SANAA, 20 September 2006 — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said yesterday security forces had arrested a bodyguard of his main rival in today’s presidential election over links to the Al-Qaeda terror network.
At a news conference at the presidential palace in Sanaa, Saleh displayed to reporters photographs showing the opposition’s presidential candidate Faisal Bin-Shamlan with his bodyguard Hussein Ahmad Al-Dharhani standing next to him.
“This man was an Al-Qaeda terrorist and was planning attacks against US targets in Sanaa, and he was arrested,” said Saleh, pointing his finger to the photographed bodyguard. The Yemeni president, who runs for re-election in the country’s second direct presidential vote today, linked the bodyguard to Friday’s bomb attacks against two oil facilities in the country.
On Friday, four attackers and one security guard died after bombers drove four cars in two attempted suicide attacks at two oil facilities in eastern Yemen. The four pickups exploded inside the two facilities in the southeastern province of Hadhramout and the northeastern province of Marib.
Bin-Shamlan, who enjoys a reputation for incorruptibility having twice stood down as minister on issues of principle, has made the “installation of a parliamentary democracy that will allow a peaceful transition of power” the centerpiece of his political platform.
Commenting on Saleh’s remarks, the head of the main opposition party Mohammed Qahtan said the bodyguard worked for Bin-Shamlan only for eight days and was later fired.
“He first joined Bin-Shamlan’s electoral campaign as a volunteer, and we discovered later that he was an ‘intelligence agent’ and fired him,” Qahtan told a separate Sanaa news conference.
“The case is a state security matter and should not be mixed up with the political process or an election campaign,” he said.
Saleh said the bodyguard was also associated with four alleged members of an Al-Qaeda cell plotting to carry out terror attacks in the capital.
Interior Minister Rashad Al-Alimi said the four men were arrested on Sunday when anti-terror forces raided a safe house in Sanaa. He said a large cache of arms and explosives was also seized.
With scores of people already dead during the campaign, most killed in stampedes during Saleh’s campaign rallies, and four French hostages still in the hands of tribal kidnappers, the authorities are taking no chances and are set to deploy nearly 90,000 police and troops on polling day.
Saleh said he was confident that the four Frenchmen — seized on Sept. 10 by tribesmen demanding the release of relatives — would be freed soon.
“They will come out today or tomorrow,” he said, before clarifying that it might not be until the end of the week.
