Yemen: Southern Movement demonstration turns violent – one dead and four wounded during clashes; Yemeni government and separatists exchange blame for highway attack
Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab denies responsibility for suicide attack; call for 40,000 additional soldiers in Somalia; Ugandans said to be among al Shabaab’s fighters
Yemen Security Brief
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A Southern Movement rally in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, turned violent on Thursday. The shootout left one person dead and two others wounded. In Qatabah in Dhaleh province, a deputy police chief and a demonstrator were injured during clashes at a demonstration.[1]
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The Yemeni government and the separatists blame the other for the three deaths over the weekend from the highway attack. Additionally, the Interior Ministry announced a list of sixteen wanted southern separatists, including the suspected perpetrators of the attack. Last June, the government established “vigilante militias” in the south, known as “unity guards.”[2]
Horn of Africa Security Brief
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The Somali government has accused al Shabaab of being behind the suicide attack on the Shamo Hotel; however, the group has denied any responsibility. A spokesman from Hizb al Islam credited the attack to a foreigner operating within the country. The European Union, the InterGovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, the UN, and the U.S. have issued a joint statement condemning the attack as “cowardly acts of terrorism.”[3]
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Major General Nathan Mugisha, the commander of the Ugandan African Union forces in Somalia, called for over 20,000 peacekeeping troops and 20,000 Somali Transitional Federal Government soldiers to bring peace to Somalia.[4]
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The African Union Special Representative for Somalia, Wafula Wamunyinyi, reported that Ugandans are among al Shabaab’s foreign fighters, in addition to those from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, and the U.S. He estimated the number of foreign fighters with al Shabaab to be around 1,200 and that half of them are Kenyan.[5]