The U.S. and U.K. plan to increase counter-terrorism efforts in Yemen and Somalia in response to the failed attempt to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight over Detroit last month.
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown agreed to fund a police unit in Yemen to target terrorism and will support coastguard operations in the Arabian Peninsula nation, according to a an e-mailed statement from the two governments today. They will also back proposals at the United Nations Security Council for a larger peacekeeping force in Somalia, the statement said.
Yemen is a “failing state” and a “new source” of security threat, Brown told the British Broadcasting Corp. in a television interview today.
The U.S. and U.K. closed their embassies in Yemen today citing security reasons.
Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based branch claimed responsibility for the Dec. 25 attack in which Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight with 278 passengers on board.
The U.S. is at war with “a far-reaching network of violence and hatred,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address yesterday, vowing to defend the nation.
Obama said Abdulmutallab was trained and equipped in Yemen by an al-Qaeda affiliate. Obama blamed the group for earlier attacks on Yemeni government offices and hotels, including a 2008 attack on the U.S. embassy that killed one American.
Embassies Closed
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen shut its doors today citing a threat from al-Qaeda.
“The U.S. Embassy in Sana’a is closed today, Jan. 3, 2010, in response to ongoing threats by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to attack American interests in Yemen,” the embassy said in a statement on its Web site.
Britain later closed its embassy because of unspecified “security reasons,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman in London said by telephone.
The closures came a day after the top U.S. general in the region paid an unannounced visit to the country.
General David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, held talks yesterday with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Obama said he’s working with countries across Africa, Asia and Europe to disrupt terrorist financing and recruiting.
Brown will discuss the threat posed by terrorists operating out of Yemen and Somalia at the next European Union Council meeting, and has asked for the topic to be added to the agenda for the January EU General Affairs Council, the statement said.
Brown is organizing an international meeting in London on Jan. 28 to discuss how to counter radicalization in Yemen, his office said on Jan. 1.
[Source:
Bloomberg]
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