Concern increases as security situation in Yemen deteriorates

Sabri Mujahid
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-07-15

Yemeni protesters demonstrate against the government in Dalia, north of Aden, on May 31. The Arab world has watched increasing conflict in Yemen with a great deal of concern. (AFP/Getty Images)

SANAA — A Yemeni court has delivered death sentences against seven rebels for their role in plotting terrorist attacks, a ruling that mirrors the government’s determination to rein in the growing number of insurgents threatening the security of the state.

The seven condemned men are all members of the Al-Hawthi tribe, a dissident Shiite community in north Yemen. Al-Hawthi has waged a war of attrition for decades against successive central governments. Ongoing clashes with the tribe, which has a reputation for launching attacks on government forces and abducting foreign tourists, are just one aspect of the incessant violence that has engulfed Yemen.

While the government faces rebels in the north, it is also confronting a powerful and often violent separatist movement in the south, where residents claim that northerners discriminate against them and have abused the union agreement signed in the mid-1990s after the bloody civil war.

To complicate matters further, the central government under President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces an escalating threat from Al-Qaeda rebels pouring over the mountain passes marking the border with Saudi Arabia to the north.

International observers believe that the weak central government and tense security situation provide an optimal climate for Al-Qaeda to establish a central base from which to plot new terror attacks.

Yemen is also contending with pressure on its water and petroleum resources in the context of the world economic crisis and is struggling with widespread unemployment and growing poverty.

Speaking at a counter-terrorism conference in Algiers, European Union anti-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove said that Yemen may follow Afghanistan to become a new safe haven for militants. He proposed that Yemen be classified, along with Pakistan and the Greater Sahara, as a region constituting a threat to European interests.

Yemen’s neighbours and regional allies are increasingly echoing the concerns of security analysts, fearing that its troubles will seep across the borders. Neighbouring Saudi Arabia is particularly worried, as it is also struggling with escalating violence and a rebellion engineered by Al-Qaeda.

Sources: Al-Bawaba/

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