the yemeni people, the great yemeni people from all walks of life took to the streets representativeall the a affiliations, all the components of the yemeni fabric, all of the spectrum of the yemeni people chanting lawful and legal demands. this led to the great achievement of the 11th of september. once again creating a new opportunity more valuable as it has removed a huge obstacle that represented a challenge, a barricade, a block towards implementing the national dialogue outcome. the newly created opportunity on september 11th paved the way towards ushering in to implementing the outcomes of the national dialogue. the peace and partnership deal epitomized a significant yemeni era, just and fair, without any injustice or prejudice to any component of the social fabric of the yemeni people or any part -- political party. it laid the foundation for a true partnership it included very significant elements as stipulated in the document. also at the economic level which is very significant in the face of the poverty and underdevelopment our people are suffering. it also included certa

-yemeni relationship with strong. sectarian conflict has done serious harm, and it is fair to worry now that civil war could make yemen the gulf's own syria. the great concern is that iran's leaders intend to wield power against hezbollah. they will tell you it is a more public edit story. it is essential that yemen does not become a casualty of conflict. the fight between shiites and sunnis is exactly the narrative that ice is used to recruit -- isis uses to recuit. without a solution for strife and insecurity extremists could hatch in yemen the dangerous collaborations they started designing in syria. imagine if they were able to connect with foreign fighters holding clean western passports. and inclusive political solution is vital. that is what we have soft four years. we have seen in syria that terrorist groups do not arise in a vacuum. security depends on respect for all communities. this is a first and foremost a yemeni crisis. the west does not have all the answers, certainly not. or even a counter narrative t

obviously yemenis are concerned with what's going on but not as yemeni americans specifically. >> what do you think about the situation. the yemeni president seemed to have resigned. the houthis seem to be in charge. walk us three what's been happen and what will be happening in the coming days and weeks? >> i think sunday will be the crucial day. they'll decide whether to accept the president's resignation. anything could happen after that at this point. if they reject the situation that means the president effectively despite his resignation becomes president again. there's a question of whether there would be early elections. there's a question of whether some sort of political power would create a transitional council and whether the south will break off and form its own country. we've seen meetings and protests today working toward the aim of the south regaining its independence. so when it comes down to it wolf anything can happen. it's one of the most uncertain periods in yemen's history i would say since the overthrowing of monarchy in 1962. >> some in washington have told me t

it is a yemeni state. that is what it is and how it works but it will become a failed state the tay day that we are not able to pay 158rys and 158 salaries and the public servants refuse to go to work. i was surprised a lot of my colleagues even under gun fire went to work and offer basic services and keep doing what they are doing. others won't do that. the houthis at this point today dominate the scene in most of the northern provinces. especially in the capital. but the big challenge is in the traditional areas and the is central regions where i come in. they have strong popular support but it came to the point when people saw what happened they were like never mind about that we are not going to be in line with them. and the south. i think the south today this morning, our southern groups try to occupy and seize and then the brigade sent reenforcement and pushed them back. so everybody see what the houthis did as an example of setting precedent. this is how you should do violence and capture properties

how can yemeny [ inaudible ].those statement, i mean they always try to explain things in the wrong way, just to serve their interests. >> sir, if it is not a coup what is it then? >> this is a continuing of the revolution on the 21st of september 2014 and because the government like hasn't implemented the national dialogue and national dialogue [ inaudible ] peace and partnership agreement that lead to real tension that they exploded two days ago. >> i don't know if you were watching al jazeera arabic or al jazeera english, we have those exclusive recordings which al jazeera has obtained that reports to show collusion between the former president and the houthis. how damaging is this going to be when those recordings come out? >> i heard this -- i think a bit of the recording, which is [ inaudible ] houthi commander and ask him to call some of the army leaders that are close to him. it is the president that called him. and if you are in a war like the 21st of september, and somebody called you and offered you, [

yemeni forces can't even protect the president of yemen. the chief of staff has been taken by the houthi rebels. >> what happened with the chief of staff with the houthi rebels and what happened with the presidential palace this falls under this deeply rooted political crisis which has been going on for some time. i think the u.s. presence in yemen is not really related to the political crisis at this point. >> if there is a deal between the government and the houthi rebels the saudis hate that what do they do? >> i think it's the best thing for the saudi government to continue supporting president hadi. he's the legitimate constitutional leader of yemen and the prime minister and chairman for the council. so without the saudi support, yemen -- put it this way. yemen will become a failed state. >> some people say it already is a failed state. >> it's not yet a failed state. yemen would be a failed state not because of terrorism or political upheaval. it's not going to be because of the current situation. yemen will be a failed state if the

