Two soldiers die in southern Yemen clash

September 11, 2011

Two Yemeni soldiers were killed and four others wounded Sunday when a mine exploded in the southern city of Zinjibar where troops have been fighting to expel Al-Qaeda-linked militants, a military official said.

The Yemeni government announced on Saturday the army had "liberated" Zinjibar, capital of the southern province of Abyan, which was seized in May by a militant group called the Partisans of Sharia, believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda.

A Yemeni military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the two soldiers were killed "when a mine planted by Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants exploded in eastern Zinjibar."

He added that the army had only reclaimed control of the northern and eastern parts of the city, contradicting official government reports that they had retaken the entire town.

The casualty toll from the mine explosion was confirmed by medical officials.

The military official said intermittent clashes continued throughout Zinjibar on Sunday, despite the army's claim that most militants had already fled the city to the nearby town of Jaar, another militant stronghold.

He said the army was reluctant to enter the city center because of concerns that the fleeing militants may have planted mines before withdrawing.

Southern Yemen has seen a sharp rise in violence since mass anti-government protests threw into question the entrenched presidency of Ali Abdullah Saleh and weakened the central government.

In May, militants linked to Al-Qaeda seized control of three towns in Abyan, and since then, government troops and dissident fighters have been fighting to take them back.

The violence has displaced more than 100,000 Yemenis in the south in recent months, according to the United Nations.

French skipper killed by pirates off Yemen

September 11, 2011- (AFP)

MARSEILLE — The French skipper of a yacht found abandoned in the Gulf of Aden died during a pirate attack, a source close to the family said Sunday, the day after the dead man's wife was found unharmed.

Christian and Evelyne Colombo's family was informed overnight that the 55-year-old was killed during the attack and his body thrown overboard before the crewless catamaran was found on Thursday, the same source said.

A German warship found the couple's catamaran, the Tribal Kat, adrift in waters off Yemen on Thursday after it broadcast a mayday appeal for help.

There were signs of struggle and no one was on board, prompting the EU Atalanta naval command to launch an air and sea search for the attackers.

The French frigate Surcouf then detected a suspect vessel and on Saturday the Spanish warship SPS Galicia chased it down, storming the skiff, rescuing Colombo's widow and arresting seven alleged pirates.

The Spanish defense ministry said when the skiff ignored an order to stop, the commander of the Galicia ordered his men to open fire. "At that time, it was discovered that they had a hostage on board, who was a woman," it said.

"The amphibious ship proceeded to intercept the pirate vessel. The operation involved a helicopter and naval warfare team, who fired on the engine of the boat, to disable it."

A spokesman for Operation Atalanta, Commander Harrie Harrison, declined to confirm the death, saying they were waiting to be briefed by Evelyne Colombo.

"He is missing," Harrison said. "We believe he may have died during the assault but we are waiting for the lady to brief us."

A source close to the search said authorities were trying to find the dead skipper's body.

Christian Colombo was a former French navy crewman and the couple were experienced sailors who wanted to see the world and were passing through the Gulf of Aden en route for the Indian Ocean and eventually Thailand.

"They knew they were taking a risk and everyone advised them not to go," a relative told AFP on Saturday. One of the couple's daughters, Emilie, posted a message of concern on the blog they were keeping of their high seas adventure.

"The last I heard from Christian was around a month ago. He was south of Egypt and heading for Malaysia," said the skipper's friend Gerard Navarin, who once helped him set a catamaran speed record off Toulon.

The waters between Yemen and Somalia are notorious for attacks by pirate gangs, and French yachts have been among the vessels seized in the past. A second yacht went missing at around the same time as the Tribal Kat.

Somali pirates frequently seize crew from merchant ships and pleasure craft in the dangerous waters off the conflict-ravaged Horn of Africa and have taken millions of dollars in ransom for their release.

According to the watchdog Ecoterra, at least 50 vessels and at least 528 hostages are being held by Somali pirates, despite constant patrols by warships from several world powers.

