Allgemein
22.9.2015 – People’s Voice
Genocide in Yemen
Yemen is Obama’s war - cold-blooded genocidal slaughter and mass destruction, planned long before conflict began in late March, using Saudi Arabia, UAE, other Gulf states and Egypt to do his dirty work.
Terror bombing residential neighborhoods, hospitals, schools and other non-military related targets continues.
US-Saudi enforced blockade prevents enough food, medical supplies, fuel, clean water and other essentials from reaching desperate people in need. Human Rights Watch said what’s ongoing “may amount to starvation of civilians as a weapon of warfare” - genocide by deprivation.
Western media are dismissive - largely ignoring an increasing US-created holocaust. Near silence substitutes for what demands daily headlines and condemnation of Obama’s latest imperial project - to destroy Yemeni sovereignty and return US-controlled puppet leadership to power, no matter the cost in lives lost, vast destruction and unspeakable human misery.
Official casualty numbers way understate the human toll. True figures are multiples higher than reported. Victims suffer out of sight and mind - mostly noncombatant civilian men, women and children in harm’s way.
Death and injury tolls rise daily. People are dying from lack of enough food to eat, thirst and medical treatment for serious health issues - likely many thousands already, maybe millions before conflict ends.
Jeremy Corbyn chairs Britain’s Stop the War Coalition. It issued a strongly worded statement last spring, shortly after US orchestrated, Saudi-led terror bombing began, saying:
“The Stop the War Coalition condemns the British government’s support for the Saudi-led attack on Yemen. This war is a further destabilising act of aggression in the Middle East, which risks embroiling the region and its peoples in a still wider war.”
“Saudi Arabia is now playing a leading part in almost every anti-democratic development in the Middle East, including joining in the current Anglo-American bombardment in Iraq, We repeat our long-standing demand that Britain end its alliance with the dictatorial and oppressive Saudi regime, and cease supplying it with arms.”
“This present conflict in Yemen reflects the determination of both Saudi Arabia and the western powers to destroy the democratic potential of the Arab Spring in one country after another.”
“Only the people of Yemen can resolve the crisis in that country and decide their own future, and their independence and territorial integrity must be fully respected.”
Bernie Sanders supports Washington’s war machine - refusing to condemn ongoing mass slaughter and destruction, ignoring the growing holocaust in Yemen. Instead, he urges greater Saudi involvement in regional conflict theaters - more slaughter, destruction and human misery than already.
All Republican and Democrat presidential aspirants support US hegemonic ambitions - color revolutions and genocidal wars the main ways to achieve it – by Stephen Lendman
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2015/09/22/genocide-in-yemen
22.9.2015 – The Daily Vox
What’s it like to live in war-torn Yemen, after negotiating with Al-Qaeda?
South African NGO Gift of the Givers has been providing food, water and medical supplies to people living in this war-zone. But as the conflict escalates the organisation has removed its Yemeni negotiator, Anas al-Hamati, from the region. FIRDAUS KHAN caught up with him on the conflict, the needs of Yemeni civilians, and how he negotiated with Al-Qaeda for the release of Yolande Korkie.
It’s difficult to work in Yemen because there are no safe areas. So many people from other NGO’s have been killed through attacks. There is no state to cooperate with. There are no facilities in which to work. You just work in danger, with attacks from the air force and with attacks on the ground. Militants don’t care about who you are and what you’re doing. That’s why we move very slowly and take care of our team on the ground. It’s very dangerous for them, and we must take care of their lives. That’s why we’ve been removed from Hudaydah and Sana’a.
Kommentar: Die Einschätzung der Huthis am Ende des Artikels ist schon sehr einseitig.
21.5.2015 – The Wallstreet Journal
Yemen Strikes, Israel, and Double Standards in the Middle East
in contrast to reactions to Israeli actions in Gaza, the international community–including the U.S.–has largely ignored civilian casualties in the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, including when it involves bombing urban areas.
It’s impossible to draw strict analogies between the two situations, not merely because the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is decades older than the Houthi-Saudi fight. But there’s still a double standard here.
In contrast to Gaza, where the Israelis were able to accomplish their limited objectives in 50 days, the Saudi-led coalition hasn’t defeated the Houthis in six months and seems in no rush to stop trying.
Last week, the chief of the U.N. human rights council, a Jordanian, called for an independent investigation of both Saudi and Houthi attacks on civilians. But that’s small potatoes compared with the intense U.N. and international criticism of Israeli-Hamas wars in Gaza–including Israel being charged with war crimes and willful targeting of civilians. When it comes to politically irrelevant Yemen, there have been no efforts to take Saudi Arabia to the International Criminal Court, no calls for boycotts or divestment, and no U.N. Security Council or General Assembly resolutions.
