YEMEN - A Pivotal Player In The War On Terror.

Following 9/11 it immediately became clear that Yemen would be a focal point in the war against terrorism. The US demanded and received immediate Yemeni acquiescence in providing whatever co-operation was necessary to support American moves in the war against Al Qaida and other forces in what the US sees as a global terrorist network. The underlying implication behind US demands was that if co-operation were not forthcoming, force would be applied.

Soon thereafter, US special forces moved into the country in relatively small numbers and began assisting and guiding Yemeni military forces in tackling suspected Al Qaida hideouts and activists. This was not always successful. For example, on Dec. 18, 2001, Yemeni forces stormed a village suspected of harbouring members of Al Qaida. Well-armed tribesmen, thinking they were under attack, retaliated and killed 18 soldiers while the alleged Bin Laden followers escaped.

The following is a brief chronological record of key events since then highlighting Yemen's role in the war against terror. On Feb. 13, 2002, a suspected member of Al Qaida blew himself up after being cornered by security forces in Sanaa, according to Yemeni officials. Two days later, on Feb. 15, Sanaa confirmed that it was holding five men wanted by the US on suspicion of al-Qaida connections.

On March 1, the US officially agreed to send military advisers to Yemen to train forces hunting Bin Ladin and other members of Al Qaida. Less than two weeks later, on March 14, US Vice-President Dick Cheney discussed enhancing co-operation in the fight against terrorism with President Saleh, in a brief stopover on a regional tour. On March 15 there was a small explosion outside the US embassy in Sanaa - apparently after two objects were thrown - but no injuries or damage were reported.

On Aug. 7, the government announced the establishment of a national security agency to fight terrorism and liaise with foreign security agencies. Two days later, on Aug. 9, two suspected bomb-makers died when a device exploded prematurely in an apartment in the capital.

On Sept. 18, US officials confirmed the deployment of 800 military personnel to Djibouti - across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later visited the base, which is identified at the time as Washington's regional base to fight terrorism, and says there are problems in Yemen. This statement came as the media campaign against Iraq was picking up pace, and one month after Yemeni Islamist Islah Party leader and parliament speaker Shaikh Abdullah Al Ahmar blasted the US threats against Iraq (see previous pages).

On Oct. 6 an explosion ripped through the French-registered Limburg oil tanker off the port of Ash Shihr, killing one crew member. Yemeni authorities later confirmed that they believed the attack - similar in style to that on the USS Cole two years earlier - was a deliberate act of terrorism. Less than one month later, on Nov. 4, six alleged Al Qaida suspects were killed when their car was struck by a missile fired from an unmanned drone operated by the American CIA.

By then Britain, which was emerging as the only country backing the US moves towards a war with Iraq, on Nov. 15 urged its citizens living in Yemen to leave due to a "heightened threat of terrorism". London also closed its Yemeni embassy after a review of security. On Nov. 17, it was reported in the media that elite British troops - thought to be the Special Air Services (SAS) - were hunting Al Qaida leader Bin Laden on Yemeni soil.

On Dec. 20, two Yemeni police officers were killed in gun battle between security forces and suspected members of Al Qaida at a south-eastern port. Ten days later, on Dec. 30, a lone gunman killed three Americans and injured another in an attack on a missionary hospital in the south of the country.

The pattern of violence has continued in 2003, although this has been directed more at the Yemenis than on foreigners. Most operations are directed by security forces against suspected militants hiding in the remote tribal areas where chiefs are sympathetic to Bin Ladin and his associates. In the latest example, following an exchange of gunfire near the presidential palace on Aug. 1, on Aug. 2 President Saleh summoned around twenty shaikhs from Jahm tribe for an important meeting. They were then taken into custody and have been imprisoned in Sanaa.

In late June 2003, police forces and anti-terror units launched an assault on the hide-outs of terrorists in Jabal Hatat, 120 km northwest of the port city of Aden. More than 10 terrorists were killed in the engagement. The violence followed an assault by Yemeni troops on the hideouts of Islamic militants in remote areas in the south of the country. The troops had pushed into mountainous terrain in search for militants blamed for an earlier attack a military medical convoy. Earlier, the militants were said to have offered to surrender in exchange for the handover of "the killers" of Qaed Salim Sinan Al Harethi, the top lieutenant in Yemen of Osama Bin Ladin and the one of the men killed in November 2002 by a missile from the unmanned US Predator drone. The wanted militants were reported to belong to group calling itself the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, a branch of the Islamic Jihad movement (see next week's RIM).