YEMEN: BAATHIST TRAINING CAMPS IN YEMEN
Sanaa, 25 May (AKI) - Yemen is home to training camps for exiled members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, reports the Iranian agency Mehr, citing high-ranking sources from the Yemeni government. One government member confirmed that the camps are run by subversive elements from Yemen's secret services. Several former Iraqi troops sought refuge in the Arab country after the fall of Saddam, writes Mehr, where they obtained political and financial support.
The revelations have been partly confirmed by the former Yemeni ambassador to Syria, Ahmed Abdullah al-Hasani, who recently requested political asylum in London. A former commander of Yemen's navy, al-Hasani has already talked about many officers from the army, police and secret services being members of groups linked to al-Qaeda, the terror network headed by Osama bin Laden.
"It doesn't surprise me that the al-Qaeda supporters in our security forces and the Republican Guard have also provided political support and military training to the Iraqi Baathists," al-Hasani told the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Watan.
Yemen is a key partner in the "war on terror" and is trying to rid itself of its reputation as a haven for Islamic militants, but it is also a very poor, tribal society, where the government struggles to maintain control over all its territory. It is also trying to quell a rebellion by Shiites in the north of the country.
Italian foreign minister Gianfranco Fini
IRAQ: ITALY WON'T DECIDE ALONE ON WITHDRAWAL SAYS FOREIGN MINISTER
Baghdad, 25 May (AKI) - Iraq's foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari is requesting an extension of the UN-sanctioned multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq beyond the end of 2005, he told his Italian counterpart Gianfranco Fini on Wednesday. Fini, on a brief visit to Iraq on Wednesday to meet members of the Iraqi cabinet and Italian troops deployed in the southern city of Nassiriya, reassured Zebari there would be "no unilateral decision" over the continued participation of Italy's 3,000 troops in the mission.
"Iraq's transitional government formally requests the Security Council to allow the continuation of the mandate until the completion of the political process outlined in Resolution 1546 - or until Iraq is able to provide for its own security," Zebari said in a letter to the president of the Security Council.
Resolution 1546, passed by the UN General Assembly on 8 June, 2004, states that the mandate of the mulltinational peace-keeping force in Iraq expires at the end of 2005, but may be re-examined 12 months from the resolution, or at the request of Iraq's government.
"Italy will evaluate its position at the time this question is discussed [at the Security Council meeting on 31 May]. However, no unilateral decision will be taken: agreement will be reached with the Iraqi authorities and with the Allied forces," Italian foreign ministry sources were quoted as saying. Zebari did not state how long an extension of the mandate he was seeking, the same sources said.
During their meeting, Fini also told Zebari that Italy would give its full support to ensure the forthcoming European Union conference on Iraq on 22 June is a success. "I am prepared to give 100 percent support to the conference: while the international community was the protagonist of the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting on Iraq and Iraq was its subject, this time Iraq needs to be the key player," Fini said, referring to the summit held in Egyptian coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on 22 November.
In March, Italian prime minister sparked controversy when he suggested Italy's troops could be withdrawn in September. Berlusconi's controversial remarks came in the wake of the killing of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari by US troops in friendly fire on 4 March, as Calipari was escorting freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad airport