President Hadi, ex-vicepresident Bahah and peace in Yemen - How America enables its allies' bad behavior - Yemen crisis situation report - Peace talks suspended, truce breached
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche/ UN and peace talks
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Mercenaries / Söldner
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
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
3.5.2016 – Middle East Eye (** B P)
Yemen's politics of musical chairs
Doesn’t President Hadi’s dismissal of prime minister Bahah without consulting parliament render him and his government illegitimate? –
With no previous warnings or consultations, Khalid Bahah’s short-lived career as vice president had ended.
This brutal dismissing of Bahah – who had been appointed through a rare consensual agreement of all political factions – was shocking in more ways than one. To begin with, Hadi had no legal mandate to make such a decision without first seeking the Yemeni parliament’s consensus approval.
Further, Bahah’s short tenure had so far been, by all accounts, fairly commendable. As a technocrat with virtually no political baggage, he had been enjoying the rare distinction of being liked not only by all Yemeni factions but also within international circles too. Even more baffling, Hadi’s choice of replacement, General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, is one of the most controversial political actors in Yemen’s political history.
Most troubling of all, however, is Hadi’s timing, making his seemingly hasty political move a mere week before a long-awaited ceasefire - meant to stabilise the ground for upcoming peace talks - was due to begin.
Before his election last year as vice president in Yemen’s unity government, Bahah had held the position of prime minister. Leading a cabinet of respected technocrats, his was called “the government with credentials”.
Soon after the fall of Sanaa, Hadi fled to Aden, where the Houthis followed him, before seeking refuge in Saudi Arabia. As soon as he arrived there, however, he annulled his resignation. As Hadi’s health had deteriorated drastically, the Saudis were very concerned about the prospect of an automatic transfer of power to a Saleh loyalist, and pressured Hadi to appoint a vice president immediately.
Bahah was that choice. He was seen as a consensual figure, who still had lines of communications with both the Houthis and Saleh’s General People's Congress. Crucially, he was also backed by the United Arab Emirates.
Tensions between Hadi and Bahah first surfaced in 2015, when the president replaced the foreign affairs minister.
While it’s relatively easy to understand Hadi’s decision to dismiss Bahah in terms of their personal rivalries and tensions, it is infinitely more difficult to comprehend the rationale behind his choice of replacement. And what did this mean for the situation on the ground?
Aside from his highly controversial legacy and profile, appointing General Ali Mohsen to the vice presidency was also a major blow to the South.
Mohsen’s appointment is, of course, the more significant political move, placing as it does into a prominent political position - second in line to succeed Hadi - a military leader who still commands respect (and fear) among many northern tribal leaders.
In Bahah, Hadi may have gotten rid of a major rival.
In this context, we might be seeing in Hadi’s move another example of Saudi Arabia's apparent new policy towards the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates: to reconstitute a regional, Sunni-based alliance against Iran and its allies. However, the appointment of Ali Mohsen was definitely going to anger the UAE, who have invested a lot in Yemen’s battle.
Domestically, Hadi’s move may be the strongest indication yet that Riyadh’s plan for Yemen no longer centres on defeating the Houthis per se, but on restoring a military ruler with Saudi backing. After nearly a year of stalemate in the North, it seems the Saudis had no other choice.
Their calculation assumes that war will continue in Yemen unless a leader can bring strong northern leaders from both tribal groupings to the table. And while this will certainly prove difficult, Ali Mohsen is far more likely to accomplish that difficult task than Bahah or Hadi himself, though he would face as many challenges as Hadi in bringing peace and unity to the country.
It is clear from this round of Yemen’s political musical chairs that everyone with a seat has a political move they need to play. Everyone, that is, but President Hadi himself, who has exhausted all his moves but is today little more than a puppet of legitimacy.
However, doesn’t President Hadi’s appointment of Bin Dagher and Ali Mohsen, without consulting parliament render him and his government illegitimate? – by Nawal Al-Maghafi
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/yemens-politics-musical-chairs-1411146554
27.4.2016 – Vox World (** A P)
How America enables its allies' bad behavior
It is satisfying and certainly trendy to complain about America's allies.
The truth is that our allies behave the way they do because we let them. We provide billions of dollars in military and other aid to countries in order to protect and advance US interests, yet we fail to use this leverage to induce the recipients of this aid to behave in a way that actually advances US interests.
That's because the US has become so focused on maintaining its relationships with its allies above all else that it's forgotten what the relationships were for in the first place: securing US interests.
In part, this is a holdover from the days of the Cold War, when it was the alliance relationship itself that mattered more than anything. What our friends did on their own time in their own countries and regions didn't really matter, as long as they stayed our friends.
But that's not the world we live in today. In today's complex world, where most nations pursue cooperative and conflicting policies across different issues, the US should focus less on making our allies happy and more on making them actually behave like allies.
The Saudi regime is totally dependent on US military, logistics, training, and intelligence support. The Kingdom has no strategic alternative to US protection, and its leaders know it. Yet Saudi frequently acts against US interests in the region: trying to stop the Iran nuclear deal, funding Islamic extremist causes across the region, and undermining US efforts to negotiate an end to the war in Syria.
So why do successive administrations continue to provide massive handouts to America’s clients when we often get little — and sometimes worse — in return?
The better answer is that the Cold War created pathologies that have become deeply embedded in America’s foreign policymaking machinery, and particularly the priority it places on "alliance management."
During the Cold War, the US conveniently divided the world into those countries who were "with us" or "against us" in the global contest for ideological, military, and geopolitical supremacy between the US and the Soviet Union. The US had a diplomatic playbook for dealing with countries in both categories: reward and buy off your allies and clients in return for their solidarity and support in the fight against communism; contain, punish, isolate, and pressure your enemies for supporting the Soviet Union.
In the diplomatic version of helicopter parenting, the US protects its client states from suffering the full consequences of their behavior by bailing them out of trouble, incurring the costs and adverse consequences rather than making their putative ally bear the consequences of their actions.
The result is a classic case of "moral hazard." For example, when Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in Yemen against US advice, the US response was nonetheless tosupport the intervention, specifically to ensure that Saudi Arabia would not feel the full consequences of failure. Naturally, the lesson that the Saudis learned is that the United States will back them back no matter what they do.
Endless Reassurance: President Obama complained in the Atlantic interview that Saudi Arabia's competition with Iran is helping "to feed proxy wars and chaos" in the Middle East, yet he made a personal trip to Saudi Arabia just last week to reassure the Saudis of the US commitment to Saudi Arabia's security.
But why should the US care if Saudi Arabia feels like we're abandoning it?
Rather than trying to reassure the Saudis, the US should be leveraging Saudi fears of abandonment — along with the billions of dollars in arms the US sells Saudi Arabia — to compel it to curb its actions in the region that are feeding proxy wars and chaos – by Jeremy Shapiro, Research Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and Richard Sokolsky, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/27/11497942/america-bad-allies
2.5.2016 – Critical Threats (** A K P)
2016 Yemen Crisis Situation Report: May 2
The Saudi-led coalition backed Yemeni troops in a major offensive against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), but recent gains against the group are unlikely to degrade its capabilities in the long term. AQAP is actively describing the Kuwait peace talks between Yemeni President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government and al Houthi and former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government as negotiations to empower the al Houthis along with Yemen’s political elite, including Saleh.
The UN-led peace talks in Kuwait are suspended, but are likely to resume in the coming week. The Hadi delegation withdrew from the peace talks citing the al Houthi-Saleh forces’ seizure of a military base in Amran on May 1. The delegation remains in Kuwait and will probably receive international pressure, particularly from Saudi Arabia, to re-engage in the process
AQAP has laid the groundwork for long-term support in southeastern Yemen and will be able to overcome the loss of al Mukalla, Hadramawt.
Coalition-backed security forces are attempting to secure Aden and Lahij, but face continued resistance from Salafi-jihadi and southern secessionist groups.
The loyalty of the south is contested and both the al Houthi-Saleh and Hadi factions are reaching out for support. Al Houthi representatives have been meeting with southern leaders, possibly to peel away support from the Hadi government. Al Houthi member Saleh al Samad, the president of Ansarullah’s political council, and two other Ansarullah members met with a delegation from the Southern Movement faction.
Fighting continues in Taiz despite the ceasefire.
The current round of peace talks are unlikely to produce a political settlement because the two factions still disagree on key points that would inform a framework for dialogue. Both sides will probably continue to engage in the talks as a means of displaying commitment to peace. AQAP will probably continue to support anti-al Houthi factions and will increasingly back tribal and political factions that are opposed to the Hadi government, too – by Katherine Zimmerman
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/yemen-crisis-situation-reports-may-2-2016
cp2 Allgemein / General
3.5.2016 – E-International Relation Students (* B K P)
Saudi Arabia and the Regionalization of Yemen’s Conflict
The Saudi military intervention has led to the regionalization of the conflict in Yemen, which has further complicated the country’s domestic power struggle (Al-Madhaji , Sidahmed, & Al-Muslimi, 2015). Further, Clausen (2015) explains that there have been three narratives to explain the current crisis in Yemen: “the Saudi-Iranian proxy war narrative, the sectarian narrative, or the al-Qaeda/failed state narrative” (p.16). Each narrative only holds one piece of the puzzle, hence it is important to unpack each one to gain a holistic and nuanced understanding of the conflict.