The Saudis confront in Yemen the same challenge Israel has faced in Gaza: how to deal with combatants who fire from urban areas using civilians for cover. But Riyadh seems to have less regard for civilian casualties and hasn’t been held accountable the way Israel is for such injuries and death, whether the issue is errant airstrikes, incompetence, or willful targeting of homes, markets, hospitals, and refugee camps.
All of this puts the Obama administration in an untenable position. Yes, Washington is Israel’s key supporter and has defended Israel at the United Nations over Gaza. But when it comes to Yemen, the U.S. is supporting the Saudi coalition airstrikes with targeting information, logistics, and other intelligence. Washington has advised the Saudis to set limits on their targets, and U.S. officials expressed concerns as early as April about the campaign’s open-ended nature. Still, the Obama administration has avoided public criticism.
The issue is less defending Israel than recognizing this double standard in the Middle East.
The Saudis escape consequences for their actions in Yemen in part because the Arab coalition is nine countries deep and rich too – by Aaron David Miller
Kommentar: Dass der Westen auf dem Auge Saudi-Arabien blind ist, ist bekannt. Zwar wurde Israel für den Gaza-Krieg stärker kritisiert als jetzt Saudi-Arabien, aber in Widerspruch zu Miller muss man doch festhalten, dass auch hier der Widerspruch im Westen erstaunlich gering war. Es gab keine Konsequenzen für Israel, nicht einmal eine Delle beim Image in der veröffentlichten Meinung. Was seine Kriegsverbrechen und Unterdrückungsmaßnahmen gegenüber der palästinensischen Bevölkerung angeht, genießt Israel nach wie vor die volle Unterstützung des Westens und kann sich des Wegsehens gewiss sein.
22.9.2015 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair auf Reliefweb
Explosive weapons in Yemen kill and injure nearly 4,500 civilians in first seven months of 2015
Yemen is the worst country for civilian deaths and injuries from explosive weapon use in the first seven months of 2015, says a new publication produced by UK-based charity Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In State of Crisis, AOAV and OCHA investigate the humanitarian impacts of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas in Yemen during the conflict up to 31 July 2015.
Between 1 January and 31 July 2015 AOAV recorded:
124 incidents of explosive violence in Yemen resulting in 5,239 deaths and injuries;
86% of those killed and injured were civilians (4,493);
More civilian deaths and injuries from explosive weapons were recorded in Yemen during the first seven months of 2015 than in any other country in the world;
When explosive weapons were used in populated areas, civilians made up 95% of reported deaths and injuries;
13 separate incidents in Yemen each killed and injured more than 100 civilians. Eight of these incidents were air strikes;
Air strikes have killed and injured the most civilians, with 2,682 civilian deaths and injuries (60%).
The impact of explosive weapons in Yemen goes far beyond the immediate deaths and injuries recorded by AOAV. The report uses testimonies and experiences of victims and witnesses to illustrate some of the long-term impacts that can cause extensive suffering far into the future, even after the fighting ends.
Robert Perkins, author of the report, says: "Our findings show Yemen is the worst country in the world this year for civilians affected by explosive violence, more devastating even than the crisis in Syria and Iraq. An already vulnerable population is now faced with a country reduced o rubble by falling bombs and rockets. Their homes destroyed, their families torn apart, it will take a many years to recover from the last few terrible months in Yemen.
The crisis in Yemen shows exactly why explosive weapons with wide-area effects have no place being used in populated areas. All parties to this conflict must immediately stop the bombing of civilians and civilian areas."
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/state-crisis-explosive-weapons-yemen
Kriegsereignisse
22.9.2015 – Sydney Morning Herald
Saudi Arabia-led coalition strikes kill at least 30 in north Yemen
At least 30 people were killed in air strikes by a Saudi-led alliance on a Houthi-held security compound in northern Yemen on Monday, medical sources and officials said, in an escalating campaign that has claimed increasing civilian lives.
A coalition jet fired a missile on Monday into police headquarters in the al-Shaghadreh district of the northern province of Hajjah, northwest of Sanaa, that is in the hands of the Iranian-allied Houthis, regional officials said.
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A second missile crashed at the compound as rescue teams and residents arrived, causing a large number of casualties including at least 30 dead, according to medics on the scene.
