War-Zone Babies – Shawqaba refugee camp – Yemen’s game of thrones – The forgotten war in Yemen – Saudi goal in Yemen: Oil – Rehabilitating Yemen – Yemen Cabinet Shakeup – and other
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO / UN
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges, Schöner Jemen / Other, Beautiful Yemen
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
PH = Pro-Houthi
PS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
6.4.2016 – Newsweek (** B H)
Yemen: War-Zone Babies
One Thursday in February, Rasha Al Shwafi began to feel sick. Heavily pregnant with twins, she initially passed it off as a mild indigestion. But as the day wore on, she found that she could no longer endure the pain. Still some weeks away from her due date, the pain steadily intensified; and along with it, her anxiety grew. That same afternoon she was rushed to the Republican Hospital in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
But while traveling from her home in Al Hamami on the outskirts of Sanaa, she was forced to give birth to one of the twins in the car. On arrival, the baby girl was immediately rushed to the intensive care unit (ICU). Minutes later, she was pronounced dead. And despite frantic efforts to rescue the second twin in a caesarean operation, her sibling too did not survive. Al Shwafi, who is in her early twenties, was distraught. All hopes of starting a family were dashed.
Such stories are all too familiar .
Access to remote mountainous areas is an enormous challenge for many international organizations. Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) is one of the few groups to successfully set up mobile clinics and partner with local hospitals across the country. “One of the key problems facing these women is the lack of immediate access to medical facilities,” said Colette Gadene, head of the MSF mission in Yemen.
Young pregnant women have become the invisible victims of this protracted conflict. Some have also turned into war widows overnight. With no bread-winners in the family, many are left to choose between using their limited resources to feed their family or seek medical care. “What we are seeing across our facilities is that patients are arriving at a much later stage of their pregnancy. This results in undetected infections and complications,” Gadene added.
Women are also avoiding antenatal care given the high cost of transportation; the cost of fuel has doubled by more than 55 percent since the start of the war in March 2015, according to a recent report by aid organization, Oxfam.
Gynecologist Dr. Miriam Ahmed said, as she examined an ultrasound, that since the start of the bombing campaign she has seen a significant rise in the number of miscarriages, still-births and ruptured membranes caused by the stress of war.
“There is a fluid protecting the baby—if that is ruptured the baby will not survive,” she added.
“We are seeing many such cases these days, since the start of the war. I remember another case, she escaped the bombing, got into the car and was bleeding heavily. When she arrived here the baby was no more,” said Ahmed.
In addition to the high cost of medical treatment, Yemenis must worry about their hospitals being safe from the shelling. In the past six months alone, MSF clinics were hit more than four times, despite signage on the roofs of most of its premises. MSF medical coordinator, Dr. Mitsuyoshi Morita, said that many mothers are now opting to give birth at home, or in caves.
“The health facilities are closed and it’s difficult to deliver drugs. Ambulances are shot down and patients don’t want to stay in the hospital long after [giving] birth,” Morita added – by Charlene Rodrigues
http://newsweekme.com/yemen-war-zone-babies/
5.4.2016 – Reuters / Huffington Post (** B H)
Inside The Bare-Bones Camp Where Families Try To Survive Yemen’s War
The Shawqaba camp is home to young and old. But its residents lack adequate shelter, nutrition and health services.
They live in scruffy tents or mud huts on dry, stony ground. Children play with what they have - a rubber tire will do. Medical treatment is hard to come by for young and old alike.
In northwest Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, families uprooted by the war have been stuck in camps for the past year.
Around 400 of them now reside in the Shawqaba camp in Hajjah province, which borders Saudi Arabia. A visiting Reuters photographer has captured their life in a Wider Image photo essay.
When fighting between Saudi forces and Houthi rebels began in March 2015, these refugees were forced to leave their villages in al-Dhahir and Shada districts in neighboring Saada province as Saudi-led warplanes targeted Houthi positions.
Residents and human rights groups say some of the strikes destroyed homes and damaged farmlands. The coalition has acknowledged mistakes in air operations in Yemen but denies Houthi allegations that its forces strike civilian targets.
A few months later, the place they sought refuge, al-Mazraq camp near the border city of Harad, also in Hajjah, was bombarded.
Families moved further inland to the arid Shawqaba camp that lacks the most basic services. Residents call home poorly built huts that protect them neither from summer heat nor winter cold.
Many children suffer from a lack of nutrition and health services. Elderly people with diabetes and heart conditions complain of a lack of medicine - and the high prices when it is available (with photos) – by Abduljabbar Zeyad
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yemen-civil-war-internally-displaced-families_us_5703bfd4e4b0a06d5806d6b6 and https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/displaced-by-war
5.4.2016 – Katehon (** B K P)
Whose Yemen? Yemen’s game of thrones
Yemen’s political history is a complicated one – one filled with tales of wannabe conquests, tribalism, and an insistent yearning for independence. If Yemen has yet to be set free from the yoke of imperial powers, that is not to say that its people lack the ambition. This war actually stands a brilliant testimony of Yemenis’ desire to self-govern, and reclaim control over not just their land but themselves.
For great many decades now Yemen has never ever been truly allowed to set its own political course. Instead, it has been coerced, co-opted and betrayed so that foreign powers could manifest their bidding – to hell with Yemenis and their sovereignty! In this game of thrones Saudi Arabia of course has played centre-stage – a corrosive political entity against the aspiring republic. But if Riyadh has stood a parasite to Yemen’s freedom and national sovereignty – together a malignant suffocating hand, and a deathly plague, the kingdom found much support in its Western allies.
You only have to take one good look at Saudi Arabia’s war room to understand which powers have engineered Yemen’s demise from the very beginning.
By King Salman’s own admission, both the United States and the United Kingdom have assisted the kingdom in its military aggression against Yemen – offering weapons, intelligence, and expertise to their ally. The real question here would be to serve whose agenda? And though many experts have attempted to weigh in in terms of an answer, I’m afraid is not that simple.
I remember how in an interview I conducted with George Galloway for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website earlier this year (2016), the veteran politician insisted that Western powers are playing Riyadh as a proxy – an imperial outpost of sort in their pursuit of global control.
While his comments make perfect sense in that they fit within a narrative of global imperialism … or as I like to call it hyper capitalism, I believe Saudi Arabia is actively working to outmatch its makers, to become THE one political master-puppet. Money after all speaks louder than military might those days. But I’ll get back to that later.
Allow me to stray away from Yemen for a second to delve into a concept which I believe is key to understanding most of the conflicts, and tensions playing out today: globalism. Well it’s actually more than that – globalism after all is merely the expression of capitalism gone wild, a degenerate form of imperialism … and vice versa.
At its very core Yemen’s war is an imperial war, a neo-colonial conflict which seeks the enslavement of a nation for the sake of control. Of course there is a sinister, darker eugenics agenda to this war which experts have for far too long refused to admit to. I am not referring here to the infamous Sunni-Shia divide … this divide only exists in Riyadh’s mind, a fabrication it concocted to shield itself from the political, social and religious emancipation Shia Islam inherently offers, while rationalizing its own extremism: Wahhabism.
Let us remember that if the world has come to abhor and fear Islam it is because its expression has been tainted by the abomination which is Wahhabism – this ideology of Takfir which requires all infidels to die by the sword of its righteous crusaders. An apocalyptic dogma based on bloodshed, Wahhabism calls for the murder of all those who do not bow to its will, most of all Muslims.
One of the reasons Saudi Arabia hates Yemen so much is that its Islam is not that preached by Riyadh.
And while Riyadh’s ambitions in Yemen are anchored in capitalism, certain actors in the kingdom have pursued a very Wahhabist agenda, adding a sinister sectarian undertone to al-Saud military pursuits.
A report in January 2016 by the Campaign against Arms Trade (CAAT) found the UK has received £5.6 billion ($8.19 billion) for arms deals with Saudi Arabia, since Cameron became prime minister.
All horrors aside why would so many nations spent so much fire power and political efforts on one distant impoverished nation, if not to fulfil a predetermined agenda? Think about it for a second. Why would Saudi Arabia deploy such energy against Yemen if not in the pursuit of something bigger than political restoration? It would be foolish to believe that former President Hadi is worth billions of dollars in military expenditure.
No? Not convinced! Consider this then - back in 2012 Yemen called upon the international community to cauterize its financial haemorrhage with an injection of $9 - 10 billion. “Yemen needs a lot of money to rebuild, to achieve prosperity, to eliminate poverty, unemployment and thereby also terrorism. It needs billions of dollars, tens of billions of dollars,” former Prime Minister Mohammed Basindwa told the press back in January 2012 ahead of a Friends of Yemen meeting.
Was Yemen helped out of poverty and instability? Was Yemen ever offered a real way out of the mess its rich oil neighbours plunged it while they basked in a false sense of security? The answer to that question is: of course not! With Yemen rendered impotent, all Persian Gulf monarchies could sleep soundly on their crowns.
The second however Yemen demonstrated any real desire to reclaim its land, reclaim its resources, and reclaim its free will, an entire coalition came charging against its borders. I don’t recall the same passion “to save Yemen” back in 2012, back when Yemen was allegedly transitioning to democracy.
Yemen was never transitioning to anything. Yemen was merely witnessing a change of the guards. Power was still safely holed up in Riyadh, subservient to the financial largesse the kingdom has always been so willing to extend in exchange for political servitude.
Just as the House of Saud played its part in bringing the Ottoman Empire down, thus allowing for Britain to manifest its dreams of control in the Middle East, so it worked to bring Arabia to heed the command of its powerful masters.
Yemen was never meant to be free … Yemen was always meant to yield to those powers which ambitioned to exploit its riches, and turn its land into a source of profit.
If 1962 marked a profound political and institutional shift in Yemen’s history, 1994 would come to seal its future with Saudi Arabia, in that former President Ali Abdullah Saleh allowed for religious colonialism to take place in exchange for a military victory against South Yemen, thus asserting his presidency on political feudalism.
Following is a brief history of Yemen - a visual aid which retraces some of the nation’s most traumatic and important political events. Yemen’s history so far has been one of betrayal and hidden agenda. It is interestingly the rise of the Houthis, and the Resistance movement they helped inspire which actually forced players to show their hands in a more direct light – by Catherine Shakdam
http://katehon.com/article/whose-yemen-yemens-game-thrones
26.3.2016 – Justice Now (** B K P)
Der längst vergessene Krieg im Jemen: Die Verbrechen der Saudis und ihrer westlichen Kollaborateure an der Zivilbevölkerung und an den Kulturschätzen
Die Zugehörigkeit zu den verschiedenen islamischen Konfessionen spielte im Jemen nie eine große Rolle. Erst durch verstärkte Anschläge des sunnitischen IS und der Saudis auf Stellungen der Huthi-Rebellen und auf explizit schiitische Moscheen wurde aus dem säkularen Krieg immer mehr ein vermeintlich religiöser Krieg zwischen Schiiten und Sunniten.
Als eine der wenigen internationalen Journalisten im Jemen, berichtet Iona Craig für The Intercept vor Ort und malt das düstere Bild eines erbarmungslosen Krieges gegen die jemenitische Zivilbevölkerung. Saudi-arabische Kampfjets würden in erster Linie dicht besiedelte Wohngegenden, Marktplätze und zivile Infrastruktur angreifen.
Die Zerstörung der Infrastruktur und vor allem auch die Seeblockade des Jemens, die die Bevölkerung von Hilfslieferungen abschneidet, haben zur Folge, dass mehr als die Hälfte der Jemeniten vom Hunger bedroht ist, 320.000 Kinder sind schwerst unterernährt.
Die saudi-geführte Koalition nimmt systematisch jemenitische Krankenhäuser unter Beschuss, insgesamt mehr als 130, darunter auch mehrere Einrichtungen von Ärzte ohne Grenzen. „Jemens Gesundheitssystem liegt in Stücken.“ Verletzte trauen sich oft nicht mehr, zum Arzt zu gehen. Krankheiten wie Polio, Dengue-Fieber und Diarrhö sind wieder auf dem Vormarsch.
Amnesty International dokumentiert das systematische Bombardieren von Schulen, wegen derer seit März 2015 mehr als ein Drittel der Kinder im Jemen vom Schulbesuch ausgeschlossen ist.
Die UN berichtet, dass 4.300 Gefangene aus jemenitischen Gefängnissen ausbrechen konnten, nachdem diese von saudischen Luftschlägen zerstört wurden.
Die Architekturlandschaft des Jemen gilt als einmalig auf der Welt. Sie beherbergt unschätzbare historische und kulturelle Schätze und wird oft als „lebendes Museum“ bezeichnet. Unzählige seiner Jahrtausende alten Bauten wurden von den saudischen Bombern systematisch ins Ziel genommen und regelrecht „pulverisiert“. Deren Zerstörung stellt ebenfalls einen Bruch des Völkerrechts dar. Auch wurden viele schiitische Moscheen von den Saudis zerstört.
Der renommierte Archäologe Lamya Khalidi spricht vom „kulturellen Vandalismus“ der Saudis.
Von den Saudis häufig angewandt ist die von CIA-Drohnenangriffen in Pakistan inspirierte „douple tap“-Taktik: einige Minuten nach dem ersten Luftangriff wird ein Target ein zweites Mal bombardiert, um so die zur Hilfe eilenden Rettungskräfte auch zu töten. Am 6. Juli wurden auf diese niederträchtige Weise 35 Menschen getötet.
Ein Bericht von Human Rights Watch (HRW) ergab, dass die saudi-arabische Luftwaffe in großem Stile Streubomben aus US-amerikanischer Produktion im Jemen eingesetzt hat. HRW dokumentiert den Einsatz auf mehrere Dörfer, beispielhaft in der Hajja-Region im Nordwesten des Jemen, und verurteilt diesen als Verletzung des Völkerrechts.
