Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses. Share the link of this article with your facebook friends

 

While Griffiths Confident About Implementation of Ceasefire, 12 Yemenis Killed, Scores Injured and Abducted, with Mutual Accusations

January 29, 2019 

Yemeni activist, Mona Safwan 2019	UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths 2019

 

The following news stories are from the Yemeni independent website Al-Masdar ( http://www.almasdaronline.com/category/42  ):

*** 

Griffiths: I am absolutely confident that the Yemenis will implement what has been agreed in Sweden and Hudaydah truce still holding

January 29, 2019, almasdaronline-agencies ٢٩ يناير ٢٠١٩

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, mentioned that there is a political will now more than ever to end the conflict in Yemen. He added, in an interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, that “ we are all on the same page that the way to do this is through the negotiations’ table, and not the battlefield. After four years of war, I think the political leadership of the two parties is convinced that the war will not resolve this conflict. Also, there is a consensus in the international community as well as in the region on that.”

On the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement, Griffiths clarified that extending the timelines for implementation was expected, explaining that the initial timelines were ambitious, and the situation on the ground is more complex. He pointed out that the two parties have demonstrated the political will, and have been constructively and seriously engaged for the full implementation of the Agreement.  He added that what is important now is to stay the course and to continue working with the two parties till we see the full implementation of the Stockholm Agreement.

The Special Envoy also mentioned that he is planning to convene another round of consultations soon, explaining that all the parties are on the same page that we need to see progress in implementing what was agreed in Sweden before convening the next round of consultations. He added that it is important not to lose sight of the big picture necessary to resolve the conflict in Yemen. He explained that a framework that will draw a road map towards a political agreement will provide a basis for the end game; that is the political solution for the conflict in Yemen.

Six civilians, including a journalist, were killed and more than 20 injured in IED attack in Mokha

January 29, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٢٩ يناير ٢٠١٩

Six civilians, including a journalist, were killed and more than 20 others, including a journalist, were injured Monday evening when an improvised explosive device exploded in Mokha the western part of the country.

A local source told Al-Masdar online that an explosive device planted in a motorcycle was parked near a popular café (cafeteria), opposite the bus station between Mocha and Aden.

"The explosion killed six civilians, including Ziad al-Sharabi, a montage expert in Abu Dhabi TV, two children, and wounded more than 20 civilians, including Abu Dhabi reporter," he said.

No more information was received about the explosion until the moment.

Six abductees died under torture in Houthi jails, and "36" new kidnappings since Sweden's agreement

January 28, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٢٨ يناير ٢٠١٩

The Association of Mothers of abductees has said it has monitored the deaths of six abductees under torture in Houthi prisons since the signing of the Sweden agreement last month.

In a statement released Monday morning at the end of a protest organized by the association before the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sana'a, the Association of Mothers of Abductees denounced the continued violations against the kidnapped and forcibly hidden in the prisons of the al-Houthi group.

According to the association, al-Houthi has abducted 36 citizens in its areas of control since the signing of the last agreement, which included the approval of the release of abductees and prisoners from both sides, and noted that the group continue " its comic trials against the kidnapped, prevent visits and prevent the introduction of food and drink and medicines for them, and deprive them of exposure to the sun in their prisons in Sana’a “.

According to the statement, the Houthis deliberately neglect the abductees with the spread of TB in their jails and continue to conceal scores, stressing that all these violations come without regard to the moral and legal value of the Sweden agreement.

The statement called on the United Nations, which is empowered to protect human rights in the world and is the sponsor of the implementation of the Agreement of Sweden and guarantor of it by pressuring the al-Houthi group to stop these violations, and to impose its protection for the abductees until the completion of the agreement and its implementation in order to achieve the freedom and safety of abductees and forcibly hidden persons.

***

The following news stories are from the pro-Houthi website Yemen Extra (http://www.yemenextra.net/):

***

Yemeni activist Mona Safwan: What has been applied to Hodeidah must be applied to Aden

Jan 29, 2019, YemenExtra

The Yemeni activist, Mona Safwan has said that what applies today to Hodeidah must be applied to Aden as ” the so-called Hadi’s legitimacy” is incapable of running any Yemeni region or city.

The inability of the Saudi-backed government to manage a region that affects all aspects of political, humanitarian, economic and strategic life is proof of its utter failure in the administration of the city of Aden and other areas called “liberated”, she said.

Safwan said in a tweet on Monday that imposing an international presence in any of the Yemeni regions reflects a global rejection of the control of the so-called “legitimacy ” government appointed by Riyadh to manage one of the most important cities of the world and the region.

According to observers, the proposal of Safwan is a smart hint and looking ahead to the near future, in which we may see a similar agreement to Hodeidah agreement in Sweden consultation regarding the City and port of Aden.

Yemeni retaliatory attacks left big losses amid the coalition in battlefronts: Report

Jan 25, 2019, YemenExtra, Y.A

Yemeni army forces killed and wounded many of the Saudi-led coalition’s, backed by the US,  paid fighters in retaliatory operations in the battlefronts against the Riyadh regime’s aerial bombardment campaign.

Their air force waged an attack on the paid fighters’’ gatherings, killing and wounding several of them, a number of the militias were killed and wounded by the army’s attacks in front of Alb border crossing and Raboaa city, and dozens of the paid fighters were killed and injured by an explosive device in front of Alb border crossing,Asir.

They repelled an attack of coalition’s paid fighters in front of Qais mount, killing and injuring dozens of them by an explosive device in Jizan.

They fired a missile, Zilzal 1, and artillery shells at groups of paid fighters in front of Sudais, causing heavy casualties, destroyed a military vehicle by an explosive device in Ajasher desert, killing all its crew, and shot dead three of the paid fighters in the west of Sudais in Najran.

