Yemen, in the southern corner of the Arabian peninsula, is facing security threats on several fronts. An uprising by northern rebels belonging to the Zaydi branch of Islam reached the outskirts of the capital last month. Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch claimed several attacks on foreign embassies and other targets in recent weeks. The past year has also seen riots and demonstrations across the south, which was a separate country until 1990. The current discontent, some say, has its roots in unresolved conflicts dating back to 1962, when a revolution toppled north Yemen’s ancient system of religious rule and the country’s modern history began. Robert F. Worth, the Times’s Beirut bureau chief, interviewed Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh earlier this month in the capital, Sana. The president spoke in Arabic; this transcript is a translation.

The New York Times: There are military checkpoints throughout the capital. It’s apparent that the Houthi rebels [who are from the northern province of Saada, and belong to the Zaydi branch of Islam] are nearby. How did the rebellion first originate? And how did it come so close to the capital?

President Ali Abdullah Saleh: As a matter of fact, the conflict in Saada started in 1970 when revolution was struggling to prevail. There were elements loyal to the Imam [north Yemen's religious ruler prior to 1962] at that time, royalist elements, trying to defeat the Yemeni revolution, and after the elapse of 70 days, when the capital was besieged by these elements, the revolution finally prevailed. In fact, the revolution prevailed after a reconciliation with Yemen’s neighbors. At that time they stopped supporting the Imam and everything went in favor of the revolution, and all these elements disappeared. After the unification of north and south Yemen in 1990, we declared a multiparty system and political pluralism. These elements exploited the atmosphere of freedom and respect for human rights and freedom of expression, a free press, and started to assemble again. They exploited the democratic experiment we had started, using different political parties. For example, the Haq party, and the Popular Unity party. Some of these parties’ elements started hoping to restore the Imam’s rule in Yemen, and they started again in same place – Saada – as they had in 1970. This time they did it under the motto “Death to America, death to Israel.” They tried to convince ordinary people and the ordinary public that the political regime in this country is supported by the USA. Of course uneducated people started to sympathize with them. The real reason they received unofficial support from Iran was because they repeat same slogan that is raised by Iran — death to America, death to Israel. We have another source for such accusations. The Iranian media repeats statements of support for these [Houthi] elements. They are all trying to take revenge against the USA on Yemeni territories.

How did this conflict reach Bani Husheish [a suburb of Sana]? Bani Husheish and other provinces around Sana were used during the 70 days blockade, during the revolution [in 1962]. But I’d like to confirm for you that the government has been able to control the situation in Bani Husheish and win a victory there. As for the checkpoints you see around Sana, they are there because of elements supporting rebels in Saada – they support them with money, media, internet statements etc. The government had to take such measures to prevent any movements or logistic support for them. At same time we are facing terror attacks by al Qaeda. They pose another threat to the government of this country. They use the pretext that the government is cooperating with the USA. So we facing two dangers, one al Qaeda, led by bin Laden, and the other led by the royalist elements in Saada.

The New York Times: There are military checkpoints throughout the capital. It’s apparent that the Houthi rebels [who are from the northern Some describe the rebellion in Saada as sectarian, a struggle between Shiite rebels and Sunnis (who constitute the majority in Yemen). But in fact the rebels in Saada are Zaydis [an offshoot of Shiism that is distinct from the Shiite Islam practiced in Iran. Yemen's population is at least 25 percent Zaydi]. Many in the Yemeni government are also Zaydi, including you. Is the conflict really sectarian?

President Saleh: The Imamate system is racist. It’s not a sectarian issue. They try to exploit people, they say the state is fighting all Zaydis. But I am a Zaydi. The rebels also believe that power should be given to the Hashemite family, the so-called Ahal al Beit [the name given to those who claim lineal descent from the prophet Mohammed].Some Hashemites are nationalists and patriots who believe in democracy and the multi-party system. The others believe in a racist vision, the restoration of the role of the Imam.

The New York Times: You say Iran unofficially supports the rebels. Why would they support them if they are not true Shiites, as the Iranians are?

President Saleh: They support them because they think that the rebels are from the Ahal al Beit. Just as they support Hassan Nasrallah. They have this approach. And also to settle scores with the USA. Of course Iran cannot reach the USA, so they settle scores with the USA in other countries, whether in arab nations like Yemen, or otherwise. Meanwhile we don’t have any coordination with the Americans to face this situation. We have bilateral cooperation with the USA in terms of combating terror from al Qaeda. It is military and intelligence cooperation.

