Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

Arabia

Calm prevails in northern Yemen after truce

2010-02-14

[Al Arabiya Latest] Calm prevailed in northern Yemen on Saturday, the second day of a shaky truce between government forces and Shiite rebels that broke into deadly violence hours after it went into effect, both sides said. "The situation is calm on all fronts in Saada province," the center of the sic-year old rebellion, said one military source. "But the calm is precarious," said another of the latest in a string of truces over the years that have broken down. A spokesman for rebel leader Abdul Malak al-Huthi confirmed that there was no fighting, saying the "ceasefire is being respected and the situation is developing positively." Meanwhile, the rebels said they had pulled out of an occupied airport in the north and were arranging to free their Saudi prisoners, in line the truce agreed with Sanaa. "Today, we carried out our withdrawal from the perimeter of the airport of (the city of) Saada, where a plane will land for the first time" since August, rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam told AFP. He said the insurgents also had began to dismantle roadblocks in the north and were on the verge of freeing Saudi prisoners captured in border clashes that began last November. Salam said "measures are underway to hand over the Saudi prisoners to a mediator, Ali Nasser Kersha," a tribal official from the northern province of Saada. A ceasefire in the government's latest six-month campaign to crush the rebellion went into effect at midnight (21:00 GMT) on Thursday. Only hours later Yemen's army accused the rebels of breaking the truce, saying they had killed four soldiers in a string of attacks. On Saturday, however, the rebel spokesman downplayed those incidents, saying "those were minimal violations that it is possible to overcome." For his part, Sultan Barakani, parliamentary chief of the ruling General People's Congress, said the "authorities are concerned with restoring peace in Saada and will not tolerate impediments to the process that began with the ceasefire." The six-point truce requires the rebels to reopen three major routes in the first stage of implementation: the road between Saada, Harf Sufian and the capital, Sanaa; the road from Saada west to Malahidh and the road from Saada east to al-Jawf. It also calls for a rebel withdrawal from government buildings, the return of weapons seized from security forces, the release of all prisoners including Saudis, handover of captured army posts, and a pledge not to attack Saudi Arabia. The Saudis joined the fighting in November after accusing the rebels of killing a border guard and occupying two small villages. Saudi ground troops and aircraft repeatedly engaged the rebels in operations the rebels said continued even after their fighters had withdrawn from all Saudi territory they occupied during the fighting.

Link

Arabia

Yemen reports crushing Zaidi rebels near capital

2008-05-28

SANAA - Yemeni authorities said on Tuesday they had crushed Zaidi rebels in a suburb of the capital Sanaa after what witnesses said was several days of heavy fighting that had left dozens of casualties. Security forces "dealt with the rebellion in Bani Hushaish, which was a pocket of rebels led by Abdul Malak al-Huthi," an official told AFP, referring to the field commander of a four-year-old uprising in the far north of Yemen. Troops and police "crushed the dens of the strife and rebellion, the outlaws, in Bani Hushaish," a suburb 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Sanaa, a defence ministry official told the state Saba news agency. Tribal sources and witnesses told AFP that dozens of rebels and security forces were killed or wounded during three days of heavy fighting in Bani Hushaish which ended early Tuesday. Last week they whacked the rebels in the north. Today they whacked the rebels near the capital. Tomorrow they'll whack the rebels in the capital. Next week they'll whack the rebels on the palace steps. Week after that they'll whack the rebels inside the inner sanctum.

