Embassies reopened
January 6, 2010
Britain and France reopened their embassies in Yemen on Wednesday. The diplomatic outposts had been closed due to threats of a terrorist attack.
Both embassies remain closed to the public, but officials said diplomats and staff had reported for duty.
Yemen's interior ministry said on Tuesday that all foreign missions and interests in the country were "safe," pointing out that it had reinforced security measures around embassies, foreign residences, and the airport in Sanaa.
The ministry also said it had arrested five "terrorist elements" during the past two days near the capital but gave no details of the identity of the suspects.
Warnings of a possible al-Qaeda attack on embassies in Yemen had led the US and Britain to close their diplomatic missions on Sunday, with France following suit a day later. The US reopened its embassy on Tuesday.
Brown gearing up for Yemen meeting
Long-standing concerns that Yemen had become a haven for Islamist militant groups were bolstered on Christmas Day when a Nigerian man - allegedly trained by a branch of al Qaeda in Yemen - was arrested on charges of trying to blow up a jet bound for Detroit.
US President Barack Obama, in a televised address to the American people on Tuesday, said US intelligence had missed "red flags" that could have disrupted the terror plot.
"It is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully leveraged. That's not acceptable, and I will not tolerate it," he said.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown held a telephone conference with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Tuesday to discuss "preparations and mechanisms" for an international conference on the security situation in Yemen, according to the state-run Saba news agency.
Saleh, whose impoverished country faces unrest on several fronts, stressed "the determination of Yemen to continue its efforts in the fight against terrorism," Saba reported.
Last Friday, Brown called an international meeting on fighting extremism in Yemen in response to the botched Christmas Day attack and continuing al-Qaeda threats.
Brown's office said the meeting would take place in London on January 28, at the same time as the international conference on Afghanistan, also in the British capital.
glb/AFP/dpa
Editor: Nancy Isenson