On Friday, September 15, Yemeni security forces killed four suicide
car bombers, all of them Arabs, who had tried to attack oil refinery
and storage installations. The next day, after a seven-hour siege,
four more militants and 110 pounds of explosives were seized in Sana’a,
the capital city.
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We are certain,” a government spokesman revealed, “that
this cell has links with the Al Qaeda network and with those who carried
out the attacks.” Yemeni President Saleh set a bounty of more
than $25,000 for the capture of other terrorists.
Such incidents show the extent to which Yemen is under attack by Al
Qaeda operatives, most of them also Arabs. Regrettably, however, Yemen’s
rugged mountains and far-flung deserts, as well as the lack of economic
and technical resources, leave the authorities woefully handicapped
in stemming the influx of militants from abroad and stopping their
subversive and destructive activities.
Yemen--21 million people in territory larger than California--is a
wide-open country. It has roughly 1,000 miles of minimally controlled
coastline and another 1,000-mile long land border with Saudi Arabia
and Oman that is virtually unprotected for militants intent on illegal
entry.
For over a decade, kidnapping has been employed by semi-independent
tribes in the hinterland to pressure the government into meeting their
demands. Between 1996 and 2000, the government counted 149 kidnappings
victimizing 137 foreigners, 9 of them Americans, and 37 Yemenis. None
of them were killed by the kidnappers, but five persons died in shootouts
between police and kidnappers.
When I visited Yemen with associates of the National Council on U.S.-Arab
Relations in 1998, the metal detector at the airport of Sana’a,
the nation’s capital, did not function and the entrance to the
Presidential Palace seemed to be without detection equipment. Throughout
our group’s travel inside Yemen, the government provided us with
two plain clothes guards carrying submachine guns under their coats.
Knowing how little control Yemen’s army of 67,000 men has over
the native population and foreigners alike, it could hardly be a surprise
that terrorists succeeded in a bomb attack on the American destroyer
Cole six years ago. To earn some much-needed cash, the Yemeni government
is probably pleased to see the U.S. Navy use the deep-water port of
Aden as refueling stop, but it still does not have the means to guarantee
the visiting ships’ protection.
A spectacular prison escape by 23 suspected Al-Qaeda militants earlier
this year again raised questions about Yemen's ability to contain militancy.
Yet, a growing number of suspected Al-Qaeda members have been tried
and convicted in Sana’a courts. President Saleh would gladly
accept more American aid to help Yemen protect its borders and keep
terrorists out, but neither the President nor Congress seem willing to help the Yemenis in view of their often vociferous criticism of
U.S. policies toward Arabs. They oppose British as well as American
interference in the affairs of the Middle East and readily castigate
the apparent unwillingness of the U.S. to urge upon Israel an end to
the 39-year occupation of the Palestinian lands.
It seems, however, that the official American attitude toward President
Saleh and his government recently softened somewhat when it became
known how much he has done to find and arrest the plotters against
him and against other countries, particularly the United States.
Last year, the U.S. gave the Yemeni coast guard four much needed 25-foot
Defender Class boats. Americans have also been reported to be helping
train Yemeni police in tracking suspects. President Saleh allowed the
FBI to assist in the investigations of the attack on the Cole, but
he considers it Yemen’s sovereign responsibility to try crimes
on Yemeni territory in the country’s own courts.
In its attitude toward Yemen, the Bush administration remains
as uncompromising as it is toward all other Arab countries. The President
expects full support against Al Qaeda, yet he steadfastly ignores the
Arab calls for more evenhandedness in his approach to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.