Yemeni authority has refuted rumors that Yemen has extended an asylum to Somalia's ousted leader of Islamic Courts executive council, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who is in Sana now, the capital of Yemen. The authority affirmed that Sheik Ahmed had reached Yemen and would be in the country as a guest of honor for Yemen. "He is not here in Yemen as a political asylum seeker," the authority said.
According to 26-September newspaper based in Yemen, the government has declared that other senior Islamists were in Yemen before him, blaming the international media for exaggerating the issue without quoting from the Yemeni officials. Earlier Yemeni foreign minister, Abu Bakr al-Kerbi has revealed that his country offered a political asylum to Somalia's second top Islamic Courts leader, Sheik Ahmed. The news comes as the Yemeni was trying to organize a meeting between Sheik Ahmed and Ethiopian president, Girma Wolde-Giorgis. |