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| Yemen should not become failed state: experts | |||
| 2010-10-08 | |||
[Al Arabiya] The world community faces an uphill battle to help prevent Yemen from becoming a failed state like Somalia
Highlighting the global stakes this week were attacks on both British and French targets in Yemen and a visit to Sanaa by William Burns, the undersecretary for political affairs and number three U.S. diplomat. The world has taken an even keener interest in Yemen since a botched bid on Christmas Day to blow up a U.S. airliner over Detroit by a Nigerian passenger allegedly trained by the Yemeni-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). "The world cannot afford Yemen becoming a failed state a la Somalia," said Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution analyst who has advised the B.O. regime on Yemen and other counter-terrorism issues. "One failed state on the Gulf of Aden is bad enough," Riedel told AFP. "Two failed states on the Gulf of Aden with al-Qaeda operating in both of them would be a very dangerous situation since the Gulf of Aden is where the world's energy resources sail through every day," he said.
In Yemen, AQAP "has a robust and resilient capability," Riedel said. Not only has it staged dozens of attacks in Yemen this year -- mainly on security forces but also on foreigners -- its senior leadership has also withstood Yemeni search-and-destroy missions, Riedel told AFP. Though its capacity to launch attacks abroad remains unclear, he said, charismatic Yemeni-American holy man Anwar al-Awlaki appears to be a major threat because of his ability to recruit Americans for jihad. | |||
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 The next people to " |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-10-08 18:43 |
| #4 That is a very useful analysis, anon1. Thank you! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-10-08 12:25 |
| #3 Somalia is 3 countries: 1) South Central: former Italian colony controlled by Al Shabaab except for Mogadishu port and about 2 city blocks which are held by AU troops. That is the sum total of the power of the Transitional Federal Government which receives all the UN aid. 2) Somaliland. Former British colony. Functional. young idealistic aid workers from the US and other western countries still go there to set up projects. Occasionally suffers bomb blasts from South Central who don't want it to secede. It wants to be a separate country - and who can blame them. 3) Puntland: on the Horn of Africa, northeast. This is where the pirates hide on the coast. Governed by Dr Farole who is actually trying to do some good. His yearly budget was $15 million in 2009. Try running a legal system, police force, army with that. He's doing his best. Piracy would disappear if the UN funded him instead of the TFG. They don't as they don't want Somalia to split. Al Shabaab have consolidated power in South Central Somalia and are moving north on Puntland. This is BAD Once they have Puntland, they can control both sides of the gulf of aden and pinch off the supply line of oil to Europe. Islamic extremism is running rampant through Yemen and neighbouring Saudi Arabia. So the GOA is totally screwed once Shabaab move north. I have been saying this on Rantburg a lot this year, I hope somebody is listening The next people to "fly planes into buildings" ie: conduct the next major attacks, are most likely to be Somalis. They have a huge diaspora to hide among and the Islamists have no trouble spreading their propaganda through the Shabaab in South Central. Cleaning up the piracy issue in the GOA is as simple as funding Dr Farole. Make a bulwark against the Shabaab otherwise we will be paying in blood and treasure. the reason the international community doesn't do this is it is too busy having a good old colonial era Great Power jostle in the Gulf of Aden with the navies of the world having the time of their lives playing kiss chasey with 14-year-old starving Somali pirates in fishing skiffs. |
| Posted by: anon1 2010-10-08 09:58 |
| #2 DAILY TIMES.PK > AL QAEDA IS ONLY ONE OF YEMEN'S MYRIAD WOES [Protractively poor economy controlled by corrupt "Rentier-Elite" small group of Families whom as a class have no qualms waging various bloody internicine wars by Proxy agz one another]. IOW, "ROMEO-N-JULIET" > ALMOST-A-CAPULET versus ALMOST-A-MONTAGUE versus OTHER, NOT DUELING + WARRING ON THE STREETS WID DAGGERS + SWORDS, ETC. "ON SIGHT" ON THE HISTORY CHANNEL. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-10-08 01:37 |
| #1 Being from Arizona, I welcome the company. However, we don't need your Qat, the Mexicans supply our supplementary needs. Mebbe Tombstone and whatever the hell your capital is could become sister cities - arms and ammo are equally popular in both locales... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-10-08 00:42 |