Earlier in the day, coalition warplanes bombed a cement factory at Ibs, another Hajjah district. Local officials said the strike happened before workers arrived for work, but three shepherds who happened to be tending flocks nearby died.
21.9.2015 – News.furt
30 Zivilisten bei Luftangriffen im Jemen getötet
Bei Luftangriffen der saudisch geführten Militärkoalition auf das Bürgerkriegsland Jemen sind mindestens 30 Zivilisten getötet und 20 weitere verwundet worden.
Ein erstes Bombardement auf ein leeres Sicherheitsgebäude etwa 120 Kilometer nordwestlich der Hauptstadt Sanaa habe keine Opfer gefordert, berichteten lokale Journalisten am Montag.
Ein zweiter Luftschlag auf das Haus etwa eine Stunde später tötete allerdings viele Menschen, die inzwischen zu dem Ort geeilt waren. Helfer trauten sich nun nicht mehr in die Nähe des Gebäudes, weil sie einen dritten Angriff fürchteten, hieß es.
http://news.furt.at/artikel/69159/30-Zivilisten-bei-Luftangriffen-im-Jemen-getoetet
21.9.2015 – Albawaba
Saudi airstrikes kill at least 30 in northern Yemen
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes against a Houthi-held compound in northern Yemen killed at least 30 people on Monday, Reuters reported.
Regional officials told Reuters a coalition jet fired a missile at police headquarters in the Hajjah province northwest of the capital Sanaa. Medical sources said a second missile hit the compound as rescue teams and medics arrived at the scene, causing at least 30 casualties.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/saudi-airstrikes-kill-least-30-northern-yemen-746416
Politik von Saudi-Arabien
21.9.2015 – RT
Wahhabism on trial? How Islam is challenging Al Saud’s custodianship of Mecca
Following Mecca’s crane accident, clerics called for an end to Al Saud’s custodianship over Islam's holy sites. Beyond simply managing Mecca and Medina, it is the kingdom’s romance with Wahhabism that dominates this global Islamic conversation.
The absolute rulers of Saudi Arabia have long claimed to hold a monopoly over Islam’s divine attributes on account of geography. The kingdom is home to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. However, the House of Saud could soon see its“custodianship” and self-proclaimed legitimacy over the Muslim world stripped away.
Mecca’s twin tragedies this September (a crane toppled on unsuspecting pilgrims and a fire devastated one of the city’s uber-luxury hotels), reignited a debate on Al Saud’s legitimate authority over not just Islam’s holy sites, but the Islamic community as a whole. Wahhabism, which holds sway in the kingdom, has served more as a divider of people than as a catalyst for dialogue and collaboration.
Needless to say, Al Saud’s support of radicalism, its princes’ play for political control through financial patronage and its clergy’s insistence on institutionalizing sectarianism, have only added fuel to the fire of dissent, inspiring millions to reject the kingdom’s overbearing footprint on Islam.
The House of Saud continues to imagine itself almighty and all-powerful, the leaders of a religious community whose only purpose seems to be to command absolute obedience to their diktat. Muslims have grown tired of such absolutism, especially since it has been tainted by sectarianism and ethnic profiling.
The Koran confirms all men and women stand equal before God, regardless of the color of their skin, social status or economic circumstances. However, Al Saud’s elitist policies vis-à-vis pilgrims and faith in general have spoken a different truth, one that no longer reflects Islam’s tenets. The heirs and guardians of Wahhabism, a religious fabrication, the House of Saud has gone so far down the religious rabbit hole that most Muslims can no longer recognize their faith in the authority ruling over them. Moreover, its legitimacy was imposed and not bestowed.
In 1986, King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz claimed the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, a title that had traditionally been held by the Ottomans since the 16th century as a mean to assert and consolidate their political hegemony over an otherwise fragmented empire.
A man of ambitions, King Abdul Aziz understood that for his legacy to become lasting, Al Saud’s monarchy would have to root itself deep within Islam (a faith which today claims over 1.6 billion followers), by appropriating custodianship of Islam’s most cherished and symbolic monuments. For whoever controls Mecca and Medina can pretend to hold Islam’s destiny in the palm of their hands, if not spiritually, at least politically. Al Saud royals have done just that.
Ever since its kings declared themselves the sole guardians of Islam, their power over the global Muslim community has reached dizzying heights - so much so that even before the plundering of Islam’s historical heritage few dared to utter more than a whisper of criticism.
The architectural transformation, or rather, devolution of Mecca stands testimony to Al Sauds’ capitalistic custodianship.