This paper will argue that Saudi Arabia’s military intervention has intensified the regionalization of Yemen’s conflict causing three main implications. First, Saudi Arabia is unlikely to achieve its goal of restoring Hadi’s government, or its goal of containing Iranian influence in the broader context of what Gause III (2014) terms the ‘New Middle East Cold War’. Second, the intervention turned an internal power struggle to a regional one. This has further complicated Yemen’s civil conflict and prolonged any foreseeable resolution. Third, the intervention is unlikely to yield positive results for Saudi Arabia’s national security. Since this is an ongoing conflict, it is difficult to fully account for the regional and global implications of Yemen becoming the newest failed state and political vacuum in the Middle East. However, the fact that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)– which carried out the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack on 7 January 2015– is exploiting the crisis to expand its influence only affirms the unpredictable international implications of continued instability in Yemen.
The paper is divided into five sections. The first section will explore what Gause III means by the ‘new Middle East Cold War’, and how this framework sheds light on Yemen’s conflict. The second section will provide some context on Saudi-Yemeni relations. The third section will examine with some detail the Houthi takeover and the composition of local actors in the Yemeni conflict. The fourth section will examine Yemen’s transition from a fragile state into a failed one, and how that relates to Saudi Arabia’s unattainable goal of restoring Hadi’s government. The fifth section will assess Saudi Arabia’s foreign policymaking in Yemen before ending with a conclusion.
Conclusion
This essay has argued that Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen has led to the regionalization of Yemen’s war resulting in significant implications for the region as a whole. The Saudi intervention will likely fail to achieve its goal of containing and controlling Yemen’s politics by restoring Hadi’s government. This reflects a failure in Saudi Arabian foreign policy making, that it has not come up with a long-term effective strategy to deal with Yemen. Yemen has joined Iraq, Syria and Libya where the political vacuums in these countries have become a theatre for regional contestation. Indeed, this is an alarming sign to direction of the new cold war in the region. There have been three narratives to describe Yemen’s conflict: a Saudi-Iranian proxy war, a sectarian war, and a failed state/safe haven for terrorist. Even though each framework is useful, it is also important to investigate the limits of each one. One limit is ignoring the complex internal dynamics of Yemen’s domestic power struggle.
At this point it is unclear how long Saudi Arabia will remain engaged militarily in Yemen. But it is clear that the longer it takes to settle the conflict politically, the more difficult it will become to face national, regional, and global security threats originating from Yemen. In sum, Yemen was a fragile state with an internal power struggle, and the Saudi intervention turned it into a regional one. This has resulted in state failure, and a civil war that could continue for decades.
http://www.e-ir.info/2016/05/03/saudi-arabia-and-the-regionalization-of-yemens-conflict/
3.5.2016 – Fair Observer (* B P)
Can Consociationalism Save Yemen?
[see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consociationalism]
Yemen’s draft constitution does not establish enough power-sharing mechanisms to ensure viability.
The Constitutional Drafting Committee finalized a proposal for a post-war Yemeni state in January 2015, which established a six-region federalized state. The Houthi rebels immediately rejected this document. In particular, the Houthis opposed the six-way federal division, favoring instead a two-region, north-south divide that would cement their wartime gains. This is an unlikely solution, seeing as it could lead to the ultimate secession of south Yemen. Beyond the issue of regional division, the draft constitution creates an unstable institutional structure that does not establish enough power-sharing mechanisms to ensure viability.
As negotiators gather in Kuwait for renewed talks, it is important to look at an alternative system of post-conflict institution building. Instead of the presidential system proposed in the draft document, framers of a new constitution should propose a semi-presidential, consociational model that adopts aspects of other post-conflict constitutional structures in deeply-divided societies.
Consociatoinalism in Deeply-Divided Societies
Consociationalism has been a prominent, yet controversial, theory of post-conflict institution building for nearly half a century. First proposed by Arend Lijphart in his 1969 work Consociational Democracy, the theory has been applied to states as diverse as Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Iraq. Consociationalists seek “a Democratic solution to societies confronted with durable ethnic division and political conflict.” To do so, institutions are built to ensure both regional self-governance and executive power-sharing, often in a federal state. Consociationalists espouse four key principles: executive power-sharing, autonomy/self-government, proportionality and veto-rights.
Consociationalism is not without its critics. Many believe that consociational systems entrench sectarian divisions, privilege sectarian elites, appease radical factions and fail to lead to a cohesive, integrated state. Despite these criticisms, consociational structures ensure confidence building between factions that are unlikely to integrate in the short term and ensure that radicals are brought into the system, instead of remaining on the outside where they can be a destabilizing force. Ensuring proportionality and veto-rights also guarantees fairness and builds confidence in the system.
Executive Power-Sharing
There is no one consociational prescription for a deeply divided society and states that have implemented consociational structures have done so in different ways. A consociational structure in Yemen would differ significantly from the structure presented in the draft constitution and could establish a better prospect for peace. First, there would certainly be a shift from a presidential system to a semi-presidential system and a re-evaluation of the six-region federal structure in light of the Houthis’ significant opposition.
Executive power-sharing is a crucial aspect of consociational systems and ensures an equal voice in the governance of a deeply-divided state. The current draft constitution calls for a president and vice president who must be from different regions (Article 180). However, a semi-presidential system with a weak president is a more stable structure for post-conflict situations, especially in states with a history of abuse by the central authority. Thus, the executive model employed by Northern Ireland could be more effective. This model provides equal powers for a prime minister and a deputy prime minister, one from the north and one from the south. They should be elected on a joint ticket subject to a cross-community vote requiring either parallel consent, a majority of representatives from both the north and the south, or a weighted majority, 40% of representatives from both the north and the south and 60% of the entire Parliament.
So too, the resignation of one would automatically trigger the resignation of the other. To ensure adequate representation in the executive, the d’Hondt method should be used to allocate ministerial posts, when the largest parties are awarded posts proportionally based on their share of the vote without the need for coalition negotiations. The president should have limited, ceremonial powers, serve one six-year term, be chosen by the Parliament by a cross-community vote, and the position should alternate each term between the north and the south.
Autonomy
Autonomy or self-government played a critical role in the draft constitution. However, the current method of regional division has been roundly rejected. In light of this rejection, the Iraqi federal model may be a better alternative. In this model, the nation could retain its current twenty-one governorates that would be granted certain powers. These governorates would then be given the option to join together to form regions, which would be given additional powers, by holding referendums.
Thus, regions can form organically and would be based on popular will. Though it does not preclude the possibility of a two-region state, it does create barriers to that outcome. In Iraq, some feared that this model would lead to large Sunni and Shi’ite regions. However, this never occurred. Each governorate would be given representatives in a Federal Council and each region formed would be allocated additional representatives. In keeping with the current draft constitution, the Sana’a and Aden governorates would be given a special status and would not be permitted to join regions.
Proportionality in the electoral system ensures fair representation of citizen preferences. The ideal model is proportional representation with a single transferable vote (PR-STV) in multiple member districts. This would allow for the growth of several parties and for the expression of multiple preferences at the voting booth. Implementing a PR-STV electoral system locally and nationally would also provide greater representation for Yemen’s tribes, allowing them to compete against larger parties for lower order preferences. As stated in the draft constitution, the south should be represented at a share of 40% (Article 139).
Veto-rights ensure that neither the north nor the south can dominate the legislative process. The two voting methods mentioned above, parallel consent and weighted majority, should be required for key pieces of legislation that would have a major impact on the state or would disparately impact either the north or the south. The Federal Council should also retain the provision requiring the support of at least one-third of representatives from the south for a piece of legislation to pass (Article 143).
Yemen First
To combat the external pressure asserted by Saudi Arabia and Iran, a provision similar to that in Lebanon should be considered, agreeing to forgo regional affiliations and instead peruse a “Yemen first” policy. Additionally, assurances must be made for the complete demilitarization of rebel forces and for equal representation of both regions in the military.
Freedom of religion and minority rights must also be guaranteed and customary law and traditions should be respected for Yemen’s various tribes. So too, a consent principle should be considered, ensuring that any breakup of Yemen would be subject to a nation-wide referendum. A new constitution would also need to provide greater clarity on the division of powers between the various levels of government and the allocation of natural resource revenues.
As the parties gather in Kuwait for a fresh round of negotiations, there is renewed optimism for peace. For a new peace to last, however, proper institutions must be built to ensure stability and trust through power-sharing. A consociational structure could provide the best means of resolving the conflict, building confidence between the north and the south and ensuring self-governance in a federal, semi-presidential system – by Joseph Cozza
This article/report/video/photo-feature/infographic was originally published on Fair Observer.
http://www.fairobserver.com/region/middle_east_north_africa/can-consociationalism-save-yemen-11272/
2.5.2016 – The Talking of the Soul (* B K)
Yemen: this is why the War Hurts
Why the war on Yemen hurts.
This war which is not here, close to us, has not made hundreds of thousands of victims (not yet, that is), is taking place in a country which for decades has received so much negative publicity we wonder if there is an equivalent on earth (maybe Afghanistan).
A war which has produced 2.5 million internally displaced who can only move from one village to the next one, to a school turned into a refugee building in the Capital Sanaá but cannot cross borders.
