London conference to examine terrorism in Yemen

WESTERN GOVERNMENTS have convened a top-level meeting for this month to discuss strategies to counter Yemen’s growing role as…

WESTERN GOVERNMENTS have convened a top-level meeting for this month to discuss strategies to counter Yemen’s growing role as a recruitment base for terrorists, in the wake of last’s week failed attack on a US-bound airliner.

The decision to hold the meeting, called on the initiative of British prime minister Gordon Brown, came amid urgent efforts by the Obama administration in the US to try to close holes in its intelligence system.

Mr Brown will host the talks in parallel with the conference on Afghanistan being held in London on January 28th.

The Yemen summit has “strong support” from the US and European Union, and the UK hopes to secure the backing of Saudi Arabia and Gulf states, Mr Brown’s office said yesterday.

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British and US security services believe Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (23), the Nigerian who boarded a Christmas Day flight to Detroit with 80 grammes of explosive in his undergarments, was recruited by al-Qaeda in Yemen after leaving the UK in 2008.

“Abdulmutallab has told the FBI that he was radicalised and trained in Yemen, apparently in the last six months,” a UK insider said yesterday.

“We believe this account to be true.”

The London talks are designed to raise global financial support for Yemen and to improve co-ordination of anti-terrorist efforts in the region, according to the British government.

“The international community must not deny Yemen the support it needs to tackle extremism,” Mr Brown said.

Analysts have warned, however, that the West must be careful in how it approaches Yemen’s unstable government, as al-Qaeda extremists could use foreign intervention as propaganda to recruit new members.

Separately, President Barack Obama will this weekend study early reports on intelligence lapses that allowed Mr Abdulmutallab to get on the flight.

He has received a preliminary briefing on the incident and will discuss “security enhancements and intelligence-sharing improvements in our homeland security and counterterrorism operations” with agency heads on Tuesday.

Intelligence agencies had been warned in August of a plot being planned from Yemen that involved a Nigerian man.

The “human and systemic failures” described by Mr Obama have forced intelligence agencies on to the back foot. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)