Browny

OK so for what it is worth, not much probably, here are some of the key things that the conference should be considering and actioning:

1. Stopping direct flights between UK and Yemen is ridiculous – unless there is a REAL reason for doing it.

Terror threats isnt a real reason. There are only 2 flights to London from Sanaa a week. If there is a real reason such as upgrading technology and security infrastructure, why not be honest about it? Why not say: “we are having to stop flights until we put in place better security / technology systems”. Its better than using the ‘fear’ routine.

Stopping flights is stopping: innovation, business, tourism, money, families etc etc from reaching Yemen. This is not doing ‘The British’ reputation any good whatsoever.

Action – Start flights again.

2. Be honest about the AbdulMutalleb underpants bomb.

OK so it is ALLEGED that he said in an INTERROGATION that he was trained and given the bomb in Yemen. Alleged. Alleged. Is it really true that he managed to smuggle this between airports across several countries including Yemen, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Netherlands and multiple aircraft …… and then not detonate it correctly.

Lets get real – HE GOT THE BOMB IN WEST AFRICA.

Action – think before you speak

3. Relieving poverty and preventing Al Qaeda recruitment / stopping suicide bombers IS NOT CONNECTED.

OK so, the 9/11 attackers, the 7/7 attackers, the Bali, Casablanca, Madrid bombers were all westernised and not poor people. They were FUNDED by people with FUNDS. PLEASE KEEP IT REAL!! Poor people in Yemen are not going to blow up planes or chop off peoples’ heads. They ARE going to support CERTAIN GROUPS OF PEOPLE who can promise them a better future IN YEMEN.

HM UK Gov admit that there are 1000s of people in the UK, who are BRITISH, who could probably be suicide bombers. they were born and brought up in the UK.They are rich compared to their islamic brothers and sisters.

(Lets also note that there are not any Yemeni suicide bombers in the UK. The suicide bombers are mainly Pakistani and Saudi. Think about that for a second. Then wonder what the hell we are doing starting wars and sacrificing blood and treasure in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

Action – stop trying to fool people. Be honest about the real benefits of poverty reduction.

4. What Yemen Needs

OK, Yemen needs the following:

- training and education

- job opportunities through inward investment

- better IT infrastructure

- a countrywide electricity supply

- innovative water production technologies

- elimination of corruption

Unfortunately this conference will produce the usual diplomatic double talk involving promises of money but nothing substantial with regard to how the money will be spent and how the benefits of this investment will be measured.

A message to TIM TORLOT (UK ambassador to Yemen) – Tim, you are a nice guy and a smart guy. This is a time to make yourself a hero. This is your moment. Ignore the politics and global power stuggle and KEEP IT REAL for the Yemeni people who respect you and admire you.

Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula

So, Obama and Brown are going to save the world from Yemeni and Yemen influenced nasties. The media is loving being able to fill space and 24 hour news graphics with lots of scary details about how Yemen is now home to various head choppers and plane bombers. OK so i love it here and hate hearing anything bad about the place, but yes there are some people here who we, the west, have decided to not to like, namely islamists who dont like us and would like to see either a new caliphate or, simply, have the US and friends withdraw all influence in the Arab world by not supporting Israel. But lets not get too much into that. I would like to give my personal view on the headlines appearing across the world concerning what has been happening in Yemen in the last couple of weeks.

• So UK-USA are worried that there are  several 100 al qaeda ‘fighters’ hanging out in Yemen. I wonder how many al qaeda sympathisers are currently residing within European and US borders – several 1000 i suspect.  So, firstly, lets not get ourselves distracted from the threats in our own countries. The majority of Yemenis are poor and uneducated. They do not make reliable people to get on planes and go and blow themselves up. Even for money, they probably wouldn’t want to. They like to spend their afternoons chewing qat and talking.

• Embassies are closed due to threats. Now, the UK embassy is basically hidden behind a mountain. The US embassy has a perimeter fence that almost stretches to Dubai. I don’t think anyone of any competence could attack them. These embassies are closed so that various diplomatic, military and spook types can have meetings and ‘clean down’ the offices. This is so they can have a complete review of everyone working there and all the communications in and out. A good idea.

What Is Really Going On? Aren’t there loads of crazies coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan to plan attacks on the west?

