Gulf of Aden Security Review - July 14, 2011

Yemen: Airstrikes kill seven militants in south Yemen; security forces clash with tribesmen in Taiz

Horn of Africa: Clashes between rival clans continue in central Somalia; Somalia’s deputy minister of interior and home security asks international community for assistance in fighting al Shabaab; Somali ambassador to Kenya claims government controls eighty-five percent of Mogadishu; UNICEF resumes operations in Bay region, corrects report that staff member taken by al Shabaab

Yemen Security Brief

• Airstrikes in Abyan killed at least seven Islamist militants in south Yemen, according to a Yemeni security official.  The official reported that the two airstrikes likely killed more, but that militants had removed the bodies.  At least 35 people were reportedly injured. A second official confirmed the deaths of at least three militants in Wudiya, north of Zinjibar, in an airstrike on a local police station.[1]

• Yemeni security forces clashed with armed tribesmen protecting protestors in Taiz, leaving seven people wounded.  Republican Guard soldiers fired live bullets and teargas to disperse 5,000 demonstrators.  The protestors called for the ouster of Saleh’s regime and an end to “Saudi and American interference in Yemeni affairs.”  Two people were reportedly killed.[2]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Clashes between rival clans in central Somalia’s Mudug region on July 12 killed five people and wounded nine others.  Wounded fighters were taken to the towns of Adado and Galkayo.[3] 

• Somalia’s Deputy Minister of Interior and Home Security Ibrahim Isaq Yarow asked the international community to assist the Transitional Federal Government’s efforts to defeat al Shabaab.  He told reporters that the Somali government is committed to fighting al Qaeda-linked groups and accused the extremists of destabilizing and vandalizing the country.[4]

• Somalia’s ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Nur said the Somali government controls eighty-five percent of Mogadishu and hopes to capture the rest of the city “in the next few weeks.”[5]

• UNICEF confirmed that a plane carrying five metric tons of aid landed in Baidoa, the capital of Bay region, to provide drought assistance to Somalis. Al Shabaab currently controls Bay region. Mareeg Online corrected its earlier report that al Shabaab apprehended UNICEF worker Ali Moallim Black in the Baidoa area.  A UNICEF information officer said that Black was neither apprehended nor arrested by al Shabaab.  Mareeg reported, however, that a UNICEF national staff member “was detained briefly in Baidoa for personal reasons that are not related to UNICEF activities and operations, and the staff member is now released and back to duty.”[6]