LONDON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will push Yemen to make peace with a rising Shiite insurgency in order to focus on the threat posed by Sunni al-Qaida militants in the country, an American official said today at the start of a global summit on Yemen.
World powers are looking to bolster Yemen’s faltering economy and tackle al-Qaida there in the wake of the unsuccessful Christmas Day airline attack in the United States, which was claimed by Yemen’s al-Qaida affiliate.
At the hurriedly convened meeting in London, Clinton and delegates from the Middle East, Russia and Europe will discuss fears that declining oil revenues are weakening Yemen’s ability to deliver basic services — stirring dissent and allowing terrorists a firmer foothold in the country.
Delegates at the two-hour talks in London — which include the World Bank and International Monetary Fund — won’t pledge any new funds, but instead will offer to help Yemen spend $5 billion donated in 2006, most of which remains untouched.
Clinton is pushing for government reforms to ensure that the money “isn’t misdirected or misappropriated,” according to a senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
He said Clinton would also push Yemen to seek a cease-fire with the Shiite rebels known as the Hawthis. American officials fear their bloody revolt in the Yemen’s north is diverting resources and attention away from the country’s fight against al-Qaida.
Yemen so far said it would resist outside pressure to carry out reforms or resolve other internal conflicts, saying the conference needs to focus narrowly on counterterrorism and economic aid.
Intelligence officials are concerned about the ability of al-Qaida affiliates to operate freely in some parts of Yemen, and say Western Muslims are traveling there to seek out radical clerics and terrorists. Last week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned of the dangers posed by the Yemen-based Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula group and the U.K. raised its terror alert status, partly in response to the threat.
The U.S. military and intelligence agencies have been participating in joint operations for some time with Yemeni troops, and the two countries are discussing a new aviation unit to help bolster Yemen’s counterterrorism forces, a Yemeni official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations, said while the intelligence sharing has been critical, the Yemeni military badly needs military equipment.
Joint operations have killed scores of people, among them six of 15 top leaders of a regional al-Qaida affiliate, according to one accounting, and closer to four leaders according to another, officials told The Associated Press. The discrepancy is likely due to the fact that Yemen and the U.S. have different lists of people they want to go after and the Yemeni list includes some not on the U.S. list, one official said.
The operations were approved by President Barack Obama, begun six weeks ago and involve several dozen troops from the U.S. military’s clandestine Joint Special Operations Command. U.S. officials have said repeatedly that American advisers do not take part in raids in Yemen, but provide intelligence, surveillance, planning and other weapons assistance.
As part of the operations, Obama approved a Dec. 24 strike against a compound where a U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-Yemeni Islamic cleric, was thought to be meeting with other regional al-Qaida leaders. He was not the focus of the strike and was not killed.
Al-Awlaki has been connected with the alleged perpetrators of two recent attacks on American soil: the Nov. 5 shooting rampage at the Fort Hood, Texas, army base that killed 13 people and the Christmas airliner bombing attempt.
Yemen’s foreign minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said his nation needs helicopters and logistical support, but won’t allow the U.S. to establish permanent bases there. “Why do we need outside soldiers to fight when we can do the fight ourselves?” he told BBC radio.
Officials said nations at today’s meeting will launch a new international organization — the Friends of Yemen — to help the country identify aid priorities. It will include the Group of Eight countries, members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and other neighboring nations.
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