The war is there, in Yemen. Not close to us. No refugees to kick out of our sacred European territory, our precious soil.
This war which has seen a country waking up one night under the sound of bombs falling from the sky.
With the siege imposed on the country, no gasoline is allowed to enter. No gas can be delivered to cities and villages alike. There has been no electricity since April 2015.
Many have found themselves selling the jewellery of the women in the family to buy a solar panel. Though it does not serve the purpose of cooking. Wood will do the job, if you are lucky to live in the countryside.
To and from the wood, and back.
This is why this war hurts.
https://thetalkingofthesoul.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/yemen-this-is-why-the-war-hurts/
16.2.2016 – Middle East Institute (not rated B K P)
The Yemen Quagmire
The Middle East Institute (MEI) and the Conflict Management Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) hosted a program examining the conflict in Yemen, the humanitarian impact of the war, and prospects for a political settlement.
Panelists Amat Alsoswa (Former Yemeni Cabinet Memeber), Leslie Campbell (NDI), Andrew Plitt (USAID), and Charles Schmitz (MEI) discussed the deepening complexity of the conflict, the growing humanitarian crisis, the challenges of delivering aid to a suffering population, and prospects for peace talks and an end to the fighting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xapi9RLBT-M and a part of it:
Yemen's former Human Rights minister, Amat Alsoswa co-spoke at a seminar at Middle East Institute two weeks ago & described the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Yemen, "it's dire and volatile ... it's a truly inhumane situation where people are just struggling to stay alive."
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1541356262827029
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
2.5.2016 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (* B H)
Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund (HPF) - 2015 Annual Report
The Yemen HPF supported the strategic priorities identified in the 2015 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), and helped strengthen the humanitarian architecture, coordination mechanisms and programme cycle management of the humanitarian response. Some US$54 million were channelled to partners or committed in support of life-saving assistance to 3.4 million people affected by conflict.
In 2015 the HPF received a total of US$56.7 million in contributions, which together with a carryover of US$9.1 million, brought the total available to US$65.8 million. Contributions received in 2015 represent a 250 per cent increase from 2014. A total of 31 partners were funded through the HPF throughout 2015 - eight UN agencies and 23 NGOs. NGOs were allocated 53.1 per cent of the funding (US$28.7 million) and UN agencies 46.9 per cent (US$25.3 million).
From June to September, the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) made four allocations totalling US$44.2 million through the Rapid Response window in support of the operations of seven UN agencies in Yemen. The HPF has been used strategically in support of aid organisations to complement and augment the activities funded through the CERF; both funds combined amounting to nearly US$100 million.
As the level of operational, financial and reputational risks are considered to be substantial in Yemen; a comprehensive Operational Manual was developed to ensure a strong process of management and oversight, including an accountability framework. To meet its accountability commitment towards participation, an eligibility process was also launched in July 2015 to assess NGOs’ capacity to participate as partners to the HPF.
The rolling out of the Grants Management System (GMS) in parallel to the launch of the HPF allowed for an efficient management of the projects funded by the HPF and flow of information between the Humanitarian Financing Unit (HFU), OCHA’s Funding Coordination Section (FCS) and implementing partners; and will serve as the institutional memory of the Fund.
The HPF is an important financing tool for humanitarian operations in the country, representing 7.3 per cent of the funding received against the 2015 HRP for Yemen (US$895.7m). Continued donor support is required in 2016 to build on the successes of the HPF and to meet its fundraising target of US$65 million.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-pooled-fund-hpf-2015-annual-report and in full:
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
3.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen acting President Mohammed Houthi Chairs meeting with the country's top security men for more alertness.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/727398117340004352
Comment: Just to show: The Houthis have made their own government.
3.5.2016 – Jerusalem Post (A P)
Houthi leader: Israel participating in the aggression against Yemen
The leader of Ansar Allah, the Houthi rebel movement, accused Israel of taking part in the war in Yemen directly by fighting the war, and indirectly, by training and inspecting the Saudi forces fighting against the Houthi rebels.
In a speech he delivered in commemoration of the twelfth anniversary of the killing of Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, the founder of the Houthi movement, the movement's current leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said: "It is well-known that everything that is happening in our region serves the interest of one party – the Zionists and the US."
"The Zionist lobby is acting spitefully, planning a lot of schemes against our nation, arousing civil wars and creating crises," Houthi stated, asking: "Can we say that what is happening in the region and in Yemen serves the Palestinian interest?"
According to the leader of the Iran-affiliated Houthi rebels, "The Zionist activity is focused on media and communications and on all means to design public opinion."
3.5.2016 – Alwaght (A K P)
Israeli Regime Helping Saudis in War on Yemen: Ansarullah Leader
Leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah Movement, Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi says the Israeli regime is assisting the Saudi-led coalition in its war on Yemen.
He added that the Israeli regime launches its attacks against Yemen from Asab military camp in the neighboring African state of Eritrea.
http://alwaght.com/en/News/52511/AboutUs
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
3.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
Yemen Qaeda/ISIS Killed 2day brigadier Kayed Yafe'e In Aden sourh where these groups Determined to rule exploiting Saudi-made chaos
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/727439687284056064
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
3.5.2016 – Alalam (A P)
Houthi Leader: Saudi-Backed Side Fabricating Excuses, Subverted Yemen Ceasefire
Yemen's Houthi leader has criticized delegates loyal to Saudi-backed former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi for abandoning UN-brokered Yemen peace talks in Kuwait.
Abdel Malek al-Houthi said Monday that his Ansarullah movement had already signed a ceasefire deal, accusing the other side of stonewalling peace efforts and not abiding by the truce.
He said a political solution to the Yemen conflict is close at hand, but the obstinacy of the invading countries is an impediment to that goal.
Yemen has seen almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015, with internal sources putting the toll from the bloody aggression at more than 9,500.
The Saudi-backed representatives suspended their participation in the peace talks on Sunday in protest at Ansarullah's recent takeover of a military base in the Amran province.
Houthi said Ansarullah representatives attended the talks in a bid to put an end to months of clashes in the impoverished Arab country and establish peace.
Ansarullah spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam accused the Saudi-backed side of “wasting time” and “fabricating excuses” to continue militancy in Yemen.
“Those who don’t want peace ... are the ones who create false justifications and reasons to obstruct the talks,” Abdulsalam wrote on his official Twitter account.
http://en.alalam.ir/news/1814343
3.5.2016 – AFP (A P)
UN envoy seeks to restart Yemen peace talks
The UN envoy has met delegates of Yemen's warring parties separately in a bid to restart peace negotiations after a protest walkout by the government, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The government delegation quit on Sunday in protest at the rebels' seizure of one of the few loyalist army bases in the northern mountains in a blow to the peace talks launched on April 21.
UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed met both government and rebel delegations late on Monday in a bid to find a swift resolution to the dispute over the rebels' seizure of the Al-Amaliqa base on Saturday despite an April 11 ceasefire.
Commanders appear to have put up no resistance as the rebels overran the base in Amran province, nearly all of which is under their control, tribal and military sources said.
Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi, who heads the government delegation, told Sky News Arabia there would be no more direct or indirect talks with the rebels until they withdrew from the camp and gave guarantees there would be no further breaches of the ceasefire.
http://muhitelyemen.net/en/news/32736.html = http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/206941/World/Region/UN-Yemen-envoy-bids-to-revive-troubled-peace-talks.aspx
3.5.2016 – KUNA (A P)
Narrowing gap among warring parties “underway”
UN envoy to Yemen, Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he had met Yemeni parties participating in the peace consultations in Kuwait to develop a strategic framework to combine the proposals of the two delegations and narrow the gap and contribute to finding a quick solution to the issue of the "Al-Amaliqa" military base.
The envoy said in a statement distributed at dawn today following his meeting with delegations of the Yemeni government, the General People's Congress and Ansarullah movement, as well as political and diplomatic figures that the general framework established by the UN is based on common ground and paves way for a comprehensive, political and strategic path that would assure citizens "security and political stability." He said, "We are currently discussing this general framework through bilateral meetings with the Yemeni parties till we can define their priorities and build on the common ground." He said he also met with Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Dr. Abdullatif Al-Zayani and discussed with him the developments of the peace talks relying on his usual support for the efforts of the United Nations and on his long experience in dealing with the Yemeni file.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2500820&language=en = http://menafocus.qa/narrowing-gap-among-warring-parties-underway-un-yemen-envoy/
2.5.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K P)
Yemen’s Ansarullah: Hadi delegation not serious about peace
Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has slammed the withdrawal of the former regime’s delegation from the direct peace talks in Kuwait.
The movement’s spokesman blamed the suspension of talks on the lack of seriousness and the inability to take decisions on the part of the other side. Mohammad Abdessalam said those who are not after peace and find their interest in continued war on Yemenis make baseless excuses to halt the peace process. He said Ansarullah has been seeking convergence of opposing sides through its proposed initiatives. Abdessalam also reiterated the movement’s call for an end to Saudi airstrikes as well as foreign military deployments in Yemen. Earlier in the day, the delegate of fugitive former President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi suspended direct talks with Ansarullah over alleged ceasefire violations. Ansarullah had earlier accused Saudi Arabia and Hadi’s forces of repeated violations of the truce that went into force in Yemen last month.
http://newsvideo.su/video/4099622 = http://newsvideo.su/video/4099622
2.5.2016 – Al Arabiya (A K P)
Are Yemen peace talks an exercise in futility?
