Opposition, Yemeni regime trade blame over al-Qaeda takeover in Abyan

2011-04-04 By Faisal Darem in Yemen

An explosion at this ammunitions factory in Jaar, which the government blames on al-Qaeda, killed at least 150. [Reuters/Stringer]

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) continued to exercise control over the southern Yemen province of Abyan one week after AQAP fighters seized the presidential palace and declared the province an "Islamic Emirate".

The announcement came two days after AQAP fighters took over security headquarters, local authority offices and a munitions factory. They reportedly made off with weapons as well as armoured and other military vehicles. An attempt by local residents to scavenge the munitions factory the next day resulted in an explosion that killed 150 people and injured dozens.

Yemen's Ministry of Interior blamed al-Qaeda for the factory incident on grounds that its militants attacked the factory after the army vacated it.

Abyan province under-secretary, Ahmed Ghaleb Al-Rahwi, told Al-Shorfa, "A group of militants referring to themselves as Mujahidin, comprised of al-Qaeda militants from Lawder and Modia and a number of extremist residents, continue to tighten their grip over the town of Jaar, imposing their own tax system and collecting fees that under normal circumstances are paid to local councils by residents and shopkeepers."

AQAP released "Communiqué Number 1" on March 29th announcing Abyan province an "Islamic Emirate" and banning women from venturing out into the streets except to meet urgent needs.

"Women who go out to the markets for necessities must be accompanied by a relative and must carry proof of identity in the form of personal or family identification, or passport, and the like," the communiqué said.

Al-Rahwi denied media reports that al-Qaeda's Islamic emirate communiqué was broadcast on Abyan's radio station, saying that the announcement was made via pamphlets and loudspeakers in the streets of the city.

Saleh Al-Hanashi, Abyan radio Director, told Al-Shorfa, "The radio station has been off the air since the terrorist attack", adding "that al-Qaeda elements continue to occupy the station after they broke down its door and seized control of it".

"The staff of 22 people are in their homes and are not allowed to come near the radio station," he said, stressing that "it is still off the air and no communiqués have been broadcast from it."

According to the official news agency Saba, the Governor of Abyan agreed to a mediation effort with AQAP led by number of elders and religious leaders, in a bid to return the military vehicles and heavy weapons that have been looted.

Al-Rahwi said that popular committees comprised of a number of elders and dignitaries have been formed to return the military equipment and avert a military intervention by the government, "but nothing has come of it," he told Al-Shorfa.

Popular Committees were formed in most regions of the Republic in response to a demand made by the opposition weeks ago, "to maintain security, protect public and private property, and supplant government agencies upon the fall of the regime".

In a statement made last week, the Joint Meeting Parties coalition blamed the presence of extremists in Abyan, including al-Qaeda members, on President Saleh.

"We hold the President and his entourage fully responsible for the complicity that transpired by way of handing over state institutions and military vehicles to al-Qaeda and armed groups in the province of Abyan," the statement said, accusing the authorities of plotting the al-Qaeda takeover.

Sultan al-Atwani, member of the Supreme Council of the Joint Meeting Parties coalition, told Al-Shorfa, "I think the regime uses al-Qaeda as a card that it exploits for its own purposes in persuading the West that only the regime is capable of combating al-Qaeda, and that its fall would increase al-Qaeda's influence."

"After the fall of the regime, it will become apparently clear how al-Qaeda and the exaggeration of its role and size was used as a card by the regime to pressure the west", he said.

Meanwhile, during a Sunday (April 3rd) meeting chaired by Yemeni President Abdullah Saleh, the Supreme Council for the National Democratic Alliance (the ruling Congress party and its allies), held the Joint Meeting Parties and their partners responsible for what happened in Abyan.

In a statement published by Saba, the Supreme Council accused opposition parties of inciting terrorist elements allied with them to "carry out sabotage and terrorist and unlawful acts to undermine security and ferment chaos to stage a coup against the Constitution and take over power ".

Sultan al-Burkani, Assistant Secretary-General of the ruling Congress party and the head of its parliamentary bloc, told Al-Shorfa, "The only beneficiary of disorder and the current situation is al-Qaeda, and what happened over the past few days in Abyan as demonstrated by its declaration of an Islamic emirate, is a clear example of the chaos and lawlessness that prevail in some areas."

