Obama Counterterror Aide Confers With Yemen's Saleh on Fighting Al-Qaeda
President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, conferred with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh today on the fight against al- Qaeda, administration spokesman Mike Hammer said.
Brennan met with Saleh to discuss U.S.-Yemen “cooperation against the continuing threat of al-Qaeda,” and to offer U.S. “condolences to the Yemeni people for the loss of Yemeni security officers and citizens killed in recent al-Qaeda attacks,” according to Hammer, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
During the visit, Brennan gave Saleh a letter from Obama that Hammer affirmed U.S. “support for a unified, stable, democratic and prosperous Yemen.”
“I am convinced that the people of Yemen can do more than overcome the threats that they face -- they can build a future of greater peace and opportunity for their children,” Obama’s letter said, according to Hammer.
Hammer declined to release the full letter.
The U.S. is concerned about the region as a potential center of terrorist training and operations. Yemen borders Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s largest oil producer and a major supplier of crude to the U.S.
Four alleged al-Qaeda militants, including a German and an Iraqi, appeared before a Sanaa court today, charged with planning attacks on foreign, government and military targets, Agence France-Presse reported.
Truce in North
Brennan’s meeting also included discussions of U.S. economic and humanitarian support for the Yemeni people, parliamentary elections, the protection of human rights and compliance by all sides with the cease-fire in the north of Yemen, Hammer said in an e-mailed statement.
The government and Yemeni rebels known as the Houthis agreed to a truce in February. The Houthis, a Shiite Muslim group, claim they are being discriminated against by Yemen’s majority Sunnis. The government accuses the rebels of trying to impose a Shiite religious leadership.
Obama has stepped up military support to Yemen as the international terrorist threat emerged.
The U.S. Defense Department said last month it will finish spending $155 million by the end of September on equipment to help Yemen’s army commandos fight al-Qaeda, more than double last year’s military aid to that country.
The Pentagon notified Congress it plans to pay for four Huey helicopters made by Textron Inc.’s Bell Helicopter unit, upgrades to 10 Russian-made MI-17 helicopters already owned by Yemen, 50 AM General LLC Hummer vehicles, night-vision goggles and transport aircraft.
To contact the reporters on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net
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