Art. 8 Abs. 2 b) des Römischen Statuts definiert Kriegsverbrechen unter anderem als „Vorsätzliches Führen eines Angriffs in der Kenntnis, dass dieser […] die Verwundung von Zivilpersonen […] verursachen wird.“
Die Verknüpfung beider Dokumente ergibt nach meinem Verständnis, dass der Einsatz von Streubomben per se ein Kriegsverbrechen darstellt und damit nicht „nur“ moralisch, sondern auch juristisch unbedingt zu verurteilen ist.
Streumunition muss als besonders perfide Form der Kollektivstrafe an der Zivilbevölkerung bewertet werden, denn sie gefährdet nicht „nur“ unmittelbar – und durch ihren hohen Anteil an Blindgängern auch bis in ferne Zukunft – Leib und Leben der Bevölkerung, sondern nimmt vor allem auch die schiere Lebensgrundlage der Menschen ins Visier: die Landwirtschaft.
HRW-Mitarbeiter fanden eine Vielzahl nicht detonierter Streubomben auf den Feldern der Region, die die weitere Benutzung des Ackerlands zu einem unkalkulierbar tödlichen Risiko werden lassen. “Wegen der Bomben können wir unsere Felder nicht mehr bestellen”, beklagt ein jemenitischer Bauer.
Die saudischen Bombardements stellen einen systematischen Bruch der wegweisenden Resolution 1674 des UN-Sicherheitsrats aus dem Jahre 2006 dar, die erneut unmissverständlich klarstellte, es sei die oberste Pflicht einer jeden Kriegspartei, ziviles Leben zu schützen und der vorsätzliche Angriff von Zivilisten stelle eine “flagrante Verletzung des Humanitären Völkerrechts“ dar.
Mit einer Budgeterhöhung von 54% zum Vorjahr hat das saudische Königshaus 2014 Indien als weltweit größten Waffenimporteur abgelöst – in etwas, das France24 treffend als „Rüstungsorgie“ bewertet. Der größte Input für diese Orgie kommt nach wie vor aus den USA, dicht gefolgt von den drei größten europäischen Rüstungsschmieden.
Die französischen, britischen und deutschen Rüstungsexportgesetze sind auf dem Papier äußerst restriktiv geregelt. Lieferungen an Saudi-Arabien sind daher illegal, doch juristische Verfolgung haben Hollande, Cameron, Merkel & Co. nicht zu befürchten. Straffreiheit für die Beteiligung an schwersten Kriegsverbrechen bleibt das Credo europäischer Demokratien.
Ein erheblicher Teil der saudi-arabischen Kampfjets stammt aus einem Waffendeal, den das Team um Hillary Clinton am Weihnachtsabend 2011 eingefädelt hatte, und der Teil des größten Rüstungsgeschäfts der USA aller Zeiten ist. “Not a bad Christmas present”, kommentierte ein US-Beamter den 29 Milliarden Dollar-Deal, bei dem 84 Kampfjets der Firma Boeing an die Saudis verkauft wurden.
Im Gegenzug erhielt die Clinton Foundation Millionenspenden von Boeing und den Saudis, auch wurde Hillarys aktueller Wahlkampf daraufhin massiv von Boeing unterstützt. In einer globalisierten Welt scheinen Korruption und Vetternwirtschaft, keine geographischen und ideologischen Grenzen zu kennen.
Das White House gibt an, dass sich sämtliche aktiven US-Waffendeals mit den Saudis zu schwindelerregenden 97 Milliarden Dollar aufaddieren. Saudi-Arabien ist damit der mit Abstand größte Kunde für US-amerikanisches Kriegsgerät.
Deutungsversuche
Das saudische Königshaus versucht, den ursprünglich säkularen, machtpolitischen Charakter des Konflikts (Sturz/Wiedereinsetzens des Präsidenten Hadi) in einen religiös aufgeheizten Kampf der islamischen Konfessionen zu transformieren.
Die saudische Luftwaffe fliegt im Jemen verstärkt Angriffe gegen bedeutende schiitische Gotteshäuser; eine perfide Taktik, die bereits bei der Niederschlagung des Arabischen Frühlings 2011 in Bahrain angewandt wurde, als ebenfalls Dutzende schiitische Moscheen zerstört wurden.
Im Jemen hat die Zugehörigkeit zu den verschiedenen muslimischen Konfessionen in der Vergangenheit kaum eine Rolle gespielt. Erst der brutale Krieg der Saudis riss das soziale Gefüge des Landes derart auseinander, dass die systematische Zerstörung heiliger schiitischer Stätten auf fruchtbaren Boden fiel und daraufhin interkonfessionelle Ressentiments in der Bevölkerung geschürt werden konnten.
Als selbsternannte Schutzmacht der Sunniten nützt den Saudis die Spaltung der muslimischen Konfessionen in den Ländern des Nahen und Mittleren Osten in ihrer übergeordneten Agenda: einer Konfrontation mit dem Iran.
Der Krieg im Jemen wird in die Deutungssphäre dieser Agenda hereingezogen. Mit dem Ende der zermürbenden internationalen Wirtschaftssanktionen gegen den Iran und seiner Öffnung gegenüber der Welt (JusticeNow! berichtete), fürchten die Saudis mit dem Iran einen Wiederaufstieg des Kernlands der Schiiten. Neben dem aktuellen Wirtschaftskrieg dient der Jemenkrieg den Saudis nun als ein weiteres militärisches Rädchen im Schritt für Schritt eskalierenden Machtkampf beider Regionalmächte – von Jakob Reimann
http://justicenow.de/jemen-der-langst-vergessene-krieg/ = https://diefreiheitsliebe.de/politik/der-laengst-vergessene-krieg-im-jemen/ = http://de.sott.net/article/23126-Der-langst-vergessene-Krieg-im-Jemen-Die-Verbrechen-der-Saudis-und-ihrer-westlichen-Kollaborateure-an-der-Zivilbevolkerung-und-an-den-Kulturschatzen
Kommentar: Guter Überblicksartikel, von den angesprochenen Themen ausführlicher als hier wiedergegeben. Frage: Warum braucht es einen jungen frisch fertigen Biochemiker, um einen besseren Überblick über den Jemenkrieg und seine Folgen zu schreiben, als er in irgendeinem deutschsprachigen „Mainstreammedium“ zum 1. Jahrestag des Jemenkrieges erschienen ist???? Gibt es keine Journalisten mehr, die diesen Namen verdienen, zumindest wenn es um geopolitische Themen geht, bei denen der Westen so viel Dreck am Stecken hat???
cp2 Allgemein / General
6.4.2016 – The Week (* B K P)
The Saudis have insisted this is a proxy war between them and Iran, but the reality is that Iran has only been tangentially involved. The Iranians tried to head off the Houthi rebellion (fearing it would jeopardize the nuclear deal with the U.S.), and while they may have since sent over a few weapons shipments, it's not remotely close in scale to the massive campaign the Saudis have undertaken. This is Saudi Arabia throwing its weight around in an attempt to ensure it has a pliant client state on its southern border.
The U.S. has been a massive help to the Saudis, helping lock in international support and selling them gobs of weapons. The Obama administration is probably attempting to make up with the Saudis after the nuclear deal with Iran, which greatly upset them, by letting them have their war without too much fuss. Despite the U.S.-Saudi alliance making less sense by the day, they're too locked into the Washington foreign policy establishment for it to be cast aside.
However, a ceasefire is scheduled to take effect on April 10, in preparation for peace talks to begin in Kuwait a week later. This would be a perfect time to bring some diplomatic pressure to bear to end the bombing, lift the blockade, and reach some sort of power-sharing arrangement. Saudi Arabia is creating yet another sucking chest wound in the Middle East political order, and al Qaeda is running hog-wild in the ensuing chaos. Let's put a stop to it – by Ryan Cooper
http://theweek.com/articles/616713/why-should-freaking-about-disastrous-war-yemen
Comment: Overview article.
6.4.2016 – Near Eastern Outlook (* B K P)
Yemen: A Desperation Saudi Genocide Backed by Obama
The Wall Street Journal is the perfect example of a state and corporate controlled counter-information service. A report recently attempts to characterize the Saudi war on the Yemeni people as having little to do with oil. Nothing my friends, nothing could be further from the truth. The Saudis need untapped reserves Yemen currently controls. Here’s a look at the real reason for the genocide in Yemen.
“Yemen doesn’t produce a lot of oil, but there are reasons why oil markets would react to military action there. Why? Here’s the short answer, ” this is the “lead” for an unnamed WSJ author shifting the blame for a war for profit. The story is bait, counterintuitive and blurbish, but just enough to get Americans thinking in the right direction. “Right” that is, if you’re Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper. But the reality underneath is all about Murdoch and his cronies’ investments in the region, and nothing to do with geo-strategic tanker routes.
The WSJ wants investor types who read the paper to believe oil prices surged a bit last week because of the “fear” a “strategic chokepoint” known as the Bab el-Mandeb Strait might be clogged if the Yemen chaos spilled over into Saudi Arabia. Well, there’s no danger of that given the fact the Saudis are bombing Yemen back into the Stone Age using US weaponry. Another potential though, does implicate the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, as well as Somalia across the waters from the Saudis. Our past research has shown clearly, the fact Saudi Arabia and most of the OPEC nations have already reached the oil supply tipping point, the so-called “peak oil” paradigm. Running out the last of the nation’s only saleable resource, the Saudi royalty have put their country into a mess, the potential for revolution there being acute, should the people discover the real predicament. This is why we see an “all in” Saudi aggressive stance, on Syria, with Iran, and especially where Yemen is concerned. While Washington think tank evangelists try and play the tensions off as Sunni-Shiite religious friction, new oil reserves are the truth of these matters.
When I first heard of drone strikes by the Obama administration on targets in Yemen, I was skeptical of any US effort targeting terror there. […] You get the point, nobody seems to know who the enemy is, but shoeless and foodless people in wadis all over the Middle East seem to be dying as a result. Excuse me, I divert from the subject of the report here only to emphasize the clearly cohesive mission of corporation, the investor elite, media, and our governmental leadership. Oil, this story is about oil.
A few weeks ago Zero Hedge ran a piece talking about new oil rigs being brought on by the Saudis. The piece was, for once, erroneous in its supposing the Saudis were putting new rigs online in order to boost a “sustainable” production. The indubitable Tyler Durden is seldom wrong where such investing-strategic information is concerned, but in this case he was 180 degrees off. His supposition that rig counts going up indicate the Saudis “panning” for increased exports is not even a remotely possible. The Saudis are bringing new rigs online alright, offshore ones that are many times more expensive than their inland cousins. And there’s only one reasonable explanation for them doing this, the biggest fields that once contained more energy wealth than any place on Earth have peaked. Short version, the Saudis need more fields, more oil from somewhere, in order to survive. This report I found shows clearly, the Bush and Obama administrations have known for a long time that the Saudis are almost out of oil. “Peak oil” is a reality; the wealth of the Saudi people has been squandered on frivolous investing and building projects, and if they don’t prop up the industry, then the regime is over. This brings us to Yemen and the concrete reasons for Saudi aggression. I’ll try and be brief.
Zero Hedge and other analytical sources have failed to take into account the nature of new rig expansion the Saudis have undertaken. This Offshore report from November 2013 tells us of Saudi Aramco’s Manifa shallow water oilfield development program, which began production in April 2013. The report also clues us to another logical conclusion; the Saudis have been lying about their capacity for decades. Why add as many as 170 new rigs, if the projected production levels are not to be increased for another 30 year, as the Saudi oil minister proclaimed in 2013? Add to this ridiculous notion, the fact these offshore rigs are 7 times more costly to run, and you have a good idea of the fallacious nature of these reports. The Saudis have to have less more capacity, a lot more, in order to still compete with the Russians, Iranians, and Venezuelans. (Forget the Americans, shale production in North American cannot be sustained).
Finally, while the Wall Street Journal reports Yemen as a minor oil “producer”, evidence is emerging that the oil Yemen sits on has yet to be fully explored or accessed. This Yemen Post article first clued me to the possibility the Saudis are after Yemens reserves. While this news source is not the most reliable in all cases, the contention that the Jawf field, in northern Yemen just south of the Saudis, it interested me. The facts the Saudis are killing people in the Jawf region in record numbers aside, the oil basins first explored by Hunt Oil, Exxon, and Phillips in blocks around Jawf have largely been expropriated (2005 for block 18) by Yemen. And big oil hates countries taking back their resources. Most people do not realize that the oil politicians and their armies fight over is almost totally controlled by conglomerates like Shell, and the others. This report from 1997 names some of the developers of Yemen’s main revenue source, but it does not tell us of the targeted goal of the new Saudi aggression.
Before I elaborate on the big “kill” for the Saudis, let me frame American President Barack Obama and hi state department in this mess first. The reader needs nothing more than this WikiLeaks cable to galvanize the fact the Obama administration, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton especially, knew exactly the nature of new Yemeni oil and gas capacity in 2009. […] Natural gas, particularly LNG are the mid term future for the people of Yemen. That is if the Saudis with American assistance will let them live. As for oil, and the crude the Saudis need to survive, Yemen has a partial solution there too.
Yemen’s real treasure trove is actually situated in a shared region of the Red Sea, and offshore in the Sea of Aden. It should come as no surprise that companies like British Gas and even the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have been fully aware of vast oil and gas deposits offshore of Yemen for some time. […] Further discoveries beneath the shallow sea bed of the Red Sea stretch from Yemen to the shores of neighboring Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Eritrea. Offshore “heavy oil” and onshore natural gas riches beckon the Saudis, Brits, Americans, and the French.