The moves by the UK and US are to ensure that the Saudi brand of salafi-wahabi islamic rule doesn’t topple the Nationalist – Sunni rule of President Saleh. Make no mistake, Saleh has been doing business with the returning Yemeni sunni insurgents from Iraq (and ex Iraqi military now living in Yemen) by giving them jobs in the army and sending them to fight the Shia Houtis in the North. The fear is that they will then be funded and financed by their Saudi friends and turn against him from the inside. You could draw parallels with Pakistan and how the islamist nasties managed to get themselves deep within the political and militarily organization. The western worry in Yemen is that it has already happened. Seemingly, the southern Yemen provinces of Shabwa and Abyan are already home to some ‘al qaeda’ fighters and politically there are islamist sympathisers in the Sanaa majlis.

The UK-US Game Plan

So, the UK-US fear is not people from the middle of nowhere in Yemen jumping on a plane and blowing up their pants again, the fear is an end game comprising a pseudo-coup by well financed and supported islamists with the nationalist backing of influential Yemeni tribes who have grievances against the Sanaa government. Such an islamist state could  turn Yemen into an unstable islamic Saudi protectorate run by Imams, that could once again be called South Arabia but larger than the original. Western control of the red sea would be in the hands of people who the west ‘can’t do business with’.

So, under the cover of  protecting us in London or New York – which i accept could be genuine but it isn’t the only reason – our governments are looking to protect their geo-political CURRENT and FUTURE interests in Yemen and the Red Sea.

What’s About To Happen? What Should NOT Happen?

1. There will be a rush of money to protect President Saleh and ensure that there are elections which he can win. Saleh is about to become the new Musharraf.
2. There will be drone strikes and constant alerts about terrorist threats in and out of Yemen. It is likely there will be innocent victims.
3. Iran will stoke up the propaganda war.
4. The west has to ensure that none of the western military materiel is used against the southern Yemenis who have their own beef with the government which isn’t religious or terrorism related.
5. Somalia will be brought into it and be blamed for providing fighters and resources due to their amazing skills of cargo vessel piracy.
6. The party will still continue at The Sailors Club in Aden and anyone who has any sense will be in there supping cold Heineken and throwing their riyals around. Like me.

I quite often get asked what it is like to fly Yemenia. Is it safe? being the real point of the question. I have flown in first class and economy class on Yemenia over 30 times, on routes inside Yemen and also to London, Rome, Dubai and Jeddah.

My first experience of Yemenia was on a flight to London. The plane was ancient, like something from the 1970s. It matches the prevailing Yemen fashion which is for anything brown, cream or orange and worn like a 1970s football player. Life On Mars comes to mind.

Upon final approach to Heathrow, the cockpit security door flew open, and continued to open and close with incredible velocity until we touched down.  This was great in that, sitting towards the front of the plane, i managed to see the entire landing as if i was sat just behind the pilot. It also made me think about the quality of the fleet. Regardless, i got off the plane smiling to myself at having this final bit of ‘Yemen Madness’, as i arrived in London.

One of the more infamous (not for safety reasons) Yemenia routes is Heathrow – Cairo – Sanaa. This flight leaves LHR at around 2100 and stops in Cairo (unannounced) at about 0400 local. Now, the reason for this flight is that it acts as a shuttle service taking people backwards and forwards between Yemen and Egypt’s much better hospital facilities. I nickname it the Sanaa Sanitorium Shuttle. Having boarded at Heathrow and taken off with a plane only a quarter full, you stretch out and try to sleep. Little do you know that the plane is going to stop at Cairo, where every Yemeni with a limb missing, who has been blinded or suffering from some form of acute non stop shaking and shouting complex, is about to board the plane and fill every remaining seat. The final 2 hours to Sanaa are hell beyond description.

But, flying Yemenia, anything goes: A quick fag in flight with the air stewardesses at the back of the plane. Qat can quite often be had and chewed and shared Yemeni style during the over night flights. The cabin crew dont give a shit about anything and try to serve the food before the plane has reached the end of the take off runway, so they can then sleep the remainder of the flight. There’s no Emirates style ICE system, only good old fashioned Egyptian comedy on colour faded overhead monitors. Limits on cabin baggage dont seem to apply to Yemenia flights so you carry on board your whole baggage collection. They dont serve alcohol, but you can bring your own on board and the staff will keep it cold for you and serve it with your chicken and rice.

The joy of flying Yemenia has, of course, been that fact that you are with Yemenis. They are very, unintentionally, funny people. Highlights  are usually: none of them know, nor are they told, that seat numbers are on their boarding pass. Few of them can read English numbers anyway, therefore, it takes 3 times as long to board a plane with Yemenis on. Also, whenever you arrive in a place like Dubai’s airport from Yemen, one of the first things you have to do is to use an escalator. For a lot of Yemenis, this is a new experience and they tend to crowd around to watch how it is done before trying it themselves. Lastly, and my favourite, is when there is a temporary stop over, like in Mukallah or Aden, before the plane heads onto Sanaa. For the passengers who want to, a smoke would seem like an appropriate thing to do during the 45 minutes waiting. So they all head to the doors and down the stairs to the tarmac for a fag. Watching the chasing cabin staff trying to get them back on the plane is a real hoot!

Any bad news involving Yemen is always bad news for Yemen. It is bad enough having the terrorist and failed state tag, but now focus has shifted to the blame game about Yemen’s national airline’s safety record and rumors that at least one of their planes has been banned from French airspace.

Taking this further, one could investigate the Saudi connection in the Yemenia corporate structure (they are joint owners/investors). From what i have heard in Yemen, the Saudis aren’t high on the best buddies list. This is a very strained relationship at the moment.

Prayers to friends and family of those lost and particularly to the staff of Yemenia airlines.

Subject of the chew was mainly to do with Iran elections and the Saa’da kidnapping.

The latest theories on the kidnapping – in which actually only 3 bodies have been discovered not known publically what has happened to the other people – are as follows:

1. Jihadist freelancers funded by Saudis popped over the border from a camp in Saudi and did it

2. Known sunni mercenaries – used by the Yemen government to help out in the battle with (shia) Houti – who have jihadist Al Qaeda sympathies, were inspired to do the kidnapping by a ‘radical cleric’ (hate that phrase as it is so western media, but had to use it as i am being lazy) during Friday prayers in Saa’da.

3. Al Houti kidnapped them, Yemen military bungled a rescue and shot 3 of the group – the 2 germans and the Korean.

More gossip from Qat chews next month.

At some point between Friday 12th June and Monday 15th June,  a picnic arranged by a group of 9 foreigners in the Saa’da region in north Yemen, turned into a horror story. We know that at least 7 bodies have been found, 3 German women have been mutilated and 2 children have been found alive.

The group, comprised of 7 Germans, a Korean and a Brit were working in a local hospital in the region. Sharing the picnic with them were 3 children. It is assumed that these children were local children and not belonging to any of the foreigners. Update – according to multiple sources they were the 3 children of a German doctor and his wife kidnapped with the group.  Strangely, on Friday 12th, Yemeni tribesmen in Saada  released a group of 24 doctors and nurses whom they abducted a day earlier, demanding the authorities release two prisoners.

The Saa’da region in Yemen is one of the most beautiful. It is in this area where tourists go to visit the famous Shahara bridge. Nowadays, this region is also one of the hardest to get to. It is home to the Al-Huthi Zaidi tribe. A shia sect who have been at war with the Yemen government for the last 5 years. The city of Sa’ada has seen some very bloody fighting, most of which has not been seen or reported on by any media outside of Yemen.

The Huthi’s have denied any involvement in the kidnapping. And as news breaks today of mutilated bodies being found, they maintain this denial. Tribes who have kidnapped foreigners have never killed them. It is quite well known that if you are kidnapped, it is more a question of suffering some extended involuntary arab hospitality whilst the negotiations take place between that tribe and the government.

If the incident in Saa’da isnt connected to Al-Huthi, it leaves very few alternatives. It could be Al-Qaeda or it could be another tribe. Could it be a group connected to the recent uprisings in southern Yemen? There is a definite secessionist movement in the south.

Co-incidentally, on Sunday, as news was breaking of the kidnapping, Reuters began breaking the news that Yemen security sources were saying last Friday they arrested in Marib a Saudi who was believed to be ‘Al Qaeda’s Chief Financier In The Region’.

It is also being reported that the group were members of a Christian Baptist organisation.  Was religion the main reason to kidnap and then kill? Clearly the group had no reason to fear for their safety.

At the time of writing there are more questions than answers. It may stay that way. I’ll find out the latest whilst i’m in Sana’a.

As with everything we are told, taught or preached to about, context is everything. Kevin Rushby’s article is one of the best i have read in that it sets western life – notably British life – in context with how many people miss-perceive countries such as Yemen. In particular i like the juxtaposition between knife crime in Britain, the Yemeni jambiya worn by most Yemenis in the north of Yemen, and the almost unheard of use of it in violence.

