swaths of towns are controlled by the militant group, Ansar al-Sharia.

Sources said that at least six fighters were killed in an air strike near the southern town of Lawdar, while another strike hit an army tank that had been captured by the militants on Monday, killing everyone inside it.

Residents and officials reported that two other air strikes were on posts held by militants there. Two others militants were killed in continued clashes for the fourth day between Yemeni government soldiers backed by tribesmen and militants.

The clashes took place in Abyan province, where dozens of people have been killed since Monday, raising the death toll from four days of clashes to at least 177.

Yemen's Defense Ministry website stated on Wednesday that two al-Qaeda senior members were killed during the clashes. "Dardish Ahmed Mohammed Taher and Imad al-Manshaby, a field leader, and ten other elements were killed,'' the website said.

The ministry clamed on its website that it had destroyed a number of checkpoints set up by militants on a main road linking Lawdar to the neighboring province of Al-Bayda, re-opening the route.

On Wednesday at dawn, in the town of Rada in Bayda province, militants beheaded a woman on allegations that she practiced witchcraft. The head of the 35-year old woman was later found hanging on a wall of a cemetery in the city as a warning but her body remains missing. On Tuesday at least eight soldiers were killed and four others wounded during an attack at an army checkpoint by armed men believed to be al-Qaeda militants in Yemen’s eastern province of Mareb.

According to analysts, al-Qaeda in Yemen is considered a serious and growing threat for Yemeni government and for the United States.

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi vowed to fight al Qaeda and its affiliates when he took office earlier this year after his predecessor quit under pressure from anti-government protesters and foreign powers anxious to halt a slide into mayhem.

Militants have since stepped up their operations against the army, carrying out a string of deadly attacks that have cast a long shadow over the country's first month's post-Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In return, the Yemeni air force has launched air strikes on suspected militant strongholds and the United States has joined in with drones.

The United States and Saudi Arabia - both targets of al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing - fear Yemen is becoming a major front in its campaign against the militant network, which has been dealt a number of blows over the past year, not least the killing of its founder and leader Osama bin Laden. 

Yemen's Cabinet forms committee for national dialogue

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, April 12, 2012- Yemen's Cabinet approved on Thursday the formation of  a ministerial committee, headed by Hooria Mashour, the Human Right Minister to prepare for the comprehensive national dialogue as provisioned by the Gulf initiative.

The cabinet urged the committee to begin holding preliminary talks with the youths in the change and freedom squares to pave the way for the national dialogue.

The national dialogue would discuss all issues in the national arena transparently aiming at the national reconciliation. It also stressed that no political party would be excluded.

WB Warns Yemen Oil to Deplete In 12 Years, Water In 20 Years

April 11, 2012                    

The World Bank has said Yemen's oil reserves will deplete in almost 12 years and its water reserves in 20 years.

In a recent report by its Sanaa office, the Bank said, with the current daily oil production, about 270.000 barrels, taken into account, Yemen's oil reserves suffice for 10-12 years at a time when the oil revenues make up about 90 percent of the state budget.

However, according to recent local studies, only 15 percent of Yemen's land has been surveyed which means there are oil basins yet to be discovered if the government tries to develop the energy sector.

Currently, Yemen produces oil only from two basins: the Marib-Shabwa basin and the Masila basin amid persistent attacks by tribesmen against oil and gas pipelines causing financial problems and fuel crises due to production interruptions.

The report said over 47% of Yemen's population live on only $ 2 dollars a day and the poverty rates have increased by 10% due to the global food and energy crises.

When it comes to the water issue, the Bank said only 36% of Yemen's people have access to safe drinking water and, because of water problems, about 46% of the country's children below five suffer from underweight due to malnutrition.

The groundwater resources in urban areas such as the capital Sanaa face depletion threats in the 20 years to come, it added.

The report also highlighted the alarming population growth in the country which increases by 3% a year and the soaring unemployement rates.

Source: Yemen Post

Qatar to resume development projects in Yemen: PM says

SANA'A, April 11 (Saba) - Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa said on Wednesday that it was agreed with Qatar to begin the construction of the Hamad Medical City worth over $200 million in Taiz governorate.

The Premier made the statement in Sana'a coming from Doha after a three-day official visit to Qatar, which he described as successful and serves the common interests of both countries.

We agreed with the Qatari side to complete the implementation of a number of road projects halted before in addition to carrying out new development and investment projects would create many job opportunities, Basindwa said.

He pointed to an understanding reached between the Yemeni and Qatari sides on opening the Qatari labor market for the Yemenis, saying that Minister of Social Affairs and Labor would visit Doha to regulate the labor movement and to draft a joint agreement in this regard.

"We have discussed with Qatari Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani the joint cooperation's mechanisms, topped by completing the establishment of the Qatari development institution in Yemen, which will carry out and supervise the Qatari-funded projects in the country", the Premier said.

Moreover, the Prime Minister said that Qatar would send medical teams via the Qatari Red Crescent to assist in treating the wounded of the country's last year events.

Concerning the Qatari role in the coming meetings of Yemen Friends and donors, Basindwa said he was informed that the Qatari participation in the meetings would be considerable, praising the Qatari leadership's keenness to help Yemen to overcome the current challenges.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister met on Tuesday evening in Doha the Yemeni community, who briefed him on their conditions in Qatar and the care they enjoy by the Qatari government as well as their aspirations to see their country has recovered and overcome the current serious challenges.

Al-Qaeda beheads witch in Yemen

By Fatik al-Rodaini

SANA'A, April 11, 2012- The head of woman was found on Wednesday at dawn in Rada'a city of Al-Bayda province. Local residents in Rada'a city reported that the woman, Al-Sharefa Amer, who worked as a awich had been slain by Al-Qaeda militants.

Residents said that they found her head hanging on the wall of a cemetery near the house of another sorceress in the same area.

 No more details were reported.

Witchcraft and sorcery are punishable by death in strict interpretations of Islamic law – image supplied.