and what kind of an agreement the yemenis can reach amongst themselves.said than done, i acknowledge that. but it is not all that negative. >> political analyst specializing in yemen sir thank you so much for sharing your views with us. >> thank you. >>> of course for more information on the crisis in yemen, you can go to aljazerra.com. where we breakdown the situation there, explaining who the main players are and he also has further details on what exactly is sat stake all that have on aljazerra.com. >>> still to come on the program, ukraine says its army units have come under attack from the russian army amid heavy fighting in the country's east. >>> battling boko haram a regional conference in niner tries to find an answer to fighting the armed group. in clashes between police and protesters in the democratic congo but police fired live bullets in the crowds and it's a >> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be y

that is university founded by a cleric who is a very, very famous radical yemeni preacher. denies he is any ties to terrorism, but his message is definitely in sink more or less with groups like al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. john walker lynn studied at the university. it is definitely a place where people go and somehow find themselves going through training camps inside yemen. the idea they would have been there the same time if in fact everything we understand it be true about these brothers is true, would not be surprising at all. >> so you were in yemen, investigating the drone killing of anwar al awlaki as well as his son. who was 16 years old, born in denver. talk about these connections that they're talking about right now, the actual meeting that awlaki had with one of the brothers -- >> allegedly, yes. first, context of anwar al awlaki, the papers have had a big profile of anwar al awlaki and a lot of what is being said about anwar al awlaki in the media is sort of what stephen colbert called truthiness. it is sort of true, but there are tremendous factual ina

soil. >> this raises great concerns about the future of yemeni leadership with the u.s. considering the president as a key ally in the fight against al qaeda. 50% of islamic state leaders have been killed, so says u.s. secretary of state john kerry, who is in london for talks with ministers of 21 of the countries fighting the group. the coalition has carried out over 1000 airstrikes in recent months. aside from military strategy the ministers also discussed how to stop would be jihadists in the west from becoming indoctrinated and traveling to syria or iraq or else carry out terror attacks at home. here is britain's foreign secretary speaking out. >> the recent terrible events in paris have reminded us that the battle against iso--- isil is not confined within the borders of iraq and syria and that this poisonous ideology threatens our own systems and the systems of our allies. >> japan is under pressure to secure two of its citizens being held hostage by the group. militants released a video on tuesday demanding $200 million within 72 hours to save the lives of the free

has just released a statement in the last hour or so saying they have announced charges against two yemeniionals, a 36 year old, and a 30 year old. it is alleged by the justice department that these two individuals not only carried out attacks on u.s. military personnel in afghanistan, but also helped -- provided support to recruit a u.s. national to go into pakistan where that individual trained allegedly and then into afghanistan to also participate in an attack. these attacks were carried out between the period of 2003 and 2008, but they were arrested more recently in saudi arabia brought to the united states facing these charges today. if convicted they could face life in prison. >> and the united states of course conducts drone strikes in yemen as we know. they must be watching very closely the situation that is unfolding on the ground right now. have we heard anything official? >> reporter: well i can tell you, officially no but of course we work our sources and i can tell you there are very high-level security discussions taking place right now with regard to the u.s. person thael a

the problem isn't with the yemeni government or the yemeni authorities. certainly, they have their own problems, but in a case like this yemen was a battlefield where these guys went or at least tried to go to receive that training. but it's one of many battlefields. the situation in mali's another situation, iraq, syria, afghanistan. for the united states, for its allies, there are so many raging battlefields that are producing these types of individuals that it's becoming increasingly difficult for the united states and its allies to anticipate. >> from looking at the work that these brothers have made of the french countryside and where they have gone does it look as if they're trying get back to paris or they're just trying to -- they're just making as much hay and carnage as they can as they tear through? >> it's really difficult to answer that unless you have a sense of what their plan was. but what they are definitely trying to do is go on a terror campaign. and that terror campaign as we saw beginning, if in fact these individuals were the ones an

