Gulf of Aden Security Review - September 23, 2009

Yemen: Local source reports mutiny within al-Houthi ranks; 50 al-Houthi rebels killed during attacks in Almalaheez and Manbeh; supplies in refugee camps in Sa'ada region running out; Yemeni police seize large quantities of fuel destined for al-Houthi rebels

Horn of Africa: Ugandan president calls for U.S. support of AMISOM troops; fighting between government and AU soldiers and Islamist rebels in Mogadishu kills at least ten civilians; Somali government declares presence of� Eritrean officers in key southern coastal town of Kismayo; Kenya increases security forces along Somali border; UN envoy requests creation of high-security green zone in Mogadishu

Yemen Security Brief

• A local source reports that al-Houthi rebels are refusing to obey orders from superiors to continue fighting.� The militants reportedly called the orders "collective suicide" following the failure of recent attacks.[1]

• Government forces killed 50 and injured 100 al-Houthi rebels in Almalaheez and Manbeh.� Earlier, over a dozen rebels, including a field leader, were killed by the Yemeni army.� This most recent loss comes after the death of over 150 insurgents and the surrender of 70 al-Houthi rebels on Sunday.[2]

• A UN spokesman reported that the food supplies in Yemen refugee camps are running out.� Aid agencies have been unable to deliver food and other basic necessities to the camps because of the security situation.� Some food aid cargo is still in Saudi Arabia just 12 miles from the border and has been cleared by Saudi authorities for delivery to Baqem and other hard-hit areas in Sa'ada province, but the instability of the region has prevented the transport of the cargo.[3]

• Yemeni police arrested six people and seized two cars carrying twelve barrels of petrol and ten barrels of diesel outside of Bani Hushaish in Sana'a.� In Mustaba'a, the police arrested two people in a pick-up carrying nineteen barrels of diesel. [4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni asked the U.S. to increase its support of the AU mission in Somalia in a meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.� He has called for the expansion of forces to the authorized number of 8,000 soldiers and the deployment of AMISOM peacekeepers to the al-Shabaab controlled towns of Kismayo and Baidoa.[5]

• Overnight fighting between AMISOM forces and al-Shabaab rebels in Mogadishu killed at least ten civilians and injured over thirty more.� Both sides accuse the other of causing the civilian casualties.� Residents report that the fighting began last night when rebels fired mortars at the presidential palace and attacked AU bases.[6]

• The Somali Interior Ministry reported that Eritrean officers are in the strategic coastal town of Kismayo and that they arrived over the past month.� Abdirashi Mohammed Hidig, State Minister of Internal Affairs, has urged the Eritreans to leave the country and said that the government is tracking them.� He also asked that Kenya ensure that its border is secure.[7]

• The Kenyan government announced that it has increased the surveillance of its border with Somalia and that it is actively discouraging trade with the war-torn country.� Coast Provincial Commissioner Ernest Munyi noted that security agents were on high alert along the border to ensure that members of armed groups, such as al-Shabaab, did not enter Kenya from Somalia.[8]

• Ahmadou Ould Abdallah, the UN special envoy to Somalia, advocated the establishment of a high-security green zone in Mogadishu modeled after the one in Baghdad.� Organizations who work in Somalia would then be repatriated from Nairobi, Kenya.� The establishment of such a zone is likely to be problematic because of continued violence and instability in the capital.[9]

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