On
Yemen, Doubt
for Trip by
UNSC As
Italian
Grabbed by
Saleh
Supporters
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Partial
exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, July
30 --
Supporters of
Yemen's Ali
Saleh
kidnapped an
Italian
security
official on
Sunday in
Sana'a. Beyond
showing the
continued
influence of
ostensibly
deposed
dictator Ali
Saleh, the
event casts
a questioning
light on an
otherwise
unreported UN
Security
Coucil meeting
last
Tuesday.
Security
Council
sources
exclusively
told Inner
City Press on
July 24 that
their "any
other
business"
agenda item
that day
involved a
possible
upcoming trip
not only to
Afghanistan
but also to
Yemen.
Some
felt, they
said, the time
is right,
particularly
with the
Council's
positioning on
Yemen being
posited as a
success of the
Council, even
as a possible
model for
Syria.
How
does the trip
look now? And
how does Yemen
now appear, as
a model
for Syria?
Italian
foreign
minister
Giulio Terzi
raised the
kidnapping of
the
carabiniere to
Yemen's Abu
Bakr al Qirbi
on Sunday
night. The
read-outs of
the call by
AGI and Yemeni
state media
said the two
discussed
security
cooperation.
Back on
July 17,
when the UN's
envoy to Yemen
Jamal Benomar
emerged from
the Security
Council to
speak to the
media early
Tuesday
afternoon,
Inner City
Press asked
him three
questions.
Benomar had
referred to
"those who
undermine the
government,"
so Inner City
Press asked
who these
might be --
Ali Saleh, or
for example
the Yemeni
Socialist
Party, which
has criticized
President
Hadi?
Benomar
said,
"there is a
lively debate
in Yemen, all
Yemeni
constituencies
are competing
to participate
in the
national
dialogue, this
is very
healthy."
He
acknowledged
that there are
"spoilers
lurking in
background,"
but said that
in the
Security
Council's
closed door
meeting he
"didn't get
into further
details."
So
Inner
City Press
asked, what IS
the role of
Ali Saleh now
in Yemen?
Benomar said
that "Mr Saleh
is still the
president of
the GPC." Video
here, from
Minute 5:21.
And now
Saleh's
supporters
have kidnapped
an Italian
diplomat and
put into doubt
a UN Security
Council trip.
Watch this
site.
, 
