Krieg im Jemen-Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 148

British cluster munition used in Yemen - Victims of cluster munition - Secret talks Houthis and Saudis - Coalition fighting against Al Qaida - IS suicide attack in Aden, 49 victims

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

cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

cp9 USA

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

cp13 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

23.5.2016 – Sputnik News (** A K)

Jemen: Britische Streubomben an Grenze zu Saudi Arabien gefunden

Nicht explodierte Streubomben aus britischer Produktion sind im Jemen sechs Kilometer von der saudischen Grenze entdeckt worden. Vermutlich stammte die von der Menschenrechtsorganisation Amnesty International gefundene Bombe von der Koalition mit Saudi Arabien an der Spitze, wie „The Independent“ berichtet.

Streubomben des Produzenten Hunting Engineering enthalten 147 Bombensplitter, die sich bei der Explosion auf einer großen Fläche verstreuen. Saudi Arabien hatte in Großbritannien zuvor auch Tornado-Flugzeuge gekauft, von denen Streubomben abgeworfen werden können, so die Zeitung. London weist derweil alle Vorwürfe der Nutzung der verbotenen Waffen zurück.

„Großbritannien ist kein Mitglied der von Saudi Arabien angeführten Koalition. Das britische Personal hat nichts mit den Bombenangriffen, der Koordinierung und Ausführung von Einsätzen im Jemen sowie mit der Wahl der Ziele und Entscheidungstreffen zu tun“, wird ein Vertreter des britischen Außenministeriums zitiert.

Streubomben sind weltweit in über 100 Staaten verboten. Der Zeitung zufolge hat Großbritannien solche Bomben in den Jahren zwischen 1980 und 1990 massiv an Saudi Arabien und die Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten (VAE) verkauft, die der Koalition angehören.

http://de.sputniknews.com/panorama/20160523/310046685/jemen-britische-streubomben-gefunden.html und von iranischer Seite: http://parstoday.com/de/news/middle_east-i7924-amnesty_international_saudi_arabien_setzt_streubomben_britischer_herkunft_auf_jemen_ein

Kommentar: Eigentlich schon nicht mehr erstaunlich, dass deutsche Mainstream-Medien davon nichts berichten. Gegen die deutschsprachigen russischen Medien hetzen sie aber schon gerne. Warum eigentlich?

Schon mehrmals war zu beobachten, dass die deutschen Mainstreammedien offenbar noch höriger gegenüber den transatlantischen Interessen waren als die amerikanischen und britischen. Was dort recht ausführlich dargestellt wurde, fehlt im deutschen Mainstream ganz. Auf Deutsch gab es das dann nur bei RT oder Sputnik. Diese sind also mittlerweile unentbehrlich – nicht weil sie so gut oder objektiv sind, sondern weil die deutschen Mainstreammedien so grottenschlecht sind, wenn es um sog. „transatlantische“ Interessen geht. Und zu dem 100%-Propagandamodus, den unsere Medien dann alle einschalten, gehört als (einfachste) Variante eben auch: Unbequemes weglassen. So wie hier.

Die Berichte beziehen sich auf:

23.5.2016 – Amnesty International (*** A K)

Saudi Arabia-led coalition has used UK-manufactured cluster bombs in Yemen - new evidence

Letter to David Cameron calls for urgent investigation into ‘scandal’ of UK-supplied BL-755 cluster bomb being used in village in northern Yemen

Government is asked for ‘full disclose’ over whether UK personnel have played any part in dropping banned cluster bombs from UK-supplied Tornado jets

Yemeni villages turned into cluster bomb ‘minefields’, with thousands of ‘bomblets’ liable to kill civilians - children especially at risk

‘Cluster bombs are one of the nastiest weapons in the history of warfare … it’s truly shocking that a British cluster munition has been dropped on a civilian area in Yemen’ - Oliver Sprague

Amnesty International has written to prime minister David Cameron and other senior ministers demanding a full Government inquiry into new evidence that Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces have used UK-manufactured cluster bombs - which may have killed and injured civilians, including children - in the conflict in Yemen.

During recent field research in Sa’da, Hajjah, and Sanaa governorates near the Yemen-Saudi Arabia border, Amnesty found a partially-exploded UK-manufactured “BL-755” cluster bomb, as well as other evidence of US and Brazilian cluster munitions which had been used by the Saud Arabia-led coalition forces.

The UK cluster bomb, which had apparently malfunctioned, had left scores of unexploded “bomblets” strewn over a wide area near a farm in Al-khadhra village in Hajjah governorate, six miles from the Saudi Arabia border. A local farmer reported seeing the cluster bomb attack in January this year. The cluster bomb had been retrieved - at great risk - by staff from local Yemeni de-mining organisation, the Yemen Executive Mine Action Center, and was being stored at a de-mining depot in Hayran district, in Hajjah, when seen by Amnesty experts.

The discovery of the cluster bomb - originally manufactured by the Bedfordshire company Hunting Engineering Ltd in the 1970s - is the first clear evidence that, as long suspected, members of the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition have used British cluster munitions in their highly controversial attacks in Yemen.

The BL-755 weapon, now banned under international law, contains 147 bomblets which scatter on impact with the ground but frequently don’t detonate until they’re later picked up, often by civilians unaware of their deadly nature. The bomblets are designed to burn through tank armour and then explode into more than 2,000 metal fragments. Families returning home in northern Yemen after a year of conflict are at grave risk of death or serious injury from the thousands of unexploded bomblets that now litter villages, farmland and the surrounding countryside in these areas. One man, who herds goats in a village in Hajjah governorate approximately six miles from the Saudi Arabia border, told Amnesty: “In the area next to us, there are bombs hanging off the trees.”

Cluster munitions are banned by over 100 countries, including the UK, and campaigners argue that the UK has a strong moral responsibility to ensure that any cluster bombs - such as the BL-755 - sold in the past are traced and that measures taken to destroy existing stockpiles. Since the 1980s and 1990s the UK is thought to have sold large numbers of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia and the UAE (which is also part of the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition), and the weapon is known to be in the current ordnance stockpiles of both Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The BL-755 is designed to be dropped from the UK Tornado fighter jet, scores of which the UK has sold to Saudi Arabia. Given that the UK is known to have several hundred specialist support staff working closely with the Royal Saudi Air Force, Amnesty is warning that any involvement of UK personnel - whether in Saudi Arabia or in a liaison or political role in the UK - would constitute a clear breach of the UK’s legal responsibility under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The BL-755 found in Al-khadhra village is the first confirmed use of UK-made cluster munitions since the entry into force of the cluster munitions convention in 2008.

Amnesty interviewed 30 people - including survivors of cluster bomb submunitions and other unexploded ordnance, as well as their families, eyewitnesses, de-mining experts, activists and members of the emergency services - documenting ten new cases in which 16 civilians, including nine children, were killed or maimed by cluster bombs between July 2015 and last month. These incidents took place days, weeks or sometimes months after the bombs were dropped by coalition forces in Yemen.

Amnesty International UK’s Arms Control Director Oliver Sprague said:

“Cluster bombs are one of the nastiest weapons in the history of warfare, rightly banned by more than 100 countries, so it’s truly shocking that a British cluster munition has been dropped on a civilian area in Yemen.

“Given that this type of cluster bomb is very likely to have been used in combination with Tornado war planes which the UK has also sold to Saudi Arabia, there’s even a possibility that British support personnel might have been involved in the cluster bombing of Yemen. This would be an absolute scandal if confirmed.

“The UK should have been tracking down all the now-banned cluster bombs it’s sold to Saudi Arabia over the years and pressing for them to be safely disposed of. Instead, shamefully, it’s now come to light that a UK cluster bomb has been used in Yemen, spraying its deadly bomblets all over a village and jeopardising the lives of men, women and children.

“There needs to be a full investigation into both this incident and all aspects of the UK’s arming of Saudi Arabia and other countries involved in the carnage in Yemen.

“Amongst other things, we need categorical assurances that no UK person has been involved in the cluster bombing of Yemen, with full disclosure of what was known, when and by whom.

“It shouldn’t have taken the discovery of a UK cluster bomb in Yemen to push Downing Street to do the right thing, but surely now ministers will suspend all further arms sales to Saudi Arabia and its partners pending the outcome of a full investigation.”

