SANAA: Yemen will begin building an $11-million rehabilitation center for returning Guantanamo detainees in three months when it expects to receive funding from the United States, a government official said on Wednesday.
There are 91 Yemeni detainees left in the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Washington suspended transfers to Yemen this month because of a deteriorating security situation in the country, in the throes of a crackdown on a resurgent Al-Qaeda.
Foreign ministers of Western powers, Gulf states, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey were meeting in London on Wednesday to discuss ways to stabilize Yemen as it grapples with Al-Qaeda, a northern Shiite revolt and southern separatism.
“Setting up the center will require $11 million and the US side has announced it is prepared to provide the entire sum,” the official said, declining to be named.
Yemen declared open war on Al-Qaeda this month, stepping up air strikes and security sweeps after the Yemen-based regional arm of Al-Qaeda said it was behind a failed Dec. 25 bid to blow up a US-bound airliner.
The Yemeni official said the rehabilitation center will be located either in the capital Sanaa or in the province of Hadramout, home to a number of religious education establishments. It will be run by Yemen’s Ministry of Religious Endowments, and will likely be headed by an influential scholar known for his “moderate” views, the official said, without naming him.
US President Barack Obama’s goal to shut Guantanamo, which opened in 2002 to hold foreign terror suspects, within a year of taking office went unfulfilled when the first anniversary of his inauguration passed last week.
Guantanamo’s Yemeni detainees present a big challenge to the closure of the prison. Although some have been cleared to go home, the United States says it cannot release them because militant Al-Qaeda cells are active in Yemen and US officials are concerned those released could join the group.
The global militant group’s Yemen wing shot to international attention after it claimed a bomb attempt of a US-bound plane on Dec. 25.
A task force headed by the US attorney general recommended last week that about 50 Guantanamo prisoners should face indefinite detention and another 35 or so should be prosecuted in criminal or military courts.
Earlier this month, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr Al-Karubi said any new program to reorient militants away from their violent ideology would have to be more comprehensive than an effort the government promoted in 2005 and later shelved.
But he said Yemen lacked the resources to emulate a well-funded rehabilitation program for reformed militants run in Saudi Arabia.
