Global News Post: Yemen

Suicide Attack in Yemen ‘Kills 20’

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) --- At least 20 people have been killed and another two dozen have been wounded in a suicide attack in southern Yemen, the BBC reported on Sunday, quoting Yemeni officials.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The attack targeted a funeral service in the city of Jaar, in the restive Abyan provice, the report said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The funeral was for a man linked to a militia group which had helped the government army fight al-Qaeda.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Earlier this year, government troops carried out a major offensive against al-Qaeda-linked militants in Abyan after they seized several cities, including the provincial capital of Zinjibar, last spring. The army regained control over most of the region in June with the help of pro-government militias.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Suicide Attack in Yemen ‘Kills 20’

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) --- At least 20 people have been killed and another two dozen have been wounded in a suicide attack in southern Yeme...

YEMEN: Water fights spark concern over refugee influx

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9pDNOWVhyphenhyphenT3ZPbk8bIDUBbLuCtHRkkisu586VdNH5sBy8uskmpuN0tBsejioeJblO94Dhy6IkWqYXR_qX_3FQkzF9dOzNNBj6Gee_LY0JqZqOZrWyVI7ecPkC5r1zl7Jsr-FKPFantk/s1600/201207191144340881.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9pDNOWVhyphenhyphenT3ZPbk8bIDUBbLuCtHRkkisu586VdNH5sBy8uskmpuN0tBsejioeJblO94Dhy6IkWqYXR_qX_3FQkzF9dOzNNBj6Gee_LY0JqZqOZrWyVI7ecPkC5r1zl7Jsr-FKPFantk/s1600/201207191144340881.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Water woes for residents and refugees <o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">alike in Yemen s capital</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Photo ©</span> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">IRIN <o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">SANA’A  (IRIN) - Somali refugee Asmaa Abdullah, 35, and her three children, have been struggling to get water for more than a year in the run-down Safia neighbourhood of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
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“We arrive at al-Usaimi water tap [supported by a charity] before locals, but are pushed to the end of the queue. Sometimes I queue for three or four hours to fill my container.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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But Abdullah says she dares not argue for fear that she might get beaten up.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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Water shortages, which have been worsening since serious political unrest began in February 2011, are causing friction between locals and refugees in Sana’a, according to the police.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Arguments and scuffles between African refugees and local citizens over water have become a daily scene in this slum [Safia],” said Mohammed al-Behish, head of Safia police station, adding that many water disputes go unreported.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
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“Last week, a Somali woman came to us, bleeding from her nose, claiming she was beaten up by three Yemeni women. In the same week, a local resident reported to us that his daughter was hit by two Ethiopian women at the tap,” al-Behish said.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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The slum-dwellers queue at the tap to get water free: Most cannot afford trucked-in water, the price of which has doubled in the last 14 months, Yahya al-Sanabani, a long-term adviser to parliament’s utilities’ committee, told IRIN.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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In Safia, where it is estimated a quarter of the 65,000 residents are Africans, the state water supply system gets cut off for more than 10 days at a time, said Khalid al-Kharbi, a local water company official.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
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<tr>   <td style="background: black; border-bottom: solid white 2.25pt; border: none; mso-background-themecolor: text1; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: background1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;" valign="top">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">    <v:stroke joinstyle="miter">    <v:formulas>     <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0">     <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0">     <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1">     <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2">     <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth">     <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight">     <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1">     <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2">     <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth">     <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0">     <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight">     <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0">    </v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:formulas>    <v:path gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect" o:extrusionok="f">    <o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit">   </o:lock></v:path></v:stroke></span></v:shapetype><v:shape alt="''" id="Picture_x0020_3" o:allowoverlap="f" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" style="height: 13.5pt; left: 0; margin-left: 0; margin-top: 0; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: line; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-wrap-distance-left: 0; mso-wrap-distance-right: 0; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; text-align: left; visibility: visible; width: 17.25pt; z-index: 1;" type="#_x0000_t75">    <v:imagedata o:title="''" src="file:///C:\Users\GHAZAN~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">    <w:wrap anchory="line" type="square">   </w:wrap></span></v:imagedata></v:shape><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">The worst thing is that these   African refugees or immigrants concentrate in densely populated cities such   as Sana’a, which is expected to run out of water in less than a decade</span></strong><b><span style="color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><v:shape alt="''" id="Picture_x0020_42" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" style="height: 13.5pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 17.25pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">    <v:imagedata o:title="''" src="file:///C:\Users\GHAZAN~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg">   </v:imagedata></v:shape></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div></td>  </tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Residents receive water for a few hours every 10 days, al-Kharbi told IRIN. “Many women and children are sneaking into mosques at prayer times to fill their containers,” he added.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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<strong>Government concern</strong><span class="apple-converted-space"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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The government recently expressed concern<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>about overburdened public services caused by the daily arrival of 160-200 refugees and immigrants from the Horn of Africa.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
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The Interior Ministry said the number of African immigrants and refugees in Yemen exceeded one million, and that more than 50,000 new arrivals, mostly from Ethiopia and Somalia, entered Yemen in the first half of 2012.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), however, put the total number of refugees officially recognized by the government at<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>220,000.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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In 2011, some 75,651 Ethiopians, 27,350 Somalis, and 153 persons from other countries arrived in Yemen by boat, said Edward Leposky, an external relations officer with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Yemen. “This trend has continued in 2012,” he added.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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“The worst thing is that these African refugees or immigrants concentrate in densely populated cities such as Sana’a, which is expected to run out of water in less than a decade,” said parliament committee adviser al-Sanabani.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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Ame Abdi Shaboo, chairman of the Oromo Refugee Committee, told IRIN that refugees and immigrants from the Horn of Africa have no choice but to head for the cities. “Most of them work as domestic helpers or car cleaners to earn a living; this work cannot be found in rural areas,” he said.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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Yemen is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. A 2012 Rural Water Sector Survey showed that 30 percent of water supply systems were not working said a report<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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“On average, 140 cubic metres of water are available per person per year in Yemen, compared to an average 1,000 cubic metres per person in the Middle East and North Africa region,” it said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
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Sana’a has been predicted to run out of economically viable water<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>by 2017.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

