Gulf of Aden Security Review - April 25, 2019

Yemen: Al Houthi drone targets Emirati base in Aden governorate; Hadi government signs MoU with China to enter Belt and Road Initiative; Hadi-aligned forces claim to seize district in Sa’ada governorate

Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab attacks Ugandan AMISOM base in Lower Shabelle; al Shabaab attacks checkpoints in Baidoa and Jowhar; three generals resign from Sudan’s Transitional Military Council

Yemen Security Brief

Saudi-led coalition forces claimed to shoot down an al Houthi Qasef 2-K drone near an Emirati base in al Buraiqeh district in Aden governorate in southern Yemen on April 25. Al Houthi media claimed that the drone attacked the base, wounding several soldiers. Al Houthi media also claimed that al Houthi forces previously targeted the base on July 5, 2018 and that the base is a headquarters for the Saudi-led coalition in southern Yemen.^[1]

Representatives of the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government approving Yemen’s entrance into China’s Belt and Road Initiative on April 25. Hadi’s Minister for Industry and Trade CorrectionA previous version of this Security Review incorrectly stated that a member of Yemen's Islah party attended the ceremony.Abdulwahid al Mitami signed the memorandum of understanding during the Belt and Road conference in Beijing, China.^[2]

Hadi government-aligned forces claimed to seize Jabal Aznab in Razih district in Sa’ada governorate in northwestern Yemen on April 24. Hadi government-aligned forces separately claimed to destroy an al Houthi surveillance drone in Kitaf district in eastern Sa’ada governorate on 24 April.^[3]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

Al Shabaab militants attacked Ugandan forces from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) at a base near Bulo Marer town in Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia on April 25. AMISOM forces repulsed the attack.[4]

Suspected al Shabaab militants attacked a checkpoint at the South West State presidential palace in the South West capital Baidoa on April 25. The attack wounded two soldiers. Suspected al Shabaab militants separately attacked a Somali National Army (SNA) checkpoint in Jowhar, the capital of Middle Shabelle region in central Somalia, on April 23. The attack killed one soldier and wounded five others.[5]

Three members of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council resigned on April 24, although the council has not accepted their resignations. The Transitional Military Council and members of the Sudanese opposition separately agreed to hold a joint dialogue on April 24. One of Sudan’s leading protest groups, the Sudanese Professionals’ Association (SPA), had previously called for a million-man march on the Sudanese capital Khartoum on April 25. The SPA had also previously called for the resignation of the three members of the Transitional Military Council who resigned on April 24.[6]

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