Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: AQAP claims IED attack on STC-backed military vehicle; Houthi and ROYG officials commit to joint visits of each other’s detention facilities; Yemeni President receives ambassadors from the EU and the Netherlands; Yemeni President receives Chinese diplomat; US Ambassador to Yemen meets with Yemeni Prime Minister

Somalia: Al Shabaab launches a complex SVBIED attack targeting a local militia base in south-central Somalia; US-trained special forces clear al Shabaab from southwestern Somalia

Yemen Security Brief

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed a March 10 improvised explosive device (IED) attack on a military vehicle belonging to Southern Transitional Council (STC)–backed forces in the al Mahfad region, Abyan governorate, southern Yemen on March 18. AQAP claimed the attack wounded multiple STC-backed fighters. The STC did not report casualties.[i]

Houthi and Yemeni government (ROYG) officials committed to “undertake joint visits of each other's detention facilities” as part of the recent prisoner exchange deal, according to a March 20 joint statement by the office of the UN Special Envoy to Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross.[ii] A Yemeni news site reported that the visits will take place in Houthi-controlled Sana’a and ROYG-controlled Ma’rib governorates.[iii]

Yemeni President Rashad al Alimi met with the EU and Dutch ambassadors to Yemen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 21.[iv] The meeting covered the renewed international efforts to extend the UN-mediated truce.

Yemeni President Rashad al Alimi met the Chargé D’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Yemen on March 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to discuss the Chinese role in the peace process in Yemen.[v]

US Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin met with Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik to discuss the UN-mediated peace process in Aden, Yemen on March 21.[vi]

Somalia Security Brief

Al Shabaab launched a complex suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack targeting a local fighter base in Daru Na’im village, Adan Yabal district, Middle Shabelle region, south-central Somalia, on March 21.[vii] Al Shabaab claimed they killed 28 local fighters and seized military vehicles and weapons.[viii] The Somali Federal Government claimed that Somali National Army soldiers and local fighters repelled the attack and killed 30 al Shabaab fighters.[ix]

US-trained Danab special forces cleared al Shabaab from several villages in western Kismayo district, Lower Jubba region, southwestern Somalia, on March 22.[x] The operation killed five al Shabaab members and arrested another.[xi]