YEMEN: Water fights spark concern over refugee influx

Water woes for residents and refugees alike in Yemen s capital Photo © IRIN SANA’A (IRIN) - Somali refugee Asmaa Abdullah, 35, and he...

Yemeni Tribesmen Blast Oil Export Pipeline in Central Province

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">SANAA (NNN-Xinhua) -- Yemeni armed tribesmen blew up an oil pipeline in the central province of Marib on Friday, further deteriorate the fuel shortage in the Arab country due to repeated attacks on its oil pipelines, the interior ministry said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Armed tribesmen headed by Abdullah Rukaisan bombed the pipeline in Wadi Abida district in Marib, some 173 km northeast of the capital Sanaa, the interior ministry said in a statement on its website. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It's the ninth attack on the same pipeline that transports crude oil from oil-rich Marib to export terminals in the southern provinces in about 11 months, leading to reduction of output of 125,000 barrels per day at Ras Issa terminal on the Red Sea. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Yemeni government said earlier that it has lost nearly one billion U.S. dollars due to the attacks on the Marib's key oil pipeline. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The fresh attack came one day after President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who replaced long-time ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh in February following one-year mass protests, ordered to raise oil and gas production to meet domestic demands and ease months-long fuel shortages. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hadi has promised to improve his country's economy, and asked for financial assistance from donor countries which are scheduled to meet later this month in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The cash-stripped Yemeni government is dependent on petroleum production, with oil and gas export accounting for about 63 percent of the country's budget. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 20%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Besides the tribal problems in Marib, the country's gas sector in the southeast province of Shabwa has been attacked for several times over the past weeks by resurgent al-Qaida militants, despite the government's ongoing offensive against the terrorist group.--NNN-Xinhua<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Yemeni Tribesmen Blast Oil Export Pipeline in Central Province

SANAA (NNN-Xinhua) -- Yemeni armed tribesmen blew up an oil pipeline in the central province of Marib on Friday, further deteriorate th...

YEMEN: Tortured for Ransom

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1frostJiXK0lW1uwUprU-JOuDecOWuB8qs1LIsoIrfRYIT0t5HGh2Ra1I_8qredqJbAaW39MDDTFiePEIaZpa1EZtP4bizagcYBqn_wzuY5ukEK30DadnxWuGrxFnU6pB7gncrZxqaR8/s1600/201203090814080933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1frostJiXK0lW1uwUprU-JOuDecOWuB8qs1LIsoIrfRYIT0t5HGh2Ra1I_8qredqJbAaW39MDDTFiePEIaZpa1EZtP4bizagcYBqn_wzuY5ukEK30DadnxWuGrxFnU6pB7gncrZxqaR8/s400/201203090814080933.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;">Photo:  <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/">Adel Yahya/IRIN</a></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">African migrants in Yemen</span></span></i></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">HAJJAH (IRIN) - The discovery of 70 battered men and women held captive in a remote area of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s Hajjah Governorate near the Saudi Arabian border has sparked an investigation into the torture and extortion of African immigrants by criminal gangs, say local authorities. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The men and women, Oromos and ethnic Somalis from Ethiopia’s Somali Region, had been held for some time in a house in the Sharqia area of Haradh city, and were found wearing just their underwear. Two men who managed to escape by jumping over the wall of the house, alerted the authorities. Their captors, they said, had beaten them with pipes, burned them with cigarettes and poured liniment in their eyes, making them scream in pain. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We are really shocked," said Ali Ibrahim, a criminal investigator in Haradh. "I have been in the department for 15 years and I don't remember anything like this… It's unbelievable that this was going on in our own back yard.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Another government official who preferred anonymity told IRIN: "This problem is unique. No one could imagine that the people were kept in a smuggler’s house for such a long period of time. We don’t know how many were killed.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Many of the victims, according to head of Haradh Security Department Mohammed Najad, were trying to find their way to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Saudi Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region> to get work, but had ended up in the hands of criminals who demanded thousands of dollars in ransom for their release. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The immigrants are tortured until their families send ransom money, or until enough new immigrants arrive, as there is simply not enough space to keep all the migrants, said Berhane Taklu-Nagga, head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office in Haradh. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On 6 March, the local independent news website <b><i>Al-Masdaronline.net</i></b> published pictures of some of the victims. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">According to a recent Interior Ministry report, 170 Africans were held captive, tortured and mistreated by criminals in Haradh between January 2011 and February 2012. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The victims include 91 young men, 10 women, 50 children and 19 elderly men,” the report said, adding that most had been beaten, scalded or punched in the face, leaving some with visual and hearing problems. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In February, the ministry said, police in Haradh had arrested two suspects. One was holding 49 and the other 79 Ethiopian illegal immigrants. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The authorities are still searching for another 20 Ethiopian female immigrants whom they believe are at risk of being tortured and raped, said Hamoud Haidar, head of Haradh Local Authority. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Rape <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">One common method of torture is rape. “According to the testimonies collected, it appears that the majority of the approximately 3,000 women held by smugglers in Haradh over the past year were raped, many of them repeatedly,” said UNHCR’s Taklu-Nagga. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In a sample of 24 interviewees, 17 said that they had been raped, according to Taklu-Nagga. “The figure is expected to be much higher, considering that rape victims are typically very reluctant to come forward, particularly those from conservative African societies where victims of sexual assault are often ostracized by their communities,” he told IRIN. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Some of the rape victims got pregnant. “Only after eight months when my father was able to send the smugglers US$5,000, did they release me,” recounted one of the rape victims, who requested anonymity. “I must have an abortion. My husband should not know what happened to me in Haradh, and I must not give birth to this child.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">One of the male victims told IRIN that several men were raped as well - as punishment for trying to prevent the rape of the women. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Screaming at night <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Other victims lost body parts. Adeemi Abdullahi lost his left eye after being <o:p></o:p></span></div><table align="right" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #aabbdc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 102, 153); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(51, 102, 153); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: rgb(51, 102, 153); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: rgb(51, 102, 153); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1pt; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-top: -0.75pt; width: 190px;"><tbody>
<tr>   <td style="border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt;">   <div class="MsoNormal"><img align="left" alt="''" height="18" src="file:///C:/Users/wisdom/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image001.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_s1026" width="23" /><strong><span style="color: white; font-family: Tahoma;">Only after eight months when my father   was able to send the smugglers US$5,000, did they release me…I must have an   abortion. My husband should not know what happened to me in Haradh, and I   must not give birth to this child</span></strong><span style="color: white; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;"><img align="absMiddle" alt="''" height="18" src="file:///C:/Users/wisdom/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image002.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1025" width="23" /><o:p></o:p></span></div></td>  </tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">tortured for two months in Abs District, Hajjah Governorate. He showed IRIN marks from the lashings he had received on his back and legs, and scratches on his face and head. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“They had been beating me up mercilessly for more than 50 days… They didn’t give me even a paper tissue to wipe blood from my eye,” the 30-year-old Ethiopian said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">When he was captured he was given five days to contact any person he knew to transfer money to his captors. He failed. “From day six began my hardest ordeal,” he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A resident of the Sharqia area said he and his neighbours could hear screaming at night but feared reporting it to the police. In mid-February, the authorities approached a suspected detention house, but were confronted by gunmen. “They fired at us and damaged our cars,” said Haradh local authority head Haidar. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">So far, Haradh Security Department has identified 19 owners of properties with yards and high walls in villages outside the city suspected of being used as detention centres. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Despite widespread unrest in Yemen in the past year, there has been close to a 100 percent increase in the number of Ethiopians arriving in Yemen from the Horn of Africa: more than 65,000 Ethiopians have arrived, compared to 34,422 in 2010, said the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in December. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">According to UNHCR’s Taklu-Nagga, 10,000-15,000 Ethiopian immigrants annually enter Haradh illegally along <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s western coast.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

