Arab and Western
officials worry that Al Qaeda is securing a stronghold in Yemen, where
the government's focus on quelling a rebel insurgency is allowing the
terror group to strengthen its ability to destabilize neighbors in East
Africa and the Mideast.
Yemen's
government, which has long struggled to assert control over the
country's far-flung tribes and Islamic militant groups, launched a new
offensive this summer against rebels living near its northern border
with Saudi Arabia. The fighting, now in its seventh week, has shaken a
fragile humanitarian situation. United Nations officials warned
recently that food aid in the region is running low.
A
report released this month by the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace warned that Yemen is facing "unprecedented" levels of instability.
The
homeland of Usama bin Laden's father, Yemen has long been a top U.S.
security concern. For years, Al Qaeda militants — including at least
one Saudi released from U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — have
taken refuge here. One complication surrounding the closing of the U.S.
military prison at Guantanamo is what to do with the nearly 100 Yemeni
detainees there. U.S. intelligence officials say they have little
confidence in the Yemeni government's ability to keep them in prison
back in their home country.
Since
the 2000 Al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden,
U.S. officials have reported mixed results from the Yemeni government
in the fight against terrorism. President Ali Abdullah Saleh
established a rehabilitation program for jailed Islamic militants, but
hasn't curbed the growing network of Al Qaeda fighters who have flocked
to lawless parts of Yemen and are using the country as a launching pad
for attacks.
U.S. officials say
they believe that the lack of resolve on the part of the Yemeni
government is due to President Saleh's preoccupation with what he sees
as more pressing internal security threats coming from the nation's
fractious political and tribal system
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