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INTERVIEW-Yemen general: West cuts counter-terrorism aid

Wed, 5 Oct 2011 18:13 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Says cash for training and equipment cut, intelligence aid same,

* Says civil war unlikely despite "revolution of children and thieves"

* Calls potential U.N. resolution on transfer plan foreign interference

By Erika Solomon

SANAA, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The United States and other Western donors have cut counter-terrorism aid to Yemen's army during eight months of mass protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, his nephew and leader of a key paramilitary unit said on Wednesday, in effect supporting anti-Saleh groups.

Brigadier General Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, an important power broker in the country as the head of the Central Security Forces, said U.S. President Barack Obama was influenced by political players who oppose President Saleh.

Protests against his 33-year rule are sweeping Yemen and armed groups backing the opposition are fighting government troops, threatening to drag the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state into civil war on the border of oil giant Saudi Arabia.

"With recent events, some of the aid has lessened. The intelligence aid continues but in terms of training and equipment it has decreased," Yahya told Reuters in an interview, but he declined to give a specific figure.

The United States is believed to spend over $150 million a year in Yemen counter-terrorism aid to forces including Yahya's Central Security Forces.

A joint Yemeni-American operation last Friday killed U.S.-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, al Qaeda's English language propagandist, and that same day the White House called on Saleh to step down.

"What's happening now is a conspiracy against democracy because they (the West) are supporting coup d'etat forces," he said.

Sanaa was rocked by bloody battles and heavy shelling last month when an anti-Saleh march sparked days of clashes between rebel general Ali Mohsen's troops and forces belonging to Yahya as well as Saleh's son Ahmed. Over 100 protesters were killed.

Clashes still flare sporadically between the troops as both sides carve Sanaa into spheres of influence, digging trenches and manning checkpoints backed by armoured vehicles.

But Yahya said civil war was still unlikely: "The peaceful option is open until the last second. It all depends on the outlaw forces... They act like teenagers in politics."

The general, dressed in a green camouflage uniform and a blue beret, brought Reuters journalists to his forces' base inside the capital to watch his troops perform military drills as he shouted orders to soldiers not marching in unison.

He refuted Western diplomats' accusation that Saleh and his family are resisting a Gulf-brokered transition plan, arguing that Yahya and Ahmed are afraid of losing their positions of power.

"Unfortunately the (American) president is influenced by reports without checking what the reality is. Maybe he was lied to," Yahya said. "This is all lies ... We do not have political ambitions and are not clinging to power."

YEMEN CRISIS "INTERNAL MATTER"

The United States and Saudi Arabia are wary of rising turmoil in Yemen that has emboldened al Qaeda, which has taken control of several cities in the south in recent months, and they have pressed for Saleh to sign the Gulf deal, which he has backed out of signing three times.

Several near-deals with the opposition have been missed because the opposition wants Saleh to transfer his powers to the vice president before an election, while the government says he should only step down after a presidential poll.

The general said he was surprised by reports that Western diplomats may seek a resolution from the United Nations Security Council to press Yemen to reach a power transition deal, calling it foreign interference on behalf of the opposition.

"The Gulf initiative to transfer power is an internal matter -- it's not an American or a European affair. It (the deal) cannot be forced on us because the other side has a relationship with foreign governments to bring it to power."

Yahya also showed Reuters journalists around armoured vehicles used by his riot control forces, to show pock marks in the heavy metal, camouflage exteriors and shattered windows --signs, he said, that his forces had been attacked by Mohsen's men when they went to stop protests last month.

"Does this look like a peaceful protest to you?" he asked. He would not say whether his troops fired in response, saying only that the involvement of Mohsen's forces confused his men.

He called the protests a "revolution of children and thieves".

"We want to leave power democratically, through elections ... the opposition needs to return to its senses, they shouldn't be over ambitious, or they will end up with nothing." (Editing by Louise Ireland)