YEMEN: Tortured for Ransom

Photo: Adel Yahya/IRIN African migrants in Yemen HAJJAH (IRIN) - The discovery of 70 battered men and women held captive in a remote ...

Southern Yemen Fighting Kills 35 Soldiers, 20 al-Qaida Militants

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</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yemeni officials and medics say a fierce battle between government troops and al-Qaida fighters in the country's south has killed at least 35 soldiers and 20 militants</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They say Sunday's fighting erupted in Abyan province, when the militants detonated several car bombs and overran a military post in the Koud region near the provincial capital, Zinjibar. Scores were wounded on both sides and the death toll is likely to rise</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Military officials said the insurgents were able to seize armored vehicles, artillery pieces, assault rifles and rockets from the army base they attacked. Some of the heavy weapons were later used against the troops, causing most of the casualties</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Al-Qaida militants seized control of Zinjibar last May while the government was pre-occupied with cracking down on nationwide opposition protests against the autocratic rule of then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemeni government forces have been trying to reclaim the town ever since</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yemen has seen a surge in attacks blamed on al-Qaida since Saleh's deputy, Abed Rabo Mansour Hadi, took office as president last month under terms of a Gulf-backed deal to resolve the political crisis. Hours after Mr. Hadi's February 25 inauguration, a suicide bombing killed 26 soldiers at a presidential palace in the the eastern province of Hadramawt</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mr. Hadi has said that fighting al-Qaida and restoring security in the impoverished Arab nation are among his top priorities</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sunday's fighting followed the dismissal last week by Mr. Hadi's government of the military commander of the southern region, to which Abyan belongs, along with other security officials from the province. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Southern Yemen Fighting Kills 35 Soldiers, 20 al-Qaida Militants

Yemeni officials and medics say a fierce battle between government troops and al-Qaida fighters in the country's south has killed at l...