. >> reporter: an audio leak today al jazerra we hear what appears to be the outested yemeni presidentwith the houthi leader. it is said to have happened in september after the houthi took control in the center. representing the houthis in the national dialogue conference. in the phone call, he tells him to speak to his people, including the second general of the general people's congress at the time. a military leader local to sauna and his son-in-law. >> reporter: he then appears to appear to the take over by the houthis telling them thousand proceed from them and urging him to stop planes from operating so the president can't leave. >> reporter: a former adviser to the yemeni prime minister says he's not surprised. zale's h has been calling the shots since he was pushed out of office in 2012. >> he has been undermining the whole process. he never intended to leave power. he has been controlling power and corruption in yemen who have been looting the yemeni people of billions of dollars every year. >> reporter: the houthis have increased since he stepped down after massive protests a

the yemeni gunfire eco-- yemeni rebels exchanged gunfire in an attempt to take over the government. > pope francis is heading home as i speak after a trip to sri lanka and the philippines. you see the crowds cheering the catholic leader on his way to the airport in manila a few hours ago. the pope's trip ended with an outdoor mass. he urged filipinos to take care of each other. >>> back to brussels now. in belgium, many are living in fear because of the religion they practice. >> hundreds of troops are protecting jewish sites, and the country's muslims have fears, as well. here's our phil black. >> reporter: soldiers and children side by side on the streets of a european city. these belgian paratroopers were trained to fight wars. instead they stand guard outside a jewish school in antwerp. the military is now a highly visible presence in the city's jewish district. locals are grateful. >> it's everyone in europe that is the problem. i'm thankful for them doing their best. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: soldiers were deployed in antwerp and brussels after investigators moved to break up a s

we see groups that were trained by the yemenis. here we see groups in the past trained by syria isis or iraq. you are starting to see that these are tactics that are shared tactics because their battlefield tactics. >> jonathan can i ask you this? we saw the machinery the weaponry of the terror attacks they left the video earlier this week. my question is, does it matter how much weaponry they have right now what they have access to in terms of the damage they could potentially do? >> well first and foremost if they are accurate shooters and shooters that are calm and can get good cover they can do a lot of damage. because by and large, a lot of these home grown terrorists that have not gone through a training camp they are not necessarily accurate shooters or they don't know how to handle the pressure these individuals seem to be able to shoot and move and communicate under pressure. that just shoots the danger exponentially because there's more than one and they can move and shoot and communicate together. that's a very dangerous

-yemeni citizens are they safe? at the moment because they're protected by yemeni forces there as well as our marines. the question is who does the commandant for the yemeni forces answer to. that is in a state of flux. >> because it looks like that whole government is gone for all practical purposes. if these houthi shiite-led rebels if they take charge of the military of yemen, are they going to protect the united states citizens? >> that's the big question and at the same time we have just lost our ally president hadi as you know. that ally had helped us mightily in our fight against al qaeda in yemen, so you can bet this is a big step forward for al qaeda. the southern part of yemen has always wanted to break away from control, basically they wanted a caliphate there, al qaeda did, and this is -- these are some of the concerns. >> some of your colleagues angus king of maine, for example, on the senate side has raised fears, get these americans out before they're taken hostage by some of these terror groups. >> y

what we have for many years is that no yemenis cleared -- yemenis approved for release. 52 of these 59 men approved for release are yemeni. none of them were sent home because of this refusal to send them back to their home country. that was a terrible thing to say to the world, was that here are men approved for release but we are not going release them. in the r50e7b9 months what we have seen is with this drive to release prisoners, third countries have been found for a number of these men. so, you know, i think what we are looking at now is -- i am sure there has been frantic activity behind the scenes to try to find many many more third countries that will take in some of these men and give them a new home. it's a tall order, though. there are 52 men who have to be rehoused in other countries with which they have no connection. but i very much hope -- >> go ahead. >> sorry. >> what do you -- >> i was just going to say. >> go ahead. my apologies. >> please. i was just going to say, i very much hope there is a serious amount of work going on behind the scenes to make sure that this h

yemeni. these are pretty damning allegations against the former yemeni president asleh. if true, what do you make of them? >> well, a lot of people have been speaking the man has been running the show and calling the shots as a backseat driver. if we go back to november when the united nations security council recognized that saleh should be among the names of the people who are going to face, you know, the results of those activities in relation to derailing or undermining the whole political process in yemen, saleh is number one. from that time and a long time ago we knew that the man is a master of mischief and that he has been all the time claiming for the past two or three years that if he ever comes back back--stage as come back or to the whole world global powers and regional powers will transfer to him and he can drive the country down the sliding scale to anarchy. so there is nothing actually unusual about it, you know. and ali abdullah saleh has been undermining the whole thing from

