World Tribune.com

Great Promotions from Dell Home Systems!

U.S. faces uphill odds in helping Yemen control terror groups

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, April 17, 2002

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."

Print this Article Print this Article Email this article Email this article Subscribe to this Feature Free Headline Alerts