Gulf of Aden Security Review

Yemen: Yemeni forces and southern separatists clash, leaving five dead; Yemeni government orders the closure of an Iranian run hospital and clinic; nurses-in-training reportedly provide medical support to the al Houthi rebels; conflict in Yemen has strained UN efforts to help internally displaced people

Horn of Africa: Al Shabaab takes Qoqani from Hizb al Islam; al Shabaab issues statement forbidding the World Food Program from importing food; at least five killed and ten wounded in clashes in Mogadishu; all foreign ships ordered to leave Somali waters because of illegal fishing

Yemen Security Brief

• Clashes between security forces and southern separatists on Wednesday left three protestors and two members of the security force dead in the city of Ataq in Shabwa governorate. Ten others were wounded in the firefight. Witnesses report that security forces attempted to break up a demonstration of about one-thousand southerners.[1] 

• The Yemeni government ordered the closure of an Iranian hospital and clinic in Sana'a province due to the hospitalís and clinicís lack of transparency, as well as Iranís financial support of these two institutions. The five-story building was staffed by 120 employees, including eight Iranians. Both institutions were run by the Iranian Red Crescent.[2] 

• Nurses-in-training from the Hudaydah University are reportedly being recruited by the al Houthis to provide medical support. The nurses-in-training receive (U.S.) one-thousand dollars a month from the al Houthis, said a source from the Hudaydah governorate. Residents of Hudaydah governorate are reportedly smuggling weapons and fuel using fishing boats and trucks near Yemen's port of Midi for the al Houthi rebels.[3] 

• The conflict between the Yemeni government and al Houthi rebels has strained the efforts of the United Nations to provide relief for the internally displaced community. At least one such camp exceeded its capacity, housing close to 100,000 people fleeing from the conflict zone.[4]

Horn of Africa Security Brief

• Al Shabaab has captured a second town, Qoqani, from Hizb al Islam and reports say that Hizb al Islam militants have withdrawn to Dhobley, a Hizb al Islam base near the border with Kenya. Al Shabaab lost two senior officials in a separate incident in Abdalla Birole village, about 40 km south of Kismayo, during fighting with Hizb al Islam.[5] 

• Al Shabaab issued a statement forbidding the World Food Program from importing food into Somalia; instead, the agency is to buy from the local market. All local businessmen with WFP contracts must terminate them by January 1, 2010, and all WFP warehouses and food stocks must be emptied.[6] 

• At least five civilians were killed and ten others wounded in clashes between government forces and Islamists in the Shibis and Abdul Aziz districts of Mogadishu.[7] 

• General Hussein Yusuf Dhumal, the Commander in Chief of the Somali military forces, has ordered all foreign ships to leave Somali waters. General Dhumal noted that foreign ships engage in illegal fishing.[8]