Gulf of Aden Security Review
A regularly updated review of both Yemen and the Horn of Africa covering topics related to security, governance, and militant activity.
Yemen: NewsYemen website hacked and destroyed; street in Sana’a renamed after Iranian protester
Horn of Africa: Explosion at graduation ceremony in Mogadishu kills at least nineteen; Deputy Commander-in-Chief of al Shabaab’s Middle Shabelle militia defects to government; al Shabaab attacked Burundi base in Mogadishu; UN delegation met with government officials in Mogadishu
Yemen Security Brief
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Nabil al-Sofi, the NewsYemen publisher, accused the Yemeni government of using a computer virus to crash its website and erase all of its data. He said that the host company of the website had information indicating the virus came from the Internet Administration at the Ministry of Telecommunication. Al-Sofi reports that NewsYemen had received warnings from the government, and had expressed its willingness to abide by a list of what not to write about; however, it never heard back from the government.[1]
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A street in Sana’a was renamed to “Nada al Sultan Street” after the slain Iranian protester. This follows Iran changing the name of a street in its capital to “Hussein al Houthi Street.” Sana’a officials note that they did not order the name to be changed and that they “do not want anything about Iran here.”[2]
Horn of Africa Security Brief
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A suicide bomber killed at least nineteen people, including three government ministers – the Minister of Education, the Minister of Higher Education, and the Minister of Health – and three journalists, at a graduation ceremony for medical, engineering, and computer science students in a Mogadishu hotel. Over forty others were wounded in the blast that ripped through the Shamo Hotel. This was the second class to graduate from Banadir University since the central government collapsed nearly two decades ago. It is suspected that al Shabaab is responsible for the attack.[3]
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Sheikh Ali Hassan Ghedi defected to the government from al Shabaab. Ghedi had served as the deputy commander-in-chief of al Shabaab’s Middle Shabelle region militia. He reports that he decided that the recent ban on the UN World Food Program was the catalyst for his decision because of how it affects civilians. He told reporters, “Al-Shabaab’s cruelty against the people is what forced me to defect to the government side. They extort money from the people and deal with them against the teaching of Islam.”[4]
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In Mogadishu, al Shabaab attacked an African Union base at the Jalle Siad Academy, where the Burundi forces are located. Residents report that the AU soldiers returned fire. In addition, there are accounts that al Shabaab also attacked a government military base in the south of Mogadishu. No casualties have been reported yet.[5]
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A UN delegation met with government officials in Mogadishu. The Deputy UN Envoy to Somalia, Charles Patrie, praised the Information Minister’s efforts at reopening Radio Mogadishu and noted that the delegation was there to “pave the way” for the International Contact Group meeting that will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in the middle of the month.[6]