Dialogue Is the Only Way to Solve Yemen's Issues - VP

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">SANA’A (NNN-SABA) -- Vice President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the consensus candidate for the early presidential election, has said that dialogue is the only way to solve issues in the country, particularly in Sa’ada and the South. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">In his speech to the Yemeni citizens two days before election day on Tuesday, Hadi said that he would not allow the national dialogue to kick off after the election to end in failure. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">In previous months, those most optimistic expected <st1:country-region w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region> to end up with a situation like <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, hailing the cooperation with some brotherly and friendly countries that assisted in solving the crisis. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“We are about to go beyond the first phase of the crisis. We look forward to a better future with justice, freedom, equality and respect for human rights.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Hadi said that reinstating the state’s power is a high priority the government would not realize without a realistic vision. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“I know that the desired stability will not definitely be achieved in the country, if there are many desperate, hungry, sick and scared people.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Hadi called on the international community to assist <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region></st1:place> in facing its problems in various areas to stop more deterioration in the country. -- NNN-SABA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Dialogue Is the Only Way to Solve Yemen's Issues - VP

SANA’A (NNN-SABA) -- Vice President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the consensus candidate for the early presidential election, has said that di...

Yemeni defected army calls for UN interference

Yemeni defected army calls for UN interference

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti)- The Yemeni servicemen who joined the opposition called on the UN Security Council to interfere to save the pro-demo...

Nobel Prize to the Yemeni People.

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4b5wLH3rB0wpPp_nqWG9jXud5-4St_k4Z5_pDJv0LCMZ7BkJ3UmuvlzFKIsSW-tBq0D7SKiTiKpRY9ilIUatiDZH8EP0pRWZpHmu5k3LjpwW5Gh-KKQY5-U-_lQvd_2_M1-44b_47ia8/s1600/tawakkulkamran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4b5wLH3rB0wpPp_nqWG9jXud5-4St_k4Z5_pDJv0LCMZ7BkJ3UmuvlzFKIsSW-tBq0D7SKiTiKpRY9ilIUatiDZH8EP0pRWZpHmu5k3LjpwW5Gh-KKQY5-U-_lQvd_2_M1-44b_47ia8/s1600/tawakkulkamran.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span> </span><span> </span>Tawakkul Karman </span></b></span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
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</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>NNN- Yemeni human rights campaigner Tawakkul Karman, a joint winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, has reportedly promised to donate her share of the Nobel award money to the public treasury in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>. A Yemeni opposition website, Mareb Press, quoted Karman as telling gatherers at a ceremony in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region>'s capital, Sanaa, late on October 8 that her half-million-dollar prize money would be given to the people of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> after President Ali Abdullah Saleh steps down from power. </i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i><br />
</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Karman reportedly said the donated money should prompt a hunt for public funds 'plundered by the Saleh regime.' Saleh announced on October 8 that he was willing to step down from power 'in the coming days.' But he gave no concrete plan for the transition. For the past nine months, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> has been largely paralyzed by protests against Saleh's 33-year rule. Photo courtesy of rferl.org---NNN</i></b><i><o:p></o:p></i></div></div>

Nobel Prize to the Yemeni People.

Tawakkul Karman NNN- Yemeni human rights campaigner Tawakkul Karman, a joint winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace ...