Children killed and maimed while herding family’s goats

On 1 March, an eight-year-old boy was killed when he and his 11-year-old brother encountered multiple cluster bomblets while herding goats near a village in al-Safra directorate in Sa’da. The elder brother told Amnesty that he and his sibling were playing with the bomblets for several hours when one exploded, killing the younger one instantly and injuring the 11-year-old. The older brother lost three fingers, needed an operation to insert steel plates into his shattered jaw and sustained shrapnel injuries to his chest and legs. He said:

“We go down every day to the valley to herd goats, where there are many small bombs. We found four of them in the morning … they were cylindrical with a red ribbon. We carried them with us while herding. At around 1pm, I started to take the red string with my right hand and pull and [my brother] pulled on the other end of it and then it went off and I fell back. [My brother] was hurt in his stomach and he had fallen down too. We didn’t know it would hurt us.”

In a similar incident, on 16 April in a village in Hajjah governorate about six miles from the Saudi Arabia border, a 12-year-old boy was killed and his nine-year-old brother injured when they played with cluster bomb submunitions while herding goats in the valley nearby. The surviving brother told Amnesty:

“I found the bomb and I went and gave it to [my brother] so he can have one and I had one. Ali hit them against each other and they exploded and I found myself lying on the ground. The explosion pushed me back [several metres]. Two or three days before the accident, my friend and I used to go and collect the bombs and put them in a bag and hide them under and between the trees. They have a white ribbon.”

His 12-year-old brother was killed on the spot, with his abdomen torn open and his arm severed. The boys’ father told Amnesty that the family had only recently returned to the area after being displaced by airstrikes. He said they now don’t go to the valley after the incident but there are no safe spaces to herd their goats: “In the area next to us, there are bombs hanging off the trees,” he said. Other goat herders told Amnesty that the prevalence of bomblets in grazing areas has forced them to keep their goats locked up and feed them straw, which is costly and unsustainable. In most cases, farmers and herders told Amnesty they had no choice but to work in areas affected hit by cluster bombs despite the risks.

Amnesty also interviewed a 13-year-old boy who was injured in January after apparently picking up a bomblet near a spring that locals rely on for water in a small village surrounded by agricultural land in al-Safra, Sa’da governorate, some 15 miles from the Saudi Arabia border. The boy said the bomblets were green and shaped like “a small ball that you play with”, apparently bomblets from a US-made BLU-63 weapon. The boy explained:

“I saw the bomb [submunition] close to where we were filling water and as I was walking along I saw it [on the ground]. I picked it up and I threw it [to the side] and it exploded. I got hurt and then [my brother] went to get help…”.

The 13-year-old was hospitalised for two months and had an operation on his abdomen. He says there are still submunitions by the spring.

In many instances, civilians told Amnesty that they have had to resort to removing bomblets themselves, fearing that children will pick them up or their livestock be killed. Hindi Ibrahim, a 25-year-old father of two from Dugheij Village, Hayran, Hajjah governorate, told Amnesty how his arm was injured by an explosion when he and other villagers attempted to clear hundreds of bomblets from their village:

“The original airstrike happened late last July or August during the day and [some of] the bomblets exploded. There were also Apaches [helicopters] that shot at people as they ran away. There were 500 pieces in the village everywhere … we wanted to remove them. Some were inside the house in the courtyard and kitchen … [the de-mining organisation] kept on promising they would come but they never came. They told us they were busy in other areas. By February, we were forced to clean them ourselves because of the children. At the time I went into the house and put ten [submunitions] on a tray and carried them out of the house. The bombs started hitting against each other and one went off. I dropped the tray and the rest went off.”

Hindi Ibrahim sustained shrapnel injuries to his abdomen, arm and hip. Hindi’s brother Weedi, 30, and his nephew, Yahya Shawqi, 15, were also injured when they handled bomblets in the village, and two other villagers were killed in recent months.

Civilians describe dire need for de-mining assistance

Recognising the serious risk unexploded ordnance presents to the civilian population, Yemen’s sole de-mining agency, the Yemen Executive Mine Action Centre (YEMAC), began clearing and detonating the weapons in Sa’da and Hajjah in early April despite being ill-equipped and trained. While the full extent of cluster munition contamination is not yet known, in the first three weeks of their work YEMAC says its teams working in Sa’da and Hajjah cleared at least 418 cluster bomb submunitions, 810 fuses, 51 mortars and more than 70 missiles. Tragically, the centre had to abruptly halt its operations on 26 April after three of its staff - Mohammed Ahmed Ali Al Sharafi, Mustafa Abdullah Saleh Al Harazi and Hussein Abdo Mohssien Al Salami - were killed in a cluster munition accident in Dugheij village in Hayran, Hajjah governorate.

International assistance is urgently needed to de-mine contaminated areas and countries with influence should urge the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces to stop using cluster bomb munitions, which are internationally banned and inherently indiscriminate.

Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Advisor Lama Fakih said:

“Even after hostilities have died down, the lives and livelihoods of civilians, including young children, continue to be on the line in Yemen as they return to de facto minefields. They cannot live in safety until contaminated areas in and around their homes and fields are identified and cleared of deadly cluster bomb submunitions and other unexploded ordnance.

“Without a concerted effort to stop the Saudi Arabia-led coalition from using cluster munitions and urgent international support for de-mining, these cluster bombs and other explosive remnants of war will pose a deadly legacy in Yemen for years to come, posing a threat to civilian lives and wreaking havoc on the local economy.”

US and Brazilian cluster bombs

Since the start of the conflict, Amnesty has documented the use of six types of cluster munitions in Yemen by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, and other credible sources - including Human Rights Watch - have also documented their use.

Amnesty has recently identified a Brazilian-manufactured Avibras ASTROS cluster munition rocket which dispenses submunitions and US-manufactured CBU-105 sensor-fused bombs with BLU-108/B canisters. A US Department of Defense contract worth $641 million for the manufacture of 1,300 CBU-105 sensor-fused weapons for Saudi Arabia was agreed in 2013. The BLU-108, manufactured by Textron Defense Systems, is an air-delivered container, containing four further smart “Skeet” submunitions. The BLU-108 is released from its dispenser and a parachute deploys to slow its descent. It then fires the four rapidly-rotating Skeets, which use multi-mode optical sensors to identify a suitable target. On detonation, an explosively-formed penetrator breaks through armour producing incendiary effects, as well as a fragmentation ring to damage human targets. The presence of BLU-108 submunitions in Yemen which have failed to detonate or self-destruct contradict claims by the US Security Defense Cooperation Agency that these munitions do not result in more than 1% unexploded ordnance “across the range of intended operational environments.” The US Government prohibits the sale or transfer of cluster munitions with greater than a 1% fail rate, a “standard” which it appears to be failing to meet.

Saudi Arabia and partners have legal responsibility to avoid indiscriminate weapon usage

The USA and Brazil have so far both failed to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and likewise Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other coalition members are also outside the convention. However, under customary international humanitarian law, coalition members must avoid using inherently indiscriminate weapons, which invariably pose a threat to civilians, and they have a responsibility to facilitate clearance of areas contaminated with unexploded ordnance.

Amnesty is calling on members of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition to immediately provide the UN with detailed data on its cluster munition attacks in Yemen - including maps, exact dates of strikes, specific types and quantities of weapons used - in order to facilitate clearance and risk-education activities, and to reduce the potential for further civilian casualties. Meanwhile, countries in a position to do so should provide all possible technical, financial, material and other assistance to facilitate the marking and clearance, removal or destruction of cluster submunitions, duds and other explosive remnants of war. They should also provide victim assistance, including for the medical and psychological care and rehabilitation of victims and their families, as well as education over the risk of encountering unexploded ordnance. Yemeni diplomats indicated on 19 May at a UN conference that Yemen is strongly considering acceding to the cluster munitions convention given the degree to which the country has been affected by the weapon.

For years, Amnesty and others have been calling on all countries to immediately halt the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions and to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The convention prohibits the production, use, sale and transfer of cluster munitions, and Amnesty is insisting that the UK - as a significant past manufacturer and supplier of the weapons - has a strong moral obligation to assist with the clearance of areas currently affected by them, not least those that may have been struck by UK-made cluster munitions. Since February Amnesty has also urged all countries to ensure that no party to the conflict in Yemen is supplied - either directly or indirectly - with weapons, munitions, military equipment or technology that could be used in the conflict until they end serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and support independent, impartial investigations into allegations of violations by all parties.

