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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Aug 13 2010 - 06:59:57 EDT
Centcom: Dual insurgencies could break back
of Yemen's military
Friday August 13, 2010
WASHINGTON - The U.S.
<http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/ss_military0774_08_12.a
sp> military has warned that Yemen's security forces could collapse amid
fighting two major insurgencies.
U.S. Central Command has asserted that the regime of President Ali Abdullah
Saleh was struggling to contain the revolt by Shi'ites in the north and Al
Qaida in the south. Centcom assessed that the weight of these insurgencies
were endangering Yemen's military and security forces.
"While President Saleh is able to manage these threats sequentially, a
combination of spikes in the challenges listed above could stretch Sanaa's
resources and military/security services to the breaking point," Centcom
chief Gen. James Mattis said.
In testimony to the
<http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/ss_military0774_08_12.a
sp> Senate Armed Services Committee, Mattis painted a dark picture of Yemen.
The general, who has worked with Yemen's military, said the Saleh regime was
threatened by revolts, a failing economy, poor security and dwindling crude
oil reserves.
"Six years of intermittent conflict in northwest Yemen between the Yemeni
<http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/ss_military0774_08_12.a
sp> government and Houthi [Shi'ite] rebels threatens stability," Mattis said
during his confirmation hearing in July 2010.
The Centcom assessment said Saleh's authority has begun to wane. Mattis
cited the resurgence of Al Qaida in the Arabian
<http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/ss_military0774_08_12.a
sp> Peninsula as well as the Iranian-backed Believing Youth movement.
<http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/ss_military0774_08_12.a
sp> Washington has allocated more than $150 million in military and security
aid to Sanaa for fiscal 2010, which ends in October.
In his testimony, Mattis said Yemen would require additional U.S. military
aid. He stressed that such aid must be accompanied by civilian assistance
meant to improve Yemeni government services.
"We must work with Yemen to not only build military and intelligence
capacity, but we must also encourage, and where possible, provide
development, humanitarian and technical assistance," Mattis said. "A
long-term whole of government commitment to Yemen and its people, especially
activities that assist Yemen in providing good governance and services to
its people, will be most effective in bolstering government capacity,
increasing stability and denying havens to extremists."
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