SANAA, 11 Jul -- In a statement posted on Jihadist websites, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Sunday announced responsibility for the attack on the Political Security headquarters in the port city of Aden mid June, saying 24 intelligence officers and soldiers were killed in the assault.  The statement said all the assailants escaped unharmed, adding “the squads of martyr Jamil al-Anbari raided the Political Security building in Aden on Saturday June 19, 2010 killing 24 officers, and male and female soldiers of the political security organization not 11 as alleged by the security services,” and slammed what it said “the torture of noble men by the intelligence agencies which seek to please the American master.”

SANAA, 11 Jul -- President Ali Abdullah Saleh Sunday said the ruling General Peoples Congress (GPC) “is a national and political institution that enjoys popular support among the people of Yemen,” and slammed reports the GPC would disintegrate if he left it as “lies and fraud,” adding “the President is the President of all of the country but he gave up the management of the GPC to its secretary general and retained his supervisory role of the party.”

Claire Bourgeois, the representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Yemen SANAA, 10 Jul -- Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Yemen, Dr. Claire Bourgeois Saturday said in a press conference that 30 percent of the Sadaa-war internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to their homes since the announcement of the end of the sixth round of war between the Houthi rebels and government forces mid February 2009, al-Masder Online reported.  She said the IDPs who returned to their homes “did so voluntarily with their own will,” and ruled out IDPs in refugee camps would be encouraged to go back saying “the circumstances are not encouraging.”  She said the Yemeni government in partnership with UNHCR is working on a draft law about refugees after President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed an executive order allowing cooperation between the two sides last February and talked about funding difficulties that impede the agency’s programs saying the agency had to cut the budget of al-Mazraq refugee camp in Harad region into half.

SANAA, 04 Jul -- The opposition alliance in Yemen, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) Sunday expressed “deep concern at the seriousness of the miserable situations in the country, the catastrophic results of these situations and the indicators the country is heading towards collapse,” al-Sahwa net said citing a statement by the JMP.  The statement lamented what it said “corruption and oppression which have paralyzed the constitution and law and allowed war lords, and the forces of corruption, smuggling and looting to dominate.

Houthi rebels near a checkpoint SANAA, 04 Jul -- Rebel spokesman overseeing the implementation of the truce terms agreed with the government, alias, Abu-Malik Sunday accused the government of preparing for a seventh round of war with the rebels in north Yemen.  In a statement to the Islamist al-Sahwa net, he said “President Saleh is alone responsible for any explosion of the situation in Sadaa because in his hands is the war or peace decision,” adding “we hold the President and his government responsible because they are stalling and getting around agreements and are not abiding by the deserving needs of the truce terms.”  “If he wanted, the President could push the country into collapse or towards development, security and stability,” said Abu-Malik, adding “the President is running away from the rest of the crises that have spread across the country into Sadaa.”

SANAA, 04 Jul -- The government on Sunday accused the Shiite rebels in the north of not fulfilling the cease-fire agreement signed with them in February, the state official Saba news agency said.  An official at the nation’s top security committee said “the Houthi elements violated the cease-fire on Sunday morning by cutting the Sadaa, Sufian main road and attacking citizens,” adding “the rebels are responsible for this violation and its implications.”

SANAA, 01 June -- Foreign Minister Abu-Baker al-Qirbi Tuesday said the recent release of the two German girls taken captive in north Yemen along with their parents and brother in 2009 was conducted through mediation between Yemeni tribal chieftains and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  “A tribal chieftain contacted the Saudis and we coordinated with the Saudis not with the tribal sheiks,” he said, adding “the abductors were in a very difficult position because they felt every part of the Yemeni society was against such criminal acts.”  The girls were members of a German family of five and were among a group of foreign hostages - seven Germans, a Briton and a South Korean kidnapped in 2009.

ADEN, 23 May -- Security authorities in the southern port city of Aden Saturday arrested 428 people on charges of taking part in an illegal demonstration organized by the southern political movement to protest state policies, the official website of Yemen’s Socialist Party said.  The demonstration was held as the country was celebrating its 20th anniversary of national unity and of the 428, 265 were imprisoned in al-Mansoura central prison, 42 in Sheik Othman police prison, 36 were taken into custody at Tareq military compound, 10 in the prison of Kreter and the remaining 75 were scattered among different prisons across the city.  President Ali Abdullah Saleh granted on Saturday amnesty to all prisoners from the southern movement.  Meanwhile, the ministry of interior Sunday said in a statement posted on its media center website that security services in the southern region of Abyan arrested a man suspected of making explosive bombs,” adding “his arrest came after investigations confirmed his involvement in bomb making.”  A security source told Agence France Presse the man is a member of the southern political movement, adding “he confessed that his mission was confined to making explosives and delivering them to persons who carry out acts of sabotage in some southern cities in the provinces of Lahj, Abyan and al-Dhala.”  Meanwhile, Oil Minister, Ameer Salam al-Aidrous Sunday said “Yemen was going through a critical stage that threatened its unity, but I think it passed it,” adding “Yemen is way stronger than depicted in foreign reports.”  Al-Aidrous who was talking in an interview with the Saudi-owned London-based al-Sharaq al-Awsat newspaper said “there are more than 22 international companies operating in the oil sector in Yemen and these companies never stopped working and producing oil for a single day and that testifies to the fact that despite the circumstances, the state managed to provide a good atmosphere for investment.”  He said oil exists in the provinces of Abyan, Aden and Lahj and “one of Italy’s major international companies is exploring for oil in al-Jawf, Marib, and Shabwa while Hodeida and offshore oil exploration will be added later.”  On challenges facing the country, he said “the challenge is the economy and development.  There are 22 million people in Yemen and this fast population growth should be met with strong economic growth rates.  The southern political movement and others are not new,” adding “we accept peaceful exchange of power through ballot boxes but not through chaos and militancy and as a citizen I reject conflict over power.”  He lashed out at Yemen’s Socialist Party (YSP) saying “though it is in the opposition, it is proposing a very dangerous and blunt issue which is the separation.”  In other news, Assistant Secretary General of Yemen’s Socialist Party (YSP) Yahia Mansour Abo-Asba rejected on Sunday President Saleh’s offer to form a national unity government, News Yemen website reported.  He said his party is “committed to the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP),” but other conflicting reports said YSP leaders are still studying the President’s offer.  Meanwhile, the spokesman of the opposition alliance, the JMP, Muhammad al-Naimi said “the opposition higher council will hold a meeting today to discuss the President’s initiative.”  Muhammad Mansour, member of the JMP’s council said the opposition is working on a positive response to Saleh’s offer.  Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary General of the ruling party, Ahmad Obid bin Dhager said in a statement to the Kuwaiti al-Siyassia newspaper that he hoped the JMP would accept the President’s offer for a national unity government, adding the war with the Shiite rebels in north Yemen is over and the last round was “the last.”