Yemeni minister: No safe havens for Bin Laden in Yemen
Yemen, Politics, 5/11/1998

Yemeni Minister of Interior Hussein Arab ridiculed rumors that Saudi billionaire Osama Bin Laden, wanted by both Saudi Arabia and the United States for charges of sponsoring terrorism, is heading for Yemen. The Yemeni minister vehemently denied that Bin Laden was promised protection by Sheik Mohammed Bin Shagie, the prominent Yemeni leader of Atfan tribe.

Hussein Arab was commenting on conflicting reports which have surfaced during the last two months in some newspapers in the Middle East that Bin Laden is planning to leave his hideout in Afghanistan and move to Atfan mountainous area on the Yemeni border with Saudi Arabia.

Osama Bin Laden left Sudan, where he used to live, after fleeing Saudi Arabia, for Afghanistan in 1996. He was recently interviewed by the US Cable News Network (CNN) at his mountain residence in Afghanistan. During the interview, conducted by CNN's Peter Arnett, the Saudi dissident chastised the US and vowed to continue his call for Jihad (holy war) against it. The government of Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden's original homeland, said in 1995 that it stripped him of Saudi citizenship, and labeled him a renegade.

The Yemeni interior minister also said in his statements, published yesterday by Al-Itihad in Abu Dhabi, that the border dispute between his country and the Sultanate of Oman has finally been resolved to the two states' mutual satisfaction, whereas the differences regarding border demarcation between Yemen and Saudi Arabia are yet to be dealt with. However, the Yemeni minister added, his country remains fully committed to a peaceful settlement for the issue.

Previous Stories:
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