U.S. reopens its embassy in Yemen

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Washington reopened its diplomatic outpost in Yemen yesterday after shuttering it for two days following "credible information that pointed to imminent terrorist attacks," according to a statement posted on the Web site of the U.S. Embassy in San'a, the capital.

U.S. officials said they reopened the embassy because a Yemeni counterterrorism operation on Monday "addressed a specific area of concern."

The United States, Japan, and several European nations shut their embassies this week amid worries about rising al-Qaeda activity on the troubled Arabian Peninsula.

At the British Embassy, workers returned yesterday, but the building was closed to visitors. The French, German, Czech, and Japanese Embassies were also largely or entirely closed to the public, according to news reports.

Western intelligence and counterterrorism officials have put a spotlight on Yemen after the Nigerian suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight said he was handed his instructions by a cleric in Yemen.

Yemeni officials reportedly killed two and injured two suspected al-Qaeda operatives in the Arabian Peninsula on Monday. Yesterday, the Interior Ministry said it had arrested five other "terror elements" in and around the capital and Hodeida province in the west.

The ministry said it had beefed up security measures around embassies and residential districts favored by the international community in San'a, according to Yemen's official Saba news agency.

An unnamed official told Saba that security forces had imposed a "cordon" and round-the-clock surveillance around al-Qaeda extremists.

"The Ministry of Interior emphasizes that all embassies, diplomatic missions and foreign companies are fully secured and there is nothing to be worried about," the official reportedly said. "Security is maintained and there is no fear for the life of any foreigner or any foreign embassy in the country."

Still, U.S. officials urged Americans living in Yemen not to take any chances.

"The threat of terrorist attacks against American interests remains high and the Embassy continues to urge its citizens in Yemen to be vigilant and take prudent security measures," a statement said.

President Obama has sharply increased aid to beef up Yemen's counterterrorism forces and promised a deepening partnership with San'a.

Yemen has welcomed the American help, but the intensified partnership with the United States presents dilemmas for Yemen.

The government is concerned that too public an American role in the antiterror campaign could embarrass the government, presenting it as weak before a Yemeni public among whom mistrust of the United States runs high. It also could bring a backlash from Islamic conservatives who are a major pillar of support for President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Moreover, Yemeni officials appear worried that American aid will come with pressure on Saleh to reform his rule in this unstable, divided nation.

The government is deeply sensitive over any hint of meddling in its internal affairs. But at the same time, it is being battered by multiple crises and needs assistance.

It has little control outside the capital, and heavily armed tribes hold sway over large parts of the mountainous, impoverished nation.

Many tribes are disgruntled with Saleh, and some have allowed al-Qaeda fighters to take refuge. On other fronts, it is battling Shiite rebels in the north and a revived separatist campaign in the once-independent south.

A Jamaican-born radical Muslim cleric is stuck in Kenya despite an effort to deport him, because other nations won't allow him to transit through their territories, officials said yesterday.

Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal is being expelled because of his history

of inciting extremism, Kenya's immigration minister said.

Britain has said Faisal's teachings, when he once led a London mosque, influenced one of the bombers in the 2005 London train and bus blasts that killed 52 people. He urged followers to kill Jews, Hindus, and Americans and served four years

in prison in Britain for inciting murder.

South Africa and Britain have declined to grant him transit visas, a Kenyan official said on condition of anonymity. The visas would allow Faisal to connect to a flight to Jamaica, which has said it would accept him but would keep a close eye on him. Tanzania also declined to grant him a visa - though he entered Kenya from Tanzania.

- Associated Press

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