So now you know why Barack Obama never comes to the rescue for Yemeni civilians being murdered, it’s the same reason Russian speakers in the East of Ukraine are not protected, and the same reason ISIL has been allowed to roam Northern Iraq and Eastern Syria. Oh, and Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, his key energy investment in Genie Oil is a direct competitor with any future Yemen revenue gains from new sources. AMSO American shale, a subsidiary of Genie is vested in monetizing the last of America’s shale reserves. So the picture puzzle of Yemen chaos should be complete for you now. And the Wall Street Journal’s counter-intuitive news revealed as well. – by Phil Butler
http://journal-neo.org/2016/04/06/yemen-a-desperation-saudi-genocide-backed-by-obama/
Comment: Interesting, but hard to prove.
5.4.2016 – Telepolis (* B K T)
Welche Toten erhalten in den Terrorkriegen eine Geschichte, ein Gesicht und einen Namen und welche nicht?
Die Opfer des Drohnenkriegs werden meist ebenso ausgeblendet wie die des Krieges, den der westliche Verbündete Saudi-Arabien gegen den Jemen führt
In den Tagen nach den Anschlägen von Brüssel lag die Aufmerksamkeit der Presse ein weiteres Mal auf Europa und dem Westen.
Und die womöglich wichtigste Frage: Wie kann es sein, dass man in einem solchen System, welches sich selbst immer wieder als aufgeklärt, demokratisch und fortgeschritten preist, ein derartiges Massenmorden tagtäglich fördert, lebt, es kaum hinterfragt und sich hingebungsvoll seiner Deutungshoheit unterwirft?
Das man sich diesen Fragen nicht stellt, hat viele Gründe. Einer davon ist die tagtägliche Berichterstattung führender Medien und Nachrichtenagenturen, die vor allem interessengebunden ist und vor Oberflächlichkeit und Einseitigkeit trieft.
Während im Fall von stattgefundenen Drohnenangriffen lediglich kurze Randmeldungen produziert werden, bleibt in anderen Fällen die Berichterstattung über ganze Konflikte vollständig aus. Zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt ist das beste Beispiel hierfür der Krieg im Jemen.
Es gibt weder Schlagzeilen noch aufwendige Titelseiten. Auch die Kriegsopfer des Jemen sind namenlos und haben kein Gesicht.
Warum das so ist, liegt auf der Hand. Der Krieg im Jemen wird von führenden westlichen Staaten unterstützt. Allen voran die Vereinigten Staaten legen Wert darauf, Saudi-Arabien, ihren wichtigsten Verbündeten in der Region, in jeglicher Hinsicht zu unterstützen. Doch die Saudis sind nicht nur dem Weißen Haus wichtig, sondern auch den Polit-Eliten in Berlin, London oder Paris.
Da man diesen wichtigen Freund und Partner nicht verärgern will, werden die Toten im Jemen vollkommen ausgeblendet. Dabei sind sie das Ergebnis einer Gewalt, die vom Westen unnachgiebig unterstützt wird, hauptsächlich in Form von Waffenexporten in Milliardenhöhe. Auch Deutschland sticht weiterhin in seiner Rolle als Waffenexporteur der Saudis heraus. Dabei ist mehr als offensichtlich, dass gerade eine weitere große Flüchtlingswelle aus dem Jemen produziert wird. Doch davon will man zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt nichts wissen. Die eigenen Machtinteressen überschatten jegliche Realitäten. Und diese Interessen werden auch weiterhin in vielen westlichen Medienhäusern vertreten, wo menschliches Leid kontinuierlich selektiert und gegeneinander aufgewogen - und wo letztendlich entschieden wird, welcher Tote eine Geschichte, ein Gesicht und einen Namen verdient und welcher nicht – von Emran Feroz
http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/47/47863/1.html
5.4.2016 – Lobelog (** A K P)
Rehabilitating Yemen
After two false-starts, and sub-rosatalks between the Saudis and the Houthis, the UN-led peace process in Yemen may be back on track. When a peace is finally made—currently still in the balance, since both sides seem to believe that they can still win—the international community must be able to step in immediately to help Yemenis rehabilitate their country. This would be a major challenge, even in times of plenty, let alone during the current straitened financial situation.
Yet there are many tried and tested, robust and cheap solutions to similar situations already working in the developing world. A range of these solutions should be readied for immediate implementation in order to produce “quick wins.” This will give longer-term opportunities the chance to mature. The states that have contributed the most to Yemen’s recent destruction (including Iran, US, and UK) should lead the way in providing rehabilitation funding. The UN should manage the process to avoid allegations of corruption and favoritism. An international body should administer the fund pro bono publico (not pro 4%) to reduce the opportunity for embezzlement and corruption.
Most of Yemen’s problems are chronic: food insecurity, employment issues. water scarcity, political machinations, and corruption. Either the right lessons were not learned or were not properly implemented, often due to elite corruption or power-plays—or the international community allowed the cracks to be papered over.
A centralised government may be attractive to foreign donors as it reduces the administrative and political effort in dealing with the state. However, as is the case in many countries in the developing world, a centralised state also delivers all power into the hands of whoever controls (or captures) the state. In such a situation, not only is the opportunity for corruption greatly increased, but the likelihood of partisan decisions—and the consequent alienation of the disenfranchised—often exacerbates the problem the aid seeks to address. Interestingly, in the current state of minimal government and limited physical and electronic communication, the provinces have begun to function as self-defining entities. This suggests that Yemenis have autonomously identified their preferred administrative unit: the province.
The provincial level of administration should be reflected in infrastructure rehabilitation and management.
In the short term, the rehabilitation of the recently destroyed infrastructure and buildings will provide employment for several years. Bridges, ports, airports, roads, and so on have all been hit by airstrikes, as have some of the terraces in the rain-fed Western Highlands which provide scarce arable land. Rather than rebuild these with the traditional rubble walls, gabions might be used to extend the life-time of the terraces. Similarly, many homes have been damaged or destroyed by bombs and artillery. Yet rather than rebuild like-for-like, it is more sensible to rebuildnow using modern techniques and materials—robust enough for the environment—in order to reduce the long-term costs later. Thus solar water heaters, solar electricity, solar water purification, and modern sewage systems can all be incorporated into the rebuilding program, reducing the financial and carbon cost in the long term. Similarly, traditional adobe architecture—possibly using modern binding agents and materials—is far more thermally efficient than concrete, as well as having a tiny carbon footprint. Modern polymers can replace wood in ceiling construction, allowing wider rooms. None of these concepts is cutting-edge. Indeed, many are being rolled out in places like Kenya to great success. It is even possible to install community medical facilities quickly, although developing local medical staff is far harder.
Larger-scale energy generation plants must be explored to reduce Yemen’s need to import fuel to generate power (and reduce industrial scale corruption). Commercial solar power plants and wind turbines would be simple to install in the 50% of Yemen that has no agricultural potential.
Likewise, installing Internet communications—such as Google’s Project Loon in Sri Lanka—would provide a means of accessing information.
Other “quick win” possibilities for low-skill employment would be the manufacture of solar cookers for perhaps three million households.
Although most of these projects are deliberately designed to avoid creating chronic aid dependency, and to reduce the long-term cost to the international community, an up-front investment will be needed. In many cases, countries already aiding Yemen need only continue their assistance. In others, the originators of equipment might be approached to offer assistance in kind.
The challenge is how to address the multiple problems in practical, efficient, and effective ways so that Yemen can be hauled back from the edge of chaos, and a resilient, harmonious state be re-established. Yet it must be done: the alternative is that Yemen becomes another failed state – by James Spencer
http://lobelog.com/rehabilitating-yemen/
Comment: Ideas for rebuilding and developing Yemen after a peace has been achieved. One thing must be clear: All this only works if those who have most responsibility for this war: The West, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States – pay for it.
5.4.2016 – Muslimpress (A P)
Ansarullah movement’s role in charting Yemen’s future
The truce between the Saudis and the Yemenis indicates a Saudi acknowledgement of the Ansarullah movement which has proven its ability to force Saudi authorities into accepting negotiations after refusing to do so in the past. Therefore, it has become essential for the Ansarullah movement to solidify its political and public stance to demonstrate its ability to set the country on the right track in the future the same way it has succeeded in leading Yemeni forces in the battle against the Saudis.
Observers have suggested that the movement adhere to the following steps to achieve this goal:
Clarifying ideological and religious stance
The Ansarullah movement is a follower of the Zaidi Shia sect and that’s why in 2011 some political factions attempted to turn the tide against it by accusing the group of seeking to impose its hegemony on the rest of the sects in the country. Now, in light of the Saudi-led aggression, and constant attempts to demonize the movement as a propaganda strategy, it is crucial for Ansarullah to clarify its stance and convince other sects, especially Sunnis, that is not seeking a sectarian government but rather a democratic rule that respects Yemenis and treats them equally.
Reinforcing legitimacy
The Ansarullah movement emerged as a tribal semi-military group and this was manipulated by the Saudis to create a sense of illegitimacy. To counter these distortions, it would be practical to follow the footsteps of the Lebanese Hezbollah group and the Popular Mobilization forces in Iraq by creating a manifesto to define itself and its principles. This way, the group would have a clear political identity that would help it counter attempts to disarm it through its legitimacy.
Participating in national unity government
Participating in a national unity government alongside other parties and groups would pave the way for a rise in popular support for the movement. Ansraullah should play an effective role in the government to assert its political position and prevent a single party from monopolizing power.
Enhancing security and political stability
Analysts predict that the Saudi regime will create a network of spies after the war ends in a bid to incite sectarian strife as part of plan B through the agency of extremism. Hence, Ansarullah must join a national unity government and coordinate with other tribes and sects to restore peace and stability in post-war Yemen through unity.
Reconstructing and improving economic situation
Saudi bombardment has left much of the country in ruins. It is up to Ansarullah leadership to plan the reconstruction of the battered Arab state and place programs to take the responsibility of building what has been destroyed by the Saudi-led aggression. In addition, it must take the initiative and prompt the process of economic growth that will in turn lead to a boost in other important sectors.
Accordingly, the Ansarullah movement has a monumental role to play in post-war Yemen like the one it has had during the Saudi-led aggression. However, to succeed in charting the country’s future, improvement must be made on the political, social, economic, and security levels and in tandem with other national parties in order to secure Yemen as an independent, stable, and peaceful country.
http://muslimpress.com/48028/ansarullah-movements-role-in-charting-yemens-future/
5.4.2016 – Middle East Eye (* A K)
How Yemen's war mutated into a free-for-all
The Saudi-led coalition entered Yemen to defeat the Houthis. But a year on the war has changed, with al-Qaeda now enemy number one
Yemen's war has mutated in little over a year from a battle between the Houthi movement and Saudi-backed forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Hadi, into one where former allies turn against each other as the original antagonists sit down for peace talks.
Events in Taiz since March highlight how much the war has changed.
"Popular resistance" forces broke through Houthi lines to lift an eight-month siege of the city in mid-March, then waited for Emirati troops from the Saudi-led coalition to arrive and hold the ground.
But for the rookies of the Saaleek brigade, that help never came. The UAE's forces were bogged down in neighbouring Lahj province, fighting the growing threat posed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Only days before militants from the group, also known as AQAP, had reportedly shot down an Emirati jet over Aden, killing two pilots, with a missile apparently supplied by their former Saudi coalition allies.
Nabil al-Adimi, a Saaleek commander, said that lack of support for his civilian militia in Taiz forced its later withdrawal.
According to officials in Aden, Emirati forces have switched focus from the Houthis to AQAP, and by extension the Islamic State group, following a series of attacks against coalition forces.
A Houthi-coalition ceasefire is due to begin on 10 April, with peace talks scheduled for 18 April in Riyadh.
It is a remarkable contrast to the events of last year.
Elements of AQAP fought alongside Popular Resistance militias and coalition forces as they battled the Houthis last year in the south of Yemen.
However, this shaky alliance soon fell apart, and AQAP turned on their allies after the liberation of Aden and surrounding areas.
Since then, a wave of attacks have shaken the coalition and Hadi loyalists.
The consequence, however, is that the UAE has stopped fighting the Houthis, providing the resistance's fighters only with military plans, training and military vehicles.
Saudi-led air strikes, meanwhile, have begun to concentrate on AQAP in Aden, Lahj, Abyan and Hadramout.
Fadhl al-Rabei, a political analyst and the head of Madar Strategic Studies Centre based in Aden, said coalition forces could only advance towards Taiz city after they had uprooted AQAP and IS fighters in Aden and other southern provinces.
"If the coalition troops go towards Taiz, the AQAP fighters will attack in Aden and Lahj, which will aid the Houthis' return, so they have to stay there," Rabei said.
He stated that it was difficult as the coalition faced a daunting task - AQAP fighters are originally from the southern provinces, and are masters of their land.
Rabei said the situation means Yemen is now divided into three spheres of influence: the north under the Houthis; areas controlled by pro-Hadi forces and the coalition in the south; and districts dominated by AQAP including al-Mukala in Hadramout, Azzan in Shabwa, Zinjubar in Abyan, and al-Hawta in Lahj – by Nasser Al-Sakkaf
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/taiz-siege-uae-2036010297
4.4.2016 – Huffington Post (* B K)
Yemeni National Pride and Saudi Arabia’s Unwinnable War
The demonstrations against the Saudi-led war that for a year has been trying to force Yemeni political balances makes clear not only the illegitimate nature of the war, but also the strong national consciousness and pride of the Yemeni people.
Saleh’s many supporters held up images of the former president.