Under the impetus of Nejd bedouins, Mecca has become a hub for venture capitalists and real estate tycoons. Like much of the Islamic faith, both Mecca and Medina have found themselves besieged, their memories defiled by those whose understanding of spirituality is limited to financial projections.
Muslims have looked on aghast as their heritage has been trampled under a construction mania backed by hardline clerics who preach against the preservation of their own traditions. Mecca, once a place where the Prophet Muhammad insisted all Muslims would be equal, has become a playground for the rich, where naked capitalism has usurped spirituality as the city's sole raison d'être - a perfect reflection of its masters’ ambitions.
Al Saud’s fortune continues to increase by dint of lucrative business deals and powerful political friendships, but the kingdom’s religious legitimacy is standing on quicksand. And if silence has defined the past decades, clerics have now joined together with those whom Wahhabis have labeled apostates - Shia Muslims, to reclaim Islam’s holy sites for the collective.
Calls against Al Saud’s rule over Mecca and Medina have now grown both in strength and tenacity, with Muslims increasingly disillusioned before Saudi Arabia’s unfair diktat and management of those cities, which were originally meant to be shining symbols of tolerance and equality.
The accidents in September came to epitomize the rot eating away at the system. From Al Saud’s drastic pilgrim quotas and the shunning of certain nationalities based on political upsets, Muslims have just about had enough of Saudi Arabia’s tantrums.
Only this year, Yemenis were barred from the Hajj. Those sites which God stamped holy, Al Saud has claimed ownership over - as if the divine was yet another commodity to squeeze a profit out of, to be belittled and forced into submission.
Earlier this September, Sheikh Salman Mohammad, adviser to Egypt's Ministry of Endowment, broke his office’s tacit rule of silence by challenging King Salman’s religious legitimacy. He said: "Many mistakes have been made during the Hajj ceremony in recent decades and the bloody incident on Friday was not the first case and will not be the last either; therefore, unless a revolution doesn’t take place in the administration and management of the Hajj ceremony in Saudi Arabia, we will witness such incidents in future, too.”
Professor Ashraf Fahmi of Egypt's Al-Azhar University, which is associated with the influential Al-Azhar Mosque, an institution kept under the financial and ideological thumb of Wahhabi Saudi Arabia, also broke with tradition when he aligned his criticism to that of Grand Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani, a prominent Shia cleric based in Qom (Iran). Fahmi demanded that Saudi Arabia "admit its mistakes" in managing the Hajj pilgrimage.
For the first time in centuries - actually since Wahhabism rose its ugly radical head, both Shia and Sunni clerics have come to agree that Al Saud’s claim over Islam’s holy cities can no longer be tolerated, not when it implies the disappearance of Islam’s heritage and spirit.
Could this new tentative alliance, or at least common anger, mature into a full frontal attack on Wahhabism and become a real mobilization against the evil of our modern days - radicalism? – by Catherine Shakdam
http://www.rt.com/op-edge/316023-mecca-medina-islam-saudi/
19.9.2015 – The Times
Saudis to crucify student who attended protest rally
A young Saudi Arabian man is facing crucifixion after beheading for attending an antigovernment protest in 2012, when he was 17.
A court in Jeddah passed the sentence on Ali al-Nimr, now 21, last May. All appeals processes have been exhausted, and the sentence is expected to be carried out within days after being upheld by the Supreme Court this week. Crucifixion in Saudi Arabia involves the victim being beheaded, with the corpse then strung up in public – by Bel Trew
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article4561525.ece
Politik der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate
21.9.2015 – The Huffington Post
The UAE's High Stakes in Yemen
By demonstrating their commitment to devoting greater military resources to battling the Houthis and loyalists of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the UAE and Qatar are drawing themselves closer to the conflict's epicenter. The dangers of doing so were underscored on September 4, when the Houthis and their allies in the Yemeni Army fired a Soviet-era missile at an ammunition depot in the central province of Marib, killing 45 Emiratis.
In response to the attack (the UAE's heaviest military loss since national independence in 1971), Abu Dhabi vowed strong retaliation. Shortly after the nation commenced three days of mourning, UAE jets carried out what one Yemeni official described as "the heaviest air strikes that Sana'a has endured", in addition to strikes on Houthi strongholds in Saada, Marib and the central city of Ibb
The UAE's bold entry into the fray in Yemen comes after years in which the Gulf state has flexed its muscles in foreign conflicts where the Emiratis saw their vital national interests at stake. Yemen plays a pivotal role in the UAE's grander geostrategic calculation. As a close ally of Saudi Arabia, the UAE's commitment to Riyadh's security was a factor in Abu Dhabi's decision to become increasingly involved in Yemen's conflict. However, the UAE's interests in Yemen also pertain to the security of the Bab-el-Mandab, the narrow strait separating Yemen from the Horn of Africa that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Yet, the UAE's stepped up military presence on the ground in Yemen is being waged as Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states continue to assert that the ongoing conflict with the Houthis is an important battle in the struggle against Iranian influence in the Arab world.
The Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen is about more than simply countering Iran's perceived growing influence in the Arabian Peninsula. The autocratic Sunni Arab regimes that joined Riyadh's coalition did so in part to stoke nationalism in their respective countries. By rallying their citizens around the flag, such rulers seek to distract them from numerous domestic issues, most notably the absence of democracy, corruption and rising income inequality. Additionally, coalition members such as Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan appear to have participated primarily to ensure the flow of Saudi petro dollar aid. Given that these comparatively oil-poor countries are experiencing grave economic crises that threaten to strengthen political opposition movements within their borders, money from the Gulf plays a pivotal role in these regimes' survival strategies. Within this context, the coalition's campaign is ultimately about protecting the region's status quo in politics, economics, trade, investment, social stratification, social order and leadership. Preventing Iran from gaining permanent influence in Yemen is only one aspect of a grander counter-revolutionary agenda.
Going forward, the UAE must cautiously assess the risks of deeper military involvement in the Yemeni conflict. Not only do Houthi insurgents threaten UAE troops, so do hardline Salafist militias.
Although the GCC's enhanced support for anti-Houthi forces in Aden and other portions of Yemen are said to be weakening the Houthi militants, it is questionable whether the coalition will have the means to decisively crush the insurgency in the Houthi strongholds of Northern Yemen.
As the Yemeni crisis continues with no sign of peace on the horizon, the UAE's role in the conflict may become increasingly complicated. The unpredictable nature of the war is shaped by countless variables, such as evolving political alliances, the scope and nature of Iran's future role, the southern secessionist movement, and the nascent local Daesh division.
midst the background of a violent conflict that is destroying Yemen, the UAE seeks to prove to the world that the wealthy emirates are capable of more than just spending billions of dollars to create a first-rate military with advanced weaponry. The country is also determined to project a muscular image and assert itself as a powerful military force capable of influencing the outcome of Middle Eastern conflicts on behalf of its national interests. Indeed, the UAE's main motivations for entering the fray in Yemen have as much to do with preserving the region's status quo, as with the preserving its own political stability and economic prosperity – by Daniel Wagner and Giorgio Cafiero
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/the-uaes-high-stakes-in-y_b_8170042.html
Politik der USA – Drohnenkrieg
22.9.2015 –World Socialist Web
Jemen: Ein Kriegsverbrechen made in USA
Diese blutigen Angriffe wurden zwar von Flugzeugen nahöstlicher Monarchien unter der Führung Saudi-Arabiens ausgeführt. Die Verantwortung liegt aber letztlich bei der Obama-Regierung. Die Gräueltaten der Saudis und ihrer Verbündeten wären ohne die Unterstützung der amerikanischen Regierung und ihres Militärs nischt möglich.
Präsident Obama begrüßte den saudischen König Salman Anfang des Monats im Weißen Haus mit offenen Armen während gleichzeitig saudische Kampfflugzeuge in ganz Jemen Männer, Frauen und Kinder abschlachteten und in Angst und Schrecken versetzten. Eine Waffenlieferung über eine Milliarde Dollar wurde vereinbart, um die Bombenvorräte des Königreichs wieder aufzufüllen. Die US-Regierung hat bereits Waffen und militärische Ausrüstung im Wert von etlichen Milliarden Dollar geliefert und Saudi-Arabien dabei unterstützt, eine der größten und modernsten Armeen im Nahen Osten aufzubauen.
Der gesamte Feldzug wird von einem gemeinsamen Operationszentrum in Saudi-Arabien aus gelenkt, das mit Dutzenden amerikanischen Militärberatern bestückt ist. US-Drohnenpiloten liefern Video-Livestreams zu potentiellen Zielen von Luftschlägen, während amerikanische Berater die Angriffe abnicken.
Mithilfe amerikanischer Kampfflugzeuge, amerikanischer Bomben, unterstützt von amerikanischen Tankflugzeugen und mit der Hilfe amerikanischer Logistik und Aufklärung hat die von den Saudis geführte Koalition in den letzten sechs Monaten mehr als 25.000 Luftangriffe geflogen. Zum Vergleich: Im Luftkrieg gegen den Islamischen Staat (IS), der jetzt ins zweite Jahr geht, wurden bislang ca. 7.000 Angriffe geflogen.
