SANAA, 27 Jul -- At the conclusion of the Arab second regional conference on transparency, Justice Minister Dr. Ghazi al-Aghbari Tuesday said “Yemen is aware of the significance of combating corruption through the use of all available means including the adoption of the UN anti-corruption treaty, enactment of legislations and the establishment of apparatuses and authorities to fight corruption,” adding “Yemen has taken a number of serious steps in this framework the most important is its national strategy for combating corruption announced on Monday.”  “The challenges of corruption are many and facing them is a crucially moral and national necessity and we are relying on the new strategy to bolster our efforts,” he said, disclosing “in the first half of 2010, public finance courts looked at and ruled in 628 cases of corruption.”  As the conference wrapped up on Tuesday, participants discussed the role of the private sector and civil society in fighting corruption and boosting transparency, al-Thawra newspaper added.

former slave Qanaf Bin Siyarah talking to al-Masder Online reporter SANAA, 03 Jul -- In a press conference on Saturday, Yemen’s Committee for Defending Human Rights and Freedoms (HOOD) vowed to free all remaining slaves in Yemen and threatened to file lawsuits against those who still practice slavery and take people into bondage, al-Masder Online said.  Speaking at the conference, former slave Qanaf Bin Siyarah said “he ran away from his master to Saudi Arabia then returned to Yemen where a man bought him and let him go free,” adding “I had to run away from my master when he refused to let me get married after 30 years serving him.

AMRAN, 01 June -- Six Shiite rebels and four tribesmen were killed on Tuesday in fierce clashes in the northern region of Harf Sufian, 70 kilometers north of the capital, the Sahwa Mobile service said.  The fighting broke out after a group of Houthi rebels attacked and seized the village of Dhu-Daqish taking six tribesmen hostage.  Among the dead is rebel leader Abu-Hidar as hundreds of armed rebels buried their dead.  On Monday, clashes erupted between Houthi elements and pro-government tribesmen from Bani Awiar in the northern area of Sahar in Sadaa amid reports four rebels and two tribesmen were killed in the fighting which was triggered by Houthis trying to take over a school in the area.  Al-Masder Online cited Houthi leaders as vowing to take revenge saying “the perpetrators will pay a heavy price.”  A statement by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said “the state is fully responsible,” adding “the militias of the little parliamentarian, Hamoud Aziz are breaching the agreement, and setting up ambushes and that doesn’t serve peace.”  Houthi spokesman Muhammad Abdul-Salam accused the government of fomenting tensions just as life was gradually returning to some sort of normality in the war-ravaged north, a charge the government denied and lobbed back at the rebels.  Meanwhile, the national committee of dialogue called on a statement on Monday for resolving the underlying causes of the conflict.Meanwhile, serious fissures started to appear in the once rock-solid Shiite coalition in north Yemen as rifts and tension among its leaders escalated last week over theological interpretation and the killing of rivals, Marib Press said.  In a news statement published on Saturday, a number of Zaydi scholars claiming to be followers of cleric Majd al-Din Muhammad Bin Mansour al-Moayd accused followers of rebel leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi of attacking their mosques, schools and homes.  “We committed to silence in order to avoid spawning mayhem and problems but the followers of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi continued shedding blood and killed religion student Muhammad Bin Muhammad al-Naimi, and wounded his brother Ali in an outrageous aggression,” said the statement, adding “any attack against any follower of Majd al-Din al-Moayd is considered an attack on all.”

SANAA, 11 March -- President Ali Abdullah Saleh Thursday visited the Central Forces Compound in Sanaa and said “we are here to bear farewell to officers and soldiers who will be going to Sadaa governorate to maintain security and social peace so that the internally displaced persons can return to their homes,” adding “God willing, the latest military operations will be the last in Sadaa and peace and security will return to the region so that the process of reconstruction and development could be initiated.”

ADEN, 19 Dec -- Four suspected Al-Qaeda militants targeted in a government military operation last Thursday have been found in a Yemeni hospital, the Media Centre at the Interior Ministry said on Saturday, adding “these men were wounded in Thursday’s strikes and were taken to Aden for medical treatment.”  “The men are Abdulalh Salam Ali, 30, Hidra Salam Ali, 27, Muhammad Ali Salam, 30, and Abdul-Rahman Muhammad Qaid, 30,” said the statement.

SANAA, 15 Dec – The U.S. Boston Globe newspaper Tuesday cited unnamed intelligence officials as saying “veteran al-Qaeda terrorists are leaving Pakistan and Afghanistan and are heading to Yemen.

SADAA, 11 Dec -- In a statement posted on their website, Zaydi Shiite rebels in Sadaa Friday claimed they seized control  of a Saudi military outpost.  The statement said “the mujahadeen seized full control of the al-Jabri Saudi military post, seized weapons, communication devices, military vehicles, arms and surveillance equipment,” adding “more than 200

SANAA, 07 Nov – Tribal leader and business tycoon, Sheik Hamid Abdullah al-Ahmar late Friday accused the Republican Guards of supporting the Shiite rebels in previous wars.  He said “the Yemeni army is no longer capable of ending the war in north Yemen militarily because it lost trust in the political leadership in Yemen which plays around with peoples’ lives.”  Al-Ahmar who was speaking to the Doha-based al-Jazeera satellite TV channel said “the Republican Guards headed by the President’s son supported the Shiite rebels in north Yemen in order to hit the First Artillery military division led by Brigadier General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar and hence get rid of him,” adding “a rebel leader is a friend of the President’s son, Ahmad Ali Abdullah Saleh.”