Likewise, the Houthis by their massive demonstration have shown themselves to be integral to Yemeni political life and not to be ignored. A minority, yes, but deeply rooted in Yemeni history and politics
On Sunday 27 March, there was yet another demonstration in Aden, the southern port city, where a number of supporters of the still internationally recognized Saudi-backed government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi gathered. According to Atlantic Council: “As Saudi Arabia asserts the laughable claim that its Hadi-allied forces control 95 percent of Yemen, only meager crowds turned out in Aden on Sunday for its own event...”
The massive anti-war protests in Sana’a, even as coalition bombers flew overhead, pose serious questions about the degree to which the war against this poorest but most populous country of the Arabian Peninsula is illegitimate.
Saudi Arabia contends that its war, denominated Decisive Storm, aims to counter alleged Iranian interference in Yemen; al-Hadi claims the Houthis are Iranian proxies, an assertion that has faced skepticism from authoritative Western experts. Rather, the war may be considered as the product of the Saudi Kingdom moving from a conservative prudent political posture to authoritarianism based on interventionism, a process that began with the ascension to the throne of the conservative King Salman.
Meanwhile, the ambitious Defense Minister (not yet 30 years old) diverts the Kingdom’s wealth, strategizing with his generals how best to conduct the war. To seize control at any cost: Even carpet-bombing that hits civilian centers, even hiring mercenaries and subsidizing certain Yemeni tribes.
Saudi Arabia’s most powerful weapons are its Petrodollars. These weapons of cash destruction fund its world-wide chain of madrassas and mosques that promulgate Wahhabist dogma and empower, wittingly or unwittingly, ideologically similar groups (al-Qaeda and Daesh); additionally, Saudi Petrodollars could buy allies, making for a highly unstable coalition. According to experts, not one of Saudi Arabia’s objectives has been realized, while in Yemen and elsewhere the Kingdom is burning its foreign reserves at an impressive pace.
The Saudis have undertaken an unwinnable war.
International institutions should push harder for negotiations among all Yemeni parties and should help Saudi Arabia extricate itself from the quagmire before being overwhelmed by increasing deficits and the expansion of Daesh and AQAP – by Amir Madani
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amir-madani/yemeni-national-pride-and_b_9591042.html
4.4.2016 – Jaddaliya (B K)
Audio: Killing Yemen: An Interview with Sheila Carapico
Shahram Aghamir spoke with Sheila Carapico, Professor of Political Science and International Studies at University of Richmond about the US-backed Saudi military attacks in Yemen which have claimed over six thousand lives so far. Carapico is the editor of the forthcoming book, Arabia Incognita: Dispatches from Yemen and the Gulf.
http://reviews.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/24191/killing-yemen_an-interview-with-sheila-carapico
4.4.2016 – Wall Street Journal (B K P)
Poor Reviews for the Saudis’ Yemen Gambit
History shows the Yemen crisis to be more than the travails of a small country being overrun by Iranian surrogates.
Saudi Arabian Ambassador Prince Addullah Al-Saud’s “Why We Saudis Went to War In Yemen” (op-ed, March 26) is simplistic and self-serving. History shows the Yemen crisis to be more than the travails of a small country being overrun by Iranian surrogates. The current Houthi rebellion not only enabled advances in Yemen by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula but also was a response to these incursions. Ambassador Al-Saud’s version lays all the blame at the feet of the Shiite Houthi but ignores the role that Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi sectarianism has played in inflaming bigotry and violence, not only in Yemen but in Iraq and Syria as well – by Jim Hansen
http://www.wsj.com/articles/poor-reviews-for-the-saudis-yemen-gambit-1459783267
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe cp1 Am wichtigsten / See cp1 Most important
5.4.2016 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Protection Cluster (A H)
Dashboard: Yemen: Task Force on Population Movement - 8th Report Dashboard (as of 1 April 2016)
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/tfpm_8th_report_-_annex_2_-_dashboard.pdf
5.4.2016 – UN Children's Fund, iMMAP, Protection Cluster (A H)
Yemen: Severity of conflict, access and partners' present in Ibb and Taizz - March 2016 (Map)
Interactive PDF demonstrating 1) how severely each district in Ibb and Taizz is affected by the conflict and how high the child protection needs are, 2) the level of access CP actors currently have, and 3) current CP partners’ capacity and presence to deliver. as of March 2016.
5.4.2016 – Buzzfeed (* B H)
This Horrifying Photo Shows The Human Cost Of Yemen’s Civil War
Five-month-old Udal Faisal died two days after the photo was taken.
The image of 5-month-old Udai Faisal in a hospital bed didn’t find its way on to newspaper front pages or go viral on the internet like the picture of Alan Kurdi’s drowned corpse did. Yet it is every bit as heartrending. The tiny boy’s wide eyes glare from his skeletal face, his bony hand closed just beneath his chin.
He was admitted to Yemen’s al-Sabeen hospital late last month, suffering from malnutrition, diarrhoea and a chest infection, which was where this photograph was taken. Two days later his parents took him out of the hospital. His father said it was because the doctors told him the situation was hopeless, but the head of the hospital’s emergency ward told the Associated Press he didn’t think the family could afford the medication he needed.
A few days after the picture was taken, Udai died.
“He didn’t cry and there were no tears, just stiff,” his mother, Intissar Hezzam, said. “I screamed and fainted.”
Karlien Kleijier, an emergency manager for Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) who has recently returned from the country, told BuzzFeed News Udai was clearly malnourished – and that the issue of hunger in Yemen was “very real”. According to a recent Unicef report, 320,000 children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition, and 1 million children are projected to suffer from moderate acute malnutrition.
“They need medical care – it’s a giant crisis,” Kleijier told BuzzFeed News. “The health system has collapsed.” Food and medical care had been in short supply before the crisis, according to Kleijier, but the situation has significantly worsened, in large part due to blockades. She said MSF had to increase its staff salaries by 50% in some areas just so they could buy food and supplies. Yemen imports 90% of its food and already had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world, according to the AP.
Rajhat Madhok, a Unicef worker in Yemen, told BuzzFeed News that an average of six children have been killed or maimed every day in Yemen in the past year. “Children represent one third of all civilian deaths. Those who survive are being recruited to fight in a war not of their making,” he said.
Madhok said that in a city called Ibb he had met a mother with 13 children living inside a classroom. “They had fled from Aden and had taken refuge in the school seven months ago,” he said. “The family shares space in a classroom with four other families or 20 other women and children.”
According to Madhok, there are 2.5 million people across the country who have been displaced from their homes because of the conflict and live with their relatives, with host communities, or in makeshift camps.
Without the direct involvement of Western military forces and increasing danger to journalists on the ground, the war in Yemen is unfolding with little limelight.
If public outrage has been limited, the political ramifications are substantial. In the US, questions have been asked about what is being achieved by the partnership. In Britain, the House of Commons international development committee has recommended the government suspend all sales of arms to Saudi Arabia “until evidence can be provided that the risk of such arms being used in serious violations of international humanitarian law has subsided”.
It pointed out a paradox at the heart of the British government’s policy: the “important leadership role” the Department for International Development, or DfID, “has played in the humanitarian response, including last week’s pledge to provide an additional £10 million in assistance”, on the one hand, and the sale of £3 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since the start of the crisis – by Alan White
Comment: Long overview article, images
4.2016 – Yemen Our Home (* B H)
UNDP is building the resilience of crisis-affected populations in Yemen noting that the country’s reconstruction and recovery will require everyone who cares for a better and stronger Yemen working together. The Yemeni Diaspora is an important and untapped asset for this realization, and UNDP, through Yemen Our Home, seeks to engage them for the future of Yemen and to alleviate hardships of vulnerable communities.
Yemen Our Home will be articulated into three main campaigns to support the most urgent recovery needs such as rebuilding and rehabilitating public and socio-economic infrastructure, reviving businesses to fight unemployment and bring solutions to community challenges, and economically empowering women as agents of change and for the revitalization of the local economy. We care for a greener, more productive and inclusive Yemen, where generations can safely attain their dreams and potential
http://yemenourhome.org/Home/Compaignproj/2-42103/Inclusive-Yemen
24.3.2016 – UNICEF (* B H)
When homes became classrooms
These are some of the many stories that continue to pour out of the tiny towns of Yemen, stories that bring to attention the courage of communities that refuse to surrender to circumstances they found themselves in due to the conflict. This is how the people stood tall, united and strong, living with hope of a brighter tomorrow, in the face of an unending humanitarian disaster.
The story of Umm Mojeeb, a communication for development volunteer – Every morning Umm Mojeeb, a community volunteer, bids her mother farewell and heads off with other community volunteers towards the villages of Lahej. Each day she stuffs her small fabric bag with IEC (information, education and communication) materials, set for her mission. This has been her daily ritual, charting and marking her way around the small village of Al-Majhafa meeting communities and promoting the importance of sending children back to school.
Today as she passes the Al-Shahyed Abdulalim primary school, where over 533 children used to go to before it was destroyed during the last conflict, her voice is tinged with sorrow.
“Sometimes I still can hear children laughter while playing in the school yard. Then I realize that I am just imagining it, there are no more children in this school. This school in total ruins.” Umm Mojeeb says.
[…]
The story of Ensigam, a teacher in a local school, Sheikh Ommrani who offered his house as a temporary learning centre and 8 year old Rami –“This is the house of Sheikh Amrani. He offered us 3 rooms as classrooms for children. I am teaching them Arabic and I feel proud that this village has such a committed person who didn’t hesitate to offer these children his house to study” beams teacher Ensigam.
Even before the conflict flared in March last year, teaching in Yemen was no easy task. With a dearth of teaching staff, the number of students in a class could often reach 100, and when the frequent power cuts took place, classes were disrupted regularly.
“I am very proud of my people, the men and women of Al-Majhafa village (of Toban district of Lahej). Even after the village school was destroyed by the rockets, parents did not accept that their children should miss the new school year. The sheikh of our village Amrani and Immam Abdullah opened their houses as alternative classrooms for over 289 children” Majda Awad adds proudly.
“I want to go back to my school. Out here there is no playing yard, but at least there is a room, a teacher to teach us so we don’t miss the year,” 8 year old Rami, tells us with a smile.
As the conflict engulfed the country, 3,584 schools were closed, 502 of them were partially or completely destroyed.
UNICEF has undertaken training for teachers in psychosocial support is enabling them to better meet the needs of children in Yemen, as conflict has kept nearly 2 million out of school. UNICEF continued to deliver a package of education support with focus on vulnerable IDP children. UNICEF and the Governorate Education Offices (GEOs) in Hodeidah, Hajjah, Almahwit, Aden, Shabwa, Lahj, Ald- halea and Abyan, distributed school bags and school kits for 73,731 IDPs and other affected children. UNICEF has also continued the Back to School (B2S) campaign and out-of-school children programmes – by Ansar Rasheed
https://blogs.unicef.org/blog/when-homes-became-classrooms/
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
6.4.2016 – Middle East Monitor (* A K P)
UAE accuses Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen of seizing resistance weapons
The United Arab Emirates has accused the Yemeni Congregation of Reform Party (Al-Islah), which is affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, of seizing 75 per cent of the military equipment provided by Arab Coalition forces to the popular resistance since 26 March.
An anonymous official told Misr Al-Arabia news site that the UAE government in Abu Dhabi has informed the legitimate government in Yemen that it has been confirmed that members of Al-Islah had seized the weapons. The UAE demanded that the government should hold to account all of those involved.
The Emirates has also asked for the dismissal of the governor of Marib, Sultan Arada, along with an official of Al-Islah, Mansour Al-Haq, from his post as leader in the popular resistance. The request was made following the dismissal of the former governor of Aden, Nayef Al-Bakri, also from Al-Islah, on corruption charges.
The source added that the UAE has rejected a request from Saudi Arabia to support the popular resistance in Taiz province, claiming that militias led by a tribal leader who is affiliated with the same party, Hammoud Mikhlafi, seized the weapons in question.
According to Misr Al-Arabiya, Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi intends to dismiss Arada despite political objections.
Comment: Well, the militia of the ominous “resistance”, for a great part obviously is Islah party.
5.4.2016 – Al Araby (D H)
A leap of faith through war: Aden's freerunners
Years of instability and twelve months of war have destroyed Yemen's infrastructure and morale. But a group of boys from Aden have bounced back, stronger than ever.
http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/society/2016/3/15/a-leap-of-faith-through-war-adens-freerunners
5.4.2016 – Atlantic Council (** A P)
What the Yemen Cabinet Shakeup Means
The timing of Bahah’s dismissal came as a surprise, but the tensions between him and Hadi were widely known. A source told the London-based news site The New Arab that the decision was probably not a rogue move on Hadi’s part, but came in “close consultation” with Riyadh.
Responding to his dismissal on his Facebook page, Bahah took the high road and restrained from lashing back at Hadi. He said that he had worked sincerely to help his beloved Yemen and wished it to be relieved of its suffering so that Yemenis might realize a better future.
Over the past months, talk in diplomatic circles suggested that Riyadh might be willing to replace Hadi with someone more respected inside of Yemen. Bahah’s name was among those most mentioned, which surely caught Hadi’s attention. But Riyadh has not abandoned Hadi just yet. Sacking Bahah may have been Hadi’s attempt to sideline a competitor while pulling together a strong leadership better suited uniting Yemen if and when the war finally ends.
Hadi’s support inside of Yemen comes from a range of groups that share his interest in pushing back the Houthis. But that support is weak, and efforts to suggest otherwise are met by Yemenis with incredulity.
