On Tuesday, another bomb blast linked to Al Qaida rocked the Yemeni
capital of Sanaa. Diplomatic sources said the bomb was apparently aimed to
destroy the nation's security agency but instead destroyed the Civil
Aviation Department. Al Qaida followers have threatened to bomb government
offices and assassinate Yemeni politicians over the next month, Middle East Newsline reported.
Earlier, U.S. ambassador to Sanaa, Edmond Hall, met Yemeni
Deputy Foreign Minister Abdullah Al Saidi to discuss the U.S.-led war on
terrorism. The two men discussed security cooperation and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Yemeni newspapers reported.
The United States is said to face a formidable
challenge in curbing Islamic insurgency in Yemen.
Congressional staffers and analysts said the required tasks range from
ensuring that Yemen can absorb advanced Western military and security
systems to navigating through the turbulent tribal politics that have fueled
support for Al Qaida.
The Bush administration plans to send at least 100 military advisers to
Yemen to help train its military and security forces. The administration is
also drafting a multi-million dollar package to provide Sanaa with naval
vessels, night-vision and other equipment required to search and destroy
Islamic insurgency cells.
Analysts see Yemen as a country steeped in poverty and Islamic
insurgency in a situation that rivals such countries as Afghanistan and
Saudi
Arabia. They said Yemen's fight against terrorism will have as much to do
with basic governing skills as military and security training.
"Yemen's hinterland is the perfect hiding place for terrorists: a no
man's land of tribal fiefdoms and arms bazaars," Michael Donovan, a research
analyst, writes in a report for the Washington-based Center for Defense
Information. "Rounding up terrorists will mean extending government control
in these areas. It also means confronting the balance of tribal
confederations and religious allegiances that have kept Yemen stable."
Donovan cites the huge number of illegal weapons in Yemen, with an
average of three guns for each of the nation's 18 million people. He said
Yemen has integrated Islamic militants into government and the military
while Al
Qaida enjoys the support of the nation's powerful tribes.
Congressional staffers report little support for a major increase in aid
for Yemen, the site of the USS Cole bombing in 2000. They dismiss the
request of $400 million in U.S. military by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah
Saleh as ludicrous, adding that Sanaa will obtain no more than $10 million
in military and security help.
"Their absorption capacity [for U.S. military aid] is very limited," a
senior congressional staffer said. "The answer will have to be increased
U.S. training."
For his part, Donovan envisions immediate difficulties with any U.S.
effort to help Yemen fight Al Qaida. He said Al Qaida might have penetrated
Yemeni society, but it has not built the infrastructure which it had in
Afghanistan.
"The extent of the Al Qaida presence in Yemen remains unclear," the CDI
report said. "There are no command facilities or training areas such as
existed in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, Yemen offers all the attributes
required of a terrorist hideout: difficult terrain, a sympathetic
population, a weak central government, and long and porous boarders.
American military advisers will
have their work cut out for them. Success against Al Qaida in Yemen may have
more to do with tribal politics than military tactics."