Gulf of Aden Security Review – September 19, 2023

Yemen: Houthis return from Riyadh and restate negotiating position; UAE Foreign Affairs Ministry says it supports Saudi-Houthi talks; AQAP announces arrest of Sharia judge in Ma’rib in 2022; Al Mashhad al Yemeni reports that US official reaffirmed US support for Yemeni unity in meeting with Yemeni parliament speaker

Somalia: Al Shabaab ambushes Ethiopian convoys in southwestern Somalia; KDF helicopter crashes near the Kenya-Somalia border; Somali forces secure two villages in central Somalia

Yemen Security Brief

The Houthi negotiating delegation returned from Riyadh to Sana’a, Yemen, on September 19. Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdul Salam said that the Houthi delegation remains focused on receiving salary payments, opening airports and ports, and prisoner exchanges, as well as “the exit of foreign forces and the reconstruction of Yemen.”[i] Two sources told Reuters that “some progress” was made on the withdrawal of “foreign troops…[and] paying public wages.”[ii]

The UAE’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said it “commended” the Saudi-Houthi talks in Riyadh on September 18.[iii]

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said on September 15 that Yemeni government forces arrested AQAP’s sharia judge in Ma’rib city, Ma’rib governorate, central Yemen, in 2022.[iv]

Al Mashhad al Yemeni reported on September 19 that US Embassy in Yemen Charge d’Affaires Inger Tangborn reaffirmed US support for Yemen’s unity, stability, and territorial integrity during a meeting with Yemeni Parliament Speaker Sultan al Barakani.[v]

Somalia Security Brief

Al Shabaab ambushed two Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) convoys near the Ethiopian border in southwestern Somalia on September 17.[vi] Al Shabaab initially claimed the ambush killed over 167 soldiers and upped its toll to 249 on September 18 when releasing photos of the attack.[vii] Ethiopian and Somali officials rejected al Shabaab’s claims and said that ENDF forces killed at least 50 al Shabaab militants while repelling the attack.[viii]

A Kenyan Defense Forces helicopter crashed near the Somali border with Kenya’s Lamu county in northeastern Kenya on September 19.[ix] The crash killed eight soldiers. Al Shabaab claimed the helicopter crashed on the Somali side of the border near al Shabaab–controlled Badhadhe, killing 13 soldiers.[x] The cause of the crash is unclear.

Somali National Army forces and local militia fighters secured two al Shabaab–controlled towns in central Somalia’s Mudug region on September 17.[xi] Al Shabaab fled the area before Somali forces arrived.