A French couple was kidnapped from a yacht in September 2008 as it headed through the Gulf of Aden. A ransom was paid, but French commandos later ambushed the pirates, killed one, captured six more and recovered the cash.

In April 2009, another French yacht was seized. This time special forces troops intervened when the boat was still at sea. In the ensuing gunbattle a French bullet accidentally killed the hostage skipper.

In addition, a French DGSE agent is thought to have been held hostage by Islamist militants in the Somali capital since July 2009.

Yemen dissidents accuse Saleh loyalists of shelling

September 11, 2011- (AFP)

SANAA — Dissident troops loyal to a Yemeni general who defected to join anti-government protesters have accused the elite Republican Guard of shelling one of their positions in the capital, an officer said.

A dissident officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Sunday that the artillery fire was aimed at raising tensions ahead of a meeting later on Sunday of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.

"They fired four tank shells at one of our positions," on a main Sanaa boulevard, the officer from the First Armoured Division loyal to dissident General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar told AFP.

"They want to escalate tensions in the capital before the meeting," the officer added.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Sunday's meeting of the six-nation Gulf bloc was expected to address the growing political uncertainty in Yemen and the prospects for a GCC plan for ending the deadlock that has so far been rejected by veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Despite months of protests, Saleh, who has been receiving treatment in neighbouring Saudi Arabia for the past three months for blast wounds he sustained in a bombing at the presidential palace, has so far refused to hand power to his deputy.

The stalemate has led to mounting fears of an all out military confrontation between the Republican Guards, who are under commanded by Saleh's eldest son, Ahmed, and Ahmar's dissident troops.

Last week, the Guards reinforced their presence in the capital, deploying tanks and missile launchers on the hills overlooking it.

At the same time, Ahmar's First Armoured Brigade troops, who are fewer in number and less well-armed, fortified their positions in dissident-held areas of the capital, primarily around University Square where protesters have been camping for months.

Armed civilians have also been seen on both sides of Zubair Street, the dividing line between the areas controlled by government forces and those held by the opposition.

Panel upholds Al Qaida filmmaker’s life sentence

By CAROL ROSENBERG

A military appeals court ruled Friday that Osama bin Laden’s media secretary was properly convicted of being a propagandist for al-Qaida and deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The panel of seven senior U.S. military officers also found that Yemeni Ali Hamza al Bahlul, 41, had not demonstrated any potential for rehabilitation after nearly a decade at the U.S. prison camps in southeast Cuba. He’s Guantánamo’s lone convict serving a life sentence.

Unlike bin Laden’s driver, who is free in Yemen after serving a quick support-for-terror sentence, Bahlul demonstrated no remorse during his military commission trial, the panel ruled in a 139-page decision written by Navy Capt. Eric Price.

Prosecutors argued at a four-day no-contest trial in November 2008 that Bahlul incited suicide bombers before the 9/11 attacks by producing a crude al-Qaida recruiting film. The two-hour video spliced footage of fiery bin Laden speeches with the aftermath of the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors off Aden, Yemen.

Pentagon paid appeals lawyers said the punishment didn’t fit the crime.

“We are unmoved by appellant’s argument that he was a ‘media man,’ who was sentenced to confinement for ‘life without parole for producing a video, writing speeches and providing tech support,” the military judges wrote in their ruling for the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review.

Rather, the panel ruled that Bahlul’s “contributions to al-Qaida were of strategic significance to recruiting, indoctrination, retention and inciting others to support or join al-Qaida” – notably two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers whom he helped swear loyalty oaths to bin Laden.

Bahlul refused to mount a defense at trial and instead offered a 40-minute monologue that paid homage to bin Laden. During the prosecutor’s closing, Bahlul also waved a tiny boat and airplane, fashioned from folded paper, while the prosecutor sought to link the Cole bombing video to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Bahlul’s attorneys had sought to get the sentence overturned on constitutional grounds, arguing the Yemeni was punished for unpopular political speech and that he has a First Amendment protection as a U.S.-held prisoner.

