Yemen, Osama bin Laden's ancestral home, has subdued al Qaeda but the country's fight against terrorism is not over yet, Prime Minister Abdul Qader Bagammal said on Wednesday. "We haven't eradicated terrorism 100 percent. We can't say that there is no intention or action to carry out terrorist acts ... but in relation to al Qaeda we can say 90 percent of the problem has been brought under control," Bagammal told Reuters. "We are still chasing some (militants). When questioning those arrested more names are revealed," he said.
| "Oooch! Ouch!... Bob!... Aaaiiieeee!... Herb!... Oooooh! Momma!... Willard!" |
Bagammal linked his country's progress in fighting al Qaeda to intelligence-sharing and cooperation with the United States and Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria which had their share of militant violence in the past. Yemen has also brokered deals with tribes that had once given refuge to al Qaeda, he added. But despite its close cooperation with the United States, which trains Yemeni anti-terrorist squads, Bagammal said Sanaa would not hand over to Washington a prominent Yemeni cleric the U.S. accuses of being a "terrorist". The United States has added Sheikh Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, a senior leader of the opposition Islamic Islah Party, to its list of suspected terrorists, requiring U.S. and Yemeni banks to freeze his assets. Washington accuses Zindani, who runs a religious university in Yemen, of serving as one of bin Laden's spiritual mentors and of influencing and supporting many "terrorist causes." "They (Americans) asked us to freeze his assets. We looked into it and we found no bank accounts for him in Yemen. This man is the deputy of a party that takes part in the government and has more than 50 members in parliament...
| Sounds like you've defined what your problem is, then... |
"I won't hand him over to the Americans. If the Americans have evidence (against him) let them produce it and we will investigate. We will deal with it according to Yemeni law. The fact that he is accused by the Americans and we have to hand him over ... this is against Yemeni policy and sovereignty. He is a Yemeni citizen and we will defend him." Yemen, which has joined the war on terror since the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities, has been a major source of recruits for al Qaeda. Ninety of the 300 detainees of the Guantanamo bay in Cuba are Yemenis.
| That's... ummm... (carry the 11, divide by the square root of 17...) 30 percent... |
Bagammal said Yemen has foiled many al Qaeda attacks against Yemeni and Western targets in the past two years and provided other countries with information that helped abort attacks. Some attacks, he said, were foiled by the militants' own mistakes. "Some had their explosives blown up while preparing for attacks which led to arrests and disclosure of cells."
| Red wire-green wire syndrome, one of our favorites... |
Bagammal said Yemen was aware that force alone would not resolve the militant problem and was conducting a dialogue with al Qaeda sympathisers to persuade them to abandon violence.
| Actually, hunting them down and doing terrible things to them is the best way, though I guess if you find it exciting to play with the uncertain then dialogue certainly works... |
The country was also reforming and vetting school and religious books that promote anti-Western hatred and violence. He said al Qaeda attacks has cost Yemen tens of millions of dollars in losses. "The terrorist attacks have had their impact on all sectors of the economy. Tourism, investments and our port activities were badly hit." |