Moreover, Kevin quotes a Yemeni who lived in Scarborough during the 1980s :

I did visit England! I went in the late 1980s and stayed for
three months – one in Manchester, the rest in Scarborough. I did like the
countryside a lot, but … ” he shakes his head. “In the towns, with so much
drinking of alcohol, I think it is very dangerous – fighting and
everything.

As i have written in previous posts, Yemen has problems and indeed, violence can be of a different nature and is even hidden away in the tribal culture prevalent outside the main cities.

Head over here and read Kevin’s article, then book your tickets!

Here’s some links to the story:

BBC – Tourists Die In Explosion

Reuters – Qaeda Bomber Behind Yemen Attack Trained In Somalia

CNN – Al Qaeda Blamed

In the last 2 years there has been some high profile terrorist attacks in Yemen. In the summer of 2007 a group of Spanish tourists were targeted at the ‘Sheba’ temple complex in Marib. Following that in January 2008, a tourist convoy of Belgians were attacked on the road to Hajarain in Wadi Doan – an area in Hadramout. There is now the latest incident involving tourists.

It is somewhat harshly ironic that Hadramout means ‘Death Comes’. It was so named hundreds of years ago as the region is hot, dusty, dry and tribal. The name seems sadly more than apt in the 21st Century.

My last visit to Hadramout was in October 2008. It was very different than previous trips. More security, some restrictions on movement and when visiting Shibam i was asked for my details by an elder of the town.  As always i moved using local transport.  Using high profile tourist 4 X 4’s has never been my preferred mode of transport and for sure it wont be now.  Are some of the Yemeni tour companies compromised by Al Qaeda sympathisers or operatives? You can’t help but wonder, and i genuinely hate to as that question has serious implications for the Yemen tourism industry.

If you are looking for advice on business or travel through Yemen, of course you should contact your government, and feel free to drop me a line.

The back story to Somali piracy is pretty much as follows: the narrow waters between Yemen and Northern Somalia – The Gulf of Aden – have been the location of numerous piracy incidents – more than anywhere else in the world. Yemeni fishing boats, international cargo ships etc taking the route across the Gulf of Aden to the port of Dubai and all passages south, are easy targets, especially for returning bored Somali seamen who have just dropped off their human cargo somewhere on the Yemen shoreline. Private yachts have been targeted as well as larger vessels such as cruise liners and oil tankers. The story goes even further back to the Arab Israeli war. The Bab Al Mandab – the southern entrance to the Red Sea was managed by the Yemenis to prevent any assistance getting to Israel. It is clear that Yemen and other Arab states, are still sensitive to any Israeli influence in the waters around the Gulf of Aden. How this all connects is revealed later in this blog entry.

People wonder how such large vessels such as the Sirius Star can be hijacked. It’s quite simple. The pirates approach in fast speedboats, armed with RPGS that they threaten to fire into the ship’s bridge or bow. The pirates are allowed to board – the ships crew aren’t paid to put up a fight – and they are then in control. The pirates have been known to claim to be environmental activists

Let’s take a look at the region and see what else has been going on:

1. Pollution and over fishing. It is known that the area of the Somali coast has been used as toxic dumping ground since the 1990s and some of the waste was washed up ashore as a result of the Asian Tsunami in 2004 more here

2. Undoubtedly the Gulf of Aden is a highly strategic area. Navies from the UK, Canada, France, Russia and the USA all have a presence in and around the waters between Yemen and Somalia. more here

3. There is the ongoing crisis of human trafficking between Somalia and Yemen. Around 100 Somalis a day arrive on the Yemen coast between Mukallah and Aden having been ferried across by Somali gangs. more here

4. The area has always had strategic importance. The British occupied Aden in the middle of the 19th century and the entrance to the Red Sea was of importance in the 1973 war with Israel.

Intrigue and Conspiracy:

Back in September the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship bearing the Belize flag, was hijacked off the coast of Somalia. Recently, this hijacking had gone off the mainstream media’s radar, even before the latest hijacking of the Sirius Star. No other hijacking has triggered more conspiracy theories that the MV Faina.

What we know: the vessel had on board a quantity of Russian tanks and artillery. Who it is for is anybody’s guess:

Weapons for Kenya ? more here

Weapons for Southern Sudan ? more here

Weapons for Yemen ? more here

Ownership of the MV Faina: one intriguing twist in the MV Faina story is the case of who owns the vessel. This report points to an Israeli with links to the Israeli government and intelligence services, as having the vessel registered in his own name.

Control and financing of the Somali pirates. Number of twists here: the BBC included in a report that the Somalians were receiving financing from Dubai based businessmen. The Yemeni President has also claimed that the Somalians were under the instruction of the Israelis as part of a strategy to have Israeli influence in the Bab Al Mandab.

Will all these individual narratives join together? Are the Somalis getting money from Dubai and being helped by the Israelis? Is the EU wanting to have greater control of the Arabian Sea and exert greater influence in the Gulf of Aden with perhaps direct control of the Aden port itself? Is Yemen supplying the Somalians with arms and were the Russian tanks heading to Yemen? Is Somalia inadvertently encouraging a trojan horse in the form of a western, multinational maritime force that will invade and occupy Somalia? a country of significant strategic importance.

What is for certain is that it will take sometime for the threads of the Somali piracy story to weave themselves into a tapestry of foreign affairs we can understand.

Technorati Tags: Somalia piracy, Mv faina, Sirius star, Ship hijacking

US Embassy in Sana’a Under Attack

Attack on US Embassy in Sana’a – What Next?

Backstory: The leader of Al-Qaeda in Yemen was killed earlier this year in Tarim. In the shootout some of his henchmen were captured and imprisoned. A number of the group members escaped, or, were not involved in the action and presumably held in reserve for future attacks. In the days leading up to the recent US Embassy attack, the government was warned that an attack will happen on the day during Ramadan that coincides with the day Mohammad fought with the inhabitants of Medina, unless the prisoners from the Tarim incident were released. The President said no.

The US Embassy Attack 17th September 2008: Sometime between 8am and 9am – a security guard shift change – 2 vehicles loaded with explosives approached the US embassy gates. Inside the second vehicle were assailants with machines guns and RPGs. There seems to be have been some disorganisation amongst the attackers in that the plan should have been to bomb the guard post, remove the barricades, bring the second car bomb and RPGS in, take out the front entrance to the embassy itself and then storm it with the weapons. It seems the shooting was started by the assailants before even the first car bomb went off.

The nature of the attack is reminiscent of the October 2005 attacks in Baghdad on the Palestine Hotel and Sheraton Hotels, which was captured on CCTV. It is also similar to what recently happened to the Marriot Hotel Islamabad

The Latest Intel: More threats have been made. These includes threats to attack the US Embassy again as well as the British Embassy. The British Embassy is closed and they have all gone home. Kindly the Sana’a British Consular sent out a mass SMS to all British citizens saying to avoid all but essential travel to Sana’a. I got this whilst sipping tea in the garden of my Sana’a villa admiring the passion flowers. US, British and Saudi (Al-Qaeda is pissed with Saudi for kicking them out and they want to go back there) interests are all threatened. The potential day for these attacks are just before the end of Ramadan and beginning of Eid, a day on which martyrs will get to heaven the quickest. The British Embassy will re-open after Eid.

Will report more if anything further happens.

Technorati Tags: Yemen, Us embassy attack, Yemen, Terrorism, Al qaeda

Hot and Heavy?

So as being reported here and here its worth considering some cultural sensitivities before getting down to some heavy petting in Petra, having a jump in Jumeirah, or orgasming in Oman. Such activity may be happily entertained or even encouraged in certain places in the Med but you dont need to have a phd in middle eastern studies to know that any open sexual activity may not go down too well in arab islamic countries. Especially if you are caught.

Some basics for amorous couples in public:

• Dont snog
• Dont get into heavy amorous embraces
• Holding hands is ok in some countries

Also, it is slowly being accepted that men and women can greet each other with a European style ’mwah’ even if they aren’t married to each other, often to the surprise of arab men who saved this custom exclusively for each other.

The couple in the Dubai case have been hit with alcohol charges, public indecency charges and charged with having unmarried sex. They deny the last 2 but admit the first. They were subjected to some seemingly embarrassing DNA tests and the woman has been sacked from her job in Dubai. Not only that but they have had the embarrassing SKY News expose treatment.

They are facing a 6 year sentence but the Dubai authorities are saying it is likely to be a 6 month sentence with a fine. As their case has been delayed, it wouldn’t surprise me if there are some negotiations going on in the background to see them spared the jail bit. However anyone familiar with the BBC Grooverider case will know how hard the Dubai people are.

Yes people do bonk in the arab world. In fact anyone who has strolled through the old city of Sanaa late at night will be aware of the bonkfest that takes place, especially after the guys return home after a qat chew. It is a cacophony of pleasure that contributes to Yemen being one of the most child productive nations on Earth.

Know before you go people and if public bonking is your thing, go to Ibiza.

Technorati Tags: Advice, United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Sex couple, Caught having sex