Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Press Release from House of Light Foundation in Aden
In Collaboration with House of Light Foundation (Aden), Eryab foundation (Sana'a) organized a field visit to IDPs Schools for 20 trainees aiming to write humanitarian stories about IDPs situation and suffering. 
This visit comes as a conclusion of a training session on Social media and issues of refugees and IDPs conducted by Eryab Foundation for development and studies, in partnership with Canadian fund to support local Initiatives and ADRA.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Press Release from House of Light Foundation in Aden City
The Yemeni Center for Human Rights and Beeatona " our
environment" organization and in collaboration with House of Light Foundation have finished a workshop targeted 25
participants from various youth initiatives and foundations in Aden. The
workshop theme is to engage youth in development and social peace in areas of
armed conflict and it aims to contribute in providing a sustainable protecting
environment to reinforce community contribution in development.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Supporters of Peaceful Southern Movement burn their vote Card in Aden City
Supporters of Peaceful Southern Movement burning their voting card as an express to their intention to boycott the coming presidential election 2012 in Yemen.
Monday, December 19, 2011
The Leader of the Sothern Movement Ba'oom's message to European ambassadors
/ Saturday December 17, 2011
ADEN (ANA) , Aden News Agency ( ANA) got the text of the message submitted by the Supreme Council of the Peaceful South Movement , signed by the leader Hassan Ahmed Ba'oom and lawyer Ali Haitham al-Gharib , to the ambassadors of the European Union during the meeting with leaders of the Southern Movement in Aden City on Saturday December 17, 2o11. The message confirms that the peaceful struggle of people of the South is the their way to restore their country and their freedom and their independence.
It emphasizes that the People of South's goal is the liberation and independence whatever the cost would be. Here below the text of the message:
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
 His Excellence the Ambassador of . ...
In consideration of that you show special attention to visit the South, and because we know that this is the first time the ambassadors of European Countries and European Union decided to visit to the occupied South, we have to deeply aware, how important your success is for the future of the occupied South issue and the future of your work in this legal, legitimate and just case. If you in Europe and the Security Council had already heard those who fight in Sana'a and who commit massacres against their own people, how come the Security Council does not hear people demand for freedom peacefully? .
First of all , we herein we would like to assure you that it is possible to explain to you all the painful tragedy experienced by our people in the South due to the occupation of Yemen to it, but if the international community does not share our pain, and if our conversation does not meet with your convictions, these moments will lack its humanitarian objectives... " We are people who only speak what we believe " , thus said last British representative in the South Arabia Humphrey Trevelyan about us. If you may wonder what is the policy of the Supreme Council of the Movement of the Peaceful Liberation of the South led by the MR. / Hassan Ahmed Ba'oom, we will say: the peaceful struggle with all the power granted to us by God in order to restore our country and our freedom and our independence. The objective of our people is clearly liberation and independence whatever the cost would be.... even though there are other options which are inferior to this , those options might be, which are not adopted bythe Supreme Council of the Movement of the Peaceful Liberation of the South, nor arethey adopted by youth political boards, nor other field political components at home , those options in fact are supported by Yemeni forces, which occupies the South, those who adopt these options do not have any field activities other than meetings outside the southern home, and in the offices of the Yemeni parties. The main case of the people of the South is to be or not to be that is IT .... We through these national South constants mentioned above emphasize the following: (1): We welcome any negotiated dialogue when it rises from external party and under international supervision. We, frankly speaking, the more we talk with the occupation regime and its sub secretions, the more the gap between us increase.
The international community headed by the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, whose epoch experienced solutions to many crises used to be as a heavy burden to the international community, should started from the confessions of the ruling parties in the Sana'a who admitted to the local and international public opinion, and in more than one speech, in more than one occasion that they actually occupied the South in 1994, and displaced its children and looted its wealth.
Even Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, The Army, Commander of First Artillery Corp and Military Commander Northern and Western regions,said that these confessions and witnesses are merely a relieve to his conscious . A spokesman for the Yemeni "half-deposed" President ,Yasser Yamani said : There are heinous and offensive crimes committed against the southerners, the lowest are expulsion from their jobs and the highest mass murder and Genocide.
There are many registered confessions of the barbarian regime in Sana'a that confirm the barbaric occupation to the South. These confessions and the multiple wars in the south, reproduced by the occupation, require the need for a United Nations presence in the south.
We hope that the UN Security Council to understand the critical situation as a result from the recent plans for the Sanaa regime for the South and the multiplicity of planning wars and planting strife which resulted from the continued denial of its right to restore its country and its independence.