Yemen's President Vows to Step Down Soon

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh says he is ready to give up power and will do so "in the coming days."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He made the announcement in a speech broadcast by state-run television on Saturday.<span>  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Saleh</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region></span></st1:place><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s ruler for 33 years said he does not want power and will relinquish it soon.<span>  </span>In addition to not specifying a date, he gave no indication of how or to whom` he will entrust the Yemeni government.<span>  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Saleh said the "men...<span>  </span>who will take power" could be either civilians or members of the military.<span>  </span>He did make clear, however, that he will not deal with opposition activists who have been campaigning for his departure for nearly nine months.<span>  </span>He said in his broadcast address to the nation it would be "impossible to let them destroy the country." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In addition to continuing mass demonstrations in Sana'a, the capital, and other cities, Saleh's forces have clashed in recent weeks with tribal leaders qand their loyalists who now support the political opposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Saleh has appeared to be close to relinquishing power on three occasions since April.<span>  </span>In each case, he agreed to sign a power-transfer plan brokered by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).<span>  </span>However, he backed out before the deal could be signed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The GCC plan calls for him to hand over power to a deputy and allow a coalition to form a national unity government. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Opposition activists, including <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s new Nobel Peace Prize winner, have expressed skepticism over Saleh's latest announcement.<span>  </span>Tawakkul Karman said Saturday that anti-government activists do not believe the president will resign. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In a separate development Saturday, activists urged protesters across <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> to rally in support of Karman, who is a prominent opposition figure. She is one of three women who were awarded the peace prize on Friday. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Saleh returned to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> last month. He had been in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Saudi   Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region> since June receiving treatment for injuries sustained in an attack on his presidential compound in Sana'a. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Also Saturday, an explosion rocked a police station in the southern city of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Aden</st1:place></st1:city>.<span>  </span>Officials say the blast killed one security officer and wounded at least five people. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. However, Yemeni forces have been battling al-Qaida-linked militants who have strongholds in several southern towns. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Yemen's President Vows to Step Down Soon

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh says he is ready to give up power and will do so "in the coming days." He made the announcem...