Cluster munition types Amnesty has documented in Yemen armed conflict

US CBU-58 A/B bomb dispensing US BLU-63 submunitions - air-launched, USA origin, stockpiled by Saudi Arabia, Morocco

CBU-87 bomb dispensing US BLU-97 submunitions - air-launched, USA origin, stockpiled by Saudi Arabia, UAE

CBU-105 sensor-fused bomb with BLU-108/B canisters and unexploded “Skeet” submunitions - air-launched, USA origin, stockpiled by Saudi Arabia, UAE

BL-755 cluster bomb with 147 high-explosive dual-purpose bomblets - air-launched, UK origin, stockpiled by Saudi Arabia, UAE

ASTROS II rocket motor which can be fitted with up to 65 submunitions - ground-launched, Brazil origin, stockpiled by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain

M42/M46 or M77 “Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition” - ground-launched, USA origin, stockpiled by UAE, Bahrain, Egypt

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/saudi-arabia-led-coalition-has-used-uk-manufactured-cluster-bombs-yemen-new-evidence and in short by Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-britain-arms-idUSKCN0YE26W and by The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/british-made-cluster-bomb-found-in-yemeni-village-targeted-by-saudi-led-coalition-a7042626.html and by RT: https://www.rt.com/uk/344056-cluster-bombs-yemen-saudi/

Comment: Nobody should be astonished about that.

23.5.2016 – Oxfam (* A K P)

Reaction: Reports of UK-manufactured cluster bombs used in Yemen

In response to Amnesty International's report of UK manufactured cluster bombs being used in Yemen, Mark Goldring, Chief Executive of Oxfam GB, said:

"This underlines a simple truth - Britain's arms sales and technical military support are fuelling a brutal war in Yemen.
"The war has left more than 80 percent of the population in urgent need of aid, and kills or injures six children a day.
"If Britain wants to be a moral force in the world it should immediately halt all support for this war and put pressure on all involved to stop the reckless disregard of civilians' safety."

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2016/05/reaction-report-of-uk-manufactured-cluster-bombs-used-in-yemen#Qu3o0gyYUrpig3LR.01

And read the standard British government's reaction here:

23.5.2016 – The Independent (** A K P)

British-made cluster bomb found in Yemeni village targeted by Saudi-led coalition

A spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “The UK is not a member of the Saudi-led Coalition. British personnel are not involved in carrying out strikes, directing or conducting operations in Yemen or selecting targets and are not involved in the Saudi targeting decision-making process.

“The UK Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all relevant factors at the time of the application. The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with this export licensing criteria.”

Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn said: "This report is shocking and it is further clear evidence pointing to the use of cluster bombs by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

"The UK helped to lead the adoption of the international ban on cluster munitions and the Government should now launch an immediate investigation to find out what has happened."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/british-made-cluster-bomb-found-in-yemeni-village-targeted-by-saudi-led-coalition-a7042626.html

Further articles on the reactions in Britain see cp10 Great Britain

23.5.2016 – Amnesty International (*** B K)

Yemen: Children among civilians killed and maimed in cluster bomb ‘minefields’

16 new civilian casualties, including nine children, documented in aftermath of Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s cluster bomb use

Internally displaced people returning home to de facto ‘minefields’

Use of US, UK and Brazilian-made cluster munitions documented

Urgent need for international demining assistance
Children and their families returning home in northern Yemen after a year of conflict are at grave risk of serious injury and death from thousands of unexploded cluster bomb submunitions, Amnesty International said, following a 10-day research trip to Sa’da, Hajjah, and Sana’a governorates.
International assistance is urgently needed to clear contaminated areas and countries with influence should urge the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces to stop using cluster munitions, which are internationally banned and inherently indiscriminate.
“Even after hostilities have died down, the lives and livelihoods of civilians, including young children, continue to be on the line in Yemen as they return to de facto minefields. They cannot live in safety until contaminated areas in and around their homes and fields are identified and cleared of deadly cluster bomb submunitions and other unexploded ordnance,” said Lama Fakih, Senior Crisis Advisor at Amnesty International.

On its most recent mission to northern Yemen, Amnesty International found evidence of US, UK and Brazilian cluster munitions used by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces. The use of cluster bombs is banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, to which the UK is a State Party.
The organization interviewed 30 people, including survivors of cluster bomb submunitions and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) as well as their families, eyewitnesses, demining experts, activists and first responders.
It documented 10 new cases in which 16 civilians were injured or killed by cluster munitions between July 2015 and April 2016. This includes nine children, two of whom were killed. These casualties took place days, weeks, and sometimes months after the bombs were dropped by coalition forces in Yemen.
With a lull in fighting along the Yemeni-Saudi border since a local ceasefire was agreed in March 2016, civilians began returning home and felt safer moving around the governorates of Hajjah and Sa’da. But demining officials, local residents and first responders told Amnesty International they continued to see civilians injured by explosions, with a rise in casualties from unexploded ordnance particularly in areas along the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border including in Midi, Haradh, Hayran, Bakil al-Mir, and Mustabah in Hajjah governorate and al-Safra, Razih, Shada and Baqim in Sa’da governorate.
Many civilians, including children, are now exposed to potentially deadly submunitions and other explosive remnants of war without any knowledge of their presence or the risk they pose. Meanwhile, recent flood waters have moved the submunitions and other unexploded ordnance into areas where civilians do not expect them to be.
Up to this point, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition has not formally confirmed its use of cluster munitions. However, in an interview with CNN on 11 January 2016, the spokesperson of the coalition’s military forces, General Ahmed al-Asiri, categorically denied that the coalition had used cluster munitions in attacks anywhere in Yemen other than in one instance, describing the use of air-dropped CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons on a military target in Hajjah in April 2015.

Civilians describe dire need of assistance to clear contaminated areas

Recognizing the serious risk unexploded ordnance presents to the civilian population, Yemen’s sole demining agency, the Yemen Executive Mine Action Centre (YEMAC), began clearing and detonating the weapons in Sa’da and Hajjah in early April 2016, despite being ill-equipped and trained.
While the full extent of cluster munition contamination is not yet known, in the first three weeks of their work, YEMAC records show its teams working in Sa’da and Hajjah governorates cleared at least 418 cluster bomb submunitions, 810 fuses and artillery remnants, 51 mortars and more than 70 missiles.

Tragically, the centre had to abruptly halt its clearing operations on 26 April after three of its staff members, Mohammed Ahmed Ali Al Sharafi, Mustafa Abdullah Saleh Al Harazi, and Hussein Abdo Mohssien Al Salami, were killed in a cluster munition incident while carrying out their work in Hayran in Hajjah governorate.
The Director of YEMAC, Ahmed Yahya Alawi, told Amnesty International that the centre’s clearance work was suspended pending an investigation into the men’s deaths, but that he believed the deaths were caused by one of the men’s failure to take adequate precautions in moving the submunitions and his proximity to his colleagues when doing so. He blamed the men’s inadequate training and lamented the ineffectiveness and age of their equipment.
“[Different] types of cluster munitions have been used [by the coalition] but we have only worked with four of the types before. We were surprised by the new kind. They are more sensitive… It is difficult to get explosives to detonate the bombs but storing them is dangerous” he said. “We need to bring in trainers from the countries that made the weapons to train the employees…[and] we are looking for better technology to destroy these bombs.”

“Donor countries must act quickly to support local efforts to safely and urgently locate, mark and clear areas contaminated by unexploded ordnance and educate affected communities on how to avoid danger in the meantime,” said Lama Fakih.

“Failure to do so will be a ticking time bomb for civilians, including children, living in affected areas.”
Children are particularly at risk of picking up and playing with submunitions, which they mistake for toys, given their small size and shape. Some roughly resemble drink cans, while others resemble balls.
Amnesty International interviewed a 13-year-old boy who was injured in the late afternoon on a day in January 2016 after apparently picking up a submunition near a spring that locals rely on for water in Noug’a, a small village surrounded by agricultural land in al-Safra, Sa’da governorate, approximately 20-25 kilometres from the border with Saudi Arabia. According to locals interviewed by Amnesty International, the area is separated from the frontlines by a few kilometres and during the heavy fighting, they hear the sound of incoming and outgoing ground-launched attacks.
The victim said the bomblets were green and shaped like “a small ball that you play with.” This description is consistent with the US-made BLU-63 cluster bomb submunitions.

