Friday, June 10, 2011
By Elaine M. Grossman
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON -- Political chaos and social unrest in Yemen have not hindered that nation's cooperation with the United States in countering terrorist activities, CIA Director Leon Panetta told a congressional panel on Thursday (see GSN, June 7).
(Jun. 10) - Yemeni soldiers aligned with antigovernment protesters chant slogans on Friday during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was injured in a recent attack. Instability in Yemen has not obstructed the Middle Eastern nation's cooperation with Washington on counterterrorism activities, CIA Director Leon Panetta said on Thursday (Ahmad Gharbali/Getty Images).
Testifying at a confirmation hearing to become the nation's next Defense secretary, Panetta appeared to suggest that Yemen's assistance has continued even after President Ali Abdullah Saleh was injured in a June 3 attack on his compound.
The blast killed seven people and wounded several senior officials. Saleh left the country a day later for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. He was reportedly being treated for an injury to the head and burns over 40 percent of his body.
Yemen has "been destabilized and yet, we are continuing to work with those individuals in their government to try to go after AQAP," said Panetta, using an acronym for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The Yemen-based group is an affiliate of al-Qaeda that has repeatedly plotted attacks against the United States.
The explosion at a mosque inside the presidential palace came amid a 4-month-old uprising that has failed to dislodge the U.S. partner from his leadership post. It remains unclear who was responsible for the attack.
Saleh's departure after three decades of rule left a power vacuum in the capital city Sanaa and a fierce debate over whether he should be allowed to return to power. The president is reported to have reneged three times on promises to hand over leadership in a peaceful transition.
Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Wednesday said recent events have heightened the risk of terrorist attacks by the al-Qaeda franchise.
"It is incredibly dangerous and made more dangerous in the ongoing chaos," Mullen said at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. "The downside of a much more chaotic and much more violent Yemen is not just bad for Yemen, it's bad for the region, it's bad for the world."
That said, "we are continuing to receive cooperation" from the Yemeni government, Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee. The CIA director called the latest events in Yemen "a scary and an uncertain situation," but added that "with regards to counterterrorism, we're still very much continuing our operations."
Panetta said classified details of U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Yemen could be discussed in a closed-door committee session held later on Thursday.
Attacks targeting the United States by AQAP operatives since the group's emergence in early 2009 have included Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempt late that year to blow himself up on a commercial flight to Detroit, and a failed effort in October 2010 to mail explosives-rigged parcels on cargo planes bound for U.S. destinations (see GSN, Feb. 10).
At least one Yemeni native detained on suspicion of terrorist activity has said his cohorts were attempting to buy uranium and they might, in fact, have acquired some. Uranium could be used to in a nuclear weapon or, perhaps more likely, in a "dirty bomb" that spreads radioactive material in a conventional blast.
Al-Qaeda operatives have also shown interest in obtaining chemical and biological weapons. One high-profile detainee threatened that al-Qaeda would detonate a WMD device in the event that Osama bin Laden were captured or killed (see GSN, April 26). U.S. commandos killed the al-Qaeda leader in a raid last month in Abbottabad, Pakistan (see GSN, May 2).
The United States has repeatedly carried out counterterrorism attacks in Yemen using cruise missiles and drones, including an assault last month that targeted Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric and a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Awlaki -- who is said to have inspired a number of violent strikes against Western targets including the November 2009 shootings at Fort Bragg, Texas -- reportedly survived without injury.
"AQAP is intensely focused on conducting a near-term attack against the United States, and poses an immediate terrorist threat to U.S. interests and the homeland," Panetta said in written responses to questions from the Senate committee. He said the group is "still actively plotting attacks."
The latest instability in Yemen has allowed the al-Qaeda offshoot to enlarge its area of operations, Panetta acknowledged.
"The ongoing unrest has weakened an already fragile economy and allowed AQAP to expand its influence and to make some tactical gains in the tribal areas -- in several cases seizing and holding territory now outside of Republic of Yemen government control," the CIA chief wrote. "However, despite AQAP's limited gains, they remain distant from, and largely counter to, the current anti-government movement in Yemen."
Given ongoing chaos in Yemen, the Defense Department is "constantly evaluating our security assistance and capacity building programs" there, particularly those in which U.S. troops help train and equip Sanaa's forces for counterterrorism and stability operations, Panetta said.
Washington last year provided Yemen with $155 million of this type of security assistance -- nearly half of all such U.S. aid offered internationally and the largest single country share, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
"The Republic of Yemen government currently remains a critical partner in the war against al-Qaeda, and DOD remains particularly mindful of the continued and growing threat to the homeland from AQAP," Panetta told the committee.
Yemen was among several nations -- including Pakistan and Somalia -- the Senate committee's chairman identified as being a particularly dangerous breeding ground for what could be the worst form of terror attack.