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سويلم الشبواني

2011-11-25

Everybody loves Yemen. . . . and everybody is ruining and destroying it. What is this hypocrisy in words and deeds? You are the first people to sell out the nation and now you are complaining and crying? I swear you will see some black days coming, filled with killings, assassinations, corruption, political struggles, and disunity in the country. When this happens you will feel sorry for the end of Saleh’s rule. Time will tell.
كمال سعدون

2011-6-18

The terrorist al-Qaeda groups are brainwashing the youth in order to mislead them and introduce deviant ideas into their minds, and these are really criminal and terrorist acts that are contrary to the teachings, ideas, principles and beliefs of real Islam. The latter forbids such acts and attitudes which are based on spreading horror and sowing hatred and evil inside people, in order to tarnish their ideas under the umbrella of religion, on the pretext that they are doing the right things and that they are serving the interest of everyone. However, in reality, they are carrying out criminal, brutal and terrorist acts against the innocent. Such al-Qaeda sabotage groups which are exploiting the brains of the youth, given that they are favorable for the spread of dangerous and wrong ideas, aim at nothing but committing terrorist acts. In fact, they make use of such youth to carry out all their cowardly plans, to destroy the nation’s unity and to work on spreading horror as well as fear inside many sons of the Arab nation. They aim also to defame Islam, since they claim to be Muslim. However, in so doing, they have violated the clear and explicit teachings of Islam. They are also trespassing and disrespecting the laws of God without caring about the violations of Islamic teachings, because they are operating under the banner of religion in order to take advantage of the youth and pull their legs into the traps of terrorist al-Qaeda groups and gangs, which have nothing to do with mercy, humanity, belief, religion, principles or ethics. Thus, they are working secretly so that it will be easy for them to trap the youth who do not understand Islam properly, in addition to their financial problems, which come in second place after the religious side. Thus, the youth are exploited through money, which is used to brainwash them. In so doing, they aim to make the latter carry out all their cowardly plans and aggression against citizens and to murder them without distinguishing between religions. Indeed, all of them are targeted by al-Qaeda, which aims to undermine and eradicate them, so that they will take control of the world.
مناف سالم

2011-5-24

I am afraid for all the Arab countries. Yemen is now one of the weak states and al-Qaeda exploits any opportunity to perform its criminal acts. I am afraid that al-Qaeda will take more control in Yemen. All the Arab rulers are dictators; the first revolution was against the President of Tunisia and then Hosni Mubarak; after this, Abdullah Saleh, who proved that he is not really an efficient leader, because what is happening in Yemen in terms of violence, cruelty and injustice are abnormal disturbances because of al-Qaeda. It has the power and ability to stand behind those operations because we all know that al-Qaeda does not want the good for the Arabs and wants to do anything it can to harm the interests of everyone. What is happening in Yemen is not easy. Al-Qaeda will increase its activity if it remains in Yemen, and we should look for a quick solution to solve that problem. Those acts that occur in Yemen can be a major reason for the unrest, and it will make it stronger than before. The duty of the government and its forces is to take responsibility and stand against al-Qaeda and the injustice that surrounds them everywhere. I think that the security forces and the government can do something for the people of Yemen. We want the governor of Yemen to find a solution for that state, and not to put it in a difficult and critical position, so as to mitigate the unrest in Yemen. We want the Yemeni people to recover their well-being again, so that they can live in peace and safety. I urge the Yemeni government to develop a solution to that problem, and stand just for once with the Yemeni people. I want the Yemeni ruler to either leave the government, letting people choose their freedom, or help them to eliminate al-Qaeda. We pray to God Almighty to end the crisis in Yemen.
سعيد القحطان