“I saw the bomb [submunition] close to where we were filling water and as I was walking along I saw it [on the ground]. I picked it up and I threw it [to the side] and it exploded. I got hurt and then my brother went to get help…” He was hospitalized for two months and had an operation on his abdomen. He told Amnesty International that there are still submunitions next to the spring.
On 1 March, “Walid” (children’s names have been changed for their security) another 11-year-old from a nearby area, was also hurt by a submunition, losing three of his fingers and breaking his jaw. His brother, “Samih,” an eight year old, was killed.

[…]

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/05/yemen-children-among-civilians-killed-and-maimed-in-cluster-bomb-minefields/ (with images) = https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/735144227361935360 and in short by AFP: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2016/May-23/353366-amnesty-warns-yemen-civilians-face-cluster-bombs-minefields.ashx and by Middle East Eye: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/amnesty-warns-yemen-civilians-face-cluster-bomb-minefields-22893700 and film:

23.5.2016 – Amnesty International on Youtube (** B H K)

Yemen: Cluster munitions

Children and their families returning home in northern Yemen after a year of conflict are at grave risk of serious injury and death from thousands of unexploded cluster bomb submunitions, Amnesty International said, following a 10-day research trip to Sa’da, Hajjah, and Sana’a governorates.
International assistance is urgently needed to clear contaminated areas and countries with influence should urge the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces to stop using cluster munitions, which are internationally banned and inherently indiscriminate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUwmvAG4neQ see also images https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/735144227361935360

For what the use of cluster bombs in Yemen does mean, read: The Vietnam War is still killing people: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-vietnam-war-is-still-killing-people and

Comment: It's not off topic. Today we were saying that Yemen is the new Cambodia for the number of unexploded ordnance.
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, all part of the same US paranoia against the Communists.
Yemen is the new paranoia for the next door neighbors and many others. Have you ever asked yourself how many bombs (cluster bombs included), mines, arms has Yemen received - been thrown at - dropped on - disseminated with since the war began?
This is what we are facing even if an unlikely peace stops this madness

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1030735816979448&id=961126490607048

23.5.2016 – Asia News (** A P)

Riyadh going through backdoor diplomacy to reach deal with Houthi rebels in Yemen conflict

Saudi Arabia’s deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is leading the kingdom’s secret, backdoor diplomatic efforts to get senior Houthi officials to acknowledge the inviolability of Saudi territory, this according to an anonymous source close to the entourage of the royal family.

In view of Yemen’s possible break-up, Riyadh wants to protect its back after playing a major role in leading to the current situation. Now Saudi leaders want to secure a deal with those who might turn against them in the future, namely Houthi Shias.

The source told AsiaNews that the heir to the Saudi throne, who is also defence minister and second deputy prime minister, has “accepted the demands” put forward by Ansar Allah, the Houthis’ official name.

The latter include giving up on Houthi disarmament and pull-back from areas under their control. In exchange, Riyadh is “prepared to stop any direct military action against them or within Saudi borders".

The Saudis appear to be willing to let Hadi remain as a figurehead president until a new Yemeni government is set up to guarantee Houthi "representation equal to their forces on the ground."

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Riyadh-going-through-backdoor-diplomacy-to-reach-deal-with-Houthi-rebels-in-Yemen-conflict-37568.html

Comment: Very interesting article, for more details read in full.

23.5.2016 – War on the Rocks (** B K)

THE U.A.E. APPROACH TO COUNTERINSURGENCY IN YEMEN

One unintended consequence of the Yemeni civil war was the expansion of AQAP influence over the past year. How is the war against AQAP being fought?

Questions remain. Can tactical victories can be converted into long-term remission of the terrorist organization?

The Target: AQAP’s Mini-State in Yemen

AQAP has deep roots in southern Yemen, particularly the provinces of Aden, Abyan, and Shabwa, which encompass most of the territory between the port cities of Aden and Mukalla.

Clearing AQAP’s Militias out of Southern Cities

Destroying AQAP was clearly not the main aim in the Arab coalition’s intervention in Yemen — the priority was to prevent a Houthi military victory over the Hadi government — but the coalition did launch its anti-AQAP campaign at the earliest moment possible when the anti-Houthi war settled into a lull in February 2016 in anticipation of peace talks. In particular, the United Arab Emirates took responsibility for disrupting AQAP’s unsettling growth in Aden’s neighborhoods, ports, and universities, in effect vouchsafing the seat of Hadi’s government. Denying AQAP’s lucrative control of Mukalla’s ports and related oilfields was a second aim.

According to interviews I conducted with contacts in Yemen, the coalition worked from April 2015 onward to build a large force (eventually boasting 12,000 men) to undertake the liberation of Mukalla and the oilfields in Masila. This included courting the generals leading the 1st and 2nd Military Regional Commands (MRCs) in northern Hadramaut and Mukalla, which netted 6,500 Yemeni troops in need of ammunition but otherwise combat-ready. The coalition also armed the 1,500-strong Hadramaut Tribal Confederation (HTC), a rural tribal force.

Find, Fix, and Finish?

The “find and fix” aspect of the intelligence war remains appropriately shrouded in secrecy, but it appears that the process used against AQAP in Yemen is both effective and worthy of future study. The coalition has significant organic intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets dedicated to the anti-AQAP effort. In addition to helicopters and turboprop surveillance aircraft, the coalition executes numerous daily sorties using fixed-wing forward air controllers using advanced optical pods and ground-search radar, and it also deploys a number of types of unmanned aerial vehicles capable of operating 200 to 250 kilometers from their ground control stations. U.S. and international signals intelligence and other remote sensing is likely to be shared with the coalition as well. But aside from these technical intelligence collection assets, my conversations with contacts in the Gulf suggest the coalition routinely develops granular human intelligence to complement technical intelligence.

In addition to dislodging AQAP-backed forces from key towns, ports, oilfields, and roads, the coalition claims to have killed 450 enemy troops in Mukalla, 120 in Aden, and 220 in other operations along the southern coast between February and May 2016. AQAP claims to have dispersed its forces without suffering much damage, and many indications exist that intact AQAP cadres escaped from Aden and Mukalla to rally in nearby rural redoubts. Even if AQAP did slip away, and even if coalition casualty estimates are halved or quartered, the key point is that AQAP tried and failed to defend Mukalla, thereby losing the prestige and riches of controlling major ports and oilfields.

Holding and Building Better than AQAP

Disrupting AQAP’s ability to openly control areas of Aden or Mukalla are worthy achievements, but such operations cannot permanently clear these areas of the enemy. The Yemeni government will only be able to reduce AQAP’s ability to recruit tribesmen and operate freely if local people see the government as a more powerful, beneficial partner. Continuing on from clearance operations, the next challenges will be to hold liberated areas and to build new alliances and infrastructure for basic services.

Can the Arab Coalition Seriously Damage AQAP?

Given AQAP’s resilience and Yemen’s fractiousness, it would clearly be unwise to the group off at this stage. Military clearance operations are necessary but not sufficient to break AQAP’s firm base in southern Yemen – by Michael Knights

http://warontherocks.com/2016/05/the-u-a-e-approach-to-counterinsurgency-in-yemen/ = http://yemenonline.info/special-reports/1004

Comment: Interesting, but 1.) never asks the role of the coalition in Yemeni affairs at all, 2.) paints the fight against Al Qaida as a success as if there would not be horrible suicide attacks almost every second day, 3.) does not mention that up to now the coalition and Hadi government have mostly failed in rebuilding any infrastructure, up to now there is not even electricity in Aden.

cp2 Allgemein / General

21.5.2016 – Jadaliyya (not rated A K P)

Yemen Quietly Being Killed: A STATUS/ Conversation with Safa Al Ahmad

In this broad-ranging and incisive STATUS interview with journalist and filmmaker Safa Al Ahmad, she delves into her recent coverage of Yemen reflecting on the humanitarian disaster there, the various actors on the ground, and the gendered dimensions of covering this conflict.

Safa Al Ahmad is a Saudi freelance journalist and filmmaker. Her focus is the Arabian Peninsula, primarily Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Her first film ‘Al Qaeda in Yemen’ was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2012, and ‘Saudi Secret Uprising’ won best international investigative documentary at the AIB’s in 2014. Her essay "Wishful Thinking on Saudi Arabia and the Arab world post 2011" was published in the anthology Writing Revolution, winner of an English PEN award.

