ALGERIA: Yemen in danger of becoming haven for Islamist militants says EU official

Record ID: 351887

  • Title: ALGERIA: Yemen in danger of becoming haven for Islamist militants says EU official
  • Date: 19th June 2009
  • Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (JUNE 17, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BUILDING WHERE ANTI TERRORISM CONFERENCE IS TAKING PLACE VARIOUS OF SPEAKERS SEATED GILLES DE KERCHOVE, THE EU'S COUNTER-TERRORISM COORDINATOR MAKING NOTES DELEGATES LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) GILLES DE KERCHOVE, THE EU'S COUNTER-TERRORISM COORDINATOR, SAYING: "In my later report to human council, I suggeste
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA195475HOESZ809KIFBAGGIRHH
  • Story Text: EU official says Yemen is in danger of becoming another Afghanistan and needs assistance from international community.
    Yemen is in danger of following Afghanistan down the path of becoming a safe haven for Islamist militants, the European Union's anti-terrorism chief said on Wednesday (June 17).
    Three foreign women were found dead in Yemen this week after they were kidnapped by an armed group, heightening long-standing fears the country could slip into chaos and provide a launchpad for militant attacks.
    Gilles de Kerchove, the EU's Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, said he had recommended that Yemen be ranked alongside Pakistan and the northern Sahara as regions that harbour threats to European interests.
    "I was in Yemen a month ago. It's a state which really needs to be assisted. It is confronted with many challenges and we have to avoid Yemen to become another safe haven or another Afghanistan. Tribes play a major role, it is a weak state, so indeed we have to mobilise the international community to avoid that to happen," de Kerchove told Reuters on the sidelines of a counter-terrorism conference in the Algerian capital organised by the African Centre for Studies and Research on Terrorism (CAERT).
    He added that African states need a support to prevent terrorism, but the support needs to be balanced.
    "But the challenge is both to find the right mix between supporting the states themselves, and they all need a lot of support for capacity building, because they don't control their (inaudible) and the region dimension. And of course rushing to develop the region dimension if you have not reinforce, beefed up the national capacity wont work. The challenge for us is to find the right mix between supporting the individual members and individual states, and the right region dimension. I think we should do both at the same time but gradually," he said.
    Security analysts say they believe some al Qaeda militants, seeking new bases of operations after being squeezed out of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, are heading for Yemen.
    The Arab world's poorest state, Yemen is already struggling with al Qaeda militancy, along with with tribal rivalries and secessionist sentiment in the south, home to most of the country's oil facilities.
    If instability there deepens, al Qaeda could use it as a launching-pad for new attacks on neighbouring Saudi Arabia and further afield. Lawlessness in Yemen could also be exploited by pirates targeting shipping routes in the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa.
    Ramatane Lamamra, Peace and Security Commissioner for the African Union Commission stressed that no country is immune from terrorism.
    "There are some African countries that have been lucky not to have been harmed by terrorism, but they believe that they are immune. We always stress that the duty must involve everyone and to have participation, even from the countries that have not been affected in their modern history to any act of terrorism," he said.
    More then 50 countries are taking part in the third anti-terrorism conference in Algeria that will conclude on Friday (June 19).
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