Gulf of Aden Security Review - July 2, 2015

Yemen: Al Houthi movement kills 18 civilians in rocket attack in Aden; United Nations declares humanitarian emergency in Yemen

Horn of Africa: AMISOM troops withdraw from three more bases in Lower Shabelle; Somaliland arrests Somali MP

Yemen Security Brief

• Members of the al Houthi movement fired rockets within the al Mansura district of Aden city on July 1, killing 18 civilians and 13 members of the local popular resistance militia. This attack comes during prolonged fighting between popular resistance fighters and the al Houthi movement within the city of Aden.[1]

• The United Nations declared a level three humanitarian emergency within Yemen on July 2, the worst of its kind and urged for a dramatic increase in aid to Yemen. Approximately 80 percent of Yemen’s population is facing major food shortages with 10 of the 22 governorates in the country being labeled as food emergencies, a step short of famine on the UN classification scale.[2]   

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops withdrew from their bases in Qoryole, Awdheegle, and Yaq-bari Weyne, all located in the Lower Shabelle region, on July 1. AMISOM officials did not cite a reason for the withdrawal, but local reporting indicates that al Shabaab militants had closed in on the bases in preparation for an attack.[3]

• Somaliland officials arrested Somali Parliament Member Ahmed Hussein Hassan in Borama, Adwal region, for illegally entering the breakaway state. Adwal Governor Mohamed Ali Saleban Rabah urged Somali officials visiting Somaliland to ask for pardon beforehand and called Somaliland citizens working for the Somali Federal Government “gluttonous.”[4]