No one who has followed the war for the past year would have seriously expected the talks to go smoothly or conclude swiftly, and since they started more thought they would fail quickly than succeed. There are many reasons to think the talks would fail, if only for the fluid and unpredictable nature of Yemen’s political field. One key hurdle is trust, which is understandable given the war and events leading to it and repeated violation of ceasefire.
The government demands that the rebels surrender their heavy weapons and allow it back to Sanaa where, as the legitimate government, it will implement a political process based on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative and the conclusions of the Yemeni National Dialogue. The rebels demand that the political process start first, after which they will surrender their heavy weapons.
The government’s demands are based on its legitimacy, and on a heavily-armed militia being a main reason for the breakdown of order in Yemen. On the other hand, the rebels fear reprisals, not necessarily from the government as much as from other key Yemeni actors.
As well as the lack of trust between the government and rebels, one must consider the mistrust within each side. Both comprise a coalition of forces with competing interests and concerns over any outcome that may compromise their position. The divide in the rebel camp is clearest, but similar rivalries exist within the government. In addition, some important political players are left out of the talks, giving them an incentive to see them fail.
While there are many reasons to believe the talks will fail, there are more to show they will succeed. The government showed great commitment to the Kuwait talks, even waiting for the rebel delegates to arrive two days late. On the other hand, the rebels showed signs of concessions, most notably in their acceptance of UN Security Council resolution 2216, even if they have not yet moved toward implementing the UNSC resolution.
Most importantly is Gulf countries’ absolute commitment to the talks, as reflected in official statements by GCC leaders, in Saudi media interviewing with Houthi spokesmen, and most notably in the mediation of Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. Having said that, this is war, and this is Yemen, where little is actually predictable.
The talks themselves – if successful – will not end Yemen’s political problems. Much lays ahead, issues that are more difficult to resolve than the current talks. Yemen was a near-failed state before the war, and is now much worse than ever. While I am optimistic about the current talks, I fear Yemen will slip into chaos very soon after – by Abdullah Hamidaddin
Comment: A quite modest and reasonable viewpoint for a Saudi-run website. Even if it has to be said that you cannot state “legitimacy” for one side and “rebel” status for the other – as talks not on an equal footing are condemned to fail.
1.5.2016 – Spiegel Online (A K P)
Krieg im Jemen: Regierung setzt Friedensgespräche aus
Kurz nach Beginn der Friedensgespräche der jemenitischen Konfliktparteien hat die Regierung des Jemens ihre Teilnahme an den Verhandlungen ausgesetzt. Als Grund dafür nannte Außenminister Abdel-Malak al-Mekhlafi die Übernahme eines wichtigen Militärstützpunktes nördlich der Hauptstadt Sanaa durch die Huthi-Rebellen. Außerdem hätten die Rebellen immer wieder die geltende Waffenruhe verletzt.
"Wir haben entschieden, die Gespräche solange auszusetzen, bis wir eine Lösung und Garantien haben", zitiert die offizielle jemenitische Nachrichtenagentur Saba den Minister. Es werde erst wieder verhandelt, wenn die Aufständischen die Berücksichtigung des Waffenstillstandes garantierten, schrieb er auf dem Kurznachrichtendienst Twitter.
Uno-Vermittler Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed erklärte, er habe Verständnis. Er rufe aber alle Beteiligten auf, sich wohlwollend in die Gespräche einzubringen. Sämtliche Probleme müssten auf den Verhandlungstisch gebracht werden. Der einzige Weg für eine Lösung des Konflikts sei ein friedlicher Dialog.
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/jemen-regierung-setzt-friedensgespraeche-aus-a-1090299.html
1.5.2016 – TAZ (* A K P)
Widerwillig an den Verhandlungstisch
Mit UN-Vermittlung suchen die Konfliktparteien eine politische Lösung. Internationaler Druck und Kriegsmüdigkeit haben das ermöglicht.
Die Verhandlungen verlaufen zäh. Das sie überhaupt stattfinden, erläutert die jemenitische Politologin Nadwa Al-Dawsari so: „Es gab starken internationalen Druck vor allem auf die Saudis, die Militäraktionen zu beenden, wegen der enormen Opferzahlen unter Zivilisten“, sagt sie. Aber auch die Huthis und ihr Verbündeter Saleh hätten in den vergangenen Monaten ihre Grenzen erkannt, denn sie hätten viel an militärischen Stärke eingebüßt.
Auf beiden Seiten macht sich wohl auch Kriegsmüdigkeit breit.
Die Regierung Hadi und ihre saudischen Unterstützer fordern, dass sich die Huthis aus Sanaa und den andern Orten, die sie erobert haben, zurückziehen. Aber die Huthis lehnen dies ab. Sie wollen in einer möglichen zukünftigen Regierung eine entscheidende Rolle spielen.
„Beide Seiten kommen mit extremen Positionen. Die Huthis sehen sich selbst als die Repräsentanten des Jemen und ihre Truppen als die jemenitische Armee“, erklärt Dawsari. „Die Regierung Hadi und die Saudis sehen die Huthis dagegen als eine Miliz und eine illegitime Regierung“, beschreibt sie die Gegenposition. „Im Idealfall sollte eine professionelle Armee gebildet werden, die für die Sicherheit zuständig ist. Aber bei der Polarisierung im Land ist das schwierig. Die jetzigen Sicherheitsapparate werden von den Interessen der Stämme, Clans und politischen Zugehörigkeiten gelenkt“, analysiert sie.
„Es gibt die Annahme, dass die Huthis, Saleh, die Hadi-Regierung und andere nationale Kräfte, die jetzt in Kuwait sitzen, eine Lösung haben oder den Willen, den Konflikt zu beenden“, sagt Dawsari. „Aber sie sind eigentlich das Problem. Sie sind korrupt, sie haben alle anderen an den Rand gedrängt, und sie haben ein Monopol über die Ressourcen des Landes“ – von Karim El-Gawhary
1.5.2016 – UN News Centre (A K P)
Despite 'positive atmosphere,' Government of Yemen suspends participation from joint peace talks
Despite the positive atmosphere of the Yemeni peace talks which prevailed during the past few days, the United Nations envoy for Yemen announced today that the Government's delegation suspended its participation in the plenary sessions because of reports received from Amran governorate.
“We understand the reasons that lead to this decision; however we urge all the parties to engage in good faith and demonstrate wisdom in their participation in the talks, Yemenis are counting on them,” said UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, in a statement.
“We believe that all difficult issues should be discussed at the negotiating table in a transparent manner, in order to reach a comprehensive agreement which will put an end to this kind of incidents. We are not underestimating the importance of what happened or what is happening,” he stressed, adding that the only path to a solution is through a peaceful dialogue with full adherence to Security Council resolutions.
Mr. Cheikh Ahmed further noted that the UN is in constant contact with the De-escalation and Coordination Committee (DCC), and through it with the local committees, to investigate and halt all breaches of the cessation of hostilities. On 10 April, both parties had committedto adhere to its terms and conditions, which the UN envoy had presented.
After communicating extensively with the delegation of the Government of Yemen and meeting the leaders of Ansar Allah and the General People's Congress delegation this afternoon, the envoy confirmed that he had received assurances from the parties regarding their commitment to resolve the outstanding issues without convening joint sessions.
According to the statement, United Nations political experts are currently reviewing the documents presented by the two delegations in order to identify common ground between them; the world body hopes to resume the talks and build on the tangible progress achieved during the past two days.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=53829#.VybNYTCLSUk
1.5.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K P)
Hadi delegation suspends direct talks with Houthis
The camp of Yemen's resigned president Abd Rabbuah Mansour Hadi has suspended its participation in the ongoing direct talks with representatives from Houthi Ansarullah movement.
Sources close to the Saudi-backed Hadi delegation said on Sunday that the talks were suspended in protest against a recent takeover of the Umaliqa military base province of Amran by Ansarullah and allied army units.
Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi, who heads Hadi delegation in Kuwait, said the seizure of strategically-important base in the north of the capital Sana'a on Saturday evening had "torpedoed" the talks.
Hadi’s representatives say a session that had been scheduled for Sunday afternoon would not take place anymore. However, they said they would continue indirect talks under the aegis of the United Nations special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
This is while Yemen's official SabaNet news agency has accused Saudi Arabia and pro-Saudi militants loyal to Hadi of violating the truce 4,000 times, saying shelling, bombing raids and airstrikes had raised tensions.
According to UN envoy, the delegates have been discussing “the issues related to the withdrawal of armed groups, handover of heavy weapons, resumption of the political transition and the release of prisoners and detainees.” He said the two sides have also been engaged in talks about how they could strengthen a ceasefire currently in force across Yemen.
The Hadi delegation said they have proposed a mechanism on how to implement the withdrawal of the Houthis from areas they have captured and who they will start handover of heavy arms.
Houthis, however, have insisted that a political settlement should be discussed before any talks on arms handover.
The UN Security Council on Monday stressed that the sides involved in the talks must assign importance to agreeing on a “roadmap” to implement security measures.
http://217.218.67.231/Detail/2016/05/01/463471/Yemen-Sanaa-Umaliqa-Kuwait-Hadi-Ould-Cheikh-Ahmed
1.5.2016 – The National UAE (A K P)
Yemen peace talks suspended after rebel raid
Yemen’s government on Sunday suspended direct peace talks with the Houthis and their allies after the rebels stormed a military camp in violation of a ceasefire.