2011-5-18

God's curse be on the despicable al-Qaeda, which is the reason behind all the problems of the Muslims. If we were to talk day and night about what terrorism and the terrorists carry out in terms of evil, cowardly deeds, we would not give a full report, because they have carried out a lot of cowardly acts of terrorism, such as bombings and car bombings, spreading fear and worry in the Muslim world. What al-Qaeda has committed in all Muslim cities is not insignificant. Therefore, there should be unity in order to get rid of those filthy groups, by arresting many leaders of the cowardly al-Qaeda and its criminals. Thankfully, most of them are in custody and some of them have made very serious confessions, and the security forces are very keen to prosecute these criminals. Al-Qaeda has attacked places and killed victims for no reason, and has destroyed places that belong to the people. Terrorists have many organizations related to al-Qaeda, Iran or other cowardly organizations. I just want to tell the cowardly terrorists that I hate them very much and I curse them every day, along with all those mean people who do not want the best for the Arab and Islamic nation. I pray to God to punish them severely in this world and in the Hereafter, and al-Qaeda is accursed until the Day of Judgment.
معطان الجج محمد

2011-5-9

I think the Yemeni security forces are not strong enough to fight the terrorist organization of al-Qaeda. I am sure that this criminal organization of al-Qaeda has exploited the unrest taking place in Yemen, especially since the security forces have been busy dealing with demonstrations. Thus, this criminal organization has started to form terrorist cells in the country in order to control it and to make Yemen like Afghanistan, which is the base of these terrorist organizations. Certainly, this will be achieved, because the terrorist organization al-Qaeda is searching for opportunities in any country that is going through difficult conditions, in order to exploit the security weakness for the sake of achieving their criminal plans. In fact, the Yemeni security forces are not strong enough to fight terrorism and to control the security situation and demonstrations. That’s why the Yemeni president has asked Saudi Arabia to send its security forces, in order to support the country during the demonstrations. Thus, I think that Yemen will be lost with the intervention of the terrorist organization of al-Qaeda.
عواد علي محمود

2011-5-7

What is happening in Yemen is alarming and suspicious, because the evident chaos and disturbances are not in the best interest of Yemenis. The people of Yemen have to be careful so that the groups of the terrorist al-Qaeda will not exploit this situation. Such situations greatly contribute to increasing the activity of the terrorist al-Qaeda inside Yemen, which would greatly harm the state of Yemen and particularly harm its people, who would become victims of the terrorist groups that have no mercy. Therefore, Yemenis have to be fully alert and should not leave any room for al-Qaeda to plant its hate, its ideas and principles in the middle of everything that is going on in Yemen. They always use and wait for such opportunities to do whatever they want, thus using the chaos and the disturbances in Yemen, which stimulates suspicion and worry regarding the potential complications of the situation. This does not have positive outcomes regarding what Yemenis are planning and could even lead to adverse results, God forbid.
وسام

2011-5-5

I am very concerned about the fate of Yemen. This is my country which I have loved, and I grew up on its land. I hope that God will protect it. It is right that we search for our freedom, but we should not forget that there are those who seize the opportunities, especially because the al-Qaeda organization is plotting revenge against the Yemeni people, who are eliminating it and all its nests and cells in Yemen in a short period. The organization will try to repay the debt, and we all know the way of al-Qaeda’s operations and its attacks on innocent people. I hope that this will not happen in Yemen, and that the al-Qaeda organization will not become active in Yemen, as a result of the conditions that the country is going through, in terms of demonstrations, disturbances, and the occupation of the security forces during their presence in the streets because of these conditions. Every zealous Yemeni person should monitor this condition closely and report it if he feels that there is any strange or suspicious movement happening in his region, so as to preserve Yemen. Please do not give the al-Qaeda organization the opportunity to destroy our country, either now or after the change. As we know, chaos is always the best opportunity for all those who want to carry out an evil act easily to come in.
محمد

2011-4-24

As the proverb says: “The people of Mecca know more about their own issues.” Thus, the Yemeni people must make their own decisions and they must control the events taking place in the Yemeni streets. In fact, they must be united in order to fight those who want to intervene and exploit the situation in order to sow discord and conflicts. These conflicts can facilitate the mission of Al-Qaeda groups who will strengthen their position in Yemen in order to achieve their criminal plans. Besides, I think that the Yemeni security forces can face the situation and fight these events in order to maintain stability and calm. This can be achieved by solving all the country’s problems, in order to prevent the terrorist groups of Al-Qaeda from achieving their objectives. Thus, the Yemeni people must be aware of the dangers of this unrest taking place in the country, in order to achieve positive results without being exposed to any harm.