Yemen may retake oil pipeline, crisis persists

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Yemen may retake oil pipeline, crisis persists

By Humeyra Pamuk and Mohammed Mokhashaf | Reuters – Tue, Jun 28, 2011

DUBAI/ADEN (Reuters) - Yemen is considering using force to secure and repair its

main oil pipeline, blown up in an attack by angry tribesmen in mid-March, a

senior Yemeni official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The comments came amid a persistent political impasse over the fate of President

Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is recovering in Saudi Arabia from wounds suffered in a

June 3 attack, and continuing unrest in the south, where nine Islamist militants

were killed in fresh clashes.

The impoverished Arab state has been shaken to the core by months of protests

against Saleh's three-decade rule, a resurgent al Qaeda wing and a separatist

rebellion in the south.

The Yemeni official said the government was in talks with tribesmen obstructing

repairs of the Maarib oil pipeline.

" We're close to reaching either a deal or a crackdown, " said the official, who

declined to be named. " There is mediation, we have been in contact with them.

But our patience is limited. "

The lack of crude has forced the Aden oil refinery to halt output, causing

widespread fuel shortages and forcing the poorest Arab state to import more when

it can least afford it.

The Yemeni government has blamed the opposition for the attack on the pipeline,

which runs for 225 km (140 miles) from the Maarib oil fields in central Yemen to

Aden in the south.

Saleh's opponents say the president was behind the attack to show that his

government was vital to provide services and stability in the country of 23

million.

The official declined to say when the government would start the repairs but

said the decision would be made " very soon. "

" There is commitment and belief in the top level of the government that this

situation can't be sustained, " he said.

POLITICAL CRISIS

Yemeni officials have said the 69-year-old Saleh was expected to make his first

public appearance since the palace attack as soon as Tuesday, but after a delay

it remained unclear when that would be.

Previous announcements of Saleh's imminent return have raised speculation about

the condition of the president, who has not been seen in public since the

attack, which killed at least seven people and wounded several top officials.

" Information on Saleh's health is very scant, " said Khaled al-Dakheel, a Saudi

political analyst. " His condition does not seem to allow him to appear on

television, not to mention return home. "

The United States has been pressing Saleh to hand over power to his deputy,

Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has been acting president since Saleh flew to Riyadh

earlier this month, under a Gulf Arab initiative that had been signed by

opposition parties.

Hadi has resisted opposition calls for power to be fully transferred into his

hands as a step toward early elections, insisting that Saleh was still the

constitutional president.

Hadi met United Nations human rights investigators in Sanaa who had arrived on a

mission to assess the situation in Yemen after months of unrest.

ISLAMISTS

Underscoring chaos in the country, a military spokesman said the army killed

nine Islamist militants associated with al Qaeda east of Zinjibar, capital of

the volatile Abyan province.

The state news agency Saba quoted the spokesman as saying four other militants

were injured in clashes in the area.

Saleh's opponents say he is deliberately letting militants tighten their grip to

prove that only he stands in the way of an Islamist takeover.

Separately, a Yemeni official said on Tuesday that three French aid workers

kidnapped in Yemen in May were still alive.

" The security authorities are still looking for them, " Abdu al-Janadi, Yemen's

deputy information minister, told reporters.

" We can confirm that they are still alive and we hope those who abducted them

will reconsider, " Janadi said, without giving details about the kidnappers.

The workers disappeared in the southeastern province of Hadramout. Yemeni and

French authorities have previously said the three were probably kidnapped. In

Paris, the French Foreign Ministry said it was checking the report.