Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Four al Qaeda suspects arrested in Dhaleh; third power plant burns in south Yemen; Yemen takes part in regional security workshop

Horn of Africa: Mogadishu explosions hit Hizb al Islam police station and World Cup soccer fans; Somali President meets with officials in Kenya to discuss UN assistance; demonstrators coerced in protests against additional peacekeepers; Eritrean official says additional troops are not solution to situation in Somalia

Yemen Security Brief

• Security forces in Dhaleh arrested four al Qaeda suspects Wednesday.[1]

• A power station near Aden caught fire on Thursday. An official attributed the fire to a surge in voltage that resulted in an explosion; however, two other power stations were attacked earlier in the week by secessionists, according to the government.[2]

• Yemen took part in a conference that began Wednesday in Syria to discuss regional security issues.  Participants were slated to discuss terrorism and nuclear nonproliferation.[3]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Two explosions occurred within moments of each other in Mogadishu.  The first targeted a police station controlled by Hizb al Islam.  The second was  a grenade attack on a house where residents were watching the World Cup.  Two were killed in the second attack and the assailants were not identified.[4]

• President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed arrived in Nairobi to meet with UN officials about a United Nations’ presence in Somalia.  He was also expected to meet with Kenyan officials to discuss bilateral cooperation.[5]

• Residents in al Shabaab-controlled territory claim they were coerced Wednesday to take part in demonstrations against the announcement by regional powers that 2,000 additional troops would be sent to prop up the fragile Somali government.[6]

• Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu derided the planned addition of fresh peacekeeping troops in Somalia and said that foreign intervention was the cause of—not the solution to—the country’s chaos.[7]