Gulf of Aden Security Review - July 3, 2019

Yemen: Gunmen kill deputy director of security in Ma’rib; STC President calls for offensive against al Houthi troops in Mukayras district

Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab conducts attacks in Gedo, Lower Shabelle; AMISOM head meets with Galmudug state president; AU and Ethiopian mediators call for direct talks in Sudan

Yemen Security Brief

Unknown gunmen killed the deputy director of security for Ma’rib city in Ma’rib governorate in central Yemen on July 3. The deputy director of security, Mujahid Mabkhout bin Aboud al Sharif, was the son of a prominent al Islah political party leader in the area. This attack comes a day after unknown actors shot two members of a local security force in Ma’rib along a highway.[1]

Transitional Political Council for the South (STC) President Aydarus al Zubaidi met with local government leaders in Mukayras district in al Bayda governorate in central Yemen on July 3. Al Zubaidi discussed the conditions in the district, which is occupied by al Houthi forces. Al Zubaidi urged local STC-backed resistance fighters to prepare an offensive against al Houthi forces in order to remove the al Houthis from the area.[2]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

Al Shabaab conducted multiple attacks in southern Somalia. Al Shabaab militants killed an aid worker in Bardhere in the Gedo region of southern Somalia on July 2. Authorities arrested the attackers. Al Shabaab militants killed the chairman of the Lower Shabelle Appeals Court, Said Omar Hassan, in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, on July 2.[3]

The head of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Francisco Madeira, met with Galmudug state president Ahmed Duale Gelle on July 2. The two leaders discussed how to strengthen security in the region and how AMISOM can assist the Galmudug state in building its police service.[4]

The African Union (AU) envoy and the Ethiopian mediator called for direct negotiations between the Sudanese Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the Alliance for Freedom and Change on July 2 to discuss the structure of the Sudanese government. The AU and Ethiopian envoys stated that they received positive feedback from both sides regarding their joint draft proposal. The proposal would create a 15-member sovereign council made up of seven individuals picked by each side and one individual chosen jointly.[5]

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