While Hadi’s appointment of Bin Dagher as Prime Minister may be an offering to southerners, promoting Ali Mohsen to Vice President seems the more significant political move. It puts a military leader into a prominent political position—second in line to rule should something happen to Hadi—and one who still commands respect (and fear) among many northern tribal leaders. Hadi may get rid of a rival in Bahah, who many described as being a more capable leader with a stronger domestic support base. But the Saudi-backed move may signal the end of his political career in the longer run. By promoting the general, Hadi and Saudi Arabia hope that he can bring northern tribes over to the Saudi-coalition side. The move may be the strongest indication yet that Riyadh’s plan for Yemen no longer centers on defeating the Houthis per se, but on restoring a military ruler with Saudi sponsorship. The United States does not like Ali Mohsen, particularly given his ties to northern jihadi groups. If President Barack Obama prefers a stable coalition to a long-term civil war in which jihadists emerge as the only winners, it is unclear that jihadis would be losers if Ali Mohsen were to come to power. The political calculation assumes that war will continue in Yemen unless a leader can bring strong northern tribal leaders from both tribal groupings to the table. Ali Mohsen is far more likely to accomplish that difficult task than Hadi, but would face as many challenges as Hadi in uniting all of Yemen peacefully.
As the major political actors scramble to bet on which side will emerge from the war victorious, the ordinary people in Yemen continue to suffer. It is citizens’ desire for a new Yemen that may be sacrificed as external powers—notably Saudi Arabia and the United States—push for whatever outcome suits their own interests rather than those of the Yemeni people – by Jillian Schwedler
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/what-the-yemen-cabinet-shakeup-means
5.4.2016 – The Iran Project (* A P)
All about Yemen’s Hadi new appointments
The resigned Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi has dismissed on Sunday Prime Minister and Vice President Khaled Bahah from his posts after a long rift between the former who is backed by Saudi Arabia and the latter who is favored by the UAE.
Mansour Hadi’s new decision to remove his prime minister, which is being made some two weeks ahead of the new round of UN-sponsored peace negotiations which are set to be held in Kuwait between the Yemeni warring sides, has come with two other decisions: First, appointing Major-General Ali Mohsen Saleh al-Ahmar as vice-president instead of Khaled Bahah. Second, picking Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr as the prime minster of the Yemeni government. Hadi left the cabinet’s ministers unchanged according to the former decisions.
Who is bin Daghr?
Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr is a former leader in the Yemeni Socialist Party. He also was the head of the Circle of Mass Organizations in Yemen’s General People’s Congress party, as he was also a close friend of the former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salah, from whom Daghr defected last year.
Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr also served as the minister of communications in the Mohammad Salem Basindawa-led national unity government which was formed by Mansour Hadi in 2011. Furthermore, a presidential order has appointed bin Daghr in mid-2014 as deputy PM in Basindawa’s government in addition to his previous post as minister of communications. In 2015, the resigned Yemeni President Mansour Hadi chose bin Daghr as his advisor.
Sources close to Mansour Hadi have suggested that appointment of bin Daghr as head of the government is coming as a sign that the Saudi-led coalition has decided to attract the National People’s Congress, which enjoys a heavy weight in the country’s political scene, without including the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is a leader in the party.
Who is Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar?
Major-General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar has strong links to Riyadh. He is considered as the key factor of the six wars waged against Yemen’s Ansarulah Movement by the Yemeni army between 2004 and 2009.
Up to 2014, Major-General al-Ahmar was the chief commander of the Northwestern Military District as well as the Yemeni army’s First Armored Division. He was seen as second man in Yemen after the former President Saleh. However, discords grew between al-Ahmar and Saleh in 2011, leading in a couple of clashes fought by al-Ahmar’s loyal forces against the pro-Saleh presidential guards. The crisis ended in signing the Persian Gulf Council Agreement in 2012. Afterwards, al-Ahmar was picked as President Mansour Hadi’s advisor. The resigned Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who fled the country to Saudi Arabia, gave a presidential order on February 22, 2016, determining Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar as the deputy chief commander of the Yemeni armed forces.
Major reasons
Actually, the tensions erupted between Mansour Hadi and Khaled Bahah since the beginning of the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen, but this new Mansour Hadi’s decision to dismiss Bahah, the cause of which Mansour Hadi has said to be the past failures of Bahah’s government, uncovers the size of the struggles under way between Saudi Arabia and the UAE after several assassinations and explosions in Yemen’s Aden province carried out by the two sides’ operatives aimed against one another. In his dismissal statement, Hadi has said that “the decision is coming as a result of the failures of the government during the past span of time in economic, public services and security fields.”
The surprise Mansour Hadi’s decision, which according to the Yemeni sources is originally a Saudi Arabian decision, lays bare the efforts made by Riyadh’s “agents”, on top of them the resigned Yemeni president and his companions who fled to the kingdom, to foil the UN and regional attempts to make peace in Yemen through appointing Major-General al-Ahmar as Yemen’s vice-president. This Mansour Hadi’s move is considered to be a pre-emptive step before Kuwait peace negotiations, set for April 18, in which the national forces could insist on removing him from the country’s political scene. To put it another way, Mansour Hadi, who already knows that the political forces would not accept him to stay in the politics, tries to put the military and political forces ahead of two choices: Him or al-Ahmar, who is already refused. In fact, the fear of being distanced from the country’s political scene, once an agreement is brokered in Kuwait meeting, has pushed him to make the decision.
At the same time, the sources have suggested that it is in Mansour Hadi’s best interest to have al-Ahmar his deputy because that could drive many Mansour Hadi’s opponents to accept him not because they are interested in him but because they don’t want al-Ahmar become president of the country.
On the other side, Bahah has reacted to the dismissal decision on the social media. The dismissed PM, who has recently visited the UAE and has threatened not to return to Riyadh, has said that “we were present when many have fled the scene, and the history would record that.” “In ordinary conditions the course is distracted by challenges and difficulties, let alone in the exceptional and tough conditions, but the difficulties bow before the sincere intentions and genuine wills to do something for the country, and we together stand firm in front of tough times as we go ahead,“ asserted Khaled Bahah.
Bahah continued that “when the president just talks the talk but does not walk the walk, the failures of proponents and defeats in the battlefield ensue.”
Without doubt, Bahah’s present position and the dismissal’s consequences would not appear quickly, especially that any anti-Saudi stance would mean removal by the Saudis as it happens now to the Yemenis, on whom a war is imposed by Riyadh. Bahah’s standing would leave influences in some Yemeni provinces including Aden because he has strong regional and international communications and attendances – by Al Waght
http://theiranproject.com/blog/2016/04/05/yemens-hadi-new-appointments/
5.4.2016 – BBC (A P)
Yemen conflict: Former vice-president Bahah denounces sacking
Yemen's former Vice-President and Prime Minister, Khaled Bahah, has denounced his surprise dismissal as a "coup against legitimacy".
President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi sacked Mr Bahah on Sunday, citing "failures" in the government's performance.
But on Tuesday, Mr Bahah said the move undermined the cabinet and its work to end the war between pro-government forces and the Houthi rebel movement.
Mr Bahah did not initially criticise the reshuffle, writing on social media on Sunday that he was "opening a new page" in his services to the country as a presidential adviser.
But on Tuesday, he released a lengthy statement explaining that his dismissal would "provide a justification for the coup" by the Houthis and "undermine the legitimacy of the government".
One unnamed Yemeni government official said the shake-up might undermine the peace talks scheduled to start in Kuwait on 18 April.
"Bahah was in favour of a political settlement and the appointment of Ali Mohsen is a victory for the hardline wing," the source told Reuters news agency.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35971628
5.4.2016 – Aden Algd (A P)
Bahah issued a formal statement confirming the rejection of the decision to dismiss him (the text of the statement)
Dr. Khaled Bahah issued a formal statement confirming the rejection of his dismissal from the posts of vice president and head of government, which said, "This is a statement to the people
[declaration in full; in Arab]
http://adenalgd.net/printpost/199907/
Comment: Quarrelling in Saudi Arabia? This is interesting. A government, in exile, With a reshuffle by Hadi and former Prime Minister not accepting the imposed dismissal. Still, bombing in Yemen to restore democracy and legitimate fugitive government.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1002909249762105&id=961126490607048
5.4.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Yemen: New Cabinet Reshuffle Anticipated to Form “Emergency Government”
In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, the Yemeni presidential adviser Yasin Makkawi said that the legitimate government is considering forming an “emergency government” a day after President Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi appointed General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar as the new vice president and Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr as the new prime minister.
On his part, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Yemen Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi anticipates that changes will be made to some ministerial portfolios in the near future. These changes will also include a reshuffle of the government team participating in the upcoming negotiations in Kuwait which will take place on the 18th of April – by Arafat Madabish
4.4.2016 – Anadolu (A P)
Saleh defector appointed head of Yemen gov’t
Ahmed Obaid bin Dagr, a former supporter of ex-president and Houthi ally Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been appointed Yemen’s new PM
Ahmed Obaid bin Dagr, who defected last year from former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and declared his support for current President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, has been appointed prime minister of Yemen, replacing Khaled Bahah.
On Sunday evening, Yemen’s official Saba news agency reported that bin Dagr had been appointed to the premiership by presidential decree, replacing Bahah, who was made an adviser to President Hadi.
Bin Dagr was appointed deputy PM in August of last year, four months after his break with Saleh, who is a main ally of the Shia Houthi militant group.
Like his predecessor Bahah, bin Dagr hails from Yemen’s southern Hadhramaut region, where he was born in 1952.
In 1983, he received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Aden. In 2000, he received a Master’s Degree in history from Cairo’s Institute of Arab Research and Studies, earning a PhD from the same institution four years later.
After the unification of Yemen in 1990, bin Dagr became a member of parliament for Yemen’s Socialist Party, of which he was a prominent leader.
He left Yemen in 1994 following the outbreak of the country’s civil war.
In 2006, bin Dagr returned to Yemen after years of self-imposed exile, but left the Socialist Party to join Saleh’s General People's Congress Party, for which he served as assistant secretary-general for culture and information.
Afterwards, he was appointed minister of communications and information technology, before becoming deputy PM and minister of communication under then-PM – by Bahah – By Zakaria al-Kamali
http://aa.com.tr/en/world/saleh-defector-appointed-head-of-yemen-gov-t/549353
Comment: As Vice-president Mohsen: Old cronies.
26.11.2000 – New York Times (B P)
by the time Mr. Saleh negotiated the agreement allowing American warships to refuel in Aden, two of the most powerful people in the capital, after Mr. Saleh himself, were one-time allies of Mr. bin Laden.
American intelligence reports say both those men traveled to Afghanistan in the 1980's to meet Mr. bin Laden, and assisted in recruiting militants from across the Muslim world for the Afghan struggle. One of them is Mr. Saleh's half brother, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a high-ranking army general who is said to have presidential ambitions himself. Some rivals attribute to General Ahmar, a burly man in his early 50's, an unsavory record, including financing militant Islamic groups.
Before the 1994 war, some Yemeni officials and Western intelligence reports say, the general was in charge of $20 million supplied by Mr. bin Laden to help settle Arab Afghan fighters in Yemen. Later, as Mr. Saleh's military commander in southern Yemen, he oversaw the deployment of the Islamic groups in the climactic battle for the city. More recently, according to some Yemeni reports, he may have been unsettled by Mr. Saleh's decision to appoint as head of his presidential guard -- and heir presumptive -- his son Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, an army officer in his mid-30's.
Yemeni officials say the general retains strong links to his past involvement with the Arab Afghan network in Yemen, through his marriage to a sister of a prominent tribal leader, Tariq Nasr al-Fadhli, one of the leading Afghan war veterans living on a government stipend in Sana. Son of one of the most powerful sultans in southern Yemen during the British colonial era, Mr. Fadhli, in his mid-40's, is said by Yemeni and American officials to have met Mr. bin Laden in Saudi exile in the 1980's and to have fought under him in Afghanistan. Now, he is a member of the presidential council, a largely symbolic advisory body to Mr. Saleh.
Later, he returned to Yemen as leader of one of the most active Islamic terrorist groups. The F.B.I. files say he was the point man in botched December 1992 bombings of two Aden hotels housing more than 100 American troops en route to Somalia.
U.S. reports say Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar met Osama bin Laden and helped him recruit militants. Abdel Meguid al-Zindani, an anti-American cleric, teaches a form of Islam that has inspired militant organizations. Tariq Nasr al-Fadhli is said to have fought under Mr. bin Laden – by John F. Burns
Comment: Throwing some light on General Mohsen, whom “president” Hadi appointed his vice.
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
6.4.2016 – Press TV Iran (A P)
Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah calls truce in war-stricken regions
Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement has announced a ceasefire in several border regions with Saudi Arabia in a bid to pave the way for upcoming political talks among Yemeni groups.
The movement's spokesman, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said on Tuesday that as a “first step”, the truce would halt military operations in a number of Yemeni provinces, including the Midi border area in the northwestern Hajjah province.
He added that the truce would pave the way for peace talks between Ansarullah and fugitive former president Abd Rabbouh Mansour Hadi’s loyalists.
On Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said that a Houthi delegation was in the Arab Kingdom to hold peace discussions, a claim that was strongly rejected by Ansarullah top official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti.
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/06/459325/Yemen-Houthi-Ansarullah-Saudi-Hadi-truce/ = http://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2016/04/06/1041034/yemen-s-houthi-ansarullah-calls-truce-in-war-stricken-regions
5.4.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A P)
"Ansar Allah" movement in Yemen confirmed the preliminary steps to a comprehensive cessation of military actions in the country, and open clear prospects to engage in political dialogue for the country, scheduled for mid-April under the auspices of the United Nations.
The spokesman of the movement, Mohammed Abdul Salam, in a statement posted today Tuesday, April 5 2016, said that in the context of the preliminary understandings, it was agreed that the continuation of the truce along the border strip, including Medi border front, in addition to the cessation of hostilities in a number of provinces.