The court disagreed. The U.S. military judges acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court granted Guantánamo detainees the right to challenge their detention in federal courts, through a writ of habeas corpus, but said the Yemeni could not claim the protections of the First Amendment.

Bahlul made his film in Afghanistan, and with “no lawful connection with the United States,” they wrote. “His only subsequent connection to the United States was his capture, detention and trial. Such a connection does not thereby recast speech made years before with First Amendment protections.”

According to the court, Bahlul turns 42 on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks the Yemeni at times celebrated in his military commissions hearings. A November 2007 Guantánamo risk assessment uncovered by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks listed his date of birth as only 1969. But the panel listed his birth date as Sept. 11, 1969.

Friday’s decision was the conviction upheld by the panel established as the first stop for appeals of Guantánamo war court cases. The judges issued the ruling Friday at about 6:30 p.m., said Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a Pentagon spokesman. Next, Bahlul’s lawyers could take their challenge to a civilian court in Washington, D.C.

Bahlul’s Pentagon appointed appellate attorney, Michel Paradis, a Defense Department employee, declined to comment on the decision Friday night, citing respect for “Bahlul’s wishes.”

It was not immediately known whether the convict had been handed a copy in remote Guantánamo, and whether and how arrangements might be made to translate the decision into the prisoner’s native Arabic.

YEMEN: Displaced to be moved out of schools in south

ADEN, 9 September 2011 (IRIN) - The government and humanitarian agencies are studying different options for relocating thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) sheltering in around 70 schools in the southern governorates of Aden and Lahj, ahead of the new academic year scheduled to begin on 17 September.

Up to17 public places have been identified in Aden and are currently being assessed by the government and humanitarian organizations, Raul Rosende, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Yemen, told IRIN on 8 September.

"Tents could be provided depending on the conditions at these sites as some have buildings with limited capacity or no buildings at all," he said.

It is estimated that up to 100,000 people have been displaced by ongoing fighting between government troops and Islamic militants in the southern governorate of Abyan since May. Most fled fighting in the regional capital Zinjibar.

A recent report by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said some 3,800 IDP families (26,600 individuals) are sheltering in schools while the rest are living with host families or in rented flats. Some IDPs are afraid that leaving school accommodation may adversely affect their access to assistance.

According to UNHCR, in July 2011 there were nearly 56,000 IDPs in Aden Governorate.

Cultural constraints

Ahmad al-Kuhlani, head of the government-run IDP Office, believes the sites identified so far may not be able to accommodate all the IDPs currently sheltering in schools, and he was skeptical about setting up an official camp: A 1,000 tent camp would cost US$1,000,000, he said. "Establishing a camp is the last option due to the lack of funds."

Also, according to UNHCR, many Yemenis could not live in a camp for cultural reasons: In this conservative society, women are not allowed to be seen by men other than their close relatives.

"It is a big shame if you allow your wife, sister or daughter to meet male strangers [from outside their own families]. Living alone in a desert is more tolerable than mixing together with other families," said Radhi Mohammed, 30, sheltering with his eight-member family in a two-room apartment in Aden for YR22,000 (US$90) a month. "We can hardly afford the rent, but what else can one do… It is impossible for one to break this tradition so easily in a fortnight."

According to al-Kuhlani, many families currently sheltering in schools refuse to live with other families in the same classroom. "Each family wants its own classroom… How could they live in official camps where families often lack privacy?" he wondered.

“If the locations being identified are not enough to accommodate all the IDP families currently in schools, giving financial assistance to the families to rent their own apartments could be a possibility," said OCHA’s Resonde.

"Under this option, families without income sources may need a monthly grant of YR10,000 [US$45], which is 50 percent of the average rent of a low-quality apartment," al-Kuhlani said.