The rebel attack on the Amaliqa brigade camp in Amran province late on Saturday had “torpedoed" the talks, foreign minister Abdelmalek Al Mekhlafi, the government’s top delegate at the negotiations in Kuwait, said in a tweet.
“The delegation of the republic of Yemen has suspended its participation in Kuwait talks because of the continued violations by rebels and their takeover of Al Amaliqa base," Mr Al Mekhlafi said.
The suspension will last “until guarantees for compliance were provided", he added.
The government and rebel delegations met face to face for the first time on Saturday in the UN-mediated talks that began on April 21 following a truce that took effect on April 10. The UN special envoy to Yemen had reported steady progress in the negotiations to end more than a year of fighting between the Iran-backed rebels, who are allied to forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE.
The soldiers at the Amaliqa camp, north of the rebel-held capital Sanaa, had chosen to stay neutral in the conflict.
“The Houthi rebels tried to seize weapons from the brigade, and this is a new indication that they do not want peace," said Abdullah Hizam, director of the Saba state news agency, who is in Kuwait with the government delegation.
The Houthis had no reason to attack the camp, and this, along with ceasefire violations in several provinces, had convinced the government negotiators that it would not be possible to continue talks while the war was continuing, Mr Hizam told The National.
“The government delegation has two main conditions to return to the peace talks. The first one is the implementation of the ceasefire in all provinces, including Taez, and the second is that the Houthis withdraw from the Amaliqa camp," Mr Hizam said – by Mohammed Al-Qalisi
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/yemen-peace-talks-suspended-after-rebel-raid
1.5.2016 – Crescent Online (A K P)
Why peace eludes Syria and Yemen
Like in Syria, the Yemeni peace talks are also not getting anywhere. The Houthis and their allies joined the UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait only after receiving assurances from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council that the Saudis would stop bombing their country and the ceasefire that was supposed to go into effect on April 11 would be respected. The Houthis joined the talks on April 21 but there is little discernible progress. Why?
The fugitive former president, Abd Rabb Mansour Hadi hiding in Saudi Arabia has been making demands that bear little resemblance to ground realities. For instance, he insists—at the behest of his foreign masters—that the Houthi Ansarallah militia withdraw from the capital city Sana‘a and surrender all their weapons. The Ansarallah do not control Aden or Ta’iz. From from Hadi loyalist forces controlling these two cities, al Qaeda and Daesh terrorist groups have been emboldened and are running amok.
The Ansarallah fighters will not allow Sana‘a to suffer the same fate nor will they surrender their weapons when those making the demand—Hadi and his Saudi masters—have no legitimacy. Only the people of Yemen can decide its future, not the Najdi bandits [means: Saudis] or their stooges. What Hadi’s thuggish militias could not take from Ansarallah by force, they are demanding through negotiations. It is the same in Syria: the terrorists and their foreign sponsors are unable to overthrow Asad’s government by force but would like him to surrender power at the negotiating table. Given these ground realities, people in both Syria and Yemen will continue to suffer because it does not appear that the foreign-imposed wars will end anytime soon – by Zafer Bangash
25.4.2016 – Mwatana organization for Human Rights (* B P)
At Kuwait Negotiations Table: Priorities to Improve Human Rights Situation. Letter to the UN Secretary General Special Envoy to Yemen
First of all, we're pleased in Mwatana Organization for Human Rights to hail every effort aimed at putting an end of the war and rooting peace in Yemen; wishing that these efforts will bring about peace agreement between the parties to the conflict and different Yemeni political forces.
In this regard, we have eagerly received the announcement of a cease-fire agreement between the different parties to the conflict in Yemen, which commenced from 10 of current April, besides resuming the political path through a new round of negotiations scheduled to be held in Kuwait from April18,2016.
While great hopes are hinging on this significant opportunity and as some indicators signal to potential peace agreement may be realized in this round of talks in a way that can ensure ending the war and halting the bloody bleeding in Yemen, we have to urge you together to make this political negotiations give an ear to the voices of civilian victims of the conflict in Yemen and to explicitly put the priorities of human rights on the table where all political parties came together.
We are here very concerned to remind about the significant priorities that need to be incorporated in any foreseeable agreement; as we do believe that addressing such priorities will be helpful for any successful political settlement in the long-term, and will morally and humanitarianly enhance it. The most important priorities are the following:
The Parties must be committed to endorse an international mechanism to investigate into the violations of human rights in order to find out the truth, preserve the rights of the victims and render them justice.
The episodes of violent conflict that have been ongoing in Yemen for more than two years have seen a wide variety of violations of human rights by all parties to the conflict. Thousands of civilians were killed and wounded while it doesn't appear until now that there is any serious indication to conduct any investigation into these abuses in a way that ensure preserving the victims' rights and rendering the compensation. The fact is that an important opportunity to establish an international committee to investigate into human rights violations in Yemen was wasted. That was due to lacking sufficient international support to a proposal suggested by the Netherlands. Therefore, the Netherlands had to withdraw its proposition submitted to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the round of September 2015. So any political agreement should ensure that all Parties committed themselves to endorse an impartial international mechanism to look into all violations against human rights which occurred during the period of the conflict, with the aim of rendering justice and offering compensation to the victims.
Disclose the fate of forcibly disappeared and release them.
Release all outlawed detainees.
- Investigate claims of torture and hold defendants accountable.
Investigate outlawed murder and suppression, hold wrongdoers accountable.
Stop recruiting children and release all minor conscripts by all parties.
Refurbish all schools that have been occupied and used by all parties to the war around the country.
Lift restrictions against work of civil society organizations including arbitrary halting and occupying offices.
Lift all restrictions imposed on media and freedoms of press including occupying offices, blocking websites and halt arbitrary decisions.
Stop targeting human rights defenders and eliminate arbitrary measures against them.
Sign on and ratify Rome Statute of (International Criminal Court) in order to preserve the victims' right, render justice and protect them in the future from violation and ending impunity policy.
This round of negotiations provides a significant opportunity to establish peace in Yemen that does require to bring to mind the importance of avoiding human rights violation in the future. To ensure non-recurrence of such violations, the Yemeni State-with an encouragement and support by the Yemeni political parties—should sign on and ratify the Rome Statute of the (International Criminal Court) so as to preserve the victims' rights, bring them justice, and protect them against violations in future, as well as ensure eliminating the impunity policy.
Open transitional justice track committed to international standards.
It falls upon your shoulders ,whetheras representatives of the UN or representatives of the Yemeni political forces, to prompt a genuine track of transitional justice that can help putting an end of the violations against human rights and eliminating the punishment escape policy, redressing grievances that thousands of thevictims of the violations of the earlier periods. The first step toward this end is drafting a bill of new law of transitional justice that should avoid the flaws incorporated in the drafts suggested earlier, and the presupposed draft must be in conformity with international principles of transitional justice. This initiative may come to its end by establishing mechanisms and executive procedures and a committee may come out of them.
Enforce the role of judiciary and give law dominance over all security services.
The priorities pertinent to the human rights referred to above is not an extra luxury nor a marginalized issue, but it is at the heart of Yemeni men and women daily life; particularly those who have been subject to wide variety of violations during the war, so peace can never be realized for them unless it is combined with preserving their rights and holding the wrongdoers accountable for their unlawful acts; ensuring that they will not be subject to such violations in the future. Hence, it falls upon your shoulders as the UN and these Yemeni political parties that are participating in the Kuwait negotiations to hear the voice of the victims and make sure that any political compromise will not come at their expense, rather it will be aimed to maintain their rights and create disconnection with all violations and maltreatment they suffered from earlier and they have continued until this moment.
Radhya Al-Mutawakel, Chairwoman of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights
http://mwatana.org/en/2542016456
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
3.5.2016 – Middle East Monitor (B T)
30 terrorist attacks hit Saudi in one year
Colonel Bassam Atiyeh says 30 attacks in one year means an attack every 12 days
A Saudi security official announced on Sunday that his country was hit by 30 terrorist attacks in 2015, Al-Resalah newspaper reported.
Colonel Bassam Atiyeh from the interrogation department of the Saudi interior ministry said: “Members and leaders of the organisation in Syria pretend there are no Daesh members in Saudi Arabia… It is impossible to stop exporting terror as long as there are problems in Syria.”
However, members in Saudi “are only tools to carry out the terrorist plans which target the country.”
Atiyeh said that 30 attacks in one year means an attack every 12 days. “This means that the kingdom is the most affected country by terrorists across the world.”
[This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License]
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160503-30-terrorist-attacks-hit-saudi-in-one-year/
3.5.2016 – Al Bab (* A E P)
Saudi Arabia: Binladin job losses rise to 89,000
The number of job losses at the Binladin construction firm in Saudi Arabia has now reached 89,000, according to company sources cited by al-Watan newspaper.
Some 77,000 expatriate workers have been dismissed and issued with exit visas – an increase on the 50,000 figure reported at the weekend. In addition, 12,000 out of 17,000 Saudi employees are facing dismissal. Altogether, this amounts to just over 40% of its total workforce inside the kingdom.
