Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
eign tourists and attacks on Western embassies and Yemeni government and security personnel. One of their
bloodiest attacks came in May 2012 when a suicide bomber killed nearly 100 Yemeni soldiers in Sanaʻa.
But it was the attempted aeroplane bombing that really shone the spotlight on Yemen as this was the first time
this group had attempted to launch a direct attack on the US. So, who is this group and what is it doing in Yemen?
Known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the group was formed in January 2009 as the result of a
merger of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia with that of its Yemeni branch. It's thought to be led by Nasir Wuhaishi, a
Saudi who was one of 23 Al-Qaeda members who escaped from a Sanaʻa prison in 2006. In August 2011
Wuhaishi was rumoured killed in a battle with Yemeni troops in the south of the country. However this was
denied by AQAP and in December 2011 Wuhaishi released a statement on a jihad website. Several other high-
profile members of the group are former Guantanamo Bay detainees. Experts think that AQAP is one of the best
funded and most stable of all the Al-Qaeda groups and the one that poses the greatest threat to the West.
Prior to the 2011 protests the group was largely confined to remote corners of Shabwa, Ma'rib, Abyan and Ha-
dramawt were they found shelter with the tribes. However, the recent power vacuums in Yemen gave AQAP the
opportunity they needed to expand their influence. Using the alias of Ansar al-Sharia the group essentially took
total control of the province of Abyan (just east of Aden) and greatly expanded their presence in many other parts
of the country. By mid-2012 the Yemeni army was engaged in heavy fighting with the group and by the end of the
year had pushed AQAP/Ansar al-Sharia out of the regional capital of Zinjibar and other towns. However, at the
time of writing the group still hold territory elsewhere including Rada close to Sanaʻa and large parts of Ma'rib,
Shabwa, Hadramawt and Abyan.
The US, through the use of unmanned drones, military training for the Yemeni army and the use of special
forces, are thought to be heavily involved in the fight against AQAP in Yemen and drone attacks on suspected
militants are now a common occurrance (the US never confirms the use of drones). In September 2011 the US
scored a notable sucess with the killing of Anwar al-Aulaqi, an American-Yemeni thought to be a talent recruiter,
motivator and publicist for AQAP, in a drone strike in southeast Yemen. The drone strikes though are also thought
to have led to the death of a large number of women, children and other innocents (including a government medi-
ator) and these have done much to increase tribal anger against the Yemeni and US governments and increase
support of Al-Qaeda.
Kidnappings
Heavily armed tribes have long taken to kidnapping foreign tourists and expatriates in or-
der to publicise their grievances with the government. Normally the victims have been
well treated and released unharmed after a few days when the government agrees to the
kidnappers' terms (normally for a new road, school or for fellow tribal members to be re-
leased from prison). At one point the spate of kidnappings became so common that a
speaker in the Yemeni parliament described being kidnapped as 'a great adventure for the
tourist'. Today, this is no longer the case. Now kidnapped foreigners are routinely 'sold'
to Al-Qaeda and few are heard from again. The rate of kidnap of foreigners also seems to
be accelerating and is occurring throughout the country including in the middle of Sanaʻa
in broad daylight (as was demonstrated by the kidnapping in December 2012 of three for-
eigners studying at a langauge school in Sanaʻa).
For expats working in Yemen, in order to lower the risk of kidnap you should not stick
to a daily routine; you should change your route to work and do not freqent the same res-
taurants and other public spaces on a regular basis. Tourists are at a lower risk of kidnap in