Angesichts der mörderischen Verbrechen, die im Jemen begangen werden, ist die Reaktion oder, besser gesagt, die Nicht-Reaktion offizieller Kreise und der Medien im Westen auffällig. Massenhaft zivile Opfer und unbeschreibliches Leiden sind bestenfalls ein peinliches Problem der Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, wenn der US-Imperialismus den Nahen Osten und seine riesigen Energievorkommen dominieren möchte.
Die Heuchelei und der Zynismus der Medien kennen keine Grenzen. Die amerikanische Presse überschlägt sich wegen der russischen Waffenlieferungen und der Entsendung von 200 russischen Soldaten nach Syrien, weil dies Washingtons Plänen stört, den syrischen Präsidenten Bashar al-Assad zu stürzen, der wiederum mit Russland und dem Iran verbündet ist. Washington will stattdessen ein willfähriges amerikanisches Marionettenregime in Syrien installieren. Die russische Intervention verblasst jedoch angesichts der Milliardensummen, die CIA und amerikanische Verbündete in der Region für Waffen und Hilfslieferungen zugunsten rechter islamistischer Milizen ausgegeben haben. Die USA unterstützen dabei auch solche mit Verbindungen zu al-Qaida, solange sie gegen das Assad-Regime kämpfen.
Aber dieselben amerikanischen Medien haben praktisch nichts über den Massenmord zu sagen, der in Jemen von Verbündeten der USA mit direkter Unterstützung Washingtons begangen wird.
Die Obama-Regierung hat die Politik der neokolonialen Interventionen deutlich ausgeweitet. Sie hat Kriege mit dem Ziel eines Regimewechsels in Libyen und Syrien geführt und den Krieg im Irak wieder aufgenommen. Der neue Irakkrieg und die Eskalation in Syrien dienen vorgeblich der Zurückdrängung und der Zerschlagung des IS, der weite Teile des Irak und Syriens überrannt hat. Aber es ist kein Geheimnis, dass der IS selbst ein Produkt imperialistischer Interventionen der USA in der Region ist – by Niles Williamson
http://www.wsws.org/de/articles/2015/09/22/pers-s22.html
(English version presented https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/krieg-im-jemen-neue-artikel-zum-nachlesen-22)
22.9.2015 – The Guardian
Drone strike kills 2 Qaeda suspects in Yemen
A US drone strike killed two suspected members of Al-Qaeda east of the Yemeni capital during the night, a local official said on Tuesday.
“Two members of Al-Qaeda were killed when a missile from a US drone hit their vehicle” on the outskirts of the city of Marib, the official told AFP.
Marib province has seen fierce fighting in recent weeks as forces loyal to Yemen’s exiled president press an offensive against Shiite rebels with the support of Saudi-led troops.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/09/drone-strike-kills-2-qaeda-suspects-in-yemen/
Kommentar: “suspected members of Al-Qaeda” heißt es immer, wenn wahrscheinlich wie so oft irgendjemand getroffen wurde. Der Angriff erfolgte nicht im „klassischen“ Al_Qaida-Gebiet weiter östlich, sondern in dem im Moment zwischen den Huthis und ihren Gegnern umkämpften Bereich in der Provinz Marib.
Politik von Großbritannien
22.9.2015 – The British Government
Sir Alan Duncan comments on the crisis in Yemen
The UK Government Special Envoy to Yemen, Sir Alan Duncan, has visited Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE to demonstrate the UK’s continued support for a political solution to the crisis in Yemen and urge for greater access for humanitarian aid and commercial goods. During the visit, from 16 to 21 September, Sir Alan met with the Yemeni Government, including President Hadi, Yemeni parties, and members of the Saudi Arabian, Omani and Emirati Governments.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi, the UK Government Special Envoy to Yemen said:
This is a critical time for Yemen, and the wider region. Millions of Yemenis are still living without access to food, water and basic services.
I have restated the UK’s support for the Saudi-led Coalition, which has played a crucial role in reversing the military advance of the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Saleh and is helping create the conditions for the return of the legitimate Yemeni Government. I also underlined the importance of compliance by all sides with international humanitarian law.
A political solution remains the best way to bring long-term stability to Yemen, and all parties must get behind the UN political process to achieve a lasting ceasefire and peace for the people of Yemen.
The humanitarian situation remains dire, and the UK continues to call for all sides to allow unrestricted access for humanitarian aid and commercial goods, including through Yemen’s Red Sea Ports. I welcome the humanitarian assistance already provided by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The UK has provided £55 million to date for life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable.
Kommentar: Grotesk. Verbal sind Europäer gerne friedlich und plädieren für „politische Lösungen”. Während sie gleichzeitig Kriege befeuern. Wie unehrlich ist der Ruf nach einer politischen Lösung und – Witz! – freien Zugang zu den jemenitischen Häfen, in Kombination mit der beschworenen Solidarität mit der Saudischen Koalition. Um wieviel ehrlicher ist man da in Oman, das sich aus dem Konflikt heraushält und als ehrlicher Makler aufzutreten versucht!
Politik der Hadi-Regierung
22.9.2015 – Reuters
Yemeni president returns to Aden after six-month exile
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi landed in Aden on Tuesday, airport sources said, returning to the southern port city for the first time since he escaped to Saudi Arabia as Houthi fighters closed in six months ago.
A government source said Hadi would spend the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday in Aden and then fly to New York to deliver a speech at the United Nations. Last week, Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and seven ministers returned to Aden to take up residence in the city.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/09/22/uk-yemen-security-idUKKCN0RM11A20150922
22.9.2015 – AP
Yemeni officials: Exiled President arrives in Yemen’s Aden
Yemeni airport officials say Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has arrived in the southern port city of Aden following nearly six months of exile in Saudi Arabia. Hadi’s return Tuesday comes after he fled Yemen by sea in March – by Ali Al-Haj
http://ktar.com/story/652257/yemeni-officials-exiled-president-arrives-in-yemens-aden/ = http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/yemeni-officials-exiled-president-arrives-yemens-aden-33944549
Kommentar: Da wird auch in Aden die Freude groß sein (Ironie aus).
Politik der Huthis
20.9.2015 – Antikrieg
Anführer der Houthis im Jemen: Die Gruppe wird sich gegen Aggression der Saudis wehren, ist offen für politische Lösung
Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, der Führer der schiitischen Houthi-Bewegung im Jemen, hielt seine erste über das Fernsehen ausgestrahlte Rede seit dem Beginn des von den Saudis angeführten Kriegs gegen ihn, wobei er sagte, dass die Gruppe sich weiterhin gegen die saudische Aggression zur Wehr setzen wird.
Gleichzeitig sagte Houthi, dass er anbietet, die Verhandlungen über eine politische Lösung des Konflikts weiterzugeführen, und dass Delegierte der Houthis dieses Wochenende zu „Friedensgesprächen“ nach Oman gereist sind, auch wenn die pro-saudischen Kräfte bereits ausgeschlossen haben, daran teilzunehmen.
Dieses Problem war bereits mehrmals bei Versuchen aufgetaucht, mit Friedensverhandlungen zu beginnen, nachdem die Saudis dabei blieben, dass jegliche Gespräche nur unter der Bedingung stattfinden könnten, dass die Houthis zuerst ihre Waffen abgeben und das gesamte Land ihrer Kontrolle übergeben. Die einzige Gesprächsrunde, bei der die prosaudische Fraktion überhaupt anwesend war, das einzige Mal, wo beide Seiten sich im gleichen Raum befanden, war als die prosaudischen Delegierten eine Pressekonferenz der Houthis attackierten.
Houthi sagte nichts über die Kapitulationsforderung, kündigte aber an, dass am Montag eine öffentliche Gedenkfeier stattfinden wird zum einjährigen Jubiläum der Einnahme der Hauptstadt durch die Kräfte der Houthis – von Jason Ditz
http://antikrieg.com/aktuell/2015_09_21_anfuehrer.htm = https://www.radio-utopie.de/2015/09/21/anfuehrer-der-houthis-im-jemen-die-gruppe-wird-sich-gegen-aggression-der-saudis-wehren-ist-offen-fuer-politische-loesung/
in English:
20.9.2015 – Antiwar
Yemen’s Houthi Leader: Group Will Resist Saudi Aggression, Open to Political Settlement
Yemen’s Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, the leader of the Shi’ite Houthi movement, gave his first televised speech since the beginning of the Saudi-led war against him, saying that the group will continue to resist Saudi aggression.
At the same time, Houthi said that the offers for negotiation of a political settlement to the conflict remain on the table, and that Houthi delegates went to the “peace talks” in Oman this weekend, even though pro-Saudi forces already ruled out taking part in it.