The company, which was founded by Osama bin Laden's father and is the biggest construction firm in Saudi Arabia, has been heavily dependent on government contracts. It is now facing severe cash-flow problems, largely because of the government's own financial difficulties resulting from low oil prices and exacerbated by the hugely expensive war in Yemen.
In March, Reuters reported that the Saudi finance ministry had cut advance payments to firms doing state building work, that it was awarding fewer contracts and that its payments to companies for work already done have slowed.
The Binladin company is also excluded from new contract work for the government – at least temporarily – as a result of the tragedy last September when a crane which had not been properly stabilised toppled on to the Grand Mosque in Mecca during a storm, killing more than 100 people.
Bloomberg quotes Talha Nazar, head of research at Aljazira Capital Co as saying that Saudi Binladin "may not get the preferential treatment it had in the past and may have to be limited to contracts from [the] private sector in the future". Nazar suggests that without new government contracts the company's financial problems could rebound on the banks.
Binladin employees have been protesting outside the company's premises in Mecca and Jeddah for weeks, complaining about non-payment of wages. Many claim they have received no wages for several months and have got into debt as a result. A riot broke out in Mecca on Saturday when angry workers burned seven of the company's buses.
The company is widely reported to have given workers the option of resigning (with two months' wages as severance pay) or hanging on for the full amount they are owed (plus two months' severance money).
The Saudi Gazette suggests Saudi employees are opting to wait for their money (presumably relying on support from their families in the meantime). The position of expatriate workers is more difficult, however. If they stay in the kingdom awaiting the delayed payments they are likely to get into debt (if they are not in debt already); if they leave the kingdom with two months' severance pay their fear is that they will never receive the rest of what they are owed.
However, the Saudi Gazette quotes a Labour Ministry official in Mecca as saying that "the ministry will make sure that all the expatriate workers who were given final exit visas receive their emoluments before they leave the kingdom".
http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2016/may/saudi-binladin-job-losses.htm
18.4.2016 – Carnegie Endowment (* B P)
Saudi Arabia’s Changing International Role
In this Q&A, Carnegie scholars explore the foreign policy activism Riyadh has displayed over the past year. They demonstrate how this reveals anxieties about the future of the ruling family and serious domestic challenges as much as a response to a region in turmoil.
What has been the impact of last year’s leadership transition on Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy?
What is the state of the U.S.-Saudi relationship?
Perry Cammack: This is a testy moment for the U.S.-Saudi relationship. It is true that some of the tensions are cyclical, and the next U.S. president is not likely to share President Obama’s detached temperament, to which Gulf leaders have struggled to adapt. Mohammed bin Salman, who remains something of an enigma to the West, may develop closer ties with his foreign interlocutors over time.
But those hoping that a new president in Washington can bring a return to the old paradigm, whereby the United States provided for the kingdom’s security in exchange for stability in the global energy markets, will likely be disappointed. The United States is no longer so dependent on Saudi oil, and the American public has no desire to return to a regional policeman role. Meanwhile, the Saudis feel abandoned, and even betrayed, by Washington’s tentative engagement with Tehran.
Obama’s recent reference to the Gulf countries as free riders in his extensive interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic was viewed as a major snub in Riyadh. But the episode helped highlight that both countries actually agree that Saudi Arabia has become overly dependent upon the United States for strategic security as part of the oil-for-security arrangement.
It is tough to see how the two sides can effectively redress this situation when they have such different views of how to salvage what is left of the collapsing regional order. Washington is uneasy about the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, while Riyadh sees the United States as abdicating its traditional regional role, particularly in Syria, to Iran’s benefit.
A new normal in relations may be emerging, however, where both sides publicly point to the many aspects of continuing security and economic cooperation, even as they privately, and not so privately, disagree on the diagnosis of the region’s many crises.
How are developments affecting Saudi Arabia’s relationships with Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen?
Marwan Muasher: The war on Yemen has already cost the Saudis an estimated $5.3 billion, a staggering figure given Saudi Arabia’s current financial problems. The Saudis are thus likely to push for a political settlement in that country sooner rather than later, with signs of that already taking place.
Part of the Saudis’ pursuit of a more aggressive foreign policy includes expecting their traditional allies to be more in line with their own position. As such, there are signs of tensions below the surface with Jordan and Egypt over differences regarding how to deal with the Syrian crisis, Iran, and the Muslim Brotherhood. King Salman’s recent visit to Egypt, for example, was likely meant to bring Cairo into line on Yemen—where Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has not followed through on pledges of military support—and on Syria, where the Egyptian president’s strong ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin have angered Riyadh.
What are the prospects of rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran?
How do you assess Saudi Arabia’s policies with respect to Syria and Lebanon?
What is Saudi Arabia’s nuclear calculus?
http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/04/18/saudi-arabia-s-changing-international-role/ix8r
cp9 USA
2.5.2016 – Sputnik News (A P)
9/11: CIA gegen Offenlegung des Geheimberichtes zu Terror-Drahtziehern
Die US-Regierung sollte das 28 Seiten lange Dossier über die Terroranschläge vom 11. September 2001 nicht veröffentlichen, erklärt CIA-Chef John Brennan.
Die Informationen in den geheimen Papieren seien „ungenau und nicht verifiziert“, sagte Brennan in einem Interview für den Sender NBC.
Der 2002 erstellte Bericht sei nur eine „vorläufige Übersicht“, die dort beleuchteten Fragen seien später sorgfältig untersucht worden.
Der CIA-Chef befürchtet, dass Zitate aus dem Dossier dazu missbraucht werden könnten, die „engen Beziehungen zwischen den USA und Saudi-Arabien“ zu ruinieren, die nur wenige Verschiedenheiten in Fragen mancher Regionalprobleme aufweisen.
US-Präsident Barack Obama wird bis Mitte Mai eine Entscheidung darüber treffen, ob das als geheim eingestufte Kapitel des Kongressberichtes zu den Terroranschlägen vom 11. September in New York der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht werden wird.
Laut dem Ex-Senator Bob Grahem, der 2002 an den Untersuchungen der Tragödie durch den US-Kongress teilgenommen hatte, kann der letzte, 28-seitige Teil des Berichtes auf eine Verwicklung Saudi-Arabiens in die Anschläge hinweisen. Wie er in einem Interview für CBS News äußerte, hatte Saudi-Arabien den Flugzeugentführern damals finanzielle und logistische Unterstützung zukommen lassen.
http://de.sputniknews.com/panorama/20160502/309593752/cia-gegen-offenlegung-geheimbericht-9-11.html
Kommentar: „Der 2002 erstellte Bericht sei nur eine „vorläufige Übersicht“, die dort beleuchteten Fragen seien später sorgfältig untersucht worden.“ Interessant. Wo kann man diese Untersuchung nachlesen?
3.5.2016 – Pars Today (A K)
Medienbericht: US-Sondereinheiten im Jemen
Medienberichten zufolge ist eine Gruppe US-amerikansicher Spezialkräfte zu angeblichen Operationen gegen die al-Qaida im Jemen eingetroffen.
Wie der jemenitische Fernsehsender al-Masirah am Sonntag unter Berufung auf Tom Bowman, einen Reporter des National Public Radio, berichtete, trafen die US-Kräfte am 25. April im Jemen ein.
Wie Bowman auf seiner Twitter-Seite schreib, wollen die USA mit dieser Truppenentsendung der zurückgetretenen jemenitischen Regierung sowie den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten beim Kampf gegen die al-Qaida gehimdienstliche Hilfe leisten.
Laut Bowman hatten die US-Spezialkräfte letzes Jahr den Jemen verlassen.
Jemenitische Quellen gehen davon aus, dass die erneute US-Truppenentsendung in den Südjemen vielmehr der Unterstützung der saudischen Kräfte dienen soll.
http://parstoday.com/de/news/middle_east-i6634-medienbericht_us_sondereinheiten_im_jemen
2.5.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K)
US forces arrive in southern Yemen: Report
A report says US Special Forces have arrived in Yemen to fight alongside Emirati forces in alleged operations against al-Qaeda militants in the country's south.
Yemen’s al-Masirah television channel on Sunday quoted Tom Bawman, the National Public Radio’s Pentagon reporter, as saying that the troops had arrived in Yemen on April 25.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE last year provided financial and military support to militants to confront Houthis and the Yemeni army units that had taken over the security of the country after president Abd Rabbuh Manur Hadi resigned.
US deployment of troops comes a year after the withdrawal of its forces from Yemen.
On March 21, 2015, the US evacuated its remaining forces out of al-Anad airbase in southern Yemen “due to the deteriorating security situation” a day after al-Qaeda captured the nearby city of al-Houta.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/05/02/463574/US-forces-Yemen-alQaeda/
Comment: That’s certainly what everybody in Yemen yearningly has waited for??
1.5.2016 – Peace Blog (* A P)
A Chance to Stop Yemen’s Hidden War
For over a year, the U.S. has been supporting a Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen’s civil war, a war that has so far claimed the lives of at least 3,200 civilians. In January, we wrote about the U.S. role in this war, and in March, we covered theone year anniversary of the intervention and the growing awareness of and opposition to U.S. support for the war. April 2016 however may be remembered as a turning point.