They attacked sites of the paid fighters in Hamir front of Maqbanah district and in Wazea’eah junction, killing and wounding several of the paid fighters in Taiz.

They carried out an attack on sites of the paid fighters in Sood hil and nearby hills at the east of Nar mount in Haeadh district, killing and wounding dozens and targeted the paid fighters’ gatherings in the east of Nar mount, causing direct casualties in Hajjah.

Yemen’s official Saba news agency reported on Thursday that Yemeni army forces fatally shot 25 troopers in the regions of Jizan, Najran and Asir last month.Another 12 also sustained injuries in retaliatory attacks.

On the other hand, the coalition’s paid fighters continue to violate Stockholm Cease-Fire in Hodeidah, injuring a child by artillery shells targeting At-tohayta district. The forces of the coalition also attacked sites of Yemeni army forces southern Hais district with armored, medium and heavy arms. It targeted with dozens of shells and missiles Al-Hali district. Fighter jets and reconnaissance drones continued to fly intensely over Hodeidah city and southern districts.

Thousands of Yemenis rallied on the streets of Yemen’s northern city of Sa’ada to commemorate fallen soldiers on Martyrs’ Day.

The demonstrators stressed their willingness to counter what they described as foreign forces and American policies in the region, Yemen’s al-Massirah TV channel reported on Friday.

In March 2015, the US -backed –Saudi-led coalition started  a war against Yemen with the declared aim of crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement, who had taken over from the staunch Riyadh ally and fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while also seeking to secure the Saudi border with its southern neighbor. Three years and over 600,000 dead and injured Yemeni people and  prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country, the war has yielded little to that effect.

Despite the coalition claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

More than 2,200 others have died of cholera, and the crisis has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

However, Saudi Arabia relies heavily on the US in its brutal war on Yemen. Washington has deployed a commando force on the Arab kingdom’s border with Yemen to help destroy arms belonging to Yemen’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement. Washington has also provided logistical support and aerial refueling.

***

Saudi-led coalition tortures Yemenis to death, mental illness in its secret prisons in southern Yemen

Jan 28, 2019, YemenExtra,

By:Yousra Abdulmalik

Documents revealed the killing of 23 Yemeni detainees in the secret prisons of the UAE , a main part of the Saudi-led coalition, backed by the US, in the province of Aden, under the control of UAE.

According to an annex to a letter sent by the detainees in Bir Ahmad prison to Interior Minister of the resigned Yemeni president, Hadi, Ahmed al-Misri, the detainees were killed in the prisons of Shalal, Abu al-Yamamah and Saleh al-Sayyid Waisran (pro-UAE leaders).

In another handwritten document, the detainees also identified 23 missing persons in Shalaal, Abu al-Yamamah, Yasran, Saleh al-Sayyid and Al-Khalaf prisons.
Twenty-six detainees of Hadi and al-Hirak were detained in Bir Ahmad prison, showing with their military numbers.

The detainees explained to al-Misari that they had been on hunger strike for four weeks without any response and held him responsible for what was happening to them because he was responsible for the prisoners.

International human rights and human rights organizations report numerous abuses by the UAE in Yemen, exploiting their participation in the Saudi-UAE-led coalition .

The most recent report was broadcast on Channel 4 on Friday (December 7th) and showed some of the suffering of detainees in prisons in Aden, southern Yemen, run by the United Arab Emirates.

The channel showed the testimony of Adel al-Hassani, a field commander of paid fighter forces, who was previously detained by the Abu Dhabi-backed security forces. He revealed hundreds of detainees in secret prisons in the UAE subjected to various kinds of torture: beatings, electric shocks, Sharp metal in sensitive areas of the body. ”

He added in the investigation, which included statements to human rights organizations and pictures from inside prisons: “The prisons were filled with screaming every night because of torture, which is supervised by Emiratis”.
 
In its report entitled “God alone knows if it is alive,” the organization said it has monitored dozens of arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and torture by pro-UAE forces.

Amnesty International considered these practices tantamount to war crimes and called on the UAE to stop participating in them and to launch a rapid and effective investigation into them.

Among the figures mentioned in the report, Amnesty said that it investigated the conditions of the arrest of 51 prisoners between March 2016 and May 2018, arrested by paid fighter forces and UAE forces, and confirmed that 19 people lost .
 
The Associated Press of America revealed several months ago in a press investigation for  secret prisons run by the UAE using worst forms of physical, psychological and sexual torture against the Yemenis detainees in the southern provinces.
 
Earlier, military officials of the authority of Hadi affirmed that all prisons in the southern provinces are official prisons run by the government, denying any presence of the UAE-run any secret prisons or places of torture run by the UAE forces.
 
The United Arab Emirates forces , for its part, released 11 detainees from UAE-run Bir Ahmed  Prison in Aden province after more than two years of forced detention and concealment, local sources told YemenExtra.
 
According to the sources, two of those released are mentally ill as a result of being subjected to torture in the non-expendable prisons.This comes after media pressure exercised by activists in the southern region.
 
Aden security chief Shallal Shaye, who was appointed by Hadi administration,loyal to the coalition, confirmed that detainees in a UAE-run prison have been jailed illegally by Emirati-backed paid fighters in the city.Speaking to the  Abu Dhabi news channel about the situation of the Bir Ahmed prison, Shaya admitted that there were prisoners on hunger strike as a result of their illegal imprisonment.“The prisoners’ files were recently filed with the proper authorities and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and these confirm that the prisoners were imprisoned outside the law and order,” he said.

***

Share the link of this article with your facebook friends