Part 6, Engendered Journalism - Safa al-Ahmad [English]

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/24512/yemen-quietly-being-killed_a-status-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B6%D8%B9-conversa

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

24.5.2016 Independent AE (*B H K)

The child soldiers of Yemen

Lured by money and a sense of purpose, a growing number of young boys are being recruited by Yemen’s warring factions.

Many of the foot soldiers of this conflict, guarding turf along the battle lines, are children. Young boys between 14 and 16 are often seen with rifles and handguns strapped to their sides, protecting the recently seized streets of Sanaa.

These young boys are usually recruited from within the locality, lured by money and a sense of purpose in fighting for the community.

Yemeni activists say they earn 500 Yemeni rials ($2) a day, along with a hot meal, in return for a day in the sun and vigils at night.

“You will find them at every checkpoint, every area in Sanaa, near the parliament, near the cabinet. We have never seen these young boys before January when Houthis took over the [presidential] palace,” Nasim al-Moulki, coordinator of the Child Protection Initiative, a quasi-governmental body in Yemen, told reporters.

The recruitment of children by armed groups is broadly prevalent, and in some cases, a reality perpetuated even by the nation’s army. In 2011, child soldiers were recruited by the Yemeni Armed Forces and pro-government fighters against the Houthis in the north during the uprising against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Lack of access, coupled with a precarious security situation and a fear of reprisal among locals from armed groups, have made it difficult for monitoring groups to put an exact figure on the number of children involved in armed conflict in Yemen - by Priyanka Gupta

http://www.independent.ae/2449/child-soldiers-yemen/

Comment: All sides in this war recruit children. Schools are bomed and work no more, and for the families, all possibility to earn a liefe have been destroyed because of the war. This article from the Emirates, off courde only blames the Houthis and ex-president Saleh.

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

24.5.2016 – Reuters (A T)

Yemen university bomb kills gardener, injures two students

A bomb at Sanaa University killed a gardener and wounded at least two students on Tuesday, police and medical sources said, in a relatively rare attack on the Houthi-ruled Yemeni capital.

A police official at the scene said the explosion appeared to have targeted an exhibition organized by the Houthi's Ansarullah group, which controls most of northern Yemen.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN0YF10S and Aljazeera http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/yemen-bomb-attack-sanaa-university-kills-160524080939591.html and image: https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/735027392025133056

24.5.2016 - Hisham Al-Omeisy (A T)

According to omeisy, the gardener himself had the grenades in his belt and they exploded by accident:

https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/735094622918201344 and https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/735094174320578560

21.4.2016 - Aljazeera (not rated A K P)

Film: Yemen: Pulling the Strings - Al Jazeera World

How did Yemen’s Houthis sweep south and take the capital, Sanaa, so easily and did former President Saleh play a role, in an unlikely alliance with the rebel group?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXdnLA1-ZNs&feature=share

Comment by Judith Brown: Well this is interesting stuff with lots of background information - but very Hadi centric - well, it is Al Jazeera from Qatar. It doesn't allow for the support of the Houthis from some groups of Yemenis, and it doesn't show Hadi's tenuous and unpopular position in Yemen.

https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154380691038641

cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government

23.5.2016 – Josephjo1221

IS-Mord in Aden / Is: Murder in Aden

https://twitter.com/JosephJo1221/status/734963879982174208

23.5.2016 – Zeit Online (A T)

Dutzende Tote bei Bombenanschlägen in Aden

Bei zwei Anschlägen auf Armeeanwärter sind in der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Aden mindestens 45 Menschen gestorben. Der IS bekannte sich zu den Anschlägen

Bei zwei Bombenanschlägen in der Stadt Aden im Süden Jemens sind mindestens 45 Menschen getötet worden. Zudem seien mindestens 30 Menschen verletzt worden, teilten Mitarbeiter von Krankenhäusern mit. Die meisten der Opfer seien Armeeanwärter gewesen. In einem Schreiben, das über Twitter verbreitet wurde, bekannte sich die Terrormiliz "Islamischer Staat" (IS) zu den Angriffen. Dies konnte zunächst nicht von unabhängiger Seite bestätigt werden.

Ziel der Anschläge seien das Haus eines hochrangigen Militärs sowie eine Kaserne von Armeeanwärtern gewesen, hieß es aus Krankenhausquellen. Zwei Attentäter hätten junge Männer attackiert, die der Armee beitreten wollten, teilten Sicherheitsbehörden mit. Einer der beiden habe sich vor einem Rekrutierungszentrum der Armee in die Luft gesprengt. Der zweite habe seine Sprengstoffweste in einer Gruppe von Rekruten gezündet, die vor dem Haus eines Kommandeurs gewartet hätten.

http://www.zeit.de/politik/2016-05/jemen-anschlag-bombe-armee-rekruten-aden und ntv: http://www.n-tv.de/ticker/IS-bekennt-sich-zu-Doppelanschlag-article17755301.html und Bilder https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/734728809379995648

23.5.2016 – The Independent (* A T)

Yemen suicide bombings: Isis claim responsibility for attack which killed at least 40 people in Aden

The jihadis targeted recruits standing in line to enlist for military service

Two suicide attacks claimed by Isis have killed at least 40 people and injured dozens more in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, residents and security officials have said.

The blasts occurred in the Khor Maksar district of the port city, which serves as the temporary capital of Yemen's Saudi-backed government while it seeks to seize back the capital Sanaa from the armed Houthi group and other insurgents like Isis.

They were said to have been targetting recruits as they lined up to enlist for military service to fight against the Houthi insurgency to the north.

One suicide car bomber targeted a line outside the recruitment centre killing at least 20 people.

A second bomber struck on foot as he detonated his explosive vest among a group of recruits waiting outside the home of an army commander, killing at least 25.

Local news website Aden al-Ghad showed pictures of soldiers picking up bloodied comrades in uniform from the ground and witnesses reported seeing ambulances with blaring sirens collecting the wounded from the scene – by Caroline Mortimer

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-bombing-aden-isis-al-qaeda-daesh-islamic-state-saudi-arabia-a7042896.html

23.5.2016 – Reuters (* A T)

Islamic State suicide bombing kills 40 army recruits in Yemen's Aden

A suicide car bombing claimed by Islamic State killed at least 40 army recruits and injured 60 others in the Yemeni city of Aden on Monday, medics said, in one of the deadliest attacks yet on the beleaguered government.

The attack occurred as the recruits lined up to enlist for military service at the home of a senior general in the Khor Maksar district of Aden, officials said.

The port city serves as the temporary capital of Yemen's Saudi-backed administration while it seeks to seize back the capital Sanaa from the armed Houthi group.

Local news website Aden al-Ghad showed pictures of soldiers picking up bloodied comrades in uniform from the ground and witnesses reported seeing ambulances with blaring sirens collecting the wounded.

In a written statement posted to its social media accounts, Islamic state said the attack targeted "the apostate Yemeni army" and named the attacker as Abu Ali al-Adeni.

A bomb planted at the gate of a nearby army base detonated afterwards but caused no casualties, local officials said – by Mohammed Mukhashaf

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN0YE0LE and by Aljazeera http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/dozens-dead-car-bomb-attack-yemen-160523071653448.html and some images https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/734654945073504256 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/734709169845075968 and https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/734728809379995648 and:

Comment by Judith brown to the ITV report:

Just a small correction on ITV's storyline. Aden is not a defacto capital city of Yemen, and never has been. There is one government in Sanaa, with the Houthis in charge of that, and another government in Riyadh, doing the bidding of their masters in Saudi Arabia. They keep sending a few politicians to Aden to try to run the show but they usually have to flee back to KSA after few weeks for protection. The governors and military leaders in Aden have frequently been subject to assassination attempts, and many have succeeded. I don't know whether ITV doesn't know any better, or whether they think we don't know any better and they are trying to fool us. Either way, this is not correct.

https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154378592338641

23.5.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A T)

Victims were simple people whom above everything just looking for a job to secure an income in a currently wrecked economy.

https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/734729670206296069

23.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)

Yemen ISIS Identified the suicide bomber who killed more than 100 in Aden south as ABU ALI AL ADANI

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/734681335697158144

23.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)

Yemen ISIS Claimed two bombings that killed more than 100 of Saudi occupation forces in the restive Aden south where

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/734673614960754688 and https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/734669166460817408

23.5.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A T)

Death count in Aden suicide blasts now 49. Many critically injured & no electricity for critical med equip..desperate situation

https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/734661011916099584

22.5.2016 – Jane Novak (B P)

More on Ali Mohsen VP of #Yemen: Imperial Grunts by Robert Kaplan 2005 (as Mohsen set up the jihaddi trail to Iraq) (see image ot read more)

https://twitter.com/JNovak_Yemen/status/734414940208037888

22.5.2016 – Khabar Agency (A T)

#Yemen: A car bomb exploded in #Mukalla, three people reported killed

https://twitter.com/khabaragency/status/734388135262588928

22.5.2016 – Ahmad Ali (A P)

A generator for Aden city costs less than "one day bombs" dropped in Aden during "liberation"

https://twitter.com/jaguarofYemen/status/734386176828841984

22.5.2016 – AFP (A P)

Yemen police kill protester in demo on Aden power cuts

Police have opened fire to disperse dozens of Aden residents protesting power cuts in Yemen's second city, killing one, a local government official said Sunday.

