Gulf of Aden Security Review - December 18, 2009

Yemen: Yemeni government warns citizens against helping terrorists, reports that al Qaeda's al Kazimi died in attack in Abyan; Yemeni Interior Ministry reported hunt for Iranian boat carrying weapons; Ethiopians dominate the African refugees trying to enter Yemen

Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab loots UN Mine Action Service compounds in Baidoa; al Shabaab in Jubba region claims recent clashes against Ogaden National Liberation Front fighters, not Hizb al Islam fighters; Hizb al Islam and al Shabaab have failed to reconcile differences; Somalia's parliament to re-open shortly

Yemen Security Brief

• Yemen has warned its citizens about aiding fleeing terrorists, saying that those who do so will be held accountable. Security sources report that Qasem al Raimi, al Qaeda's number two in Yemen, along with two other men, survived the attack on eight would-be suicide bombers in the Arhab district of Sanaía province. According to security sources, ten of the bodies recovered from the attacks in Abyan were not Yemenis and that the leader of al Qaeda in Abyan, Mohammed Saleh al Kazimi, was among the dead.[1]

• The Yemeni Interior Ministry has reported that the western Coast Guard is hunting an Iranian boat supposedly carrying weapons and livestock infected with anthrax.[2] 

• Over 74,000 Africans have fled to Yemen in 2009, a fifty percent increase over the 2008 figures. The UNHCR found that Somalis, who are automatically granted refugee status upon arrival in Yemen, did not constitute the majority of the refugees this year. Instead, Ethiopians dominate the new arrivals.[3]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Al Shabaab has overrun and looted the UN Mine Action Service compounds in Baidoa. According to witnesses, heavily armed al Shabaab militants entered the three UNMAS compounds and took all the computers and foreign equipment that they could find, including three fully equipped ambulances and valuable radio equipment. Reportedly, foreign fighters were among the militants who attacked.[4]

• Sheikh Abdirahiin Ali Mudey, a top al Shabaab official in Jubba region, claims that the recent clashes in the region were between al Shabaab and Ogaden National Liberation Front fighters, not Hizb al Islam as reported earlier. Mudey said that it is true that al Shabaab fought with Ahmed Madobe, but that he is a veiled ONLF official and not connected to Hizb al Islam. However, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of Hizb al Islam, has said that Madobe is part of the group.[5]

• Hizb al Islam and al Shabaab will not reconcile their differences caused by disputes over control of Kismayo despite three days of discussions between leaders. Clashes have occurred between the two groups in Kismayo and throughout the Lower Jubba region, resulting in the routing of Hizb al Islam from many towns.[6]

• Sheikh Aden Mohammed Nur Madobe, Somaliaís Parliament Speaker, has set a date for the re-opening of Parliament, which has been in recess for over five months.[7]