You can find clearly in the documentations that we will submit to you that we have put comprehensive picture of how the our country fell under the occupation of Yemen.
We call upon the international community to deal with us according to international conventions.
(2): international conventions stated and granted the right to self-determination of people under colonial and racist regimes. (3): characterization of the current situation in the South by some international bodies and human rights activists state the evidence it is merely brutal occupation to be believed as genocide. (4): It is United Nations duty and obligation to fully support the right of self-determination, freedom and independence of people under colonial domination or foreign occupation or racist regimes, as well as the right of these people to be engaged in political struggle to achieve their objectives and in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Universal Declaration of Human rights. (5): On the election: It is rejected along the South since 1994. We hope not to occur in the South under the bayonets of the army and security forces, because there are angry people may express their rejection to the elections by various means thus inhuman crimes might commit against them by military and security forces. (6): we are in the Supreme Council of the Movement of the Peaceful Liberation of the South are well aware of the enormity situation not to unite the south movements, but we know that the Southern Movement is the all people come out peacefully demanding their land and stolen homeland, the Southern Movement is not a party or body easy to organize .
However it hurts us more to find the international community, which was previously the subject of trust of our people , do not want until now to open the file of the 1994 civil war which is still – vivid as confirmed by item-7 from the resolutions of 924 and 931 for the year 1994 - that the case is still under consideration.
In the mean while the international community adopts other issues which are less than our people case in the spirit of justice and rights.
Here we ask the international community , shall any case would be considered due to its justice or due to the parties it represents ?? , If the answer were for justice, is there a case more just than our cause? If the answer is through the consolidation of its representatives, is resolve the issue of governance in Sana'a through the consolidation of the parties or their representatives to unite?
we all know very well that the issue of governance in Sana'a solved not only without unity among the rebels, but also away from the rebels themselves?? .
(7): Sanaa regime deliberately push the international community to fear the threat of Al Qaeda in Yemen in order to get its support to postpone consideration of the issue of occupation of the South and commit the most heinous crimes against its people even till after the elimination of al Qaeda. (8): If the authorities of the Yemen occupation in the south were not afraid that the truth of their barbarian practices would be exposed, they would have not seized of a newspaper office "ALAYYAM" in Sana'a, and for its military attack on the family home of "ALAYYAM" in Aden, and dragged the editor, Mr. Hisham Bashraheel and his two sons Hani, Mohammed and put them in prison for months without any trial.
It would not have adopted trial of Yemeni newspapers that talk about Sothern Movement , and banned the foreign press that talk about the peaceful Southern Movement to enter the South as well.
Neither would it have prevented reporters from the American and British access to some areas of the burning South which are destroyed by the military machines of Yemen regime.
Therefore, we must remember,
first, that there is no unity by force .
Second: the military and security forces in the South should be withdrawn and depart the south. As these military forces located in the South used every day to kill a lot of our people.
Third, to take those accused of war crimes to the ICC. These murderers are the one who's in their hands the determination of the capabilities of our people. Fourth: to lift the restrictions on the press and local and external media . Fifth, to resume the publishing the "Alay yam" newspaper , according to international conventions, that protect media. .
Finally, we say: What to do? This is a question addressed to the United Nations to answer. As for us we will continue to struggle until we recover our country , get our freedom and restore our homeland.
Now, after more than twenty years since the declaration of war, would have on our people to stay for more years languished under the yoke of the occupation of Yemen? .
That the situation in the South Arabia is very explosive and very inflamed, and many of our people are still being killed, tortured, imprisoned, and all kinds of barbaric practices.
Instability will continue to be in the Arabian Peninsula, as long as Yemen continues the occupation of the South.
We feel it is necessary the UN Security Council interfere immediately, on the basis of the international resolutions : 924 and 931 for the year 1994, in order to save our people and help them in accordance with international conventions and Security Council principle of humanity in order to obtain self-determination and its future under the supervision of the United Nations. We appeal to you to let the United Nations, as well as your countries, exert maximum possible pressure on the Sanaa regime and the Accord Government of Yemen to implement the United Nations resolutions, and give us full independence under international law. Kindly accept our deep appreciation and respect Hassan Ahmed Ba'oom
President of the Supreme Council of the Movement of the Peaceful Liberation of the South
Ali Haitham al-Gharib, lawyer
Member of the Presidium of the Supreme Council - acting head of the Supreme Council
Aden December 17, 2011
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Thursday, March 10, 2011
Rights Group Says Yemen Used Deadly Force in Aden
Yemeni security forces used deadly force against largely peaceful protesters in the southern city of Aden last month, according to a Human Rights Watch report published Wednesday. Human Rights Watch says Yemeni security forces used a range of weapons against protesters in Aden, including assault rifles and machine guns. It says between February 16 and 25 at least nine people were killed and more than 150 people were injured, some of them children.