"A resident was killed and others were wounded" by police gunfire during the late Saturday protests, said the official who requested anonymity.

Dozens of people took to the streets in several Aden neighborhoods protesting a lack of electricity supply as temperatures soared to almost 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the coastal city.

Residents blocked roads, erected barricades and set tyres ablaze, prompting police intervention, witnesses said.

Most of the city's electricity installations were destroyed during fighting between pro-government forces and Iran-backed rebels last year.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2016/May-22/353260-yemen-police-kill-protester-in-demo-on-aden-power-cuts.ashx#.V0GmbfCGn81.twitter

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

24.5.2016 - El-Balad (A P)

Yemen demands release of defense minister, prisoners

Yemen’s government delegates to peace talks in Kuwait have demanded that militias release Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Subaihi and other political prisoners. AFP said.

Subaihi was leading a counter-offensive against the Houthis in Lahij governorate in March last year when he was captured by militia forces along with Faisal Rajab, commander of the pro-Hadi 119th Armored Brigade.

The delegation has also demanded the immediate release of journalists imprisoned in Houthi militia prisons, who have reportedly been on hunger strike while in custody.

http://www.el-balad.com/2232694

Comment: There are negotiations on the release of prisoners by both sides.

24.5.2016 - Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)

Apathetic Resumption of Yemen Consultations and Ould Cheikh Resorts to Bilateral Meetings

Yemen consultations resumed in Kuwait yesterday but some apathy was shown and this prompted the UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh to cut the main session short.

Sources close to the consultations told Asharq Al-Awsat that a state of apathy prevailed during the direct meeting which was attended by the UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and that this apathy pushed him to suspend the meeting after about 45 minutes. He then resorted to holding bilateral meetings that have dominated the work of the consultations since they started on the 21st of April.

http://english.aawsat.com/2016/05/article55351329/apathetic-resumption-yemen-consultations-ould-cheikh-resorts-bilateral-meetings

23.5.2016 - Almanar (A P)

Saudi-backed Delegation Deliberately Obstructs Yemen’s Talks in Kuwait

Yemeni sources asserted that the Saudi-backed delegation deliberately absented itself deliberately from the meeting of the hostages committee which was scheduled to convene on Tuesday at Bayan Palace in Kuwait.

The session was set to examine the lists of the hostages, according to the same sources which added that the Saudi military violations across the Yemeni provinces accompanied the political obstruction for the talks.
The UN-sponsored peace talks between the Yemeni parties in Kuwait were resumed on Monday after a six-day stop due to the Saudi-backed delegation deliberate absence.

http://english.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?eid=271203&cid=23&fromval=1

23.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)

Yemen deposed&Riyadh-exiled president Hadi is out the Saudi-American dirty game in Yemen (image)

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/735020429719539712

23.5.2016 – UN envoy to Yemen (A P)

A special meeting of the prisoners and detainee committee was held today. We noted important progress

https://twitter.com/OSESGY/status/734871144113836033

We convened a plenary today with both delegations + bilateral meetings with the GoY delegation, as well as with the GPC and Ansar Allah

https://twitter.com/OSESGY/status/734870723903270912

Peace talks are always complicated and require time, however I urge the parties to exert all possible effort to reach sustainable agreement

https://twitter.com/OSESGY/status/734869362641895424

23.5.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)

Ould Cheikh: Core Issues Are Being Discussed at the Yemen Consultations

The UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh confirmed in an exclusive statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Yemeni peace negotiations in Kuwait which resume today are proceeding at a good pace and are making significant progress. He also indicated that Gulf support is responsible for the success of these negotiations.

Ould Cheikh added that core issues are being discussed at the peace talks and that he expects to see many difficulties at this stage, in reference to the UN resolution 2216 which stipulates withdrawal from the cities occupied by armed militias and handing over weapons.

The Minister of Local Administration and Head of the High Relief Committee in Yemen Abdul Raqeeb Fath told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Yemeni government has received international and Gulf guarantees that the rebels are committed to the agenda of the consultations that are taking place in Kuwait under the auspices of the United Nations, within specific frameworks.

Fath added that the Yemeni government held direct talks with the United Nations and its humanitarian organisations about the renewal of its appeal to stop rebel forces from impeding or preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid according to the fourth Geneva Convention which states in its articles that civilians in conflict zones will be protected.

http://english.aawsat.com/2016/05/article55351285/ould-cheikh-core-issues-discussed-yemen-consultations

Comment: what are “core issues”? And, reading this: Nothing new forever?

23.5.2016 – Yemen News Today (* A P)

Well, it seems to me that Hadi's idea of negotiating is to say what they want and expect the other side to meekly comply so that they can claim that the other side surrendered. The Houthis and their followers want to return to the unity government which was proposed and rejected by Hadi before Hadi called in his big neighbour to kill his own people. And if the negotiations fail,then ordinary Yemenis will have to suffer more war which the vast majority of Yemenis just do not want.

https://www.facebook.com/yemennewstodayenglish/posts/1140721319413691

22.5.2016 – Press TV Iran (* A P)

Peace talks on Yemen going nowhere: Commentator

Press TV has interviewed Naseer al-Omari, a writer and political commentator in New York, about Yemen’s Ansarullah movement saying it has attended peace talks in Kuwait to engage in a political dialog, not to give in to bullying.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: What do you think the Ansarullah movement really refers to when they say they are not in the peace talks to be bullied. What do they mean by being bullied?

Omari: Well they are being asked the impossible which is to drop their weapons and in Yemen it is hard to drop your weapon when you do not know who is your enemy and your friend.

There was a time when Ali Abdullah Saleh himself attacked the Houthis, about six wars, if I am not mistaken, that were waged by Ali Abdullah Saleh against the Houthis. So this is a country that does not have a history of representation of minority groups, this is a country that has flourished with sectarianism, so to ask the Houthis to drop their weapons in this atmosphere is basically asking them to commit suicide.

Press TV: You mentioned the Saudi-led delegation has been asking the other party to drop their weapons. That is one of their demands. The other demand is to leave and give up the strongholds and the territorial gains that they have made. Now if they were to do that, then what do they have in hand to essentially talk and negotiate about, if they continue to have any peace talks that is?

Omari: Exactly and that is the point that we have a situation here where the Houthis and Ali Abdullah Saleh are being asked to accept the Hadi government and on the other hand the Houthis and Ali Abdullah Saleh are saying let’s agree on a national government other than the Hadi government but the negotiations have not gone anywhere for the last month although they had all kinds of committees working like the military committee, the aid committee and all of that but nothing is happening and the situation on the ground, the Yemeni people are hoping for peace because the humanitarian situation is deteriorating despite the fact that there is a truce going on.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/05/22/466898/Yemen-Houthis-Ansarullah-peace-talks-Kuwait-Hadi-Saleh

23.5.2016 – AFP (A P)

UN: Yemen foes resume direct talks after boycott

Yemen’s warring parties held their first face-to-face meeting in nearly a week on Monday after the government delegation ended a boycott, the UN envoy said.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement that a joint meeting was held between the two delegations which have gathered in Kuwait and later he met with them separately.

He urged the two parties “to exert all efforts to achieve a sustainable solution for the sake of easing the suffering of Yemenis.”

“Any delay, retreat or boycott will take us backward and slow down the solution Yemenis are waiting for,” Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.

The troubled negotiations which began on April 21 broke off last Tuesday when the government delegation suspended its participation accusing Iran-backed rebels who control the capital of failing to keep their word.

The government demanded a written pledge from the Iran-backed Houthi militias and their allies recognizing an April 2015 UN Security Council resolution calling for their pullout from Sanaa and other territories they have overrun since 2014, as well as well as President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s legitimacy.

Hadi agreed to end the boycott after mediation by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the UN special envoy said on Sunday.

Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi said at the face-to-face meeting Monday that the government had received a letter from the UN envoy reaffirming a commitment to “references, the talks agenda and the legitimacy” of Hadi and his government.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2016/05/23/UN-Yemen-foes-resume-direct-talks-after-boycott.html

cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran

23.5.2016 – The American Conservative (* A K P)

Saudi Distortions and the War on Yemen

Thomas Juneau explained last week that Yemen’s Houthis are not Iranian puppets: […]

I have pointed out Iran’s negligible role in Yemen several times before, but it bears repeating because so many of the reports on the Saudi-led intervention have accepted the Saudis’ self-serving, dishonest framing of the conflict. The Saudis’ intervention has received very little scrutiny or criticism in the West, and one reason for that it is that it been presented to Western audiences as a “response” to supposed Iranian “expansionism.” The reality is that any influence Iran has gained in the country has come about as a result of the Saudi intervention: […]

The false claim that Iran is “on the march” in the region has been a standard talking point for opponents of the nuclear deal with Iran, because they were desperate to change the subject and to make Iran seem much more powerful than it is. That claim has also become an excuse for endorsing whatever reckless action our regional clients happen to take and spinning it as a “reaction” to Iranian behavior. It has helped the Saudis to present their aggressive and unnecessary military intervention in Yemen as a “defensive” measure, and it has obscured the fact that they and their allies are the ones doing the most to destabilize the region. The U.S. and Britain would presumably have gone along with supporting the war on Yemen anyway, but the specter of growing Iranian influence has helped to mute criticism of the war and U.S.-British backing of it – by Daniel Larison

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/saudi-distortions-and-the-war-on-yemen/

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

23.5.2016 – Esquire (B K P)

It's Time to Stop the Saudis

When will we admit that many of our Gulf "allies" are spreading violent extremism worldwide?

Back in 1999, the last time we had a President Clinton, the United States and NATO intervened in Kosovo to prevent the slaughter of civilians in yet another of the brutal civil wars that resulted from the dissolution of what used to be Yugoslavia. The intervention was vigorous enough to draw criticism from, among other organizations, Amnesty International, but it had the desired effect. The slaughter was of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, most of whom were Muslims, a community that, until all hell broke loose, generally lived in harmony with its Christian neighbors.

I mention all this because, as The New York Times reports, our great good friends, the Saudis, and their affiliated statelets around the Persian Gulf, are doing their best to start the bloodletting all over again [in Kosovo].

Absent western intervention, Kosovo wouldn't exist today. That doesn't matter to the purveyors of hate and death. If someone can tell me what benefits—besides cheap oil and the feeling that it can always get worse—the world gains from the continued existence of the governments in the Gulf states, I'd be keen to know.

Any influence over them that might come from us arming these governments is clearly nil. They are authoritarian theocracies, bribing murderers to kill people all around the world so they won't kill anyone back home. These countries are a blight, and their rulers, largely plutocratic criminals. These are our allies in the fight against terror – by Charles B. Pierce

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a45149/kosovo-extremist-islam-saudi-arabia/

Comment: The article in NYT was presented in YP 147.

20.5.2016 – Counterpunch (* A P)

Israel and Saudi Arabia: Strange Bedfellows in the New Middle East

Beneath the surface, these two old adversaries actually have a lot in common. In fact, in the contemporary Middle East, they’ve become the strangest of bedfellows.

Rumors about the budding relationship have been circulating for the past few years. In 2015, former Saudi and Israeli officials confirmed that they’d held a series of high-level meetings to discuss shared concerns, such as the growing influence of Iran in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon, as well as Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Shimon Shapira, an Israeli representative who participated in secret meetings with the Saudis, put it this way: “We discovered we have the same problems and same challenges and some of the same answers.”

On May 5, former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki bin Faisal and retired Israeli Major General Yaakov Amidror spoke together at a Washington event hosted by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy — the policy wing of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. The event, broadcast live online, showed that Saudi Arabia and Israel have finally come out of the closet –– together.

Here are some traits Saudi Arabia and Israel have in common.

Finally, both countries are long-time allies of the United States. Subsequent U.S. administrations have supported Israel since its founding in 1948; they’ve also supported an array of Saudi kings since the founding of that nation in 1932.

The U.S. has helped guarantee the security of both nations. U.S. taxpayers give over $3 billion a year to support the Israeli military, the U.S. military guards the Persian Gulf for the Saudi royalty, and Saudi Arabia is the No. 1 purchaser of U.S. weapons.

Some say it’s good for Israel and Saudi Arabia to bury the hatchet and find common ground. But peace in the Middle East won’t be furthered by the causes they’re collaborating on.

Instead, Israel has to make peace with the Palestinians, and Saudi Arabia has to come to terms with Iran. Otherwise, Saudi-Israeli collusion will only be a fatal embrace that causes more heartbreak for the region – by Medea Benjamin

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/20/israel-and-saudi-arabia-strange-bedfellows-in-the-new-middle-east/

cp9 USA

22.5.2016 – Yemen Peace Project (* A K P)

What benefits remain in the U.S.-Saudi alliance?

The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington hosted a discussion on Wednesday on the nature of U.S.-Saudi relations and the conflicts and challenges that could threaten their close alliance. Heading the discussion was F. Gregory Gause, an AGSIW board member and professor of international affairs.

“It is extremely useful to have a good working relationship with countries that actually govern their territory and that have some influence in areas where real governance no longer exists,” Gause says, adding that the Saudis “are susceptible to the normal instruments of diplomacy and have influence in these areas where governance has collapsed or is contested in the region.”

Gause asserts that there are still a significant number of common interests that unite Washington and Riyadh. Both sides see Salafi jihadism as a threat and both have an interest in preventing any other power from dominating the Gulf region and the Middle East as a whole.

Yemen in particular illustrates the strategic differences and commonalities between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. As Gause says, “Yemen encapsulates both the tensions in bilateral relations and the desire by both sides to sustain the relationship despite these tensions.”

Saudi Arabia is often charged with exporting the exact Salafi jihadist ideology that the U.S. is committed to defeating, but Gause explains that this strain of Islamic extremism is not a purely Saudi phenomenon.

He rejects the claim made by Senator Chris Murphy (who introduced legislation to increase oversight of U.S. weapon sales to Saudi Arabia) that the kingdom is only a few degrees removed from terrorists inspired by the ISIS ideology. Gause says that if the Saudis did ever have ideological or political control over Salafism in the past, it has since lost it.

If arm sales were halted, Saudis could easily purchase them elsewhere, and if the intelligence relationship was cut off, it would only serve to harm American interests.

“It’s hard for me to avoid the conclusion that the talk of distancing ourselves from Riyadh has no practical benefit and is simply an emotional reaction. But foreign policy isn’t simply about feeling good about ourselves, it’s about furthering our country’s interests, and having a decent relationship with Saudi Arabia advances those interests.”

http://www.yemenpeaceproject.org/blogpost/what-benefits-remain-in-the-u-s-saudi-alliance/

Comment: The normal US pro-Saudi argumentation. Just one case: Saudis have lost control over Salafism? Certainly not, just read the article on Kosovo, linked in YPR 17 cp1.

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

siehe cp 1 Am wichtigsten / See cp1 Most important

24.5.2016 - RT (* A K P)

MoD ‘urgently investigating’ claims Saudi Arabia is using UK-made cluster bombs in Yemen

cp13 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

23.5.2016 – Abendblatt (A H)

Krieg im Jemen: die Flucht von Rasha und Anis

Wenn in Indien eine Herde Kühe stirbt, kommt das in den Nachrichten", sagt Rasha Almaqaleh. "Wenn in meiner Heimat Jemen Männer, Frauen und Kinder sterben, dann verstummen die Nachrichten-Kanäle." Der Jemen, sagt die junge Mutter, scheint nicht als ein Teil der Welt wahrgenommen zu werden.

