Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Likely U.S. drone strike kills two AQAP fighters in Ma’rib; Saudi forces intercept 11 al Houthi drones targeting Parliament in Hadramawt; Hadi government Foreign Minister meets with Russian Foreign Minister in Moscow; al Houthi movement reveals new missile

Horn of Africa: Deadly protests erupt in Mogadishu over death of rickshaw driver; SFG Foreign Minister meets Russian Foreign Minister in Moscow; African Union gives Sudan ultimatum on civilian transition

Yemen Security Brief

A likely U.S. drone strike killed two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters in Mahliyah district in Ma’rib governorate in central Yemen on April 15.[1]

Saudi-led coalition spokesman Turki al Maliki claimed that Saudi forces intercepted 11 al Houthi drones between April 11 and April 13. The drones were targeting the session of Parliament convened by President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Sayun city in central Hadramawt governorate in eastern Yemen.[2]

Hadi government Foreign Minister Khalid al Yamani met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on April 15.[3]

Spokesman for the al Houthi armed forces Yayha Sarea revealed a new domestically-made Badr F missile during a press conference in the al Houthi-controlled capital Sana’a on April 16. The al Houthi movement claims that the Badr F is a ballistic missile with a range of 160 kilometers, which is 30 kilometers greater than that of the Houthis’ existing Badr 1P missile.[4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

Protesters demonstrated against Somali police in the Somali capital Mogadishu on April 13 and 14. The protests were in response to the recent death of a motorized rickshaw driver and his passenger in Mogadishu. Police shootings of rickshaw drivers are common in Mogadishu as police often suspect drivers of working for al Shabaab. Somali security forces killed at least four protesters during the demonstrations.[5]

Somali Federal Government (SFG) Foreign Minister Ahmed Isse Awad met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on April 15. Awad is in Moscow to attend the fifth Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum, which begins on April 16.[6]

The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council called on the Sudanese military to relinquish power to a civilian government within two weeks or face suspension from the AU. The AU’s April 15 statement on Sudan’s transition condemned the military’s suspension of the constitution and dissolution of the National Assembly. The Sudanese military ousted longtime President Omar al Bashir on April 11 after months of nationwide anti-regime protests.[7]

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