YEMEN: The view from Aden
ADEN, 10 March 2011 (IRIN) - Some of the worst violence in Yemen as protesters demand the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in the southern port city of Aden, where at least 20 people have been killed since mid-February.
The first death on 16 February led to a surge of anger, and after Friday prayers on 18 February there were pitched battles with the security forces as the protesters tried to reach the main square in the city. At least one member of the security forces was reportedly killed.
“The government says the violence against the security forces is - more than anywhere else in the country - justifying their heavy-handedness, and two or three public buildings, including a police station have been torched,” said an analyst, who asked not to be named. “The demonstrators say the government is using agents provocateurs.”
There was more trouble on 7 March when masked men demanded the closure of schools in the al-Mansoorah and al-Mualla districts of Aden. According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), students and teachers were threatened and told if they did not join the protests, their schools would be burnt down. Gun shots were heard in the area.
Schools were open on 8 March, but few students turned up for class. “Our main concern is that schoolchildren should not be involved by any of the parties - schools should be a safe environment for the children,” UNICEF field officer in Aden Mohammed al-Ebbi told IRIN.
“The situation is very unpredictable, our [risk] assessment can change from day to day,” a humanitarian worker noted. “Aden can be easily paralysed; there are few access roads and they can be blocked.”
Streets in the districts of Ma’alah, Crater and al-Mansoorah have been occupied by small groups of protesters, but local observers say the demonstrators, who are demanding jobs and an end to corruption, have been less organized and coordinated than in the capital Sana’a, and other cities.
Ibrahim Shaibi, a medical doctor leading the protest in Ma’alah, which has shut down Madram Street, the main commercial centre, said he was now “keeping in touch with Sana’a”, and committees were being formed.
New element
As in the rest of the country, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), a coalition of opposition groups, are supporting the protesters in Aden. But the presence of the secessionist southern movement, al-Hirak, adds an additional dimension, and Al-Qaeda is also present in the rural south.
Until unification in 1990, the south was a separate country with a socialist government. It is an era remembered as one in which the state provided free social services; jobs and housing were readily available; and women were more empowered. In 1994 the political agreement unravelled over southern accusations of marginalization, and the north invaded, brushing aside the numerically inferior southern army and seizing control of the south’s oil and gas resources.
But the south was not a harmonious idyll before the north’s invasion. There were tribal-based political rivalries which boiled over into killings in the mid-1980s, and which could still exist.
Al-Hirak is a broad movement that is particularly strong outside Aden where state control is weak. Its emergence and growth is seen as the direct result of the north’s refusal to listen to southern grievances, and the monopolization of senior local positions and economic power by northerners aligned to the ruling party. Yemen is run on a system of patronage and contacts that further penalizes southerners who do not have access to those networks, analysts say.
But the protests in the north that began on 2 February have provided a political alternative to separation for southerners wanting change: the idea that Saleh could be forced to quit after 32 years is a novel option.
“In Aden it’s now less about separation and more about regime change,” said the local analyst. “For ordinary people, if the situation changes, if there is an end to corruption and chances for the youth - that will satisfy the people here.”
Amir Ali, listening to the speakers at an anti-government rally in al-Mansoorah on 6 March, told IRIN: “There are many opinions here, but I’m a believer in one Yemen. The problem in the south is that we feel disenfranchised; we are not stakeholders in the future of this country. This is a revolution by the youth who want a stake in the future.”
oa/cb
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Yemen protesters threaten students in south -UNICEF
Anti-government demonstrators in south Yemen are threatening to burn down schools if teachers and students do not join their protests in the port city of Aden, the U.N. children's fund UNICEF said on Tuesday.
Daily protests have swept Yemen for over a month, as tens of thousands of demonstrators demand the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three-decade rule over the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state.
"Yesterday's confirmed reports ... tell of a number of schools in al-Mansoura and al-Mualla (districts in Aden) being attacked by demonstrators," UNICEF said in a statement.
"Reportedly, children and teachers were threatened and told if they would not leave the schools and join the protest, they (the schools) would be burnt down. Gun shots were heard in the area."
UNICEF communications officer Mohammed Al Asaadi, who is based in Sanaa, told Reuters he knew of two schools being threatened and said many children in Aden were now being kept at home by their parents.
"Some schools were already closed down because parents did not want their kids to go to school in anticipation of violence or attacks on schools," he said, speaking by phone.
The reported threats on schools were the first of their kind since unrest hit Yemen in January, with protesters galvanised by successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.
But schools have been targeted in previous disturbances in Yemen. Last May, UNICEF reported that gunmen had seized schools in north Yemen despite an uneasy truce between Shi'ite Muslim rebels and the government.
Saleh, a U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, was struggling to maintain stability even before the latest protests broke out. He has been trying to sustain a cease-fire with northern rebels while also seeking to curb a secessionist rebellion in the south.
In Aden, once the capital of an independent southern state, several children have been wounded and killed in this year's troubles, Asaadi said. In all, an estimated 27 people have died across Yemen in the protests.
"UNICEF is concerned about the safety of these children and their access to basic rights such as education and health services," he said.
(Writing by Erika Solomon; editing by Crispian Balmer and Sonya Hepinstall)
ٍSource: http://yhoo.it/f6aJEY
Monday, March 7, 2011
What is happening in Aden ?
Written by: Mr. Alaa Isam and Nashwan AlOthmani
Daily life
In general, daily life appears to be to an extent ‘normal’, trading outlets are open, yet not for long, usually closing around 7 or 8 p.m. Buses and taxis are operating at a capacity to ensure that people are able to carry out their normal activities.
Except that all that was described of the normal Adeni day is dependent on the events of the day. For the days where there are announcements that there will be big protests via the social networks, text messages, or emails, there is a complete standstill in activity. Shops do not open their doors, roads are clear of pedestrians and traffic, and employees and students do not go their respective workplaces and schools.
The security situation
Whilst travelling around Aden it is clear that there is a feeling of an unnanounced security alert. The roads leading to and from the 8 departments that make up the governate are blocked with government checkpoints. The departments which have seen the most unrest, such as Mansoura, Ma’ala, and Khormaskar have seen armed army vehicles, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, and army personnel from time to time.
The road blockade on Aden means that those coming from other governates to Aden cannot, apart from rare cases such as families and medical emergencies, and of course qat, which comes from the governate of al-Dhalie, a distance of 92 km to the north.
Depending on the unrest in the day’s protests there is an equal ratcheting up of the security situation, and the inhumane response of the army and the security services, deploying their heavy artillery. It appears that the videos of the attacks on the peaceful protesters in Mansoura, Ma’ala, and Khormaskar are the only way of showing what is going on on the ground.
The protests
I believe that the day the security forces fear the most in Aden is Friday. After Friday prayers the worshippers leave their mosques in the various departments of Aden, and come out into the streets. If there was no response from the security forces in Aden it is probable that the city would fall to the protesters in a dramatic and fast manner. Therefore, on Fridays, we see a huge deployment of the security forces and the army, with their light and medium artillery, in an attempt to repel any gathering or movement that would take the situation out of the hands of their choking hold.
On a geographical note to the protests, there have been two major gatherings in Aden city, one in Mansoura, and one in Crater. This does not mean that there have not been protests in the other departments, for there have been sporadic protests in Dar al-Saad, Khormaskar, Sheikh Othman, Ma’ala, Tawahi, and Little Aden, and they could become permanent as the days go by.
Strength
Without a doubt it is the youth who have called for these protests and demonstrations, for they are the biggest demographic on the ground, and in the mix of the events. Howeverm, the Adeni street is not operating solely on the orders of the youth movement. There are other organisations which are attempting to move the youth in different directions, and are attempting to appear on the ground and in the media.
- The Southern Movement:
The principal movement. It has emphasised, since the beginning of the protests in Aden, that it should help this bravery of the youth, and it has translated this into the appearances that the leaders of the movement, have made at the protests. Notable leaders such as Hassan Ba’oum, Qassim Askar Jibran, Qasim Othman al-Da’iri, Ali bin Ali Shokri, Dr Yihya Shaif al-Shuaibi, and Dr Aidroos al-Hirri, have appeared, along with others. Calls have been made for the protests in the governates of Lahj, Dhalie, Abyan, and Hadhramout, to the city of Aden, in an attempt that can be seen as supporting the youth, and maintaining the momentum.
It is important to remember that the areas that can be said to be under the control of the Southern Movement are Khormaskar, Mansoura, Daar al-Saad, Sheikh Othman, and Little Aden.
- Islah Party (Muslim Brotherhood):
Members of the Islah Party have been moving energetically and clearly; in the protests in Crater, Ma’ala, and Tawahi, they led the street protests, and supported the movement in an orderly manner. In the Crater protests, especially the Friday protests, they joined with vehicles manned by members of the Islah Party, in order to help any of those injured during the protests, especially those under the fire of the security forces.
Also, the members of the Islah Party are those who carry the microphones that send out the slogans, and they are the ones that gather worshippers after Friday prayers to protest, and I have seen this up close myself.
In the other departments, such as Mansoura, Sheikh Othman, Daar al-Saad, and Little Aden, the members of the Islah Party do not take leadership positions, as they have done in Crater, Ma’ala, and Tawahi.
- Socialist Party:
The party ruled the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) for 12 years, and the state still talks of the agenda of the Socialist Party, which is apparently a call for the citizens to separate, or what is being called ‘breaking the connection’ by many of the Southern Movement. The movement’s message is becoming clearer now, with the announcements being made in the name of ‘The Socialist Party Movement – Aden’, in addition to the emergence of a number of leaders of the Socialist Party who are speaking to the media on behalf of the media. This is in addition to some of its youth members who are taking part in the demonstrations, despite the Socialist Party members not taking on the same level of leadership as the members of Islah have. However, they are appearing prominently in the Khormasker department that is seeing statements being released by the Socialist Party backing up the calls of the Southern Movement.
- Marginal movements:
There is also movement on the ground by other marginal movements which are not large in number. The current role of these groups is to simply grow. Firstly there is the ‘Association of the Sons of Yemen’ (Raiy) party, the party that brought about the first women’s protest in Aden calling for the fall of the regime. A number of the participants in this protest were female members of the ‘Raiy’ party, in addition to a number of prominent figures in the Socialist Party.
Independent and liberal parties have had little impact. A number of other groups with specific agendas have attempted to attract protesters from other parties. One such person at the protest in Crater said that he had left his job and had come to protest with his brothers, the youth, in Aden. When I asked him about how much he and those with him had, he replied that he had $10,000, half of which he had gathered from his old job in Sana’a where he was a manager at a maintenance company for medical supplies. The other half he gathered from donations from some businessmen relatives of his, who come from the Yafai region that is separated between the Lahj and Abyan regions, where they transfer to him sums of money in Saudi Riyals. In this manner he is able to support the youths in their protests to bring down the regime, according to him.
In conclusion…
Signs of local contestation over the leadership and direction of the street protest are clear to the observer. It has actually started in Crater, where there were fistfights between Islah Party members and some youth who supported the Southern Movement. This ended with there being two protests, one by the Islah Party calling for the fall of the regime and fighting corruption, and the other supporting the Southern Movement which raised banners calling for separation and the return of the separate country.
There have also been indicators of an alliance between the Southern Movement and the Socialist Party in Aden. The Islah Party has been incubating the other movements and parties who are more inclined to support them, and are more open to, in an attempt to make themselves familiar to the street.
Are the Mideast uprisings strengthening al Qaeda?
It isn't Osama bin Laden who's out there toppling autocratic Arab regimes — but will he and his terrorist network benefit anyway?
Best Opinion: Wash. Post, Yemen Observer, Al Arabiya
As Libya slips deeper into a bloody civil war, unyielding leader Moammar Gadhafi insists that al Qaeda is behind the revoltagainst him. Meanwhile, many, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), argue that the uprisings in Libya and across the Arab world are a "repudiation" of Osama bin Laden's network of terrorists. Others aren't so sure. Will the uprisings unleash pent-up support for Islamist extremism?
The revolts will strengthen al Qaeda: The uprisings represent "an enormous strategic step forward for al Qaeda," says Michael Scheuer at The Washington Post. Each dictatorship that falls creates "a more religion-friendly" political environment where bottled-up support for Muslim extremists will now gush forth. And with Egypt's Hosni Mubarak gone, Israel has lost its last "anti-Islamist shield." For bin Laden, who has declared war against both Israel and "the Arab tyrannies," this is a double victory. "Why the Mideast revolts will help al Qaeda"
Actually, the uprisings make al Qaeda irrelevant: Al Qaeda has never been "more marginal than it is now," says Shahid Alam at the Yemen Observer. It recruits frustrated young people by calling for "terrorist attacks against local tyrannies or their foreign backers." But these uprisings, which have largely succeeded without violence from the protesters, are robbing the organization of its lifeblood, and undercutting its rationale. "Washington, al Qaeda, and the Arab revolt"
Al Qaeda is down, but not yet out: Al Qaeda was "caught by surprise,"says Musa Keilani at Al Arabiya, and it's trying to "muscle its way into the unrest" after the fact. But if new Arab leaders can guarantee stability and jobs, the region's "hopeful youth" will "shun al Qaeda." The real question is whether the governments replacing toppled regimes can satisfy protesters' demands. If the new regimes fail, don't count al Qaeda out. "Priorities for post-revolt leaders"
source: http://bit.ly/guBsmA