"The risk of a terrorist organization getting their hands on and detonating an improvised nuclear device or other weapon of mass destruction remains one of the gravest possible threats to the United States," said Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.). He noted that the Defense Department was working with other U.S. agencies to "prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, fissile materials and dangerous technologies."
Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
U.S. Shifts to Seek Removal of Yemen’s Leader, an Ally
NYtimes
April 3, 2011
By LAURA KASINOF and DAVID E. SANGER
SANA, Yemen — The United States, which long supported Yemen’s president, even in the face of recent widespread protests, has now quietly shifted positions and has concluded that he is unlikely to bring about the required reforms and must be eased out of office, according to American and Yemeni officials.
The Obama administration had maintained its support of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in private and refrained from directly criticizing him in public, even as his supporters fired on peaceful demonstrators, because he was considered a critical ally in fighting the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. This position has fueled criticism of the United States in some quarters for hypocrisy for rushing to oust a repressive autocrat in Libya but not in strategic allies like Yemen and Bahrain.
That position began to shift in the past week, administration officials said. While American officials have not publicly pressed Mr. Saleh to go, they have told allies that they now view his hold on office as untenable, and they believe he should leave.
A Yemeni official said that the American position changed when the negotiations with Mr. Saleh on the terms of his potential departure began a little over a week ago.
“The Americans have been pushing for transfer of power since the beginning” of those negotiations, the official said, but have not said so publicly because “they still were involved in the negotiations.”
Those negotiations now center on a proposal for Mr. Saleh to hand over power to a provisional government led by his vice president until new elections are held. That principle “is not in dispute,” the Yemeni official said, only the timing and mechanism for how he would depart.
It does remain in dispute among the student-led protesters, however, who have rejected any proposal that would give power to a leading official of the Saleh government.
Washington has long had a wary relationship of mutual dependence with Mr. Saleh. The United States has provided weapons, and the Yemeni leader has allowed the United States military and the C.I.A. to strike at Qaeda strongholds. The State Department cables released by WikiLeaks gave a close-up view of that uneasy interdependence: Mr. Saleh told Gen. David H. Petraeus, then the American commander in the Middle East, that the United States could continue missile strikes against Al Qaeda as long as the fiction was maintained that Yemen was conducting them.
“We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours,” Mr. Saleh said, according to a cable sent by the American ambassador. At other times, however, Mr. Saleh resisted American requests. In a wry assessment of the United States, he told Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s counterterrorism chief, that Americans are “hot-blooded and hasty when you need us,” but “cold-blooded and British when we need you.”
The negotiations in Sana began after government-linked gunmen killed more than 50 protesters at an antigovernment rally on March 18, prompting a wave of defections of high-level government officials the following week. The American and Yemeni officials who discussed the talks did so on the condition of anonymity because the talks are private and still in progress.
It is not clear whether the United States is discussing a safe passage for Mr. Saleh and his family to another country, but that appears to be the direction of the talks in Sana, the capital.
For Washington, the key to his departure would be arranging a transfer of power that would enable the counterterrorism operation in Yemen to continue.
One administration official referred to that concern last week, saying that the standoff between the president and the protesters “has had a direct adverse impact on the security situation throughout the country.”
“Groups of various stripes — Al Qaeda, Houthis, tribal elements, and secessionists — are exploiting the current political turbulence and emerging fissures within the military and security services for their own gain,” the official said. “Until President Saleh is able to resolve the current political impasse by announcing how and when he will follow through on his earlier commitment to take tangible steps to meet opposition demands, the security situation in Yemen is at risk of further deterioration.”
In recent days, American officials in Washington have hinted at the change in position.
Those “tangible steps,” another official said, could include giving in to the demand that he step down.
At a State Department briefing recently, a spokesman, Mark Toner, was questioned on whether there had been planning for a post-Saleh Yemen. While he did not answer the question directly, he said, in part, that counterterrorism in Yemen “goes beyond any one individual.”
In addition to the huge street demonstrations that have convulsed the country in the last two months, the deteriorating security situation in Yemen includes a Houthi rebellion in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and an active Qaeda operation in the southeast. Houthi rebels seized control of Saada Province a week ago, and armed militants have taken over a city in the southern province of Abyan where Al Qaeda is known to have set up a base.
Among Yemenis, there is a feeling that there is a race against the clock to resolve the political impasse before the country implodes. In addition to the security concerns, Yemen faces an economic crisis.
Food prices are rising; the value of the Yemeni currency, the rial, is dropping sharply; and dollars are disappearing from currency exchange shops. According to the World Food Program, the price of wheat flour has increased 45 percent since mid-March and rice by 22 percent.
