Well, so much for that American ally.
As the pro-American government continued to crumble in Yemen this week, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula announced yesterday that Abyan Province is now an Islamic Emirate.
Yemeni anti-government protesters demonstrate in Sanaa. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s eventual fall or his replacement by a weaker leader would pose “a real problem” for US counter-terrorism work. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
Women were told not to go outside except under necessary circumstances.
Business Insider reported:
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has declared Yemen’s Abyan province an “Islamic Emirate” and banned women from going outside, according to Eurasia Review and accounts from Yemeni journalists.
AQAP, which has established full control over the southern province, made an online statement Wednesday declaring Abyan an Islamic Emirate governed by Shariah.
The statement said women in the province should not go out except under necessary circumstances, “and she who urgently needs to go out, should be with one of her male relatives, and should have ID with her.”