He added that the first step "and stop the military escalation in the rest of the fighting axes and up to the total cessation of the war, and the completion of the missing and prisoners of war and compile their data file and exchange of statements about them."
The United Nations has announced that 10th of April is the date set for a fully implemented cease-fire which will lead to the peace talks scheduled for April 18 in Kuwait.
A Yemeni political official confirmed that a delegation of supporters of Ansarallah movement in Yemen visited Saudi Arabia during the past two days, and met with officials at the request of authorities in the kingdom. He added that the meeting was not in Riyadh, but in one of the secondary cities.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the delegation held extensive discussions and negotiations with the i side centered on "a new government and a final exit of Hadi."
5.4.2016 – Press TV Iran (A P)
Houthi delegation in Riyadh: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia claims a delegation representing Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement is in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to attend negotiations discussing an end to the Yemeni war.
“The Houthi delegation is in Saudi Arabia and the discussions are ongoing,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday.
The negotiations, he alleged, were being held “with the aim of finding a political solution for the Yemen crisis.”
“I believe we have made good progress,” Jubeir claimed.
However, Ansarullah politburo official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti rejected the Saudi foreign minister’s claim about the presence of a Houthi delegation in the Saudi capital for negotiations with the Saudi regime, Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen television channel reported.
http://www.presstv.us/Detail/2016/04/05/459158/Saudi-Arabia-Yemen-Houthi-delegation-alJubeir
5.4.2016 – Al Arabiya (A P)
Yemen panel of advisors arrive in Kuwait to prepare for talks
A panel of advisors in charge of implementing a future ceasefire in Yemen has arrived in Kuwait to kick start its arrangements for the upcoming peace talks on April 18, an official in the internationally recognized Yemeni government said.
Abdullah al-Alimi, deputy head of the presidential office, said the Pacification and Communication Commission panel has finished its draft notes over the paper sent by the UN special envoy over arrangements to ceasefire.
UN-sponsored peace talks are scheduled to start in Kuwait on April 18. The two sides have confirmed a truce starting at midnight on April 10 ahead of the peace talks, scheduled to follow a week later.
Alimi said the panel will give its vision to launch the talks, expressing the government’s intentions to reach peace especially if the Houthis respond in kind.
Meanwhile, Abdulaziz al-Maflahi, a Hadi advisor, told Al Arabiya News Channel in an interview that considered the negotiations by the Houthis with the Saudi side is a step in the right direction, but said they need to do more to boost confidence-building measures.
“Those attempted coup [Houthis] need to do the minimal asked from them and that’s through releasing political prisoners, break siege on besieged areas especially [southwestern city of] Taiz,” he said. “Until now we did not find them taking any positive step, except for speaking with our brethren of the Saudi kingdom.”
4.4.2016 – AFP (A P)
Yemen rebel delegation in Saudi for talks: minister
A delegation of Shiite Huthi rebels from Yemen is holding talks in Riyadh, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Monday, ahead of a planned ceasefire and renewed Yemeni peace negotiations.
"The Huthi delegation is in Saudi Arabia and the discussions are ongoing. I believe we have made good progress," Jubeir told reporters.
"Talks with them are ongoing with the aim of finding a political solution for the Yemen crisis," Jubeir said.
Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was the first to reveal the presence of a Huthi delegation in Riyadh, in an interview with Bloomberg published Friday.
"There is significant progress in negotiations, and we have good contacts with the Huthis, with a delegation currently in Riyadh. We believe that we are closer than ever to a political solution in Yemen," the prince said.
http://www.france24.com/en/20160404-yemen-rebel-delegation-saudi-talks-minister
4.4.2016 – Fars News (A P)
Saudi Arabia Asks Ansarullah of Yemen for Secret Talks
enior Ansarullah commanders disclosed on Monday that the Riyadh government has called for secret negotiations with them as the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces are losing ground in the Yemen war.
"Following the consecutive defeats of the Saudi forces and their allies, the Saudi officials are trying to secretly hold talks with Ansarullah leaders," a senior Ansarullah commander, speaking on the condition of anonymity told FNA on Monday.
He also rejected the recent statements of Saudi deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman about the presence of an Ansarullah delegation in Riyadh as false, and said, "These rumors show their weakness, defeats and failure."
The Ansarullah commander, meantime, rejected the pro-Saudi media reports on the withdrawal of the Yemeni forces from their positions, and said, "The volunteer forces have made considerable advances in different parts of Yemen."
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950116001107
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
3.4.2016 – The Independent (* A P)
Saudi Arabia executions reach record high as beheadings set to double this year
Saudi Arabia has already executed 82 people this year and is on course to behead twice as many prisoners as it did in 2015, according to new statistics compiled by a leading human rights organisation likely to raise fresh concerns about the UK’s close ties to the Kingdom.
The British Government has been urged to do more to put pressure on its Gulf allies to halt the bloodshed in light of the figures, which would see the total death toll in Saudi Arabia reach a record high of more than 320 by the end of the year if the current rate is maintained.
This would be more than double the 158 executions carried out by the Kingdom last year, which was in itself a dramatic rise on the 88 people it beheaded in 2014. The figures were compiled by the UK organisation Reprieve using a combination of official statements from the Saudi government and reliable local media reports – by Chris Green
3.4.2016 – Middle East Eye (A P)
Secret dealings of Middle East leaders exposed by Panama Papers leak
Hidden offshore dealings in assets of about 140 political figures, including 12 current or former heads of states, are revealed.
The secret offshore dealings of leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Iraq have been exposed in huge leak of 11.5 million tax documents from Panamanian offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Among 12 heads of state mentioned in the leak were King Salman of Saudi Arabia, former prime minister of Jordan Ali Abu al-Ragab, and two Qatari leaders - former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani and Qatar's former emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/huge-tax-leak-exposes-leaders-saudi-pakistan-1560802862
cp9 USA
5.4.2016 – Antiwar (** B K P)
Imperial Human Sacrifice in Yemen
Is America the World's Worst Girlfriend?
Stand-up comic Louis CK recently did this bit where he characterized America as “the world’s worst girlfriend”:
“America is like a terrible girlfriend to the rest of the world. If someone hurts America, she remembers it forever. But if she does anything bad, she’s like: ‘Whaaatt? I didn’t do anything!’ America, why do you keep bombing those people in Yemen? ‘Because nine-eleven, okay. Nine-eleven. So shut up!’”
The bit is really funny and perceptive. But in actuality, the average American would respond with, “We’re bombing Yemen? What’s Yemen?” While the average American foreign policy official wouldn’t cite 9/11, but would feign innocence. “We’re not! That war belongs to Saudi Arabia. Whaaatt? I didn’t do anything!”
These veils of ignorance and deception parted ever so slightly recently, when, after a whole year, the war on Yemen finally received some major coverage in the mainstream media. A March 29 Associated Press “Big Story” exposed mainstream readers to the war’s horrific human toll. The article, titled “An infant’s 5-month life points to hunger’s spread in Yemen,” frames the story by delving into one of the war’s innumerable tragedies.
The story also featured a harrowing photo of the emaciated little baby shortly before his death. The picture has not yet gone viral, as the photo of drowned toddler Aylan Kurdi did. If it does, it could cause a breakthrough in public awareness of the Yemen war, just as Aylan’s picture did for the Syrian war and refugee crisis.
The AP also quantified the tragedy (although these figures may drastically underestimate the magnitude of the calamity).
Try to imagine a child you love starved to emaciation. Now realize that your government is complicit in causing 160,000 additional children to suffer that.
On March 13, a New York Times front page article went into some detail about American support for the war.
“Mr. Obama’s aides believed that the Saudis saw a military campaign in Yemen as a tough message to Iran.
“Their main objective was to give Iran a bloody nose,” said Philip H. Gordon, a top White House official at the time and now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.”
So there you have it. The U.S. enabled the Yemen war as a reassuring gesture for the Saudis and a “tough message” for the Iranians. Thousands killed and hundreds of thousands of children being starved, all to send various signals to allies and adversaries: war as a geopolitical messaging app.
President Barack Obama, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, couldn’t negotiate a partial detente with Iran without offering up a mass human sacrifice in Yemen to propitiate the Saudis. Such are the dismal prospects for peace through politics.
The war has also enabled Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to thrive and conquer in Yemen. “America, why are you providing the bombs being dropped on mortal enemies of Al Qaeda?” “Because nine-eleven!”
Empire is a harsh mistress. But is America the world’s worst girlfriend? I don’t know about that. But, from starving babies to breeding terrorists, the U.S. government is definitely building a reputation as the world’s worst “security” force – by Dan Sanchez
http://original.antiwar.com/dan_sanchez/2016/04/04/imperial-human-sacrifice-in-yemen/ = http://www.voicesofliberty.com/article/imperial-human-sacrifice-in-yemen/
2012 – Valentino Ghost (** B K P)
Valentino's Ghost: Framing the Arab Image (2012)
Integral version of a two part 2012 documentary film Valentino's Ghost by Michael Singh - Why Do We Hate Arabs ?
The documentary exposes the ways in which America's foreign policy agenda in the Middle East drives the U.S. media's portrayals of Arabs and Muslims, since the beginning of the 20th century.
Ask "why do we hate Arabs" rather then "why do they hate us".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjhByX-5hkQ
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
5.4.2016 – The Aviationist (* A K P)
Finmeccanica signs contract to supply 28 Eurofighter Typhoons to Kuwait
On Apr. 5, the Kuwaiti MoD and Finmeccanica (the Italian aerospace company which leads commercial activities in Kuwait on behalf of the Eurofighter consortium), signed a contract for the supply of 28 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.
The aircraft, 22 single seaters and 6 two-seaters will be produced in Italy.
The contract, worth about 8 billion Euro and the largest ever for Finmeccanica, is an intergovernmental agreement between the two countries and includes logistics, operational support s well training of both aircrews and ground personnel. The latter will be carried out in cooperation with the Italian Air Force, and in particular, with the 20th Gruppo, ItAF Typhoon OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) based at Grosseto airbase.
A memorandum of understanding was signed in September 2015 but the closing of the deal has been repeatedly postponed until today.
Kuwait (the 8th operator of the aircraft along with Austria, Italy, Germany, Oman, Spain, Saudi Arabia and UK) will get the Typhoon in its most advanced configuration: Tranche 3 planes equipped with the cutting-edge new E-Scan radar (Electronically Scanned array radar) – by David Cenciotti
http://theaviationist.com/2016/04/05/28-eurofighter-typhoons-for-kuwait/
5.4.2016 – Frankfurter Allgemeine (*A K P)
Die Rüstungsindustrie boomt
Erstmals seit Jahren steigen die weltweiten Militärausgaben wieder. Einer Studie zufolge hat vor allem China seine Rüstungsexporte drastisch erhöht. Auch Deutschlands Ausfuhren erreichen einen Höchstwert.
Der Untersuchung zufolge, die an diesem Dienstag in Stockholm vorgestellt wird, stieg der Rüstungsverkauf zwischen 2011 und 2015 im Vergleich zum Zeitraum 2006 bis 2010 um 14 Prozent. Insgesamt hätten die Staaten im vergangenen Jahr annähernd 1,7 Billionen Dollar für ihre Streitkräfte ausgegegeben
Die größten Waffenexporteure sind demnach die Vereinigten Staaten, Russland, China, Frankreich und Deutschland.
Die Vereinigten Staaten verzeichneten mit 595 Milliarden Dollar mit Abstand die höchsten Militärausgaben, obwohl sie seit 2011 jedes Jahr geringfügig weniger dafür investieren. Mit einer Zunahme von 7,4 Prozent war China (215 Milliarden) abermals auf dem zweiten Platz, gefolgt von Saudi Arabien (87 Milliarden, Plus von 5,7 Prozent) und Russland (66 Milliarden, Plus von 7,5 Prozent). Deutschland liegt mit 39 Milliarden Dollar auf Platz neun (2014 Platz acht).
Als die fünf größten Abnehmer von Rüstungsgütern nennt das Institut in seinem neuen Bericht Indien, Saudi-Arabien, China, die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate und Australien. Insgesamt seien die Rüstungsimporte insbesondere im Nahen und Mittleren Osten deutlich gestiegen.
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/studie-mehr-ruestungsexporte-weltweit-14161071.html
5.4.2016 – AP (A K P)
Global military spending nearly $1.7T amid Mideast conflicts
Global military spending rose in 2015 to nearly $1.7 trillion, the first increase in several years, driven by conflicts including the battle against the Islamic State group, the Saudi-led war in Yemen and fears about Iran, a report released Tuesday shows.
For weapons manufacturers, the nonstop pace of airstrikes targeting Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, as well as Saudi-led bombing of Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies, means billions of dollars more in sales.
The United States, with $596 billion in defense spending, and China, with an estimated $215 billion, led all countries in 2015, the annual report by SIPRI said. Saudi Arabia, however, came in third with spending of $87.2 billion - double what it spent in 2006, according to the report. That fueled the first worldwide increase in military spending since 2011.
Yet arms deals continue, especially from the U.S. Asked about the civilian casualties, State Department spokesman David McKeeby said the United States remained "deeply concerned by the devastating toll of the crisis in Yemen."
"We have remained in regular contact with the Saudi-led coalition and have reinforced to them the need to avoid civilian casualties and the importance of precise targeting," McKeeby said in a statement. "We have encouraged them to investigate all credible accounts of civilian casualties as a result of coalition strikes - and to report publicly the results of these investigations."
But both the Yemen war and the fight against the Islamic State group likely will keep arms manufacturers busy into 2016. Companies that may see increased sales include Boeing. Co., General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co., aerospace and defense analyst Roman Schweizer at Guggenheim Securities wrote March 28 – by John Gambrell
5.4.2016 – SIPRI (** B K P)
TRENDS IN WORLD MILITARY EXPENDITURE, 2015
World military expenditure was $1676 billion in 2015.