Analysts have also expressed concern that Mr. Saleh is depleting the national reserves paying for promises to keep himself in power. Mr. Saleh has paid thousands of supporters to come to the capital to stage pro-government protests and given out money to tribal leaders to secure their loyalties. In February he promised to cut income taxes and raise salaries for civil servants and the military to try to tamp down discontent.
“It’s not a recession, it’s not a depression, it’s a mess,” said Mohammed Abulahom, a prominent member of Parliament for Mr. Saleh’s governing party who now supports the protesters.
The fact that the Americans are “seriously engaged in discussion on how to transfer power shows their willingness to figure out a way to transfer power,” he said.
He said the Americans “are doing what ought to be done, and we will see more pressure down the road.”
The criticism of the United States for failing to publicly support Yemen’s protesters has been loudest here, where the protesters insist the United States’ only concern is counterterrorism.
“We are really very, very angry because America until now didn’t help us similar to what Mr. Obama said that Mubarak has to leave now,” said Tawakul Karman, a leader of the antigovernment youth movement. “Obama says he appreciated the courage and dignity of Tunisian people. He didn’t say that for Yemeni people.”
“We feel that we have been betrayed,” she said.
Hamza Alkamaly, 23, a prominent student leader, agreed. “We students lost our trust in the United States,” he said. “We thought the United States would help us in the first time because we are calling for our freedom.”
Late Saturday night, Yemen’s opposition coalition, the Joint Meetings Parties, proposed an outline for a transfer of power that has become the new focus of the talks. The proposal calls for power to be transferred immediately to Vice President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi until presidential elections are held.
The young protesters have rejected the proposal, or any that would leave a leading Saleh official in charge.
Late Sunday, the Gulf Cooperation Council, an association of oil-rich countries in the Persian Gulf, added its backing to the talks, issuing a statement saying it would press the Yemeni government and opposition to work toward an agreement to “overcome the status quo.” The group called for a return to negotiations to “achieve the aspirations of the Yemeni people by means of reforms.”
So far the council, including Yemen’s largest international donor, Saudi Arabia, has not taken part in the negotiations, Yemeni officials said.
There were also more clashes between security forces and protesters on Sunday in the city of Taiz. Hundreds of people were injured by tear gas, rocks and gunfire, and there were conflicting reports as to whether a protester had been killed. Witnesses said security forces fired at the protesters and into the air.
Early Monday, security forces in Hodeidah, a western port city, used to tear gas to break up a protest march on the presidential palace there.
According to Amnesty International, at least 95 people have died during two months of antigovernment protests.
Laura Kasinof reported from Sana, Yemen, and David E. Sanger from Washington.
April 3, 2011
By LAURA KASINOF and DAVID E. SANGER
SANA, Yemen — The United States, which long supported Yemen’s president, even in the face of recent widespread protests, has now quietly shifted positions and has concluded that he is unlikely to bring about the required reforms and must be eased out of office, according to American and Yemeni officials.
The Obama administration had maintained its support of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in private and refrained from directly criticizing him in public, even as his supporters fired on peaceful demonstrators, because he was considered a critical ally in fighting the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. This position has fueled criticism of the United States in some quarters for hypocrisy for rushing to oust a repressive autocrat in Libya but not in strategic allies like Yemen and Bahrain.
That position began to shift in the past week, administration officials said. While American officials have not publicly pressed Mr. Saleh to go, they have told allies that they now view his hold on office as untenable, and they believe he should leave.
A Yemeni official said that the American position changed when the negotiations with Mr. Saleh on the terms of his potential departure began a little over a week ago.
“The Americans have been pushing for transfer of power since the beginning” of those negotiations, the official said, but have not said so publicly because “they still were involved in the negotiations.”
Those negotiations now center on a proposal for Mr. Saleh to hand over power to a provisional government led by his vice president until new elections are held. That principle “is not in dispute,” the Yemeni official said, only the timing and mechanism for how he would depart.
It does remain in dispute among the student-led protesters, however, who have rejected any proposal that would give power to a leading official of the Saleh government.
Washington has long had a wary relationship of mutual dependence with Mr. Saleh. The United States has provided weapons, and the Yemeni leader has allowed the United States military and the C.I.A. to strike at Qaeda strongholds. The State Department cables released by WikiLeaks gave a close-up view of that uneasy interdependence: Mr. Saleh told Gen. David H. Petraeus, then the American commander in the Middle East, that the United States could continue missile strikes against Al Qaeda as long as the fiction was maintained that Yemen was conducting them.
“We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours,” Mr. Saleh said, according to a cable sent by the American ambassador. At other times, however, Mr. Saleh resisted American requests. In a wry assessment of the United States, he told Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s counterterrorism chief, that Americans are “hot-blooded and hasty when you need us,” but “cold-blooded and British when we need you.”
