Yemen not to tolerate terror elements, welcomes UK-proposed conference
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Yemen said Saturday it will not tolerate the existence of any terrorist elements on its territories, welcoming an announcement by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to hold an urgent meeting to discuss how to counter extremism in the country.
Yemen will be on guard against anyone attempting to undermine its security and stability, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi was quoted by state-run Saba news agency as saying, one day after a Somali Islamist group announced they will send militants to help al-Qaida branch in the Arabian Peninsula country in fighting against U.S.-backed government troops.
Friday also saw British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on the other hand, announcing that London will host an emergency summit of world leaders on January 28 in a bid to prevent al-Qaida from using Yemen as a new base in the region.
The Yemeni minister expressed surprise at the Friday announcement by Somalia's al-Shabaab insurgents who said they will send militants to help their "brothers" - in reference to al-Qaida in Arabian Peninsula, Yemen's branch of the terrorist group, which recently received several blows from government forces supported by U.S. intelligence and firepower.
"Those threatening to export terrorism to other countries should have contributed to bringing security and stability to their war-torn country," Qirbi said.
The Yemeni minister said his country will continue to support the Somali government to bring about peace and stability to the country.
An official source told the ruling party's website al-Motamar that his county welcomes the British premier's call which, he said, "comes in the right track to rally international support for development, poverty elimination and combating terrorism in Yemen. " Eradicating poverty and unemployment in the developing countries is key to end extremism and ensure there will be no environment to encourage this phenomenon and attract youths to it, the unnamed source added. The British move comes few days after a suspect of foiled Christmas Day jet bombing Umar Abdulmuttallab told FBI he was in Yemen six months before the attempt to blow up the flight to Detroit.
According to a statement by Brown's office, the British premier's plans have already received support from the White House and the European Union.
Meanwhile, Yemeni coast-guards have been on high alert to foil any possible infiltration attempts by al-Shabaab insurgents into the country.
The Yemeni navy has tightened security measures along the country's southern and western coasts on the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Red Sea, commander of Yemeni coast guards at Gulf of Aden Latif al-Burti told Saba.
More naval patrols were deployed along the coats as coast- guards search all boats coming from African countries, he added.
Sheikh Muqtar Robow Abu Manosur, a senior al-Shabaab leader, told hundreds of newly-trained militants in Mogadishu that the group would send the insurgents across Gulf of Aden to join arms with al-Qaida in their fighting against "the enemy of Allah."
Last month, Yemeni forces and warplanes killed at least 34 al- Qaida militants in raids against their hideouts in the southern province of Abyan and Arhab district, to the northeast of Sanaa. The troops also arrested 17 militants in the attacks.
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