The New York Times: As you mentioned, recently there have been attacks in Yemen that appear to be by al Qaeda. Is there a new generation of Qaeda fighting here?

President Saleh: We follow up Qaeda elements, they are under close monitoring. They carry out attacks here and there, but our security apparatus is chasing them and hunting them down. Our intention is to completely eradicate this dangerous disease, which is not related to Islam at all.

The New York Times: The United States government has criticized the Yemeni approach to counter terrorism, which includes sometimes granting parole to jihadists. Can you explain Yemeni approach?

President Saleh: Actually the Yemeni government has adopted two tracks in terms of Qaeda. The first track is to convince elements of Qaeda that the ideas they carry are wrong and they should go back to the righteous path. Of course, we carry out dialogue with those elements that have not carried out acts violence. If they are convinced, we release them with close monitoring and control. We do not just forget about them. The other track is using force, hunting them down, with tight security measures. Sometimes the US government criticizes dialogue with these elements. Some elements within the US government consider it as a kind of conspiracy, but this is a completely misunderstanding. We wonder why they criticize us, while when we ask them to hand over our Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo, they put a lot of conditions on us, on the Yemeni government, saying we should prepare a complete and comprehensive rehabilitation program and we should not harm these people. So we are really in confusion about the policy advocated by some elements in the American government.

The New York Times: The US government has asked Yemen to extradite Jamal al Badawi, who is wanted in connection with the attack in 2000 on the U.S.S. Cole [in which 17 American sailors died]. What is the Yemeni government’s attitude toward Mr. Badawi? What is the reason for not extraditing him?

President Saleh: The USA asked us to hand over Badawi and Jaber Elbaneh [also wanted by the United States on terrorism charges]. But the Yemeni constitution prohibits handing over any Yemeni. As for Badawi, he was involved in the Cole bombing, was put on trial, convicted and jailed. Then he escaped. When he felt he would be recaptured, he offered to hand himself over. He said he would cooperate with the Yemeni security apparatus to convince other Qaeda elements to hand themselves over and stop harming Yemeni and American interests. He said, if I fail to convince them, I will cooperate with the security forces to find their locations. But the USA made a big fuss about this issue, the Democrats or the Republicans, I believe because of the election process. They created a kind of crisis because of this issue. So we put him back in jail. Now we are continuing his trial along with that of Jaber Elbaneh. Now both are in prison. I believe that the partisan competition in the USA negatively and badly affected the Yeneni security and economy. …

The New York Times: A question about ideological extremism. Some say you have relied politically on Sheik Abdel Majid al Zindani [a popular Yemeni cleric who was listed by the United Nations and the United States as a "specially designated global terrorist"], and that he creates an atmosphere that could lead to terrorism. Do you agree? If so, why do you work with him?

President Saleh: Actually, Sheik Zindani is just like other famous religious clerics. He was initially supported by the USA, he and others. They were all sent to Afghanistan to face the former Soviet invasion and occupation. And the USA forced friendly countries at that time, including Yemen, the Gulf states, Sudan, and Syria, to support the mujahedeen — they called them freedom fighters — to go fight in Afghanistan. The USA used to strongly support the Islamist movement to fight the Soviets. Then, following collapse of Soviets in Afghanistan, the USA suddenly adopted a completely different and extreme attitude towards these Islamic movements and started to put pressure on the countries to have confrontation with these Islamic movements that were in the Arab and Islamic territories. Otherwise the USA would consider working with these movements. Because we have political pluralism in Yemen, we decided not to have a confrontation with these movements, and they participated with us in presidential and parliamentary elections. Sheik Zindani [a co-founder of the leading opposition party] was neutral during these elections. They wanted him to have supporting position but he was neutral. Zindani is here in Yemen, he is under the control of everybody in Yemen, including the CIA. The CIA has elements inside al Iman university, which is owned by Zindani. … The USA accused Zindani of supporting terrorism because he collects donations for Hamas. The USA considers Hamas a terrorist group. We don’t consider Hamas a terrorist group. We consider it a group that fights against the Israeli occupation. And for the independence of the Palestinian people. Now we can see the USA starting a kind of negotiation with Hamas. Why does the USA accuse people of supporting terrorism, at same time they negotiate with Hamas? This is the complete and strange paradox of American policy. So we call on the USA to delete Zindani’s name from list of terror supporters. …

The New York Times: Can you explain the current unrest in southern Yemen?

