An al-Qaeda group tightened its grip on a Yemeni coastal town, while in the capital Sana’a a truce was holding on yesterday to end nearly a week of deadly street fighting that threatened to ignite a civil war.
Opposition leaders charged Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh with allowing the city of Zinjibar, on the Gulf of Aden, to fall to the militants in order to raise alarm in the region that would in turn translate to support for the president.
Armed men believed to be from al-Qaeda appeared to have full control of Zinjibar, in the flashpoint province of Abyan.
“About 300 Islamic militants and al-Qaeda men came into Zinjibar and took over everything on Friday,” a resident said.
Opposition groups and diplomats have accused Saleh of using the al-Qaeda threat to win aid and support from regional powers seeking his government’s help in battling the militants.
There is growing concern that the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) will exploit instability to build on its proven talent for daring bombing plots, analysts said.
About 300 people have died during the past few months as the president has tried to stop pro-reform protests by force.
The US and Saudi Arabia, both targets of foiled attacks by the AQAP, are worried that growing chaos could embolden the militant group.
Yemen borders Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and sits along a shipping lane where about 3 million barrels of oil pass daily.
“Security withdrew and left the city of Zinjibar to armed Islamic elements that looted government institutions,” said Ali Dahams, an opposition official in Abyan Province.
The opposition groups have said they could do a better job of containing the terrorist organization than the president.
“Now individuals from the army and tribesmen are engaged in confrontations with the armed elements,” he said.
In Sana’a, pedestrians and cars returned to streets where pitched battles during nearly a week of fighting killed at least 115 people.
The latest violence, pitting Saleh’s forces against members of the powerful Hashed tribe led by Sadeq al-Ahmar, was the bloodiest since pro-democracy unrest erupted in January and was sparked by Saleh’s refusal to sign a power transfer deal.
Ahmar’s men handed back control of a government building to mediators as part of the ceasefire deal, witnesses said. It was the first building seized by the tribesmen that was handed back as part of the truce intended to normalize life in Sana’a, where fighting with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars prompted thousands of residents to flee.
Electronics stores, perfume merchants and other businesses were open, but there were few customers, with many residents keeping tight hold on their cash in case fighting flared back up and they needed to quickly buy essentials.
“Business is very bad. We have had to sack some workers. There is no money and I can’t even afford to pay rent,” merchant Muthar Abdel-Rahman said.
The truce extends to areas outside of Sana’a where tribesmen have clashed with the president’s Republican Guards and air force fighters have strafed armed tribesman with bombs.
Some guard members in southern Damar at the weekend joined the opposition, tribal sources said.
Despite the truce, analysts are concerned fighting could flare again, given the animosity between the groups and growing popular anger at Saleh for not ending his nearly 33-year-long rule, which has brought Yemen to the brink of financial ruin.
Yemen is the poorest country in the oil-rich Arabian Peninsula, with about 40 percent of its residents living on less than US$2 a day.
The crisis has cost the economy as much as US$5 billion and immediate aid is needed to prevent a meltdown in a country with a nominal GDP of US$31 billion, the Yemeni Trade Ministry said on Saturday.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary