Yemeni leader turns down calls to halt crackdown on Shiite

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Yemeni leader turns down calls to halt crackdown on Shiite

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International Herald Tribune

Yemeni leader turns down calls to halt crackdown on Shiite rebels

The Associated Press
Friday, May 18, 2007

SAN'A, Yemen: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has turned down appeals to halt government attacks on Shiite rebels in the fighting that has claimed about 4,000 lives in the country's north this year, according to a Western diplomat.

Meanwhile, pro-government religious clerics meeting for three days in San'a, the Yemeni capital, on Thursday urged the rebels to abandon their weapons or face death.

The area around the northern city of Saada, 180 kilometers (112 miles) from San'a, has turned into a war zone since the eruption in late January of bloody clashes between thousands of government troops, backed by tanks, artillery and helicopters, and Shiite rebels led by Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi.

A Yemeni security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media, said that an estimated number of 120 government troops, including a general major, and dozens of Shiite rebels have been killed in clashes this week alone.

Tribal members, also speaking on condition of anonymity because they were afraid of being identified, said that around seven gas stations caught fire during an exchange of shooting by the two sides early Friday. The government did not comment the alleged exchange.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that Western delegates have met Saleh and advised him to resort to peaceful talks with the rebels since the military operation appeared to be failing.

But Saleh seemed reluctant to seek peaceful channels to end the violence, said the diplomat, as fears grew of a spillover of the conflict outside Yemeni borders.

Yemen National Security chief, Maj. Gen. Ali Mohammed al-Ounsi, said the government's actions in Sad'a were justified, and that this was an attempt to curb terrorism. "What is going on in Saada is terrorism aiming at destabilizing Yemen," al-Ounsi said.

However, the Western diplomat stressed that this was "a rebellion, not terrorism."

Yemeni opposition groups on Thursday accused Saleh of "mixing up religious, sectarian and tribal cards to create a general disturbance that would enable him more suppression of freedoms," opposition leader Yassin Said Noaman said.

Tribal leaders in the northern region say more than 30,000 residents have been displaced by the fighting.

Al-Hawthi has in the past denied allegations that his group, known as the Young Faithful Believers, received funds from the predominantly Shiite Iran, or Libya. The rebels demand the release from prison of about 3,000 detained members of their group.

Yemen's Shiite rebellion began in June 2004, when cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi — killed in clashes later that year and the brother of the current leader — ordered his followers to take up arms against the government. The government accused him of sedition, forming an illegal armed group and inciting anti-American sentiment.


http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/ ... Rebels.php
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