President Saleh: The south is an inextricable part of the unified state of Yemen. Previously, the Imamate ruled in the north, and the British were in the south; this is the reason for the former division of Yemen. Why are we now confronting these royalist elements in the north? If the rule of the imam were restored, Yemen would be divided into four parts, not just two. The Yemeni people restored their unity by peaceful means in 1990. It was a partnership between the regimes in the south and the north. There was a transitional period that lasted one year. We adopted political pluralism. The Yemeni Socialist Party [the leading party in the South] had a kind of alliance with the opposition in the north to gain power at the ballot box in the elections of 1993. And it was trying to have an alliance with the Haq and Popular Forces parties – those who favored the imamate – because they are opponents and enemies of the republican system. The Yemeni Socialist Party failed to achieve this goal in the 1993 elections. … They started contacts with some neighboring countries to get support for new a new division. There was a political crisis, followed by 67 days of civil war in 1994. Our constitutional legitimacy prevailed. The separatists were completely defeated. A general amnesty was declared. They kept quiet. But they were still trying to exploit divisions, and searching for excuses, as failed separatist forces. They now exploit high prices and high living standards. Following the 1994 war those who used to work in the southern army returned to their houses. … When prices rose, they started to exploit this matter, they went to streets to incite people, and raise the old southern slogans, which are completely baseless. In spite of the fact that we had two rounds presidential and parliamentary elections, and the ruling general people’s congress won these elections, including senior southern figures in the ruling party …. Among the measures we adopted: we allocated revenues of oil for the southern governorates, which were deprived for more than 25 years of Marxist southern regime. We built the infrastructure, including electrical projects, roads, universities, and we restored public properties which were confiscated during rule of socialist party. And we see such an uproar now because we created a comprehensive development in the south. This is because of our efforts in the south.

The New York Times: You have been president for 30 years. How long do you see yourself remaining president? Some critics say you seem to want to put your eldest son in power, and they say this undemocratic. How do you envision future?

President Saleh: First of all, I will complete my term in office and will not nominate myself for another term. … my son is a Yemeni citizen. We have a democratic system, and he has the right to nominate himself if he wants to. But I have advised him not to do so. Ruling Yemen is difficult. I always say it is like dancing with snakes.

Source

Al-Khaiwani, and the other 12 members of the cell were operating under the command of the Houthi rebels in the Sa’adah province. Al-Khaiwani received a light sentence as compared to his comrade Jaffar Mohamed Ahmed who was sentenced to death for murdering two security officials during the crackdown on the terror cell. The remaining 11 terrorists, including one women, received anywhere between 1 and 10 years in prison.

Al-Khaiwani, who was previously the editor of a tabloid-like newspaper ‘Al-Shoura’ known to be sympathetic to the Houthi rebellion joined the terror cell after he was previously pardoned by the country’s President on other press violations. He has enlisted the support of local Houthi sympathizers and the large population of ex-royalists and their descendants living abroad.

Of course, the US State Department was quick to comment on the situation. In his daily briefing, spokesman Sean McCormack criticized Yemen on the sentencing. This has been a trend by the State department in order to show the world that they are tough on human rights, even with their allies. Truth be told is that the US is in no position to criticize human rights anywhere given the Guantanamo Bay situation — which the Yemeni government does not have enough oil to solve. Let the story of Sami Al-Haj, an Aljazeera TV reporter, be told.

The CPJ, Amnesty International, and the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate also viewed this as an attack on Freedom of Press, though the Yemeni government could have selected Jamal Ammer (and many others) — who has been a stronger critic of the Yemeni government and its leaders than Al-Khaiwani ever was — to stand trial on ‘false charges’ instead. In addition, Yemen has reformed the judicial system to be completely independent from its executive branch. With the exception for Presidential pardons — Al-Khaiwani himself has had the privilege — Yemen has an independent judiciary.

Al-Khaiwani and his accomplices have all received a fair and public trial, evidence was exhibited, and justice was served. Being a journalist does not give individuals a ‘get out of jail free’ card. In fact, individuals like Al-Khaiwani make it harder for the rest of the journalists to do their job, as such malicious behavior makes security forces wary of their intentions. Journalism is a responsibility, and all people must obey the law no matter what they do for a living; terrorists need their propaganda machines as well.