Aid Delivery in Yemen Becoming Ever More Complex

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">ADEN/DUBAI (NNN-IRIN) -- Aid workers say <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster; but as needs in the country increase, the delivery of aid is becoming ever more complicated. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">One of the poorest countries in the world with a rebel movement in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and al-Qaeda forces at large, Yemen has now been tipped even further over the edge by an ever more violent response to pro-democracy protests across its main cities, a fuel crisis and rising food prices. Compounded, these factors have turned chronic problems like malnutrition into acute crises. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Yet as an already fragile humanitarian situation gets worse, hesitant donors, insecurity and logistical complexities are hampering the delivery of aid to the most vulnerable. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“We have here in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region> many concurrent humanitarian situations to deal with,” said Geert Cappelaere, representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>. “Each and every one of these humanitarian situations is very often of an unprecedented complexity for us as the international humanitarian community.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">To begin with, interest in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> has always lagged behind other countries in the region. As Marc Lynch, director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at <st1:placename w:st="on">George</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Washington</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>, wrote on his blog, “It has been difficult to get anyone to pay attention to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“While donors have pledged billions of dollars to help <st1:country-region w:st="on">Tunisia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Libya</st1:country-region> rebuild their economies and meet humanitarian needs, the plight of people living in the poorest country in the region is being forgotten by the international community,” Oxfam International said in a Sept 19 report about widespread hunger and chronic malnutrition in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The funding that did exist is now shrinking. Among other things, donors have been worried that funds could be funnelled through a widely reported government patronage system. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In mid-2011, the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Netherlands</st1:place></st1:country-region> withheld government aid in protest at human rights violations during the crackdown, the Oxfam report said. In August, the World Bank announced a freeze of its half-a-billion dollar aid programme over security and governance concerns. The US and European Union have also withdrawn or suspended some funding in recent months, according to Ashley Clements, the report’s author. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Ironically… with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> facing one of its greatest humanitarian challenges ever, donors are pulling funds,” he told IRIN (www.irinnews.org). “Some money is talked about and never pledged. Some is pledged and never given.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Friends of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region> -- a group of donors concerned for <st1:country-region w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region>’s future, including the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> and European and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gulf states</st1:place></st1:state> -- has not met since the current crisis began in February, Oxfam said. The Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, a UN-administered consolidated appeal for funds, has received less than 60 per cent of the USD 290 million it requested. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“While the political stalemate has caused many donors to pause, this is the time when it is most critical to act,” Oxfam said. “No longer should politics and security be the drivers of aid strategies in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region>,” it added, referring in part to a <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> insistence on focusing its aid on counter-terrorism, rather than on the areas of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> in most need. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Insecurity in the country has also complicated the picture. The violent crackdown on protests in the capital Sana’a led the UN to temporarily evacuate more than half of its international staff. Most aid agencies have similarly cut down the number of staff present in the country, while trying to maintain the delivery of services. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Separately, renewed fighting between the army and militants in the south has displaced more than 100,000 people since May, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The World Food Programme (WFP) has seen a steady increase in the number of people it is feeding -- from some 30,000 in June to 63,000 today, according to the WFP director in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Lubna Alaman. So far, the WFP is coping, she told IRIN. But “if anything else happens” -- say a new displacement of a large number somewhere else -- meeting the need would be a challenge, given the limited number of staff in the country, she said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In the southern governorate of Abyan, the fighting has already hampered delivery of household items to displaced people, according to a Aug 29 situation report by the OCHA. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">For example, fighting in Abyan’s capital, Zinjibar, has led the military to close the area, making access to it very limited, said Tareq Talahma, a humanitarian affairs officer with OCHA. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In some areas in the north, malnutrition rates are among the worst in the world, with nearly a third of children under five suffering from moderate or severe acute malnutrition -- more than twice the threshold for an emergency, according to a nutrition survey of displaced people from Hajjah Governorate conducted by UNICEF. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A rupture in a major pipeline in March sent fuel prices soaring and increased the price of food in a country where one third of the population -- or 7.5 million people -- did not have enough to eat to begin with. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Oxfam found that of 100 families it surveyed recently, nearly a fifth took their children out of school to put them to work, and nearly two-thirds were skipping meals. Others were selling off valuable items to buy food. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But despite the alarming malnutrition rates and poor access to affordable food in the country, insecurity has hampered the delivery of nutritional supplies in some governorates, the OCHA report said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Areas in al-Jawf, Ma’rib and parts of Amran governorates that are controlled by pro- and anti-government tribes create an access challenge for humanitarian agencies because “it’s very difficult to predict with whom you are dealing, what their agenda is and how they are going to deal with you,” OCHA’s Talahma told IRIN. Agencies rely on local partners to work in these zones. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In cities affected by the crackdown on anti-government protests, shooting is indiscriminatory, he added. “We can be indirect targets.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The country’s lack of development has also been an issue. It has hampered a campaign to vaccinate children, the OCHA situation report said, with the government reporting that one fifth of the vaccination facilities are out of service because of a lack of transportation, gas, electricity and cold chain services. Add to that low starting point the government’s reduced ability to provide basic services because of the recent political instability. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Ministry of Health, for example, is located in one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods of Sana’a. “If it was functioning at a 40 per cent level before, it’s probably functioning at 4 per cent right now,” Vipul Chowdhary, outgoing representative for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region> in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region>, told IRIN. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">His organization was forced to suspend its operations in the northern Sa’dah Governorate after the rebels controlling the area imposed new rules banning international staff from supervising activities. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The MSF had been operating the only hospital outside the governorate’s capital, Sa’dah City, treating nearly 5,000 patients a month, including performing at least 80 life-saving surgeries and seeing 1,100 emergency cases. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Negotiations with rebels have also delayed food distributions, according to OCHA. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Yemen</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">’s needs are so layered that by dealing with one crisis, you may just create another. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">About 20,000 of the displaced people in Abyan, for example, have taken shelter in 112 schools. As a result, several thousand students in the southern cities of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Aden</st1:place></st1:city> and Lahj did not start the new school year on Sept 17, as scheduled, and have been told the schools are shut until further notice. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The government and aid community have been searching for a permanent alternative shelter, but have yet to find one that satisfies the displaced. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We couldn't leave the classrooms just to live in the open or in stadiums that lack the minimum requirements for human life. We will only move back to our homes in Abyan Governorate," said 45-year-old Salim Abdullah, living with his family of nine in the May 22 School in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Aden</st1:place></st1:city> city. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"All the IDPs (internally displaced persons) in this school have agreed not to leave until the government compensates us (for damage to property) and takes us back to our homes." Khalid Naji, another IDP, told IRN that all the IDPs in <st1:placename w:st="on">Belguis</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype> in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Aden</st1:place></st1:city> city unanimously rejected the idea of moving to camps. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">If the displaced don’t vacate the schools soon, the international community will be forced to change tack -- searching instead for alternative learning spaces to ensure that children, including displaced children in Lahj Governorate near Abyan and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Aden</st1:place></st1:city>, have access to education, UNICEF’s Cappelaere said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It is a layer of complication that has blurred the lines between emergency and development work, and only contributes to a downward cycle, he added. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“How on earth do we think this country will develop if it has no educated population? There are huge stakes here. Whoever is responsible today for whatever is going on throughout the country needs to bear that in mind,” he told IRIN. “This is not just about a political chess game. This is a chess game that has incredible humanitarian consequences for children and also therefore jeopardizing the future of the country.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">For all these reasons, “aid in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Yemen</st1:place></st1:country-region> is now undeniably more complex and more risky than in previous years,” the Oxfam report said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Still, the organisation insists there are ways of getting around the obstacles, using “innovative” solutions, such as food vouchers and cash programmes to strengthen local markets and connecting with the private sector, which may already know how to function safely and effectively amid insecurity, to deliver aid. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Aid can get through, even in highly complex, challenging, and insecure environments,” the report said, adding: “Donors may need to think further outside the box in order to get support to those in need.” -- NNN-IRIN<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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Aid Delivery in Yemen Becoming Ever More Complex

