- Pacific
Clinton: Yemen threatens region, world
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says insecurity in
Yemen is a regional and global threat, as the White House prepares the ground for a new
war in the region.
"The instability in Yemen is a threat to regional stability and even global
stability," Clinton told reporters following talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh
Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani on Monday.
"And certainly, we know that this is a difficult set of challenges, but they have to
be addressed," she added.
She also said that Washington was working closely with its allies on deciding "the
best way forward" to address the security concerns.
Clinton said the Yemeni government had to take measures to restore stability or risk
losing Western support.
Citing warnings of a possible attack from an al-Qaeda-linked group Washington closed its
embassy in Sana'a on Sunday, before reopening it on Tuesday.
After the US closed its embassy, Britain and later France did the same. Japan also decided
to suspend consular services at its embassy.
The UK Foreign Office, however, denied that the embassy closure was linked to such a
threat, saying that it was unaware about the warning.
In response to Western claims, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi rejected any
comparison between his country and Afghanistan as an Al-Qaeda haven.
"Yemen is capable of confronting these groups, but it needs international aid to form
and train anti-terrorist units as well as economic aid, since the problem also has an
economic dimension," Kurbi told reporters during a visit to Doha.
This is while international talks on the security and development situation in Yemen, the
poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, are expected to be held next month.
After Pakistan, southern Yemen is seen as the primary stronghold for al-Qaeda militants, a
safe haven they are using to organize and train more recruits.
Despite apparent US calls for the eradication of al-Qaeda, allegations have been made that
Washington has transferred "hundreds" of al-Qaeda members of different
nationalities to Yemen after releasing them from prisons in Saudi Arabia and Guantanamo.
Arab media that have published the claims, such as Al-Minbar, write that the US is
transferring al-Qaeda members to Yemen to have them recruited in the Yemeni army to target
Shia Houthi fighters in northern parts of the country or use them as an excuse to deploy
forces to Yemen.
A while after the claims were published the US engaged in direct military activity in
Yemen, but allegations about recruiting al-Qaeda for the Yemeni army are yet to be proven.
Speculations are that former US presidential candidate John McCain made such a proposal
while visiting Yemen back in August 2009.
He had reportedly embarked on the trip after several closed-door discussions were held at
the US congress about the Arab country.
Allegations that the US is secretly transferring al-Qaeda members to Yemen could explain
why a Nigerian man, who has been arrested and charged with trying to blow up the
transatlantic plane on December 25, is said to have ties with the militants in Yemen.
The 23-year old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has allegedly confessed to being trained by an
Al-Qaeda bomb-maker in Yemen for a mission on the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam
to Detroit.
The West, spearheaded by the US, seems to be paving the ground to intervene in Yemen
internal affairs under the pretext of opening an alleged front against al-Qaeda in the
country.
The development comes more than eight years after the former US President George W. Bush
ordered the invasion of Afghanistan. The operation was said to be aimed at eradicating
militancy and the arrest of main militant leaders including Osama Bin Laden.
According to UN figures, Afghan civilians have been the main victims of the controversial
war.
It appears that Washington needs to prove the West is insecure and under threat by the
so-called terrorist groups like al-Qaeda to legitimize its wars, since such entities are
merely the product of the media machines in the West.
Eastern