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Yemeni Nobel peace prize winner is not Mother Teresa, but political Islamist

Source; Hudson New York,

Whitewashing the Muslim Brotherhood

Nobel Peace Prize for a "Muslim Sister"

by Valentina Colombo

  

Once again the West has chosen among the heroes and heroines of the "Arab Spring" the most politicized, and especially the closest, to its short-sighted policies in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, as mentioned by al-Mashari Dhaid on the Arab international daily Asharq al-Awsat, we should never forget that the Nobel Prize for Peace is political, and it "is an instrument of soft pressure to fulfill a specific path of peace or stability, according to a Western perspective."

Mashari al-Dhaid is right when he states that "Tawakkul Karman is not Mother Teresa, but a political activist who acts in accordance with the directives and policies and social needs of her own party."

The Yemeni Congregation for Reform, to which Karman belongs, is the party representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen. Tawakkul Karman is 'Abd al-Salam Khalid Karman's daughter, a member of the same party. The Reform Party, as you can easily infer from its political program published on the official website (www.al-islah.net), acts on behalf of Islam and claims the implementation of sharia law, advocates equality among believers without distinction of sex, even though sharia law states that a woman is worth half the man (see Koran II, 282; IV, 11).

Tawakkul Karman is indeed an activist: a political activist. There is no doubt that she is the symbol of a revolution, but at the same time her victory has to be placed in the continuum of Arab Springs that are witnessing the domination of the organized and economically strong Muslim Brotherhood.

The Nobel Prize follows the International Women of Courage Award assigned to Karman by US State Secretary Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama. Everything confirms the US and Western policy of whitewashing the Muslim Brotherhood. And what a better leader and symbol than a young and determined woman like Karman? During an interview, in June 2010, she declared that the day would come when "all human rights violators pay for what they did to Yemen." If she was referring to Yemeni President Saleh, fine; but I wonder if human rights under Sharia -- the law her party would like to introduce in all levels of the country = match universal rights.

"In the name of God Most Gracious, Most Merciful, to sister Tawakkul 'Abd al-Salam Karman, president of Women Journalists Without Chains, a member of the Governing Council of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (al-tajammu' al-yamani li-al-islah), greetings and appreciation. With great joy we have received, within the Yemeni Congregation for Reform, the announcement of the assignment to your person of the Nobel Prize for Peace as the first Arab woman to receive this award and the first Yemeni personality to enjoy this international attestation of esteem.

"Congratulations for this historic achievement since we believe that this victory is to support the peaceful revolution of Yemen, and a Yemeni woman who fights and who is aware of her ability to win despite the obstacles the legacy of backwardness and tyranny that separate our people from progress."

This is the beginning of a release of October 8th 2010 signed by Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Yadumi following the announcement of the Nobel Prize for Peace to the Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman.

Well, many of us were happy because finally an Arab woman, last but not least a symbol of the Yemeni "Spring" had her efforts and courage recognised. Even secular intellectuals like the Yemeni political scientist Elham Manea, of Yemeni origin, who now is living in Switzerland, and the Yemeni writer Ali al-Muqri, have rejoiced.

While in many other countries, Islamic parties are banned, Islah participates in the political process and has even formed a coalition government with the ruling General People's Congress. One significant difference between Islah and other Islamic parties is that it is not purely an Islamic Party. The Islah Party is a heterogeneous party made up of three distinct groups: the tribes, Islamic elements and conservative businessmen. Islah could be described as a reflection of the conservative segments of Yemeni society. Nevertheless, it has an Islamic ideology and pushes for social and economic reform, similarly to other Islamic parties in the region.

Some people even praised Karman as the woman who has "torn" the veil. This is half true: in 2004 during a conference on human rights, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace removed her black full veil, worn by the vast majority of Yemeni women, to replace it with a simple veil, which she calls "Islamic." The statement published on the website of her Party after a demonstration celebrate the award says that it is a "source of pride and honor not only for Yemeni women, but also for Arab women and the Islamic veil."

So Karman replaced the traditional black veil -- "un-Islamic"-- in favor of a colorful headscarf that is not so much a symbol of Muslim women, as of the women of the Muslim Brotherhood, or at least of women wearing the veil as a political symbol.

Two Yemen soldiers killed as thousands rally

 Source: AFP

ADEN — Gunmen shot dead two Yemeni soldiers Wednesday in the main southern city of Aden, a police official said, as thousands rallied there to call for secession from the north.

"The gunmen opened fire on two soldiers in plain clothes near the qat (mild narcotic) market in the neighbourhood of Khor Maksar, killing one and seriously wounding another," who later died of his injuries, a police official told AFP.

The attack took place as thousands of Yemenis rallied in Aden to call for secession from the north as they commemorated the day the formerly independent south won freedom from Britain.

"The people want to liberate the south," the protesters chanted in the city which served as the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen during its 23 years of independence.

Late on Tuesday, a similar crowd had gathered in the city brandishing PDRY flags, as well as portraits of Ali Salem al-Baid, who served as the last president of an independent south before union with the north in 1990 and who now lives in exile.

"No union no federation, out out occupation," they chanted as fireworks lit the sky, an AFP correspondent reported.

Baid, who now heads the radical wing of the Southern Movement which calls for renewed secession, released a statement saying he remains determined to "continue the struggle until we achieve our national aspirations for independence."

He urged other states to "support the rights of southerners to determine their own fate."

The leftist PDRY won independence from Britain in 1967 after a guerrilla uprising.

Four years after union with the north, it attempted to break away again, sparking a short-lived civil war that ended with it being overrun by northern troops

Many residents of the south complain of discrimination by the Sanaa government in the distribution of resources, sparking frequent protests, with demands ranging from economic and social improvements to full independence.

Members of the moderate wing of the Southern Movement, who champion only increased autonomy, held a meeting last week in Cairo chaired by another former PDRY president, Ali Nasser Mohammed.

In a statement, they called for a "federation for five years after which southerners would determine their own fate based on a referendum which will be held after this period."

The increasingly restive south has been hit not only by the Southern Movement's campaign for self-rule but also by deadly clashes between the army and militants loyal to Al-Qaeda who have seized a string of towns in Abyan province east of Aden and who are also present in neighbouring Shabwa.

The militants have taken advantage of the weakening of central authority since mass protests broke out in January against the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power in Sanaa since 1978.

The army on Tuesday killed six Qaeda-linked militants in their stronghold of Zinjibar, capital of the restive southern province of Abyan, a local official said.

Army forces shelled "Al-Qaeda hideouts" in Zinjibar killing "four -- an Iraqi, a Saudi, a Yemeni and a Nigerian," the source said, adding that two others militants were killed in an ambush on their vehicle by soldiers.

The deaths were the latest in a string of casualties in Abyan, where government troops are struggling to wrest control of at least three provincial cities, including Zinjibar, that have fallen since May to the Qaeda-linked group, the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law).

Witness in Mehanna trial describes Yemen meeting

By Milton J. Valencia

Source: The Boston Globe

They gathered in the basement of Ahmad Abousamra’s Stoughton home in 2006, after they learned the FBI was interested in them, and they wanted to make sure to get their stories straight, particularly about their trip to Yemen two years earlier.

“Anything else is speculation . . . The point is there’s no testimony of us going for such and such false reasons, because we went there for one reason, to study,’’ Abousamra had said, according to a recording of the conversation that was played for jurors yesterday in the terrorism trial of Tarek Mehanna.

Mehanna responded later, “Yeah, but I’m going to leave it at the things that are documented, that I can’t deny.’’

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All along, a close friend of theirs, Kareem Abuzahra, was wearing a wire in cooperation with the FBI, and he recorded the conversations among himself, Mehanna, and Abousamra.

Prosecutors played the taped conversation for jurors in federal court yesterday in an attempt to show Mehanna and Abousamra were trying to coordinate their story for investigators questioning their trip to Yemen in 2004, allegedly in search of terrorism training.

The trip to Yemen lies at the heart of Mehanna’s trial on charges of conspiring to support terrorists and to kill in a foreign country and of lying to investigators. Abousamra was also charged, but fled to Syria after he was first approached by the FBI in 2006.

Abuzahra, 31, a close friend of both men from Lynnfield, agreed to cooperate with investigators and testify under the protection of immunity from prosecution, and for the last two days he has described a close circle of friends who spoke of jihad, who promoted the ideology, and who planned to train in Yemen so that they could fight Americans in Iraq.

“After the American invasion of Iraq, we saw it as an invasion on Islam, and we saw the Americans as valid targets,’’ he said.

Abuzahra never made the trip to Yemen, though he paid for the plane tickets for the three men. He told jurors that he received e-mails from his family during a layover in the United Arab Emirates saying that his father was ill and that he had not yet filled out US passport information for his child, so he returned home.

He said that Mehanna and Abousamra later told him they were not successful in finding terrorist camps. Mehanna returned and Abousamra unsuccessfully tried to join jihad in Iraq before returning, he said.

Lawyers for Mehanna have yet to cross-examine Abuzahra. They argue that Mehanna went to Yemen for the reasons he had stated, to look for schools on Islamic law and the Arabic language. They call Mehanna a budding scholar and say he cannot be associated with the motives of Abousamra. Defense lawyers have said that Mehanna returned home after two weeks in Yemen and that Abousamra went to Iraq, in arguing that the two men had separate intentions.

Defense lawyers are expected to argue through the cross-examination of Abuzahra that Mehanna had often disagreed with the strict jihad philosophies of both men on religious grounds.

Abuzahra, a key witness, said that the three men discussed their intentions for jihad long before the 2004 trip to Yemen. They watched videos glorifying suicide bombings and downloaded articles about jihad.

Abuzahra even made a video for his family before he traveled to Yemen in case he did not return. “The purpose of the trip was to go to a war,’’ he said. “People don’t always come back from a war.’’

Mehanna, he said, was gleeful about the trip, saying, “We’re actually doing it; we’re finally doing it.’

“We had talked for several years about jihad,’’ Abuzahra said, “but we were on our way.’’

Milton J. Valencia can be reached at MValencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @MiltonValencia.

Yemen's new PM says cabinet to be announced in days

SANAA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's newly-appointed Prime Minister Mohamed Basindwa said Tuesday that his cabinet will be formed within days.

"The new government will be announced within days," Basindwa briefed reporters at a press conference here.

"The new government's priority will be meeting the urgent economic needs of the Yemeni people, including making fuel, electricity and cooking gas available," he said.

"We plan to set up fund for reconstruction and development projects, and we have requested assistance from countries in the Gulf," Basindwa added.

Basindwa, chief of the opposition National Council, was assigned Sunday by Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to form an interim government, a day after Hadi declared Feb. 21, 2012 as the date for the early presidential elections in line with a deal on the power transfer in Yemen initiated by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) .

The new national unity government will be formed with equal participation of the opposition coalition and the ruling party in accordance with the GCC deal.

Officials of the ruling party said the new cabinet is expected to be announced by Thursday, and a military committee will be consensually formed to remove the military presence of rival forces in the capital Sanaa and other major cities.

Meanwhile, thousands of protesters marched Tuesday in Sanaa and the southern province of Taiz, calling for prosecuting President Ali Abdullah Saleh for "criminals he committed against them," according to witnesses.

On Nov. 23, Saleh signed the UN-backed GCC deal in Riyadh and transferred power to Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution.

New Yemen being built

 

By Nasser Arrabyee
Yemenis have just started to rebuild their country after about one year of wars and unrest.

However, they are still facing a lot of challenges. To build is much more difficult than to destroy.

The most important two decisions to rebuild the new Yemen were taken immediately after the conflicting parties signed last week a road map showing step by step how both the opposition and the ruling party would run the country until February 2014 when a civil and democratic State  is fully established.

The first decision was to call on Yemenis to elect a new President on February 21st,  2012 to run the country  during the coming two years required for establishing the long-awaited  modern State that would meet the ambitions and aspirations of all Yemenis.

The second decision was to entrust an opposition leader to form a national consensus government shared equally by both the opposition and the ruling party to normalize the life after the wars and help the new elected president to establish the new State.

The two important decisions were taken by the Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who has now constitutional powers to implement the Saudi-led  Gulf brokered deal for transferring the power from President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

According to the GCC deal and its implementation mechanism, which were signed by all conflicting parties on November 23rd, 2011 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, President Saleh will remain legitimate until a new president is elected on February 21st, 2011.

The candidate of both the opposition and the ruling party in the February Presidential elections must be the current Vice President Mr Hadi, according to the road map, which is called the implementation mechanism, which was drawn by the UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Bin Omar and approved and signed by all conflicting parties in Yemen.

Undoubtedly, Mr Hadi would be the new elected President for the two years of transitional period.

By then,  Hadi will have his legitimacy directly from  the people, not like the case now when  his powers come only from the constitutional authorization of President Saleh.

During next week,  the unity government will be declared and its members will take  the constitutional oath before Mr Hadi.

To avoid the conflict over the important ministries like the defense and oil, the opposition will make two lists with each one having 50 percent of the portfolios. And the ruling party will choose one of the lists to be occupied by its members.

The UN Security Council and international community supported the agreement which came as implementation of its resolution 2014.

The SC urged the two sides to stick to all steps of the road map and implement them on time. The two sides should stop violence, and whoever violates would be held accountable.

The president Saleh from his side, issued a general amnesty for all Yemenis who made mistakes against the government during the 11 month of the crisis.

But the Presidential  amnesty does not include those who tried to assassinate Saleh on June 3, 2011.

Although the solution of the Yemeni crisis was and is supported by the whole international community, a lot of difficulties are facing the implementation of the road map. The most dangerous challenge is the security and military situation.

The militants of the Islamist party, Islah, are still in sporadic confrontations with  the army and security in many places like Taiz and Arhab.