Word from Sa’adah, the center of the rebellion, is that the army has completely surrounded the remaining pockets of the Houthi rebels, and it is only a matter of days until the area is cleaned up. The death of rebel leader, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi has been confirmed, as he was buried on Friday; he was critically wounded a week earlier. In the neighboring governate of Al-Jawf, the local tribes have crushed some rebels who fled there in hopes of spreading the fighting. Last week, the army cleaned some rebels near the capital, in the Bani Heshaish area.

The Houthi rebellion was sparked by Abdul-Malik’s older brother, Hussien, who was killed in 2004 during the second round of crackdown by the armed forces. Hussien Al-Houthi wanted to restore the pre-revolution ruling system, which limits power to a certain faction of society based on descent. Al-Houthi and his followers took over local government offices, and institutions and declared himself an Imam. He then, and not surprisingly, became wanted by the central government and turned to armed confrontation. Al-Houthi is ideologically inspired by an extreme sect of Shia Islam, and materially supported by the religious institutions in Iran. Contrary to what’s been published in Western media, and most recently the Washington Post, Al-Houthi had actually abandoned the moderate Zaydi sect, traditional to the Yemeni Shia population, for the more extreme Twelver Shia sect, widely practiced in Iran and previously non-existent in Yemen. There are core ideological differences that distinguish the two sects; however, this is separate topic on its own. The president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and many of the government and armed forces leaders practice Islam according to the Zaydi school of thought. This contradicts suggestions that the government cracked down on Al-Houthi because of his ideology rather than his armed rebellion following the denial of the government’s legitimacy for it’s alleged ‘alignment’ with the west. Another puzzling fact is that Al-Houthi’s are members of the ruling party, the GPC. In fact, Yahya Al-Houthi, Abdul-Malik’s older brother, has only recently had his immunity as an MP lifted by a special session of the parliament. He has been the spokesperson for the Houthi’s and has been moving between Germany and Switzerland hoping to stay off the radar of the interpol. He is regularly interviewed by Iran’s Arabic-broadcasting satellite channel “Al-Alam”, which has been shockingly sympathetic to the Houthi rebellion, among other rogue satellite channels, news websites, blogs and forums with similar agenda’s broadcasting from Iraq and elsewhere. The foundations for the Houthi rebellion rest in the formation of the “Believing Youth” — an organization founded in the 80′s by Al-Houthi. Capitalizing on anti-American resentment following the occupation of Iraq, Al-Houthi declared “death to America, death to Israel” as the slogan for his organization. In his armed confrontation with the government, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi resorted to using human shields, roadside bombs, mines, various acts of terrorism against mosques and schools, and other dirty insurgency tactics inspired by the upheaval in Iraq — as his brother Hussien did before him. Interestingly, Yahya Al-Houthi excelled at psychological warfare, as he rallied support from opposition journalists and foreign intervention. Material support has been discovered and documented; the main culprit was Iran, and at one point Libya — which has since backed away from the situation after the Yemeni government called them out. Advanced heavy weapons, not even common within the army, raised many questions about foreign aid to the Houthi rebellion, and the amount of cash flowing in illegally.

After years of fragile cease-fires, presidential negotiation committees and brokered truces (by neutral tribes, and the government of Qatar), Al-Houthi still refuses to honor continued efforts to end the bloodshed and continues to terrorize the local masses. Thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians have been killed and injured by Al-Houthi, tens of thousands are displaced and had their homes destroyed. Al-Houthis have also threatened and kicked out hundreds of Yemenite Jews, leading the government to relocate them to hotels in Sana’a, the capital, for their safety. Yemen’s remaining small Jewish population, estimated in the few hundreds, enjoys equal rights under protection of the Yemeni constitution, and with the exception for Al-Houthi, there are no other acts of discrimination against the Jewish minority. The Muslim majority in Yemen has been tolerant towards the Jewish minority and have lived side-by-side in peace for centuries.

The Yemeni government must put a conclusion to this rebellion, as it’s traditional negotiation and ‘minimizing impact’ policy just allows it to be more cancerous.

I chose this particular theme for ‘The Yemen Report’, as it bears a great resemblance to the breathtaking scenery I encountered during my travels in Ibb (Yemen).