On April 13, Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a joint resolution (S.J.Res.32) that aims to block transfers of air-to-ground munitions to Saudi Arabia until the President certifies that Saudi Arabia isn’t funding terrorism, is taking significant steps to reduce civilian casualties, is facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid, and is going after ISIS and Al Qaeda in Yemen. Last week, Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Ted Yoho (R-FL) introduced a companion bill in the House (H.J.Res.90).
It’s an open question right now how many Senators and Representatives will support this effort.
Sadly, the administration has not done enough to get Saudi Arabia to change its practices. In addition to actually facilitating its behavior with intelligence and logistical support and $20 billion in arms sales since the war began, the administration has done its part to keep the Kingdom’s unseemly practices out of the spotlight. In October, the U.S. opposed a UN Security Council proposal that would have called on both sides of the conflict “to respect and uphold international humanitarian law and human rights law.” Earlier this month, the State Department released its annual report on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. The report cited a Human Rights Watch Report which attributed 13 civilian deaths to the Saudi coalition from April through mid-July 2015. HRW’s Yemen Researcher, Belkis Wille, rebuked the State Department report, saying it “suggests that Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International accused the Saudis of only 13 civilian deaths during the fighting… The U.S. is presenting a small bite of the apple.” Thankfully, Congress has the power to pressure Saudi Arabia where the administration and its State Department will not.
Despite the mainstream media’s astonishing lack of coverage of the war in Yemen, opposition to U.S. support for the war has been steadily building. At the same time, growing concern with Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations, its funding of Wahhabism, and unanswered questions about its possible involvement in the 9/11 attacks have all added momentum to a new push to rethink our relationship with the monarchy. Whatever this new relationship brings, Congress can and should be part of making sure that it doesn’t further implicate the U.S. in war crimes and human rights violations – by Jon Rainwater
Please call your Senators and ask them to co-sponsor S.J.Res.32. Then call your representative and ask them to co-sponsorH.J.Res.90. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
https://peaceblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/a-chance-to-stop-yemens-hidden-war/
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
6.4.2014 – Business Insider (* B K)
The Most Powerful Army You've Never Heard Of
The United Arab Emirates is flexing its military muscle in a chaotic, post-Arab Spring Middle East.
What was once a nation with a limited presence on the international stage is acquiring advanced weaponry, instituting universal military service, and expanding its fleet of fighter jets and heavy vehicles.
A country of less than 10 million citizens has even proven willing frequently to use military force around the region – by Pierre Bienaimé and Armin Rosen
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-uae-is-the-middle-easts-rising-military-power-2014-11?IR=T
cp13a Mercenaries / Söldner
Wikipedia (* B)
List of private military contractors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_military_contractors
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
3.5.2016 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees (B H)
Yemen Situation: Regional Map (total population movement out of Yemen: 173,753) 31 March 2016
3.5.2016 – International Organization for Migration (* A H)
Stranded Ethiopian Migrants Returned Home from Yemen
Tempted by the new house that his neighbors could afford and propelled by his dreams for a better life, Ahmed*, 21, left Ethiopia imagining that he would find a well-paid job when he arrived in the Middle East. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
After paying smugglers to transport him across the Red Sea, his traumatic ordeal began almost immediately. He told IOM how he and other Ethiopians were handed over to multiple smugglers as soon as they arrived in Yemen, tortured and held for ransom.
Those who were able to pay were free to go, but the unlucky ones were taken to a place called Jebel, where, according to Ahmed, they were “hung upside down and beaten with chains.”
Men and women were also raped by the kidnappers. “They also forced us to torture one another by melting plastic materials on each other’s bodies, even dousing a companion with flammable liquid and setting him ablaze,” he said.
Now that Ahmed is back in Ethiopia and deeply grateful to be alive, he now worries about his family, who lost everything, including their house and cattle – their source of livelihood – to pay the ransom money. With no money he now asks himself: “What are we going to do now and how do we pick up the pieces of our lives?”
Human trafficking and smuggling are crimes committed worldwide. In Ethiopia – a country of origin and transit for three major migration routes – IOM and other agencies have provided technical assistance to the government to improve the country’s laws to combat the crime. Proclamation 909/2015 entered into force in August 2015. The new legislation imposes harsh penalties on traffickers and smugglers and focuses on safeguarding the fundamental rights and dignity of migrants in the country and the region.
Ahmed is one of the fortunate Ethiopians evacuated from war-torn Yemen in April 2016 through the combined efforts of IOM and the Ethiopian government. To date, a total of 1,220 stranded Ethiopian migrants have been evacuated by IOM with funding from DFID, ECHO, the US State Department, Sida, UN CERF and USAIM.
Like Ahmed, many Ethiopians are still trying to reach the Gulf countries via Yemen and falling into the hands of traffickers. The Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat 2016 Report explains that the total estimated number of migrants who crossed the Gulf of Aden in March 2016 alone was 10,424 – 35 percent more than in February. Of these, 83 percent were Ethiopians.
*Name changed to ensure privacy and confidentiality.
http://www.iom.int/news/stranded-ethiopian-migrants-returned-home-yemen
13.4.2016 – Aljazeera (A H)
Film: Ethiopian migrants in Yemen allege torture
Migrants say they were beaten and their money taken away by bandits.
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
2.5.2016 – Vice News (* B T)
Al-Qaeda May Have Retreated From Its Yemeni Capital, but Will Likely Return to Fight Another Day
AQAP said it had retreated from the port on Yemen's south coast to protect civilians and save the city of around 120,000 from destruction, adding that only a handful of its fighters had been killed.
"We only withdrew to prevent the enemy from moving the battle to your homes, markets, roads and mosques," the group said in a rare statement posted on Twitter.
"The coalition bombed an electricity plant and a food market that the Mujahideen [guerrilla fighters] recently built and a petrol station... that resulted in the killing of tens of Muslims," the statement said.
VICE News could not independently confirm AQAP's claim of civilian deaths, but the United Nations says the Saudi-led coalition, which is receiving US assistance, has been responsible for the majority of the 3,000 Yemeni civilians killed since operations began in March 2015.
Farea al-Muslimi, a Yemen expert at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said that while the coalition's retaking of Mukalla represented a real blow to AQAP by removing a major source of revenue, the group had survived largely intact to fight another day.
"Basically AQAP shaved their beards, rather than really departing from Mukalla," Muslimi said. "AQAP has retreated, mostly, to its old strategy of hiding in mountains and hiding before striking again."
"You need to end the larger civil war, bring legitimate leadership, political order, and so on," he said. "There's none of that. Full-scale civil war is still going now, even if it's less hot than in the past."
Still, Michael Morell, the former deputy and acting director of the CIA, said the loss of Mukalla is "major blow to AQAP." – by Benjamin Gilbert
cp14a Offensive gegen / against Al Qaida
2.5.2016 – Ansamed (A P)
Saudi general discusses Yemen and Al-Qaeda operations
Asiri added in the press briefing that recent operations conducted by the Saudi-led coalition against Al-Qaeda and groups connected with it in Yemen had been carried out in ''Hadramout, we attacked them in Mukalla, and Abyan, in Lahad'' and that the coalition had liberated Aden. Mukalla is a strategic Yemeni port that had been held by local Al Qaeda militants for over a year. The Saudi-led coalition announced on April 25 that they had retaken it and had killed ''800 militants'' in the first few hours of a operation that included UAE Special Forces.
Residents have reportedly said that there was little actual fighting in the city and that the extremists had withdrawn.
To a question on the issue, Assiri said that the coalition had conducted a surprise attack at night and that was the reason for the high number killed. ''The target at the end of the day, the target is Mukalla streets. Whatever the number of killed'', he said, the port of Mukalla is now controlled by the Yemeni government. ''We continue to follow those terrorists and we continue to find out where they out where they are'', and ''we are committed to clear Hadramout'' of Al Qaeda, he added.
Brigadier General Asiri stressed that said that '' we always used the Yemeni army, today we use the Yemeni security unit which was trained by the coalition. We want them to be engaged and to be part of the solution in Yemen. This is why we use them.'' ''We couldn't engage Al Qaeda in the first month or second month of the campaign in Yemen but today we have enough forces of Yemeni security unit'' alongside ''Saudi and Emirati special forces. They can defeat Al Qaeda and they will continue to do so.''
Comment: That’s really a nice new Asiri story how he explains how the coalition forces managed to kill 800 Al Qaida fighters without anybody realizing this. It was just during the night! And the bodies of the dead fighters must have vanished with the night in the morning as well.
cp15 Propaganda
3.5.2016 – Al Arabiya (A P)
Tiran, Sanafir, Syria, Yemen and Vision 2030
Everyone is asking about the secret behind the recent enthusiasm and vitality of Saudi foreign policy. The kingdom launched its first airstrike from Khamis Mushait airport over a year ago against Houthi positions in Yemen, declaring Operation Decisive Storm, which is still gaining momentum.
Why does Saudi Arabia insist on expelling Iran from Syria at any cost, and possibly from Iraq and Lebanon? Why was Riyadh keen to regain the islands of Tiran and Sanafir now, after they were placed under Egypt’s custody for decades?
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, announced by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, answers both questions. “We have three areas of strength with no competitors,” he told Al Arabiya TV, citing Islam, the kingdom’s enormous investment capacity, and its geographic location.
