Gulf of Aden Security Review - June 4, 2015

Yemen: UN-led Yemeni peace talks in Geneva tentatively scheduled for June 14; al Houthis clash with Saudi forces along Saudi-Yemeni border

Horn of Africa: Suspects in the April 2 attack on Garissa University charged; Puntland presidential official and the mayor of Garowe dismissed

Yemen Security Brief

• The Yemeni ambassador to the UN, representing Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government in exile, announced on June 3 that UN-led Yemeni peace talks in Geneva would begin on June 14. The al Houthi movement announced on June 4 that it will attend the Geneva talks without preconditions. It is uncertain if Hadi’s government will maintain its demands that the al Houthi movement submit to UN Resolution 2216 as a precondition for talks.[1]

• Al Houthi militants targeted Saudi military sites with artillery fire and engaged in border clashes with Saudi forces in al Tawal, Najran; al Dharan al Janub, Asir; and in al Khubah, Jizan, on June 4.  There are no casualty reports available from the fighting.[2]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• A Nairobi court formally charged the five suspects arrested for the April 2 Garissa University attack with 152 counts of terrorism, which carry life sentences. A bail hearing has been set for June 11, but the prosecution reminded the court that the suspects are linked to al Shabaab and urged for them to be denied bail. A hearing has been scheduled for August 24 and 25 in Milimani, Coast Province, Kenya.[3]

• Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali ousted the region’s administration director of the presidency and the mayor of Garowe, Puntland’s capitol. The firings follow President Ali’s May 26 interview with Voices of America’s Somali Service, in which he unveiled a plan to make changes to the government he believed to be incompetent.[4]