Southern Movement activists hoist the U.S. flag in Zinjibar, Yemen
Tareq Al-Fadhli, a veteran of the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan and a senior leader in the secessionist Southern Movement in Yemen, hoisted the U.S. flag on February 1, 2010, outside his residence in Zinjibar, the capital of Yemen's Abyan Governorate. With a number of others present at the occasion, Al-Fadhli played the Star-Spangled Banner, and then led the group in chants of "Revolution, revolution, oh South!"
(See the MEMRI TV clip of the flag-raising ceremony at http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2373.htm. The clip was first posted on the Yemeni news website Mareb Press.[1])
Al-Fadhli – Son of Former Ruler of Fadhli Sultanate, Jihadist Past
Some background is necessary in order to understand this unusual development. Al-Fadhli is the son of the former ruler of the Fadhli Sultanate, one of the territories in the U.K.'s Aden Protectorate. He took part in the Afghan jihad, and acknowledges having met Osama bin Laden there. Some sources, such as the journalist Abdelelah Shayie, claim that Al-Fadhli was slated to lead a Yemeni jihadist movement under the aegis of Al-Qaeda, or even that he actually did so, though Al-Fadhli himself denies he ever had close ties to Bin Laden.
Upon his return to Yemen, Al-Fadhli joined the ruling party, and was for a time a member of parliament. In the spring of 2009, however, he made a political volte-face and joined the secessionist Southern Movement.
Al-Fadhli was a prestigious addition to the Southern Movement's ranks, but one that came with some unwanted baggage as well due to his jihadist past. There were also questions about his more recent involvement in terror in Yemen, possibly including the 1992 bombing of a hotel in Aden used by U.S. Marines during Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. For this reason, the expatriate oppositionist journalist Munir Al-Mawari told the Islamonline website in April 2009 that Al-Fadhli should formally renounce Al-Qaeda (as well as apologize for having formerly sided with the central government against the south).[2] Indeed, in recent months the official press in Yemen has been basing accusations of collusion between the Southern Movement and Al-Qaeda on Al-Fadhli's jihadist past.[3]
Al-Fadhli: Yemeni Government, Not Southern Movement, Has Ties to Al-Qaeda; "It Is Everywhere"
In a February 5, 2010 interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Tareq Al-Fadhli rejected these accusations and said that it is the Yemeni government, and not the Southern Movement, that has ties to Al-Qaeda: "The only link that the government [can use] to tie the [Southern] Movement to Al-Qaeda is me. They talk about me and my past in Afghanistan, which is something that is well-known. From there, the government widens the accusations to whomever it wants.
"As for Al-Qaeda, it is everywhere. It is among us [in the south], in some of the districts of Abyan, Shabwa, and San'a, and it is within the army itself, and likewise in the security [forces]. We know these things, and the government also knows them; the tie between Al-Qaeda and the government is not new and is not lost on anyone, from the head of government to the head of Al-Qaeda itself."[4]
Internet Jihadists Fret That Al-Fadhli's Move Could Be Bid to Launch Awakening Movement
It appears now that, by ostentatiously raising the U.S. flag outside his ancestral manor, Al-Fadhli has indeed decided that the Southern Movement is better off with the U.S. than with Al-Qaeda. Internet jihadists on the Al-Falluja forum even fretted that Al-Fadhli's move could be a bid to launch an Awakening movement, like those of the Sunni tribes in Iraq that allied with the U.S. in the fight against Al-Qaeda in Anbar province.[5]
The question of whether the U.S. can or would want to work with Al-Fadhli is another matter. Doing so would undoubtedly anger the Yemeni authorities, whose cooperation the U.S. has sought in the fight against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Nonetheless, some sources cited in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat claimed that Al-Fadhli had been in contact with the U.S. Embassy in San'a and had told them he was interested in cooperating in counterterrorism efforts. The newspaper was unable to obtain confirmation of these contacts from U.S. officials in the country.[6]
Endnotes:
[1]Marebpress.net, February 2, 2010.
[2] Islamonline.net, April 30, 2010.
[4] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), February 5, 2010.
[6] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), February 5, 2010.