ADEN/DUBAI (NNN-IRIN) -- Aid workers say Yemen is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster; but as needs in the country increase, the deli...

Russia evacuates over 170 citizens from Yemen

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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #010000; font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif;"></span></div><h4 class="lblue" style="color: rgb(72, 144, 194) !important; font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><strong style="color: #010000; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://en.rian.ru/trend/protests_yemen_2011/" style="color: #010000; text-decoration: none;">Protests against Yemeni president Saleh</a></strong></h4><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>MOSCOW- Two planes dispatched by Russia's Emergencies Ministry have evacuated a total of 175 Russian citizens from Yemen due to escalating violence in the country, the ministry said.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The first plane, an Il-76 carrying 66 people, left Yemeni capital, Sanaa, at 09.25 p.m. Moscow time [17:25 GMT] on Sunday.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX-zd0IL2bQGUZARbqtULQq1x0O31rPAfzJ8odVVgKJ8D2AMSO7fUkxWayzCfbIEzEeymCYozKmD9wSplKfXjLE6kHCAfOSoK681TjqBMLJjXEJzIHhGCe11mdFFDCmU8Sx3-kydeufEY/s1600/Turq-Yemen-Zinjibar-230x230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX-zd0IL2bQGUZARbqtULQq1x0O31rPAfzJ8odVVgKJ8D2AMSO7fUkxWayzCfbIEzEeymCYozKmD9wSplKfXjLE6kHCAfOSoK681TjqBMLJjXEJzIHhGCe11mdFFDCmU8Sx3-kydeufEY/s1600/Turq-Yemen-Zinjibar-230x230.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"The second plane, an Il-62, took off from Sanaa at 11.40 p.m. Moscow time [19:40 GMT]," a ministry's spokesman told RIA Novosti." The plane is carrying 109 people, including 59 children."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Russia has already recalled 14 diplomats and their families from its embassy in Sanaa and general consulate in Aden.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">There are about 825 Russians remaining in Yemen.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Anti-government protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for 33 years, have been taking place for nearly five months. The protests have recently escalated to frequent gun battles between Saleh loyalists and hundreds of members of Yemeni opposition tribal groups.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Several hundred people have reportedly been killed in Yemen since February, pushing the country to the brink of a civil war. (RIA Novosti) </span></div></div>

Russia evacuates over 170 citizens from Yemen

Protests against Yemeni president Saleh MOSCOW- Two planes dispatched by Russia's Emergencies Ministry have evacuated a total of 175 R...