Terrorism in Yemen Overblown ...
Doc
The problems the country faces are significant, they say, but they're
nothing new. Even Al Qaeda has been a presence for more than a decade, one
man says.
By Haley Sweetland Edwards
January 6, 2010 | 4:20 p.m.
Reporting from Sana, Yemen - Elena Rezneac's lavender eye shadow shimmered
in the sun outside a crowded Internet cafe in Yemen's capital city. The
21-year-old Moldovan student giggled as she pushed her sunglasses up above
her blond ponytail.
"If you read about Yemen in the news lately, you think there are terrorists
running around and bombs in all the streets," she said. "But when you are
here, it's calm. I have to go online to remember there's a war going on."
Others among the thousands of foreign aid workers and students of Arabic who
live in this impoverished nation expressed a similar view.
The problems Yemen faces are long-standing and significant, they said, but
at least on the surface, it's not the nest of terrorism it seems in some
Western media reports.
"It's pretty much completely normal around here," said Ramon Scoble, a water
management engineer for GTZ, a German development agency, who has lived and
worked in Yemen for decades. "It's not that the problems aren't real. It's
that they aren't new."
Yemen has been in the media spotlight since Christmas Day, when a Nigerian
man who had studied Arabic in Yemen during the fall was stopped by fellow
passengers as he allegedly attempted to set off explosives on a plane bound
for Detroit from Amsterdam.
Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the group Al Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula, a branch of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network that has
prospered in Yemen in the last few years -- and been the target of air and
ground raids by U.S.-backed Yemeni forces since mid-December.
The U.S., Japan and several European nations closed their embassies in Yemen
in recent days because of security threats. The U.S. Embassy in Sana has
since reopened, said Deborah Smith, a spokeswoman for the facility. She
noted that no U.S. personnel had been evacuated from the country and that
threats to -- and attacks on -- U.S. interests here go back at least a
decade.
On Wednesday, Yemeni authorities announced the arrest of three men linked to
the latest threats.
Yemen's Al Qaeda wing first appeared on Washington's radar in 2000 when a
motorboat packed with explosives slammed into the U.S. destroyer Cole in the
port of Aden, killing 17 sailors. In 2008, militants attacked the U.S.
Embassy, killing at least 16 people, including an American.
The last three years have also seen attacks on tourists from nations
including South Korea and Spain. Attacks on international aid workers have
been rare, although in June the bodies of two German nurses and a South
Korean teacher were found in a mountain hideaway of Islamic militants in
northwestern Yemen.
Except for heightened security precautions, the constellation of aid and
relief organizations here is operating normally.
"We have strengthened our security methods, but at this time, all essential
services are still in place," said Andrew Knight, spokesman for the United
Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Yemen
At Sana coffee shops frequented by Westerners, rumors about possible attacks
persisted Wednesday, but the mood remained calm.
Most of the foreigners who come to Yemen are here voluntarily, after all, to
study and work. Some are attracted by the distinctive architecture, the
ancient traditions, the crispness of the Yemeni Arabic accent, and the
country's famous hospitality.
"It's sort of a magical place in some ways," said Rezneac, the Moldovan
student. "It's like landing in the 16th century. I feel like I'm not only in
a different country, but on a whole different planet."
Longtimers like Scoble, a New Zealander who is a leading authority on
Yemen's water issues, takes the current troubles in stride. The country was
divided for decades and became a Cold War battleground when the south gained
independence from Britain. After reunification two decades ago, civil war
erupted, and today the nation remains in turmoil.
"Going back to the [1990] time of unity, Yemen has never been a settled
country," Scoble said. "There's resistance against the regime and terrorism
in pockets, but that's always been there. Al Qaeda are the new kids on the
block. But even they've been here for more than a decade."
He fears the spotlight on Al Qaeda could exacerbate Yemen's problems by
attracting more foreign militants -- as well as foreign governments that
want to intervene.
"The media reports are a little bit inflammatory," said Scoble, "and I worry
that some of it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy."
(partial story)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-yemen-foreigners7-2010jan07,0,365815.story