Total global spending rose by 1.0 per cent in real terms in 2015, the fi rst increase since 2011.
The five biggest spenders in 2015 were the USA, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and the UK.
Military expenditure increased in Asia and Oceania, Central and Eastern Europe, and in those countries in the Middle East for which data is available.
Military spending decreased in North America, Western Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa.
Military expenditure in the USA fell by 2.4 per cent to $596 billion—a slower rate of decline than in recent years, mainly due to steps taken by the US Congress to mitigate the impact of the spending reductions imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act.
The decline in military spending in Western Europe slowed to 1.3 per cent, while countries in Central Europe increased spending by 13 per cent, largely prompted by fears of Russian aggression following the Ukraine crisis.
The fall in world oil prices led to cuts in military spending in several oil revenue-dependent countries that had previously made rapid increases. Others— including Russia and Saudi Arabia—continued to boost spending, but Russia is planning cuts in 2016, and reductions.
http://books.sipri.org/files/FS/SIPRIFS1604.pdf
5.4.2016 – NTV (A K)
Vor der jemenitischen Küste: US-Marine fängt Waffenlieferung ab
Die US-Marine hat im Arabischen Meer eine Waffenlieferung abgefangen, die angeblich aus dem Iran stammte und für die schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen im Jemen bestimmt war. Das Patrouillenboot "USS Sirocco" habe vor einer Woche die Ladung beschlagnahmt, die auf einer kleinen Dau versteckt war, teilte die US-Marine mit. Das kleine Segelschiff hatte demnach 1500 Kalaschnikows, 200 Panzerabwehrraketen und 21 Maschinengewehre geladen.
Der Dau und ihrer Besatzung wurden nach der Beschlagnahmung der Waffen die Weiterfahrt erlaubt, erklärte die US-Marine. Sie gehe davon aus, dass die Waffen aus dem Iran stammten und für die Huthi-Rebellen bestimmt waren.
http://www.n-tv.de/politik/US-Marine-faengt-Waffenlieferung-ab-article17391716.html = http://www.fr-online.de/politik/waffenhandel-us-marine-faengt-waffenlieferung-ab,1472596,34047202.html
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
Siehe cp1 Am wichtigsten / See cp1 Most important
6.4.2016 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Somalia Task Force on Yemen Situation: Inter-Agency Update #6 (15 - 28 March 2016)
During the reporting period, a total of 110 individuals arrived in Somalia through the ports of Berbera (Somaliland, 39 persons), and Bossaso (Puntland, 71 persons). Out of this total, 87 individuals were registered by UNHCR in collaboration with local authorities and partners in the Berbera and Bossaso Reception Centers.
31,761 Arrivals from Yemen since 27 March at the early onset of the crisis
4,673 Yemenis registered in Somalia since 27 March (including Somalis with dual Yemeni-Somali citizenship)
19,826 Arrivals registered at Reception Centers in Berbera, Bossaso and Mogadishu since 27 March
52% Registered arrivals expressing intention to return to Mogadishu
9,934 Somali returnees provided with onward transportation assistance since 27 March
FUNDING: USD 39.3 million Requested for the Somalia Response Plan for Yemen Crisis (January-December 2016)
PUNTLAND: The number of persons arriving from Yemen to Bossaso appears to be decreasing, but remains unpredictable due to heavy fighting continuing around some strategic cities in Yemen. Larger displacements may occur at any time.
SOMALILAND: Since March 2015, 9,947 new arrivals (3,308 families) have been recorded in Somaliland, including 1,928 Yemenis, 7,871 Somalis, 114 Ethiopians and 23 people of other nationalities. The number of boats arriving every week has stabilized and the total numbers of new arrivals in Berbera remain relatively low.
http://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/somalia-task-force-yemen-situation-inter-agency-update-6-15-28-march-2016 and in full http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/%236Somaliainter-agencyupdate15-28March2016.pdf
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
6.4.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
6 Yemen Qaeda/ISIS killed,3 others arrested with their explosive belts in operation2day by security forces in Dhammar south of capital Sanaa
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/717703552647503873
5.4.2016 – Middle East News Agency (B T)
Saudi Prince: We Agreed With Turkey To Put Pressure On Europe Using ISIS
An England residing Saudi prince who wished to remain unknown said: Saudi and Turkey are upset by European governments’ policy towards Syria and complain why Europeans cannot make a firm decision about Syrian developments.
According to this report, referring to the issue of Syria he continued: We believe if European governments were seriously working in the field of Syria, Bashar al-Assad would have gone by now and recent events lie the Russian military entering Syria and repeated withdrawal of supported groups Zahran Alloush’s murder wouldn’t have put us under pressure.
He also added: In Erdogan’s recent visit to Riyadh, the two leaders agreed to push Europe into a more serious entry in the events of the region.
According to this Saudi prince, Erdogan and Salman are considering a more severe wave of refugees making their way to Europe as a leverage to push European authorities to effectively support Turkey and Saudi in overthrowing Bashar al-Assad.
5.4.2016 – Al Araby (* C T)
Bin Laden, Yemen and al-Qaeda's strategy
In his letters Bin Laden shows some pragmatism, but his political analyses are outdated
Browsing Bin Laden's bookshelf: Correspondence seized from Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan reveals a rupture with IS that is political and generational in equal measure.
Washington's decision to release letters and documents seized in May 2011 from the home of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after he was killed by special forces, provides a rare opportunity to take a look at al-Qaeda's concrete strategy.
Among other things, Bin Laden's obsessions are revealed, his tactics in Yemen explained and the structural difference between the jihadist generation incarnated by al-Qaeda, and its successor - the Islamic State group - becomes clear – by Laurent Bonnefoy
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2016/4/5/bin-laden-yemen-and-al-qaedas-strategy
5.4.2016 – Reuters (A K T)
Warplanes set al Qaeda compound in Yemen on fire
Warplanes believed to belong to the Saudi-led coalition bombed and set ablaze an al Qaeda compound in southern Yemen on Monday, residents said, the latest attack to target the militant group that controls at least two cities in the country.
Residents said two planes launched rockets into an old office of the local government in Zinjibar, the Abyan provincial capital, which is held by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), setting the building on fire.
They said an unknown number of al Qaeda militants were in the compound at the time and were believed to have been killed or wounded. Apache helicopters, also believed by residents to belong to the Saudi-led coalition, were later seen flying over the city. It was not immediately possible to confirm the affiliation of the aircraft involved in Monday’s reported air strike.
4.4.2016 – Aden Now News (A K T)
Images directly from the capital of Abyan province, Zanzibar. Total destruction of the three sites of extremist elements and news about dozens dead
https://twitter.com/AdenNowNews/status/717063029314203651
25.11.2015 – Going Underground RT (** B K P T)
Going Underground Special: John Pilger on Paris, ISIS and Media Propaganda
Afshin Rattansi goes underground with John Pilger. Award winning journalist and author, John Pilger talks to us about how Washington, London and Paris gave birth to ISIS-Daesh. Plus we examine the media's role in spreading disinformation ahead of a vote in Parliament for UK bombing of Syria. Afshin looks at the Autumn Statement and why in a time of high alert we are cutting the police force and buying drones. Also we look at which companies are benefitting from the budget. Plus Afshin is joined once again by former MP and broadcaster, Lembit Opik, to look at the week’s news from a cyber sinking feeling over Trident to budget boosts for the BBC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLnjlx8zVRE
cp15 Propaganda
6.4.2016 – Khaleej Times (A P)
Another chance for peace in Yemen
The Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels acknowledge that the war effort has not been worth it and a stable Middle East is important for world peace.
A negotiated settlement to the Yemen conflict is in the best interests of the parties concerned. Both sides are coming round to it. War is not the answer and peace in the country wracked by a year of intense fighting is no more a distant possibility. It only needs cool heads to make it happen. Ordinary Yemenis suffering from the vagaries of conflict deserve a chance to get on with their lives.
The Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels acknowledge that the war effort has not been worth it and a stable Middle East is important for world peace. The trouble is that a third player lurks in the shadows, who continues to smuggle arms to the rebel Houthis, provoking them into more fighting that has claimed thousands of lives and dislodged millions from their homes in the impoverished country. If Iran desists from fomenting more trouble in Arab countries long term peace can be achieved and all outstanding issues can be resolved; the region should then focus on development.
Tehran would be hesitant to let go of its proxy which it has controlled so far like a puppet on a string for its revolutionary goals.
Both sides are being cautious lest they let expectations get the better of them. Riyadh is positive about the prospects of direct talks with the rebels. It has also been reported that Houthi officials are in Saudi Arabia, charting out a common plan to bring hositilities to an end. A solution is possible if Iran stays out of the equation and stops meddling in the internal affairs of GCC and Arab countries
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/editorials-columns/another-chance-for-peace-in-yemen
Comment: The Iran paranoia one of the reasons for the Saudi intervention – now ahead of peace negotiations this fairy tale must be pulled out of the whole situation by some way.
5.4.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Opinion: Yemen After a Year- Victory or Defeat?
The question “What is the result?” arises. Do we say that Sana’a was not liberated and that the coalition did not eradicate enemy forces? Or do we say that the coup and Iran’s project to create a state south of Saudi Arabia which would threaten the entire Gulf and change the regional balance equation were both failures?
Let us compare the war in Yemen to the war in Afghanistan.
When the first air strikes took place this time last year, the Houthis and Saleh’s forces had captured all of Yemen. The rebels announced the formation of their government and their rejection of Security Council resolutions. Their existence had nearly become a reality for everyone to accept. The nightmare became a reality and Yemen became part of Iran’s orbit, besieging the Gulf states from the south after they were besieged by Iraq and Syria from the north. All arsenals seized from the Yemeni army including Scud missile systems capable of threatening Saudi cities fell into the hands of the rebels. However, the war immediately destroyed the political system established by the Houthis and forces loyal to Saleh, and prevented Iran from creating a situation similar to Iraq and Syria where it sent forces belonging to the Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah militias and Iraqi rebels.
The coalition besieged Yemeni airspace and ports which have relied on international inspection forces to be effective, and during the last year American, French and Australian naval units turned away ships loaded with weapons from Iran to its allies but did not prevent ships carrying humanitarian aid from reaching Yemeni land.
Those who monitor the regional situation believed that war was the only option to prevent the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah from occupying Yemen and turning it into a large regional war front between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The reclamation of most Yemeni provinces during the war this year is a major military achievement in a rugged country where tribal subdivisions exist and the terrain is similar to that of Afghanistan. The war is not over and continues at a slower pace as the legitimate government forces advance upon the capital Sana’a. This is the final battle and it is for this reason that Saleh and the Houthis have agreed to negotiations in Kuwait and sent a delegation representing them to the Saudi capital.
Everyone hopes that there will be signs of a political solution to end the war, that everyone will work towards restoring legitimacy and implement Security Council resolutions.
Before the coup, the Yemeni people had realised their political project under the auspices of the UN. They had also approved the election of a transitional government and had started to write the constitution. That was until the ousted president and Houthi militias dared to occupy Sana’a and arrest members of the elected government.
It is hoped that the negotiations will turn the clock back, adopt the international solution and complete the political transition in order to set up a parliamentary system that represents everyone and that will later elect its leadership under the auspices of the United Nations once again. Then the Yemeni crisis will come to an end.
The rebels thought that they could seize power in Yemen and believed that Saudi Arabia and its allies would not dare to deter them by military force. The fact of the matter is that the rebels were not only mistaken in their calculations, but were the cause of alarm bells ringing in the Gulf region where the governments of the Gulf met and agreed to confront Iran and its allies in Yemen, and to send a clear message to the Iranian leadership and the international community, that they will not accept the policy of thuggery practiced by the Iranian government in the Middle East.
Many were surprised by the military capabilities of Saudi Arabia and the UAE that allowed them to fight a full-scale war whilst they worked on the ground to rebuild and train Yemeni forces at the same time.
For this reason, the war in Yemen represents multiple confrontations with different aims; the first is to prevent the establishment of a militia system in Yemen that is similar to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The second is to protect southern Saudi Arabia from a hostile front which would extend the duration of the war to years or decades to come. The third is to send a message to large countries to resist submitting to the Iranian expansion project in the region – by Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, general manager of Al-Arabiya television
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/04/article55349317/opinion-yemen-after-a-year-a-victory-or-a-defeat
5.4.2016 – Arab News (A P)
Riyadh has ‘no ambitions in Yemen’
Saudi Arabia has no ambitions in Yemen and is working to find a political solution to the crisis in that country, said Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir here on Monday.
Al-Jubeir made the comments at the ministry’s headquarters during a joint press conference with Murray McCully, foreign minister of New Zealand, at the end of his one-day visit to the Kingdom.
“We have no ambitions in Yemen ... We are encouraging the Yemenis to find a political solution to the crisis and welcome the agreement of Yemeni parties to attend the meeting in Kuwait this month,” Al-Jubeir said in reference to the April 18 meeting.
“We hope their consultations and negotiations will ensure they reach a solution that leads to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 on Yemen,” he said, and indicated that talks with the Houthis were making progress.
http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/905786
Comment: A really crazy propaganda. There are Saudi ambitions in Yemen since 1934.
4.4.2016 – Middle East Policy Council (A B P)
Is Peace Coming to Yemen?
