U.S. Troops to Train Yemen Forces

March 1, 2002
By REUTERS

ANAA, Yemen (Reuters) - Yemen said Friday U.S. troops were going to the Arab state to train Yemeni forces hunting remnants of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

The confirmation by a senior Yemeni official came after The Wall Street Journal said the White House had approved a mission to send hundreds of troops to train and advise Yemeni forces.

"In the framework of cooperation between Yemen and the United States, U.S. forces will arrive gradually to hold training courses," the official told Reuters.

The official did not say when the troops would be in Yemen.

He said the U.S. troops would arrive in separate groups at different times and that each group would leave once it finishes its part of the training.

In December, Yemen launched a manhunt for two Yemenis and other suspected members of al Qaeda. The poor Arab state has been trying to shake off its image as a haven for Islamic militants.

Washington has named bin Laden and al Qaeda as prime suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. It also accuses bin Laden of planning the bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in the southern Yemeni port of Aden in 2000.

The Wall Street Journal cited a senior U.S. military official as saying the mission would be similar to the U.S. military effort in the Philippines, where more than 600 U.S. soldiers are involved in anti-terror exercises with local forces.

The newspaper quoted unnamed officials as saying the mission was approved after a month-long debate within the Bush administration about the size of the al Qaeda presence in Yemen and how the United States should respond.

NO COMBAT DUTY

As in the Philippines, U.S. soldiers will not be involved in combat missions in Yemen, officials said. Rather, the U.S. soldiers will "train with, assist and advise" troops from Yemen's Republican Guard. The U.S. soldiers also will share intelligence with the Yemeni soldiers.

U.S. intelligence officials also have discussed redeploying unmanned Predator drones now flying over Afghanistan so they can conduct surveillance flights over Yemen, an official said.

In Washington, the White House and Pentagon had no immediate comment.

The United States is also planning to send U.S. military experts to Georgia to help train Georgian troops to combat terrorism in the lawless Pankisi Gorge.

Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the chief of the U.S. Central Command and commander of the war in Afghanistan, had said Washington was considering providing military aid and counter terrorism assistance to Yemen.

Two of the people Yemen is pursuing, Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal and Ali Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, are suspected of involvement in the Cole bombing and are believed to be under the protection of powerful tribal chiefs.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh urged the suspects Thursday to surrender and warned tribesmen against protecting them.

Copyright 2002 The New York Times

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