Sanaa, June 14: Tribesmen in Yemen’s east have agreed to cease harbouring Al-Qaeda suspects and to stop carrying out acts of violence, a tribal source and the government said on Sunday.
The agreement came at a meeting Saturday between leaders of the Abida tribe and Yemen’s interior minister, Major General Mutahar Rashad al-Masri, hours after an attack on an oil pipeline in Marib province where the tribe is based.
The tribal leaders pledged during the meeting to “stop harbouring people wanted by security forces or who are accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda,” a tribal source said.
“The agreement also allows technical teams to begin repairing the pipeline, and stipulates that armed tribesmen remove checkpoints blocking the road between Marib and Sanaa to official vehicles and tankers,” the source said.
Meanwhile, state media quoted Masri as saying “leaders of the Abida and Al-Ashraf (tribes) expressed their willingness to aid the state in pursuing wanted elements, and in condemning acts of sabotage committed by outlaw elements against public interests.”
Tribal sources said on Saturday that tribesman used a bulldozer to expose the pipeline, then blew it up, in response to a Yemeni army raid on the home of a tribal chief accused of sheltering Al-Qaeda members.
On June 5, a Yemeni army colonel and two soldiers were killed in an attack on a convoy en route to Safar oil field, in an attack attributed to Al-Qaeda.
Tribesmen from Marib, where Al-Qaeda has a strong presence, last month carried out two pipeline attacks. Authorities have since repaired the damage.
–Agencies