A ceasefire has been agreed in Yemen, bringing along with it the hope that the military conflict between the Houthis and the government — as well as their respective backers — may soon come to an end. Arab countries have welcomed the proposals put forward by the United Nations mediator, more convinced than ever that the year-long Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen has borne fruit. Other observers caution, however, that the Yemen conflict will only truly end with a political compromise supplemented by robust economic aid on the part of the international community.
http://www.mepc.org/articles-commentary/commentary/peace-coming-yemen
Comment: The articles listed and cited in this article all are from pro-Saudi media and contain a lot of the well-known Saudi propaganda from Asharq Al-Awsat (2), Khaleej Times (2), The National UAE (1), The Peninsula Qatar (2). Please read at the original site, I do not like to cite in large this here anymore.
3.4.2016 – Gulf News (A P)
Salman doctrine is the best option
US should show more cooperation and commitment to its GCC partners
In today’s embattled and bruised Middle East, the moment of truth is upon us, as we stand at a crossroads. The choice is clear; either a retrenching US, projecting weakness and worrying its confused allies about its wavering commitment, and showing a lack of interest in the host of crises bedevilling the region, or abandoning the complete reliance on the US and charting a course of our own with the emerging doctrine of King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia.
As the Saudi analyst Nawaf Obaid, put it: “This is because the Obama doctrine is diametrically opposed to the emerging Salman doctrine; to restore peace and a modicum of stability to the region.”
Salman’s doctrine has been getting a lot of attention and attracting more believers and proponents. With Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen, not only to restore the legitimate Yemeni government toppled by the Iranian-backed Al Houthi rebels, but strategically, to check and contain Iran and its proxies in a region where Iran has been playing the bogeyman and classic hegemon, benefitting from an imbalance of power. The perception in the GCC states is that the nuclear deal has emboldened Iran and given it license to carry on politics as usual, with more western acquiescence and a nod of approval.
The objective of King Salman’s doctrine is to establish a balance of power to deter and isolate Iran and its proxies. This was evident in severing ties and recalling GCC and Arab ambassadors from Tehran and kicking out Iranian ambassadors from half the Arab countries, while also checking Al Houthis in Yemen and declaring Lebanese Hezbollah a terrorist organisation. Moreover, Saudi Arabia formed and led an Arab coalition to launch Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen, formed the Islamic Military Coalition of 39 Muslim countries and conducted the largest military exercise in the Arab and Muslim worlds with the participation of more than 20 Muslim countries just 250km from Iran’s border. This shows much boldness and assertiveness in dealing with regional crises and stepping up to the plate.
Many bewildered Arabs see in King Salman’s doctrine the last hope to restore Arab dignity and pride that has long been trampled on by the non-Arab regional players. But more importantly, they see it as a major shift in the regional order to establish the balance of power, or even the balance of terror, and deter would-be adventurers from undermining the Arab order and intervening in their affairs.
Therefore, it is natural to see the euphoria of GCC and Arab countries in standing up and taking charge of safeguarding and protecting their own security with the hope of achieving the long overdue Arab project, which has bedevilled the Arabs for far too long. The goal is to establish a power system to combat and deter the regional projects led by Israel, Iran and Turkey, which all intersect and play out on Arab lands – by Abdullah Al Shayji, professor of Political Science and the former chairman of the Political Science Department, Kuwait University.
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
6.4.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Saudi aggression hits Nehm again
The Saudi aggression struck again on Tuesday Nehm district in Sana'a province.
The Saudi fighters bombed al-Mahjar area leaving serious damage to agriculture lands and people houses, a security official said.
Earlier today, the Saudi warplanes targeted Melh area causing severe damage to citizens' houses and properties.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news424187.htm
4.2016 – Legal Center for Rights and Development (A K PH)
Saudi air raids April, 5
Saudi Arabia warplanes and its alliance launched 41 raids on 8 provinces that led to destroy civilians' houses, many other service and civilian facilities.
5.4.2016 – Pars Today (A K PH)
Sieben Tote bei saudischen Luftangriffen auf Flüchtlingscamp im Jemen
Bei Luftangriffen saudi-arabischer Kampfjets auf ein Flüchtlingslager im jemenitischen Gouvernement Haddscha sind sechs Kinder und eine Frau getötet worden.
Einem Bericht des Nachrichtenportals "Alahed News" zufolge ereignete sich dieser Angriff in der Region Shahil. Auch in der Provinz Taez flogen saudische Kampfflugzeuge Angriffe auf einen Basar und eine Kaserne. Über mögliche Opfer oder größere Sachschäden liegen derzeit keine Informationen vor. Weitere zwei Luftschläge folgten zudem heute im Gouvernement Sa'da.
http://parstoday.com/de/news/middle_east-i4666-sieben_tote_bei_saudischen_luftangriffen_auf_fl%C3%BCchtlingscamp_im_jemen = http://de.abna24.com/service/middle-east/archive/2016/04/05/745204/story.html
5.4.2016 – TRT (A K)
Jemen: 21 Huthi-Rebellen getötet
Beim Luftangriff der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalitionsstreitkräfte sind 21 Huthi-Rebellen in der Stadt Taiz getötet worden.
Beim Luftangriff der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalitionsstreitkräfte sind 21 Huthi-Rebellen in der Stadt Taiz getötet worden.
Die Anhänger von Staatspräsident Abdurabbu Mansur Hadi, die Volkswiderstandskräfte teilten über Twitter mit, bei dem Angriff seien ein Panzer, eine Flugabwehr sowie ein Waffenlager zerstört worden.
http://www.trt.net.tr/deutsch/welt/2016/04/05/jemen-21-huthi-rebellen-getotet-464561
Kommentar: Keine Bestätigung der Gegenseite, zu dem Angriff auf Taiz s. voriger Artikel.
5.4.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Air raid hits Nehm district
The Saudi aggression launched on Tuesday an air raid on the Nehm district of Sana'a province.
A security official said the Saudi warplanes targeted Melh area causing severe damage to citizens' houses and properties.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news424167.htm
5.4.2016 – Legal Center for Rights and Development (A K PH)
Casualties and Damages: #Hajja_Province, #ALShahel_District
The warplanes of Saudi Arabia tageted the house of the civilian Abdu Ahmed AL-Qa'edi by one airstrike and destroyed it.
The airstrike led to injure seven civilians including 6 children and 1 woman in Kahla_area (AL-Amro) AL-Shahel district (images)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=615458628604506&id=551288185021551
4.4.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K PH)
Saudis attack civilians in Hajjah, Sa’ada; casualties reported
Airstrikes by Saudi warplanes have killed one and injured a number of other civilians in neighboring Yemen as the kingdom continues to target residential areas across the impoverished nation.
Reports by local media on Monday said some Saudi air raids targeted a camp belonging to the internally-displaced Yemenis in the northwestern Hajjah Province, leaving at least six children and one woman injured.
The attack took place in the Lamrour district of al-Shahel, a city in Hajjah.
Yemen’s al-Masirah TV said Saudis also carried out an attack earlier on Monday on civilian houses in the city of Sa’ada, north of the country, killing one civilian.
Security sources said air strikes also targeted a telecommunications center in the city of Saqayn and a post office in the city Haydan, both in the Sa’ada Province, which is a stronghold of Ansarullah. Reports said a number of houses were also destroyed in the attacks.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/04/459090/Yemen-Saudi-civilians-aggression/
4.4.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Saudi airstrikes kill man in Sa'ada
A man was killed by Saudi airstrikes targeted a number of areas in Sa'ada province, a local official said.
The Saudi war jets waged raids on three houses in Bani Saad area in Saqain district, killing the man, he said.
The raids also targeted a telecommunications and post office building in Haidan city and destroyed it completely.
The Saudi aggression launched a raid on a house in al-Saifi area in Sahar district and two raids on Kitaf district, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news424102.htm
4.4.2016 – Pars Today (A K PH)
Sieben Tote bei saudischen Luftangriffen auf Flüchtlingscamp im Jemen
Bei Luftangriffen saudi-arabischer Kampfjets auf ein Flüchtlingslager im jemenitischen Gouvernement Haddscha sind sechs Kinder und eine Frau getötet worden.
Einem Bericht des Nachrichtenportals "Alahed News" zufolge ereignete sich dieser Angriff in der Region Shahil. Auch in der Provinz Taez flogen saudische Kampfflugzeuge Angriffe auf einen Basar und eine Kaserne. Über mögliche Opfer oder größere Sachschäden liegen derzeit keine Informationen vor. Weitere zwei Luftschläge folgten zudem heute im Gouvernement Sa'da.
4.4.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A K PH)
10 wounded as a result of the KSA-led/US-backed airstrikes in Hajjah, North West Yemen:
After a year, nothing has changed: airstrikes continune to pond Yemen mercilessly
Saudi-led jet fighters launched airstikes, on Monday, Apr 4, targeting a Yemeni home belonging to Muidh Hajer Al-Himery.
This last airstrike has left at least ten citizens wounded, all members of a family.
This same family had already escaped other bombings in the past and had to move from Qady area to Moror also in Hajjah province
Hajjah has been constantly under airstrikes since March 26 2015.
The province has had refugee camps targeted, markets (see Mustba market last month, which left more than 140 dead and dozens wounded) and civilian homes pulverised.
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
6.4.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Three mercenaries killed in Jawf
Three Riyadh's hirelings have been killed in Jawf province, a military official said Wednesday. The official added that the army and popular committees targeted a military vehicle in Alaqaba area and killed the three hirelings, who were on the vehicle
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news424263.htm
6.4.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Tochka attack kills tens of invaders, hirelings in Jawf
Dozens of invaders and mercenaries were killed and injured including military leaders by a Tochka missile in Jawf province on Tuesday night, a military official said.
The official explained that that the missile targeted a residential building in the government compound in al-Hazm city, in which senior leaders including foreigners were staying.
He confirmed that the missile hit its target accurately and caused dozens of dead and wounded, noting that tens of charred bodies were transferred to hospitals in the city and some others still under the rubble of the targeted building.
The mercenaries elements encircled the location, while the fate of senior leaders still unknown, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news424247.htm
6.4.2016 – Fars News (A K PH)
Yemen's Tochka Ballistic Missile Destroys Saudi-Led Forces' Military Base in Al-Jawf Province
A missile strike conducted by OTR-21 Tochka mobile missile launch system hit and destroyed a Saudi-led coalition base in al-Jawf province.
Saudi Arabia's Al-Hazm military base in al-Jawf region was razed down by Yemen's Tochka Missile.
The strike took place on Tuesday night less than 24 hours after another ballistic missile hit another military base in the same province.
Early reports indicate large casualties on the Saudi forces in the missile attack. The Saudi army and its coalition members have lost, at least, over a hundred troops each time they have come under a ballistic missile attack by Yemen.
The Saudi-led forces' armored vehicles were destroyed during the Yemeni missile attack.
In a relevant development on Tuesday, the Yemeni army and popular forces destroyed the Saudi military positions in Al-Jawf province with their Qaher-I ballistic missile, killing tens of the kingdom's forces.
The Qaher-I missile hit the military positions of the Saudi forces in Wadi al-Rahaneh region in al-Jawf province, destroying their military hardware and equipment.
Also on Monday, the Yemeni army pounded the Saudi military positions and bases in Ma'rib province with a ballistic missile, killing tens of the kingdom's forces.
The Qaher-I ballistic missile hit Saudi Arabia's al-Nasr military base in Ma'rib province in Yemen on Monday, the Arabic-language media outlets reported.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950118000534
6.4.2016 – AP (A K)
Saudi state TV says Yemen shelling kills 3, including child
Saudi state television is reporting that two people and a child were killed and a foreigner was wounded by shelling from neighboring war-torn Yemen.
The state television report said the shelling happened around 5 p.m. Tuesday in the kingdom's southern province of Jazan. It said the child died at a local hospital.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/saudi-state-tv-says-yemen-shelling-kills-3-073736345.html = http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/saudi-state-tv-yemen-shelling-kills-including-child-38185468
5.4.2016 – Fars News (A K PH)
Yemen Strikes Saudi Coalition with More Ballistic Missiles
The Yemeni army and popular forces destroyed the Saudi military positions in Al-Jawf province with their Qaher-I ballistic missile, killing tens of the kingdom's forces.
The Qaher-I missile hit the military positions of the Saudi forces in Wadi al-Rahaneh region in al-Jawf province, destroying their military hardware and equipment.
Early reports indicate large casualties on the Saudi forces in the missile attack. The Saudi army and its coalition members have lost, at least, over a hundred troops each time they have come under a ballistic missile attack by Yemen.
The Saudi-led forces' armored vehicles were destroyed during the Yemeni missile attack.
In a relevant development on Monday, the Yemeni army pounded the Saudi military positions and bases in Ma'rib province with a ballistic missile, killing tens of the kingdom's forces.
The Qaher-I ballistic missile hit Saudi Arabia's al-Nasr military base in Ma'rib province in Yemen on Monday, the Arabic-language media outlets reported.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950117000482
5.4.2016 – News of Yemen (A K PH)
In 26 pics, The aftermath of #Saudi #UAE coalition 5th failed attempt to advance North #Yemen
Houthi and Yemeni army repelled Saudi coalition 5th attempt
cp18 Sonstiges; Schöner Jemen / Other; Beautiful Yemen
4.2016 – Free E-Books
Historical Dictionary Of Yemen
http://esexoypeje.ru/siwega.pdf
27.1.2015 – Scoop Empire (** B)
Photos To Remind You How Beautiful Yemen Is
Unless you’ve been there, we bet you didn’t know Yemen was this breathtaking. Here is visual proof of the country’s stunning scenery, from the ecological haven of Socotra Island to surreal Sana’a, the world’s oldest city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to the greenery of Ibb and the desert architecture of Hadramaut… Feast your eyes – by Aprille Muscara
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/krieg-im-jemen-neue-artikel-zum-nachlesen-124
Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-103: / Yemen Press Reader 1-124:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or
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