Gemeinsam mit ihrem Partner Anis Albasha und ihrem gemeinsamen fünfjährigen Sohn floh Rasha Almaqaleh über die Stationen Italien und Schweden nach Norderstedt. Nun sucht die junge Familie hier nach einem Leben in Freiheit und Frieden. Und sie wollen dafür sorgen, dass die Menschen in Deutschland mehr erfahren über den Jemen und die Hintergründe für den Krieg dort. Die Veranstaltungsreihe "Alte Heimat – neue Heimat" von der Stadtbücherei Norderstedt, in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Willkommen-Team, gibt ihnen dazu die Möglichkeit – von Andreas Burgmeyer

http://www.abendblatt.de/region/norderstedt/article207595695/Krieg-im-Jemen-die-Flucht-von-Rasha-und-Anis.html

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

Siehe cp1 Am wichtigsten; cp5 Nordjemen, cp6 Südjemen / See cp1 Most important, cp5 Nordjemen, cp6 Südjemen

24.5.2016 - Asharq Al-Awsat (A T)

The commander of the second military region in Mukalla (South Yemen) Major General Faraj Al-Bohsini revealed in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that more than 130 Al-Qaeda militants, including 30 of their senior leaders, were captured during security operations in the capital of the Hadramout governorate, Mukalla.

Al-Bohsini, who led the operation to liberate Mukalla from Al-Qaeda recently, said in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that raids carried out by the security authorities on Al-Qaeda in Mukalla revealed the size of the scheme which the organisation had plotted for Hadramout. The army discovered approximately 20 cars loaded with bombs that were ready to carry out terrorist operations, heavy guns, combat vehicles, tanks, mines, various ammunition, explosive TNT materials and chemicals used to manufacture explosives.

http://english.aawsat.com/2016/05/article55351329/apathetic-resumption-yemen-consultations-ould-cheikh-resorts-bilateral-meetings

21.5.2016 – Tony Toh (A T)

Did anyone notice the new ISIL video in #Yemen was actually filmed in #Aden? Yes, the "liberated" Aden freed by US/Saudi/UAE proxies.

https://twitter.com/tonytohcy/status/733942900644401152

cp15 Propaganda

24.5.2016 - Middle East Monitor (A P)

More than 40,000 civilians wounded or killed in Yemen

More than 40,000 Yemeni civilians, mostly women and children, have been wounded or killed in the ongoing war in the country, the country’s prime minister revealed yesterday.

During a speech at the World Humanitarian Summit being held in Istanbul, Ahmed Obeid Bin Daghr said that the war displaced more than 2,5 million Yemenis internally and thousands externally.

“Yemen is witnessing a humanitarian disaster due to the actions of the coup militias and their disastrous policies,” he said.

“They looted and destroyed the country’s institutions and depleted the foreign currency reserves,” he added, noting that this caused the collapse of the national economy.

“The Houthis violated freedom, arrested citizens violently, stopped newspapers and looted international humanitarian aid, causing a humanitarian crisis.” He noted that most hospitals have closed and other services have ceased.

He outlined that the country was suffering from an “acute shortage of food supplies, medicines, oil and the fear that diseases and epidemics may return.” This has led to more than 80 per cent of Yemenis being in need of humanitarian aid and left more than seven million facing food insecurity.

His government is keen to continue UN-sponsored talks to end the conflict and achieve unity, security, stability and set up a united governance system.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160524-more-than-40000-civilians-wounded-or-killed-in-yemen/

Comment: That really is a keen propaganda on the international stage. 2/3 of all victims in Yemen are caused by the Saudi aerial war. Daghr really wants to blame the Houthis for these victims and does not mention the aerial war at all.

23.5.2016 – WAM (A P)

President of Yemen praises UAE, Saudi Arabia's role in Arab Coalition efforts

President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi of Yemen has said that his country emerged victorious in the 'battle of existence', thanks to the co-operation and support of the Arab Coalition countries, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Yemeni News Agency quoted President Hadi as saying during a meeting with dignitaries from Ta'ez, that the rebellious forces have exclusionist and foreign agendas.

During the meeting with the delegation of Ta'ez, still under siege by the Houthi and the deposed Ali Abdullah Saleh's militias, President Hadi reviewed developments in Yemen and the progress of the peace talks, hosted by Kuwait and sponsored by the United Nations and the international community.

http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates-arab/1395295838861.html

Comment: His main task: To praise UAE, Saudi Arabia.

1.5.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)

Saudi Sources: the Ultimate Solution in Yemen will Put an End to the Militias

http://english.aawsat.com/2016/04/article55349143/saudi-sources-the-ultimate-solution-in-yemen-will-put-an-end-to-the-militias

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

24.5.2016 - Yemen Post (A K)

New ATTACKS: 6 Saudi airstrikes bombard #Yemen region of AlJawf while warplanes continue roaming skies of country.

https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/735102922082680833

23.5.2016 – Fatik Al-Rodaini (A K)

Saudi warplanes hit al-Thumila area in Nehim district of Sanaa with 2 sorties

https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/734830067063390208

22.5.2016 – World Bulletin (A K)

Coalition hits Yemen's Sanaa with sound bombs

Yemeni capital Sanaa was shaken by loud explosions on Sunday due to sound bombs dropped by Saudi-led coalition warplanes, a local security source said.

"Arab coalition aircraft dropped four sound bombs on different parts of the city, causing massive explosions," the source, who spoke anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media, said.

"People thought Arab coalition planes were conducting airstrikes, but it was later confirmed they were only dropping sound bombs," he added.

"A number of severe explosions shook homes in several neighborhoods of Sanaa, including Hayil, Wihdah and al-Zubairi," one eyewitness said.

http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/172996/coalition-hits-yemens-sanaa-with-sound-bombs

22.5.2016 – Yemen Post (A K)

MORE BLOOD: 12 people killed when 3 Saudi airstrikes bombarded #Yemen region of Amran today, just east of capital.

https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/734421731847311362

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

24.5.2016 - Hisham Al-Omeisy (A K PH)

Word of major escalation in fighting btwn Houthis and resistance in alJawf & Marib where also multiple airstrikes past few hours.

https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/735106967606329345

#PT Apparently in Shabwa too. Bad enough to prompt Houthi's SP decrying as serious violation of ceasefire.

https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/735108016006139904

23.5.2016 – Reuters (A K)

Saudi border guard killed, three wounded in mine blast: agency

A Saudi border guard was killed and three others were wounded by a landmine that exploded while on patrol alongside the border with Yemen on Monday, state news agency SPA reported quoting an interior ministry spokesman.

SPA said the mine exploded in the morning in the Jizan region in southern Saudi Arabia when two border patrols passed on a designated road near the border with Yemen.

One soldier died in the blast while three others were wounded and were taken to a hospital, the agency said.

It was not immediately clear if the mine had been planted recently or had been there prior to the calm in place since March.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-saudi-idUSKCN0YE2JZ

22.5.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K PH)

As a retaliation of #Saudi #UAE constant violation of ceasefire #Yemen-i army& #Houthi launched ballistic missile on #Jizan port south #KSA

https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/734475159017541635

cp18 Sonstiges / Other

23.5.2016 – Nachrichten.at (A)

Erdrutsch in Jemen: Mindestens 20 Tote

Nach heftigem Regen in einem bergigen Gebiet in der südwestlichen Provinz Taes habe sich eine Lawine aus Schlamm, Geröll und Felsbrocken gelöst und Teile des Dorfes Al Lassbah unter sich begraben, berichtete die Nachrichtenagentur der schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen, Saba, am Montag.

Dutzende Menschen seien bei dem Unglück verletzt worden, berichtete Saba. Die Rettungskräfte haben Schwierigkeiten, zu dem abgeschiedenen Dorf vorzudringen. Die Zahl der Opfer könnte deshalb weiter steigen.

http://www.nachrichten.at/nachrichten/weltspiegel/Erdrutsch-in-Jemen-Mindestens-20-Tote;art17,2239998

23.5.2016 – National Yemen (A E P)

Oman Doubles Business Opportunities With Yemen

The businessmen from Oman and Yemen discussed exchange of trade between two neighbouring countries and sought to remove the roadblocks in trade and commerce to reap maximum benefits of the available resources and create a win-win situation for both the countries. A high level business delegation from Yemen arrived in Salalah to take part in Sunday’s deliberations titled ‘Omani-Yemeni Forum to facilitate investment’. Major business stakeholders from Oman took part in the forum and expressed willingness to join hands with their Yemeni counterparts – by Fakhri Al-Arashi

http://nationalyemen.com/2016/05/23/oman-doubles-business-opportunities-with-yemen/

Vorige / Previous:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/krieg-im-jemen-neue-artikel-zum-nachlesen-147

Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-147: / Yemen Press Reader 1-147:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm