Tensions escalate between Houthis and Salafis in North Yemen

By Mohammed al-Kibsi Fighting between al-Houthi rebels and Sunni Islamists Salafis wounded at least 26 people in north Yemen on Wednesday, as the new prime minister worked to form a government under GCC initiative to avoid civil war by ensuring peaceful power transition. The deal adopted by GCC envisions a government chaired by opposition parties that lead 10 months of protests. President Saleh signed the GCC brokered deal that was backed by UNSC last week and transferred powers to his vice president Hadi, a step the plan's sponsors said will help end the impasse Yemen has slid into during the past 10 months of unrest. One of the country's multiple, overlapping regional conflicts flared anew when Houthis ‘ a Shi'ite Muslim sect’ fighters who have rebelled in a northern province along the Saudi border attacked Salafis ‘a Sunni Islamic sect’ whom they have fought over the last week. A group of Yemeni Salafis -- Sunnis who hold a puritanical creed with followers in Saudi Arabia -- said fighters from the rebel Shi'ite Houthi movement attacked early on Wednesday in Damaj, 150 km (90 miles) north of the capital Sanaa. A spokesperson of Salafis in Sa’adah province said several students of Dar al-Hadith religious school had been injured in shelling. His group said at least 25 people were killed in Houthi shelling in Dammaj district of Sa’ada province on Saturday and Sunday. Over 22 Salafis were killed in Dammaj district last week. Sources said that among the killed were American, French and Indonisian nationals. Local sources from Sa’ada said that over 500 Algerian students studying in Dar al-Hadith and their families stranded and could not go back to their country or even have communication with their families back in Algeria. The sources said that the Algerian students could not even communicate with their embassy in Sana’a because the Algerian authorities did not know about them. Houthis have accused the Salafis in Sa’adah of working to build military encampments near the Saudi border. . The escalations came as Yemen's interim prime minister Mohammed Basindwah, a former foreign minister who joined the opposition, worked to form a transitional government that he has said will be set in days. Sources in the opposition said talks with the ruling party were underway on forming a security committee tasked in part with separating the forces of Saleh's partisans and defected army troopers and Islamist militias and tribal fighters affiliated to Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar who have fought in the capital. In the south the Yemeni wing of al-Qaeda known as the AQAP fears are arose that AQAP could find a foothold, an older political conflict also overshadows the Gulf plan. Members of MAWJ a secessionist movement who want to undo the territorial union that Saleh presided over in 1990 marched through the southern port of Aden on Wednesday, carrying flags of the former South Yemen, a socialist republic. The march, which commemorated the 44th anniversary of the south's independence from Britain, reflected the antipathy many southerners feel over the region's treatment under union, which erupted into civil war in 1994. Tens of thousands have been displaced from the southern Abyan province due to fighting between AQAP who have seized several districts of Aban province and Yemeni forces. Nearly a year of political unrest has deepened the poverty ratio. A U.N. official said on Tuesday that millions of people were facing a humanitarian crisis. U.N. assistant secretary-general and deputy emergency relief coordinator Catherine Bragg, after a visit to Yemen, warned of "some of the world's highest malnutrition rates, a breakdown of essential services and a looming health crisis."

SOMALIA: Yemen returnee numbers soar

Source: IRIN Hundreds of families have returned from Yemen in the past two months, officials said (file photo) HARGEISA, 1 December 2011 (IRIN) - Continuing unrest and xenophobia in Yemen have prompted an upsurge in the number of migrants and refugees returning to Somalia, with up to 6,000 reported to have travelled back across the Red Sea since the beginning of October. "About 400 Somaliland families and 600 Somali families have returned to Somaliland in the last two months,” said Abdillahi Hussein Egeh, director-general of the Interior Ministry in Somaliland, which unilaterally declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991. “Somalilanders stay in this country, while the Somalis continue their journey to Somalia," he said. Despite the unrest in there, thousands of Africans continue to make the perilous crossing, in the other direction, to Yemen, many of them fleeing not only conflict but a widespread food crisis in south-central Somalia. "Most of those fleeing [Yemen] are afraid of being the target of the two sides, due to their concern that [both] have accused Somalis of supporting their rival," said Mohamed Ahmed, a father of three who arrived in Hargeisa, Somalia, in late October. "I have been captured twice, once by the government forces and again by the opposition. Electricity, water and other basic services are erratic due to the crisis,” he said. The final straw that had pushed him to return to Somalia was the bombing of the university in Yemen, where he used to live. “My wife and children are still in Yemen, because I was unable able to pay for their transport,” he said, explaining that boat fares have risen significantly. Livestock trade affected Somaliland used to export about 15,000 head of livestock every month to Yemen but now only exports a third of that figure, according to local businessmen. "This is because the livestock can't reach the remote places of Yemen," said Abdi Said, a livestock exporter in Somaliland. "Our income has decreased. For example, one person used to send 500 head of cattle per month,” he said. “This has gone down to 100 per month.”

Three main challenges facing the solution, Islamist party wants to gain from three fronts

By Nasser Arrabyee Yemen Observer Three big obstacles are facing the International community-supported political process to end the one-year long crisis of Yemen. The first one is the ongoing war between the government forces and militants of the Islamic party, Islah, in Taiz, Arhab and Nehm. The tribal militants claim they defend the protesters. Five soldiers were killed and 15 others injured on Thursday, December 1, 2011, in Taiz in the fighting with the tribal militants who allegedly support protesters. Five protesters at least were killed in the same confrontations. The second obstacle is the fighting between the Salafi Sunni fighters and al-Houthi Shiite fighters in the northern province of Sa’adah. The head of the Salafi, Yahya al-Hajouri, called on Wednesday for Jihad (Holy war) against al-Houthi whom he described as “unbelievers”. “The greatest deed to get closer and closer to Allah Almighty is to fight al-Houthi, Rafedha,” said al-Hajouri in a statement addressed to the Islamic Ummah. Al-Houthi and Salafis exchange accusations that the government is supporting one of them against the other. Obviously, the Islamist party, Islah, wants to achieve from three different fronts: It wants to have the lion’s share from the negotiations with the ruling party, as the leader of the opposition. And it wants to gain from the war its supporters and members are launching against the government forces and loyal tribesmen in Taiz, Arhab and Nehm. The third front from which Islah wants to gain, is the protesters in the streets whose majority belong to Islah. Inspired and instructed by Islah, the protesters keep refusing the GCC deal which was signed by Islah and the other opposition parties. The third obstacle facing the implementation of the GCC is the separation movement of the south, al-Hirak. Al Houthi and Hirak refuse the GCC deal. The international community needs to take these challenges into considerations and support the political process and encourage Yemenis to rebuild their country. 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 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, 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 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 him 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 Sa’adah, 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.

Unidentified militants rob Women Media Forum

By Mohammed al-Kibsi The Women Media Forum “MWF” headquarters was looted on Saturday November 26, and robbers looted an estimated YRS 3 million. Moreover its files and library, which took years of careful efforts to be collected, were spared. The looters who broke into the MWF headquarters which are situated near the UNICEF in a rather secure area, ran away with 2 5K electric generators, 4 digital recorders and 2 radio microphones. Other elements robbed a fax machine, a printer, a receiver, a wireless device, a sound control device from Amat-al-Alim al-Soswa’s Hall and some cash which was kept in a safe. The MWF stated that the attack was meant as a warning to stop their right campaigning’s activities, .... especially since most of the stolen items were directly hindering their Media programs aimed at promoting public awareness. Moreover, the theft coincided with the advent of a new hijri year and new political developments in Yemen. The MWF condemned the act of violence against its facilities and urged the Interior Ministry to live up to its commitments by launching an investigation which it hopes will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators and their referral to a Court of Law. Most interestingly, the MWF was about to hold an EU funded training course to form new members. Two of the MWF , Faidh al-No’aman, Deputy chairperson and Abdul-Razaq al-Az’azi were arrested illegally with no charges along with the main suspect who was accused by the chairperson of MWF and enjoys tribal influence which turn the MWF employees release into a trade “either you all be released or no will be,” said al-No’aman.

Yemen ruling party chooses the alpha list of Ministries in the new government

By Zaid al-Alaya’a & Majid al-Kibsi Yemen Observer The General People’s Congress (GPC) chose ministries of the Defense, Oil and Minerals and the Foreign Affairs in the new government headed by Mohammed Basendwah of the opposition, stated unconfirmed sources. . The sources mention that the new formation of the government has divided the Ministries between the ruling party, the GPC and the opposition formed of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP). The agreement on the new government lasted three days in discussions which resulted in two lists of Ministries which the GPC choosing the list that contains the following ministries; Ministry of Defense, Oil and Minerals, Foreign Affairs, Telecommunication, Higher Education, Public Works and Roads, Expatriate, Endowments and Religious Affairs, Tourism, Agriculture and Irrigation, Public Health, Social Affairs and Labor, Fisheries, Youth and Sport, Civil Services and and two state ministries. On the other hand, the JMP has taken over the Ministries of Interior, Finance, Information, Education, Justice, Legal Affairs, Technical and Vocational Training, Planning and International Cooperation, Industry and Commerce, Transportation, Culture, Human Rights, House of Representatives and Shoura Council, Water, Electricity and two State ministries. The distribution of Ministries has been done on the base of 17 ministries for each side. Observers believes that the Ministry of Defense was an essential ministry for the GPC, which made the opposition puts sensitive lists knowing that the GPC will go for the Ministry of Defense. The two lists were put by the JMP and were presented to the GPC in a meeting yesterday at the house of the Vice President, and gave the GPC the chance of choosing which list it would handle in the new government headed by Basendwah. The lists of the overall 34 ministry were divided so that each list will include 5 Sovereign Ministries in each list. In the same context, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi in an interview with London based al-Hyat daily said that Yemen has entered a new phase after the signing of the Gulf-brokered initiative and its implementation mechanism in the Saudi capital last week. He added that history is witness that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has many supporters in the country that wish he would stay in power as president. “Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime has not left Yemen and Saleh will not leave Yemen. He will remain a Yemeni citizen; he has the right to remain and play a political role through the General People’s Congress,” said al-Qirbi Regarding the end of the crisis in the country, al-Qirbi said that Yemenis are proud that they have emerged with solutions that differ from what happened in Egypt or Tunisia or even Libya that cast their shadows over Yemen. He stressed that the Arab peoples are frustrated and aspire to change to the better. He added: “The Arab world is in the rear. The Arab peoples see the rest of the world advancing while the Arab world is standing still and marking time despite their huge resources.” Earlier last week, Yemen’s Vice-President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi named Mohammed Basendwa, as Yemen’s new interim Prime Minister on Sunday. A decree carried by state media said Mr. Basendwa, a senior opposition leader, had been charged with forming a national reconciliation government ahead of early presidential election scheduled for February 21st, 2012. On November 23rd President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed a GCC brokered power-transfer deal aimed at ending months of violence and political stalemate. Under the agreement Saleh vested Hadi with his presidential powers, allowing him to nominate the country’s new PM and call for early presidential elections. Upon his return from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, President Saleh announced that he was granting all those who “committed acts of idiocy during the crisis” a general amnesty, stressing that he was doing so in a bid to move the country towards national reconciliation The amnesty however did not extend to those involved in the June assassination plot in which Saleh himself had been severely wounded alongside dozens of high ranking officials. The attack led to the death of Abdul Aziz Abdul-Ghani the speaker of the Shurah Council. Opposition spokeswoman Hurriya Mashhur rejected the amnesty declaration, saying it went against the Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered agreement that President Saleh signed on November 23rd. Mohamed Basendwah was put forward by the opposition parties on Friday as their chosen Prime Minister candidate. VP Hadi also announced this week that in accordance with the power-transfer deal, the next presidential election would be held on February 21, 2012, in line with the 90 days’ timeframe agreed upon by all political factions. A decree issued to that regard also noted that the current commission was eligible to run the elections according to the current voters’ lists. The US backed, Gulf brokered initiative stated that from the time of signature, President Saleh had 30 days to officially transfer the totality of his powers to his VP and hand over his resignation. Within this time-frame, a new coalition government would be formed and a law granting Saleh, his family and close aides immunity would be passed. The deal came after months of unrest and 3 failed promises of signature on President Saleh ‘s part. Vice President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi said on Saturday that the vote would be held on Feb. 21 and that no party had the right to either annul or change the decree. The announcement was made after Saleh gave him ``the constitutional authorities to carry out dialogue with the parties that signed the Gulf initiative.’’ Meanwhile warplanes killed scores of anti-government tribesmen and jihadists who had overrun part of a military camp in the Bani Hushaish district north of the capital on Saturday. Local sources said that warplanes and artillery had pounded the armed tribesmen and Islamic militias for the past two days. Sources also said that the army reinforced the military site by dropping para-troopers on Thubab Mountain on Saturday night.

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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.