In a closed meeting with a small group of Saudi writers and religious scholars, the prince explained how the kingdom was the promoter of real moderate Islam, and it was unacceptable that the religion be represented by Iran, Al-Qaeda, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The intellectual war on the latter two will take a larger dimension with support from official and prestigious Islamic institutions in Saudi Arabia. There is no “Saudi Islam,” as alleged by US President Barack Obama, just Islam.
Iran
Saudi investment capacity is considered a substitute to its oil-dependence. Prince Salman wants to invest for the benefit of the kingdom and the region. However, this vision will clash with a parallel Iranian project that does not aspire to good neighborliness, mutual benefit, or regional peace and stability.
This Iranian vision is executed via militias, weapons-smuggling, conspiracies and coups. It will not be based on participation, but on the suppression of others and subordination to Tehran. We do not do this in Saudi Arabia; instead, we sign contracts and strategic alliances in the light of day with governments, not with secret parties or militias.
If the kingdom succeeds in being the main crossing point for trade between Asia, Africa and Europe, it will need neighbors that share the same vision, not Yemen’s Houthis or an Iran-dominated Syria. To that end, agreements have been signed with Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Djibouti, and potentially Pakistan, which will revive an old bilateral alliance.
Stability
The most important issue in the prince’s announcements is the need for stability for long-term development, citing the examples of South Korea and Japan, which have been ruled by one party for decades. Saudi Arabia is blessed with this stability, which will enable the success of Vision 2030. This will benefit the whole region, as Saudi prosperity will positively impact that of its neighbors.
Riyadh is preoccupied with using its army and diplomacy to prevent the collapse of regional security. People aspire to a decent quality of life - all regimes incapable of providing that must leave and not return – by Jamal Kashoggi, Saudi journalist, columnist, author, and general manager of the upcoming Al Arab News Channel. He previously served as a media aide to Prince Turki al Faisal while he was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States
Comment: The best joke: “the kingdom was the promoter of real moderate Islam”. And, look at this: “There is no “Saudi Islam,” as alleged by US President Barack Obama, just Islam”: yes, because we declare our form of Islam to be the only form of Islam, all others are declared “takfir” and are suppressed. - And, above all: Iran bashing and we are just the best.
3.5.2016 – Qatar News Agency (A P)
Yemeni Information Minister Underlines GCC Essential Role for Peace in Yemen
Yemeni Minister of Information Dr. Mohammed Abdulmajeed Al Qubaty has praised the role played by the GCC countries for the establishment of peace and security in Yemen and bring all parties to the consultations table.
In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), the Yemeni Minister said that the role of the GCC states in the Yemeni issue is essential and articular because the stability of Yemen is important to the entire region’s stability, stressing the sincerity of the GCC countries’ efforts to help Yemen to get out of its crisis on the basis of the GCC initiative and its executive mechanism and the role of the Security Council resolutions.
He also hailed the role of the Arab coalition forces in changing the equation of the political forces in Yemen in favor of legitimacy, as well as its leading role in defeating al-Qaida, ISIS organisation and the international terrorism in Hadhramaut.
Dr. Al Qubaty said that the continuation of the situation in Yemen without the intervention of the Gulf countries means the undermining of security and stability in the Arabian Peninsula.
On the possibility of resorting to Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations to put pressure on Houthis to resume talks more seriously, the Yemeni Minister of Information said that the implementation of Chapter VII and the harsh punishments listed in is related to the Secretary General envoy to Yemen and to the evaluation of the States parties to the Yemeni affairs.
He warned that the prestige of the UN Security Council is “at stake” after the Houthi group deliberately violated its decisions more than once.
The Yemeni Minister of Information thanked the State of Qatar and all GCC countries for their efforts towards the Yemeni issue.
http://www.fananews.com/en/qater/310850/
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
3.5.2016 – Yemen Post News (A K)
#Yemen WAR 2.0: Saudi airstrikes attack 5 times today & Houthis clash in 4 regions as UN peace talks collapse.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/727495887291879424
2.5.2016 – Jahaf (A K PH)
No ceasefire No peace No hope All we have is the sound of bombardment.. Saudi jets flying over Sanaa sky NOW
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/727237898852913152
2.5.2016 – Sam Adam (A K PH)
Damn, Saudi jets screaming Here, OK, could you tell us what's going on? Where's the truce? Where are the UN Observers? Shit
https://twitter.com/SamADam24/status/727237075213373440
2.5.2016 – Yemen Post (A K)
Taiz BURNING: Millions in #Yemen city scared today as Houthi rockets & Saudi airstrikes rock city after peace fails.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/727172571238686721
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
3.5.2016 – Yemen Post News (A K)
#Yemen WAR 2.0: Saudi airstrikes attack 5 times today & Houthis clash in 4 regions as UN peace talks collapse.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/727495887291879424
3.5.2016 – ABNA (A K PH)
Saudi Aggression continue to breach ceasefire in Yemen; mercenary sniper shot dead a woman
The Saudi aggression and its hirelings continued the ceasefire violations during the past few hours in a number of the provinces, a military official said on Monday.
The aggression’s mercenaries pounded with artillery the locations of the army and popular committees in Thubab city and tried to advance toward the Central Security camp in Taiz province, the official explained.
He said that a woman was shot dead by the mercenaries’ snipers in al-Duminah village in Taiz.
The breaches of the aggression’s hirelings continued in Mareb province, where they attempted to creep toward Wadi al-Melh in the province, the official added.
http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/05/03/751701/story.html
3.5.2016 – Althawra News (A K PH)
Saudi’s Mercenaries Continue Breaching Ceasefire In Yemen
The Saudi-led Coalition aggression and its mercenaries continued the ceasefire violations in a number of the provinces, a military official said on Monday.
The aggression’s mercenaries bombed the locations of the Yemeni army and popular committees with artillery in Thubab city and tried to advance toward the Central Security camp in Taiz province, the official explained.
The breaches of the aggression’s mercenaries continued in Mareb province, the official added.
http://en.althawranews.net/2016/05/saudis-mercenaries-continue-breaching-ceasefire-in-yemen/
2.5.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A K PH)
Seems Saudi led coalition had change of heart and about to go to War 2.0 with mass build up of troops & arms at several locs in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/727053476262494208
2.5.2016 – Fars News (A K PH)
Ansarullah Takes Full Control of New Areas in Ta'iz Province
The Yemeni popular forces continued to advance in the Western parts of Yemen, and managed to win back new regions in Ta'iz province.
"Ansarullah forces are now in full control of special regions in Ta'iz province," Ansarullah Commander Abdullah al-Zeidi told FNA on Monday.
He, meantime, said that the Yemeni army and popular forces have reached an agreement on setting up a joint operation room in Ta'iz province in a bid to respond to any ceasefire violation by the Saudi-led coalition forces.
Al-Zeidi said that the main purpose for setting up joint operations room is to complete the Bab el-Mandab Strait operations.
In a relevant development in April, a senior Yemeni military commander disclosed that the Arab country's popular forces had won back all regions in the Northern and Western parts of Ta'iz province.
"Our forces are now in full control of all regions in the Northern and Western parts of Ta'iz province after heavy clashes with Saudi-led forces and al-Qaeda terrorists," Ansarullah Commander Hesham al-Zeidi told FNA.
Al-Zeidi said that Ansarullah targets the al-Qaeda terrorists with short-range missiles, adding, "The Yemeni popular forces killed four terrorists and destroyed tens of their armored vehicles while they were pulling out from Ta'iz province."
Meantime, a military source disclosed on Saturday that the Yemeni army and popular forces withdrew from the city of al-Waziya in the Southern part of Ta'iz.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950213000580
Comment: What about the ceasefire?
2.5.2016 – Haykal Bafana (A K PH)
Yemen capital Sanaa today : 1 foiled suicide bombing, 1 large explosion (sounds suicidal), and now heavy exchange of gunfire from Sabaeen.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/727239771123253249
2.5.2016 – Yemen Post (A K)
Taiz BURNING: Millions in #Yemen city scared today as Houthi rockets & Saudi airstrikes rock city after peace fails.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/727172571238686721
2.5.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K PH)
#Saudi #UAE backed forces conducting huge attack on Nehim East #Sanaa &jets flying over city Mass coalition build up in Marib,Shabwa #Taiz
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/727045886426112000
1.5.2016 – Yemen Post News (A K P)
DRUMS of WAR: Hours after peace talks cancel Houthi clashes & Saudi attacks in #Yemen regions Mareb, Jawf & Nihm
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/726848499648716800
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
2.5.2016 – FAO (A)
Desert Locust situation worsens in Yemen
The Desert Locust situation has worsened in Yemen as adult groups and a few small swarms formed on the southern coast in early April and moved into the interior where widespread rains led to rapid maturation and egg-laying. Hatching and band formation commenced by the end of the month.
The extent and scale of current breeding are not well known due to the difficulty of undertaking surveys in the interior of Yemen. However, infestations are likely to be scattered throughout a large, remote and insecure area from Marib to Thamud where control operations cannot be carried out easily. Widespread hatching is expected during May that will cause numerous hopper groups and bands to form, followed by a high risk of swarm formation in June.
http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/en/info/info/index.html
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/krieg-im-jemen-neue-artikel-zum-nachlesen-137
Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-137: / Yemen Press Reader 1-137:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or
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