This has been a recurring problem with attempts to start peace talks, as the Saudis have maintained that any talks be conditional on the Houthis first disarming and surrendering the entire country to their side. The one round of talks the pro-Saudi faction even attended, the only time the two sides were in the same room was when the pro-Saudi delegates attacked a press conference by the Houthis.
Houthi did not address the surrender demand, but did say there would be a public celebration Monday to commemorate the one year anniversary of Houthi forces capturing the capital city.
Politik des Iran
22.9.2015 – TASS
No Iranian military advisers in Yemen, no arms supplied there — diplomat
Tehran does not send either military advisers or weapons to Yemen, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Tuesday.
"In the fight against terrorism we are rendering assistance to the countries that see themselves on the brink of a terrorist threat," the diplomat said.
Iran has not sent military advisers to Yemen, he said. "We have not supplied and are not supplying any arms there," the diplomat added.
"We have military advisers in Syria and Iraq, helping in the fight against terrorism at the request of the governments of these states," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, marking that Tehran’s assistance to Syria and Iraq came within the framework of international law.
http://tass.ru/en/world/822723
Politik von Oman
21.9.2015 – Washington Times
Oman, again the Mideast mediator, helps free Yemen hostages
Flüchtlinge
22.9.2015 – Vice News
This Network of Merchants Is Helping Refugees Flee the Horrors of Yemen
As of September 17, over 60,000 people have arrived from Yemen in the Horn of Africa since the beginning of the bombing campaign on Yemen, according to Craig Murphy, the project coordinator for mixed migration at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Nairobi. More than 29,000 of these people have flocked to Somalia, split almost evenly between Berbera in Somaliland and the port of Bosaso in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia just to the east. Neighboring Djibouti has also seen a heavy influx of refugees.
Murphy said that there have been no reports to date of migrant boats sinking or of deaths at sea since the onset of the crisis. "Under the circumstances they are fleeing," he wrote in an email, "it is hard to believe that they are making it across without loss of life at sea."
While IOM has so far organized 10 boat rotations that have evacuated nearly 2,000 migrants by sea from Yemen to Djibouti, the majority of ships carrying refugees away from the violence in Yemen are not organized by NGOs.
"The [Yemeni] traders know the routes and sea conditions well, and they are shifting to transport people instead of goods or cattle," Murphy said. "Largely the trading ships that are moving people are working independently of governments and aid groups — they are products of supply and demand."
Escapes are made possible by ordinary Somalis and Yemenis on both sides of the Gulf of Aden who have stepped up to provide a way out of the chaos despite devastated airports and blocked land routes. Saddam Salem Muradh, a 25-year-old Yemeni born in Makha, is one of them.
With business at Muradh's export agency paralyzed by the Saudi-led blockade choking off most movement into Yemen, he started mediating between Yemeni businessmen, boat owners, and groups of people trying to leave the country. Before long, Somalis who had earlier fled civil war in their homeland were also being driven away by Yemen's unrest, joining the stream of soon-to-be Yemeni refugees in seeking passage across the Gulf of Aden.
Most of the refugees Muradh deals with come into Makha on buses of 10 to 15 people and can afford to pay for the trip.
"In the beginning it was $50 for each ticket," he said. "In April or May it became $70, with a $10 fee for registration and luggage." Tickets for a boat to Djibouti had lately climbed to $90, and also carried a $10 registration and baggage fee.
The system Muradh describes is oriented mostly around Arab Yemenis, with the majority of travelers headed toward Djibouti. But there's another tier that his friend Bashir Farah Nimr, a 43-year-old Somali-refugee-turned-imports businessman, is involved in, which is often free and headed for the less-developed but bureaucratically simpler and cheaper destination of Somaliland.
Unlike relatively prosperous Yemenis, many of the Somalis in Yemen whom Nimr works with are penniless and can't afford the passage. Somalis at the Kharaz camp typically sell their used household items to Yemenis in surrounding villages to raise money for bus fare to Makha. Nimr, who juggles three cellphones as he coordinates with contacts at the Kharaz camp and in Makha, described how Yemeni businessmen were moved to pay their transportation costs after hundreds of them arrived in in the city, often without food or water. Merchants who would have otherwise charged better-off Yemenis seeking safety granted these Somali refugees free passage.
"We check their UN refugee cards and put them on the boat," Nimr said, adding that he helps provide them with food and drink out of his own pocket
These Yemeni and Somali humanitarians have improvised an operation that has helped facilitate the movement of tens of thousands of people from Yemen to Somalia since March, but they don't plan on leaving the country themselves. Muradh believes it's his destiny to stay in Makha and help more people escape the falling bombs – by Sam Kimball
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