Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Vice President Hadi agrees to meet with opposition party; Yemeni army kills 21 AQAP operatives; Saudi Arabia donates three million barrels of oil; Assistant Secretary of General People’s Congress Bin-Daghir condemns celebrations over Saleh’s condition, calls for unity; Saleh’s condition stabilizes; protestors gather in Sana’a to demand Saleh step down, supporters rally for his return

Horn of Africa: 1,000 Somali troops complete training in Dolow, Ethiopia; 100 people arrested in Boosaaso after retired policeman was gunned down; locals in Las Anod call for Somaliland to remove their troops; UN will help Somalis in trouble regions evacuate; Egyptian authorities detain seven Somalis suspected of planning attacks on U.S. interests in Egypt and Israel; suspected al Shabaab militant opened fire on teenagers killing one woman; Africa’s top al Qaeda operative Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was shot and killed at police checkpoint in Mogadishu; TFG forces vowed to remove al Shabaab operatives in Gedo region; Mudug elders and government make efforts to calm tensions between feuding clans; Somalia’s Interior Minister Sheikh Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan Farah killed in suicide attack; gangsters shoot and kill three passengers aboard civilian bus, injure four others

Yemen Security Brief

• Vice President Abdul Rab Mansour al Hadi has agreed to meet with the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP).  Six members of the JMP will have discussions with Hadi over the transfer of Saleh’s power on Monday at his home. In Sana’a, it is reported that troops loyal to Saleh have been extensively reinforced and more checkpoints have been set up.[1]

• The Yemeni army killed 21 al Qaeda terrorists and wounded others in a firefight that broke out in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan governorate. A reported al Qaeda warehouse used to store weapons and munitions was fired upon by the Yemeni forces and destroyed. Nine soldiers were killed in the conflict. In al Bayda governorate three al Qaeda militants were killed and ten wounded after clashing with Yemeni forces there. One soldier was killed.[2]

• According to Saba News, Saudi Arabia will donate three million barrels of crude oil to Yemen to alleviate fuel shortages.[3]

• Assistant Secretary General of the General People’s Congress Ahmad Bin-Daghir denounced the celebrations of the attack on President Saleh and called for an investigation committee to bring those behind the attack to justice. Bin-Daghir called for unity in the creation of a new Yemeni state saying, “the path to peace begins with accord.”[4]

• Yemen’s President Saleh has been stabilized in the hospital and is no longer in intensive care according to Yemen’s ambassador to Britain Abdulla Ali al Radhi.[5] 

• Thousands gathered on Siteen Street in Sana’a to demand that President Saleh step down and transfer power to Vice President Abdul Rab Mansour al Hadi. A small group in favor of Saleh also gathered in Sana’a to show support for Saleh’s return to Yemen after injuries from Friday’s attack required him to leave the country for safety and medical reasons.[6] 

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Africa’s top al Qaeda operative Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a suspected key planner in the 1998 U.S. embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, was killed at a police checkpoint in Mogadishu on Tuesday according to Somali police. He drove his car into the southernmost checkpoint of Mogadishu controlled by the TFG where a firefight broke out between Mohammed and police before he was fatally shot. Police searched the car and found $40,000 in cash, and several daggers, laptop computers, photographs, and cellular phones inside. Mohammed, with a $5 million bounty on his head by the U.S. government, was alleged to be taking sanctuary with al Shabaab militants in the inland areas of Mogadishu.  A western official commented on Mohammed’s influence and the effect of his death on al Shabaab and al Qaeda in the area: "It might tone down their capability in the region. He would have been the top man to bring in resources and coordinate operations."[7]

• Somalia’s Interior Minister Sheikh Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan Farah was killed in an attack by a suicide bomber. The attack occurred on Friday at Farah’s home in Mogadishu. Shabelle Media Network reports that the attacker may have been a female and by some accounts the minister’s niece. Al Shabaab has taken responsibility for the attack and denied reports of a female bomber. Farah’s murder was publicly condemned by the United Nations, AMISOM, and Djibouti. A spokesman for the African Union (AU) said his forces are on high alert for al Qaeda attacks. [8]·        

• One thousand new Somali troops have completed training in Dolow, Ethiopia and will continue the fight against al Shabaab in Somalia.[9]         

• A hundred people were arrested in Boosaaso after a retired Puntland police officer was shot and killed Sunday night.  Local officials said the security crackdown will continue until the area is safe.[10]       

• Local elders in Las Anod called for Somaliland to remove its troops from the town. Locals in the region complained that Somaliland troops use the area to launch attacks in northern Somalia.[11]

• The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) reported that the United Nations will help evacuate Somalis from areas in turmoil throughout the Middle East and North Africa.[12]       

• Egyptian authorities have detained seven Somalis accused of being part of a terrorist cell planning attacks on U.S. interests in Egypt and Israel.  Last month’s arrest of Yussef Ahmed Hassan led to the capture of the alleged Somali terrorists.[13]

• Mareeg reported al Shabaab militants opened fire on teenagers playing football in the Yaqshid district of Mogadishu. A pregnant woman was allegedly shot and killed and three others were wounded. The motive behind the shooting was unclear.[14]    

• TFG ministers and military officials made the agreement to remove al Shabaab militants from Gedo region. Military commander of the region Jamal Hassan stated that his forces would secure the region completely.[15]      

• The regional government of Mudug and local elders and leaders are making efforts to calm tensions between two feuding clans in the region after fighting left at least 15 people dead.[16]       

• Three people were killed and four injured on Saturday when the civilian bus they were traveling in was shot at by gangsters. The bus was traveling from Baidoa to Mogadishu. The attackers were reportedly intended to rob the passengers but not do so.[17]
  

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