The negotiations in Sana began after government-linked gunmen killed more than 50 protesters at an antigovernment rally on March 18, prompting a wave of defections of high-level government officials the following week. The American and Yemeni officials who discussed the talks did so on the condition of anonymity because the talks are private and still in progress.
It is not clear whether the United States is discussing a safe passage for Mr. Saleh and his family to another country, but that appears to be the direction of the talks in Sana, the capital.
For Washington, the key to his departure would be arranging a transfer of power that would enable the counterterrorism operation in Yemen to continue.
One administration official referred to that concern last week, saying that the standoff between the president and the protesters “has had a direct adverse impact on the security situation throughout the country.”
“Groups of various stripes — Al Qaeda, Houthis, tribal elements, and secessionists — are exploiting the current political turbulence and emerging fissures within the military and security services for their own gain,” the official said. “Until President Saleh is able to resolve the current political impasse by announcing how and when he will follow through on his earlier commitment to take tangible steps to meet opposition demands, the security situation in Yemen is at risk of further deterioration.”
In recent days, American officials in Washington have hinted at the change in position.
Those “tangible steps,” another official said, could include giving in to the demand that he step down.
At a State Department briefing recently, a spokesman, Mark Toner, was questioned on whether there had been planning for a post-Saleh Yemen. While he did not answer the question directly, he said, in part, that counterterrorism in Yemen “goes beyond any one individual.”
In addition to the huge street demonstrations that have convulsed the country in the last two months, the deteriorating security situation in Yemen includes a Houthi rebellion in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and an active Qaeda operation in the southeast. Houthi rebels seized control of Saada Province a week ago, and armed militants have taken over a city in the southern province of Abyan where Al Qaeda is known to have set up a base.
Among Yemenis, there is a feeling that there is a race against the clock to resolve the political impasse before the country implodes. In addition to the security concerns, Yemen faces an economic crisis.
Food prices are rising; the value of the Yemeni currency, the rial, is dropping sharply; and dollars are disappearing from currency exchange shops. According to the World Food Program, the price of wheat flour has increased 45 percent since mid-March and rice by 22 percent.
Analysts have also expressed concern that Mr. Saleh is depleting the national reserves paying for promises to keep himself in power. Mr. Saleh has paid thousands of supporters to come to the capital to stage pro-government protests and given out money to tribal leaders to secure their loyalties. In February he promised to cut income taxes and raise salaries for civil servants and the military to try to tamp down discontent.
“It’s not a recession, it’s not a depression, it’s a mess,” said Mohammed Abulahom, a prominent member of Parliament for Mr. Saleh’s governing party who now supports the protesters.
The fact that the Americans are “seriously engaged in discussion on how to transfer power shows their willingness to figure out a way to transfer power,” he said.
He said the Americans “are doing what ought to be done, and we will see more pressure down the road.”
The criticism of the United States for failing to publicly support Yemen’s protesters has been loudest here, where the protesters insist the United States’ only concern is counterterrorism.
“We are really very, very angry because America until now didn’t help us similar to what Mr. Obama said that Mubarak has to leave now,” said Tawakul Karman, a leader of the antigovernment youth movement. “Obama says he appreciated the courage and dignity of Tunisian people. He didn’t say that for Yemeni people.”
“We feel that we have been betrayed,” she said.
Hamza Alkamaly, 23, a prominent student leader, agreed. “We students lost our trust in the United States,” he said. “We thought the United States would help us in the first time because we are calling for our freedom.”
Late Saturday night, Yemen’s opposition coalition, the Joint Meetings Parties, proposed an outline for a transfer of power that has become the new focus of the talks. The proposal calls for power to be transferred immediately to Vice President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi until presidential elections are held.
The young protesters have rejected the proposal, or any that would leave a leading Saleh official in charge.
Late Sunday, the Gulf Cooperation Council, an association of oil-rich countries in the Persian Gulf, added its backing to the talks, issuing a statement saying it would press the Yemeni government and opposition to work toward an agreement to “overcome the status quo.” The group called for a return to negotiations to “achieve the aspirations of the Yemeni people by means of reforms.”
So far the council, including Yemen’s largest international donor, Saudi Arabia, has not taken part in the negotiations, Yemeni officials said.
There were also more clashes between security forces and protesters on Sunday in the city of Taiz. Hundreds of people were injured by tear gas, rocks and gunfire, and there were conflicting reports as to whether a protester had been killed. Witnesses said security forces fired at the protesters and into the air.
Early Monday, security forces in Hodeidah, a western port city, used to tear gas to break up a protest march on the presidential palace there.
According to Amnesty International, at least 95 people have died during two months of antigovernment protests.
Laura Kasinof reported from Sana, Yemen, and David E. Sanger from Washington.
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