The separatist movement in the south and Al Houth Shiite rebels  in the north  and some independent youth, still refuse the GCC deal.

The UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Bin Omar said Monday November 28, 2011, that the separatist movement in the south and Al Houthi in the north and the independent youth should be represented in the new interim government.

The separatist movement in the south insist on separation and having their own independent state. Al Houthi group wants to establish their own Shiite state in the north at the borders with the Sunni Saudi Arabia.

More  than 30 Salafi  people were killed last week in battles between Al Houthi Shiite fighters and Salafi fighters in the area of Dammaj, in Saada, north of the country.

 Al Houthi group says, the Salafi   center in Damnaj was established in the early 1980s by the Yemeni and Saudi governments with the aim of abolishing the Shiite.

The Dammaj Salafi school has about 12,000 students from Yemen and outside Yemen.

About 11 foreign students were killed in the battles of last week in Dammaj according to the spokesman of the Salafi school, Abu Ismail.

Light at the end of the tunnel for Yemen?

For months the Yemeni people have been waiting for a breakthrough in the country's political standoff. Now that the Gulf Cooperation Initiative has been signed a new window of opportunity has opened for Yemen. The signing of the initiative took months to materialize and required intensive efforts to be brokered. Indeed it required an approach that combined a carrot and stick policy by the international community, notably by the Security Council and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Special tribute is due to UN Secretary General‘s special envoy Gamal bin Omar who exhibited patience, and perseverance as he shuttled forwards and backwards between the horn locked parties. The US ambassador to Yemen also played an undeniably influential role throughout the crisis in a relentless attempt to bring the two sides closer and avoid the country from slipping into anarchy and chaos.

The agreement itself, now common knowledge, effectively ends president Saleh's 33 year old rule by giving him a 90-day period to decline and exit the political scene gracefully. During this period he shall maintain a figure head status with no executive powers. His powers shall be transferred to the current Vice President AbduraboMansorHadi.

The initiative consists of a two-year transitional period during which the PGC and the opposition will share power. Yemen has experienced a transitional period following the Unification of country between the Peoples General Congress and the Socialist Party. It was a period of intense Pickering and rivalry that culminated in the civil war of 1994. This historical fact adds a touch of pessimism. However, this is counterbalanced by the fact that this agreement was brokered by regional and global powers that have strong leverage on both sides of the equation.

The agreement gives the Yemeni people something to look forward to and replaces the overly bleak clouds of uncertainly that have hung over the country during the last nine months.

No one expects an easy ride as signs of discontent have already surfaced  among the youths, who under the revolutionary euphoria that have  swept the region, want nothing less than a decisive blow to the regime to match those dealt to the regimes of Tunisia and Egypt. The youths have organized violent protests that coincided with armed clashes between some tribes and government troops in a show of defiance.

 How will things shape up in the future will invariably depend on the intentions of the competing factions; the PGC which has enjoyed inordinate power by virtue of President Saleh's patronage, will have to come to terms with the new reality and be prepared to compete with other parties on equal footing. The PGC will have to start purging its corrupt elements and build sound and practical programs. They also have to redefine their political agenda. If they however, persist on their old ways and dwell on the past, they will have shock waves coming their way. The PGC has the advantage of long political experience; seasoned politicians in the likes of Dr. al-Eryani and Dr. al-Kirby also have the advantage of preaching centrist policies which appeal to the West and GCC countries.

The Joint meeting parties on the other hand have built a successful political front which has largely remained intact due to sharing the common goal of deposing president Saleh rather than to having strategic long term common goals. They will have to re-engineer their alliance in a way that gives space and room for each of the five parties that make up the Joint Meeting Parties.

In spite of deep ideological differences between the Joint Meeting Parties, especially between the Yemen Congregation for Islah and Yemeni Socialist Party, they have done well when it comes to confrontation and counter media propaganda.  However, they might find themselves more comfortable being in the opposition. It wouldn't be totally unconceivable either if both the PGC and joint meeting parties find their best interest in dividing the stakes between them instead of competing in a genuine contention for power at the end of the transition period.

The Youths who have little or no political experience may become an unwanted burden by their current allies due to their rigidity and unwavering stance. Their best option, if they want to remain insulated from political seduction, is to  embrace an independent and patriotic agenda that is not aligned to any of the two main political blocks. They can proclaim themselves guardians of the revolution and to serve as a watch dog for it, ready to protect the interest of the masses if any party dares to breach the spirit of democracy and general freedoms which have been the hallmark of the uprising.

 The signing GCC initiative is expected to usher in a new era, the donor community would do well to  kick start it by restoring aid projects to Yemen and get the economic wheel to start turning again.

By Mohammed Humaid

Economist/ Journalist