Link

Arabia

Fifty al-Houthi hard boyz bite the dust

2008-05-07

The death toll from clashes in Yemen has climbed to 50, after 19 insurgent forces were killed in fresh clashes in Saada province. The Zaidi group chief Abdul Malak al-Huthi, has blamed the army for the renewed bloodshed in northwestern Yemen that broke out Friday. A local Yemeni official in anonymity said six soldiers were wounded in the fighting in the Haydan district village of Dafaa for control of the camp. The clashes erupted when army assault was launched to regain Dafaa military camp, which has been controlled by the opposition group for the past three months, al-Huthi said. "The renewed tension is due to the repeated aggressions of the army ... which is using tanks and other weapons ... in unjustified operations" in the mountainous province of Saada, Huthi told RMC Middle East. "Military chiefs refuse to bring an end to the war because it serves their interests," he charged, while at the same time denying any links between the revolt and Iran. The dissident group are fighting to restore a Zaidi Shia imamate, which was overthrown in a 1962 republican coup in Yemen. The group is known as Huthis after the death of their late commander Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi who was killed in September 2004.

Link

Arabia

Yemen blames rebels as Qatari mediators called home

2007-08-18

Qatari mediators trying to broker a peace deal to end a Shiite uprising in Yemen were called home on Friday because of what a Yemeni official called rebel foot-dragging in implementing the plan. "They were recalled for consultations after foot-dragging by (rebel leader) Abdul Malak al-Huthi in agreeing fully to implement the timetable" of the agreement, the official close to the talks told AFP, requesting anonymity. Didn't they have one of these 'peace agreements' in Yemen already? Or was that the one that ended the war between North Yemen and South Yemen? Or the one before that? The rebels from the Zaidi minority in the northwest Saada region had given their preliminary agreement to a timetable brokered by a committee grouping political parties in the Yemeni parliament and Qatari mediators. The timetable stipulated a phased withdrawal of rebels from various locations where fighting has taken place and their replacement by regular soldiers. The process was to have been accompanied by the gradual release of rebels held by the authorities, and was to culminate in the departure of the leaders of the revolt to exile in Qatar. In an interview published on Wednesday President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused Huthi of "misleading and procrastination." "He has to respect his word and withdraw from positions, otherwise a military solution will be the decisive end," he said. A member of the committee told AFP that Huthi had demanded "more details about implementation of the timetable." Last month the committee accused the rebels of breaching the deal brokered by Qatar in June, and the Gulf Arab state subsequently recalled its mediators from the committee, reportedly because of wrangling among insurgency leaders. Under the deal the rebels agreed to lay down their arms, ending years of fierce fighting that has killed thousands in one of the world's poorest countries. An offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority in the northwest. The rebel aim was to restore the Zaidi imamate which was overthrown in a 1962 republican coup.

Link

Arabia

Ahmadinejad: Stop conflict in Yemen

2007-03-10

President Ahmadinejad has called for an end to clashes between Yemenis Muslims and said "Today, unity among Muslims is vital for foiling conspiracies by the enemies of Islam." He pointed to the conflicts among Muslims and vicious attacks carried out on them in many parts of the world and said the elements which are trying to create divisions among Muslims have basically the same origin. Speaking to Yemen's Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr Abdallah al-Qirbi on Thursday, Ahmadinejad said the Islamic Republic of Iran would not tolerate conflict among Muslims, sectarian divisions or the shedding of another Muslim brother's blood. "Islamic leaders must solve problems and work out the differences with clarity and good judgment." Ahmadinejad reiterated Iran's interests for having full cooperation with Sana'a. "Iran and Yemen have common views on the region and Muslim world." Yemen's Foreign Minister described the latest developments in his country and praised Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad for their leadership in the Muslim world. "Yemen wishes for productive and increasing relations with Iran and wants to use Tehran's valuable experience in different areas." He added his government was doing everything in its power to bring the situation in Sa'de province under control where 42 soldiers have been killed and 81 wounded in rebel attacks since late January. The incidents are blamed on supporters of Abdul Malak al-Huthi from the Zaidi minority. The Zaidis are an offshoot of Shia Islam, dominanting northwestern Yemen, but they form a minority in the mainly Sunni country. The rebels do not recognize the current authorities in Yemen legitimate to rule, saying they illegally seized power in a 1962 coup known as the September 26 revolution, which overthrew a Zaidi imamate.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-5 More