Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Northern tribesmen demands answers by Friday or truce off; southern separatists attack military vehicle, kill one; southern tribesmen blockade highway

Horn of Africa: U.S. DHS warns Texas of Shabaab operative in Mexico; Somali president again says will appoint new PM; Shabaab militants raid Kenya town; AMISOM vows it will defend against al Shabaab

Yemen Security Brief

• Ma’rib tribesmen threatened to call off a truce with the government unless a probe into the airstrike that killed one of their prominent kinsmen produces results by Friday.[1]

• Southern separatists killed one government soldier and wounded four others in an attack on a military vehicle in al Malah Thursday.[2]

• Tribal militants from the Ba Kazem tribe in Abyan province blockaded the Hadramawt-Aden road after investigations into the December airstrikes ended.  The tribal sheikhs have demanded tribal arbitration to solve the issue of killing civilians.[3]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security notified Texas authorities that an al Shabaab militant is in Mexico and may attempt to sneak across the border. Earlier this month, court documents indicted a Somali national in Texas of running a smuggling operation that may have successfully brought hundreds of Somalis illegally across the border.[4]

• Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed reversed positions again and is now planning to appoint a new prime minister. Last week, he announced he would do so before rescinding that decision two days later.[5]

• Al Shabaab fighters raided Dadajabula in Kenya’s Wajir district Thursday, wounding five people. Kenya deployed security forces to protect against further attacks, but the motives for the initial attack are unclear.[6]

• AMISOM spokesman, Major Barigye Bahoku, said that “If [al Shabaab militants] attack, we will reply and we will not allow al Shabaab to capture Villa Somalia.”[7]