. >>> the yemeni chief of staff has been kidnapped.he was taken by fighters belonging to a shia group at the center of a power struggle in yemen. the houthies have seized large areas of yemen last year including its capitol sanaa. >> a group linked to isil said it was behind an attack near the algerian embassy. two security guards were hurt when a bomb was thrown from a passing car. rifle governments are vying for control of libya. they will continue talks next week in geneva. still to come this half hour, police officers and their families march through washington for what they're calling the end of madness rally. >>> and we'll have the latest from equatorial guinea, where they relocated the african come of nations that has now kicked off. 7:00 eastern. right here on al jazeera am >> sunday night. >> 140 world leaders will take the podium. >> get the full story. >> there is real disunity in the security council. >> about issues that impact your world. >> infectious diseases are a major threat to health. >> "the week ahead". sunday 8:3

were detained along with tens of foreigners as well as hundreds of yemenis. they're questioned for lynches of al-qaeda and the arabian peninsula. the foreigners who are held belong to 11 nationalities arabs, africans asians and europeans. now what we don't know is exactly when they were detained. we think it might have been after the attack on charlie hebdo. this is, however not confirmed. the authorities are trying to connect the dots david. >> michael: we'll leave it there. the audio with a little bit of a problem, but we'll leave it there. muslims around the world are asked to protest against some of the latest issue of the charlie hebdo magazine, which has a cartoon ofty lamb's prophet muhammad on--cartoon of islam's prophet muhammad on the cover. >> protesting against charlie hebdo for the latest issue. it announced the cartoon as an insult to islam's holy figure. they started after friday's prayer and continued into saturday. lawyers boycott the courts, causing the postponement of 1500 trials. >> we don't meddle in other people's religions in the same w

. >> the yemeni people rejeect partitioning the country. we don't accept this. partition does not suit us. >> but that division is deep rooted. in another part of the capital accused the houthis of forcing agreements at gunpoint. >> we are not committed to any agreements that are made on the threat of violence by armed militias that have taken over the army and taken over the state. >> thousands of yemenis turned up to protest. they called it a coup. separatists joined forces against the north. >> translator: here's to freedom, here's to democracy. this is what we are looking for. >> back in the capital many people are afraid that the conflict could become worse. in the morning hours of friday targeted shia fighters. >> frankly this is a state of fear and horror. >> the country is in a big constitutional vacuum, we would like to have the political and national leaders to hold a meeting that includes all. >> call force inclusive dialogue have not been heard. the capital fully under control of the houthi fighters, there is growing concern yemen might come apart at

government -- 28 legitimate yemeni -- two a legitimate yemeni government. with clearly defined timelines to finish writing a new yemeni constitution and hold a referendum on the constitution and then to launch national elections. the future of yemen, to put it plainly, should be determined by the yemeni people, in accordance with the human constitution and the national by log -- national dialogue. all yemenid has a right and response ability to participate in the process and the united states remains fully committed to supporting your many -- yem enis in the effort. >> follow-up to the death of king abdullah of saudi arabia, is the united states confident that they will maintain the same track in terms of energy and foreign policy? >> jeff, let me start by saying that the president articulated in his statement last night expressed his deepest sip of these and condolences to the family of king abella and the people of saudi arabia. the president enjoyed a genuinely close and warm friendship with the king. under the king's reign, we have worked together on a

that includes the president, prime minister and entire yemeni cabinet. let's go to jim with the breaking news on this. >> it's hard to follow. the president says houthi rebels demanded concessions he wasn't willing to give including putting their people in key positions including defense. now the parliament said it rejected the president's resignation and want a special presentation tomorrow to discuss it. the next in line is speaker of the parliament. he's an ally of the previous president who have had been pushed out a number of months ago. so this is yemeni politics at its worse and sign of instability in the country essential ally of the u.s. in the fight against aqap. to further complicate matters, peninsula is against the houthi rebels that have taken over the rival. you have various rivals here. you can't call the houthi's because they say they're ally of iran. none of these outcomes is great for the u.s. particularly instability. >> instability is one word. jim sciutto, i was talking to smart people at the top of the hour. they called it chaos. i

. -- yemeni. >> since i've been president we worked responsibly to cut the population of gitmo in half. now it is time to finish the job and i will not relent in my determination to shut it down. it is not who we are. >> reporter: u.s. officials say for now with the uncertainty in yemen they do not plan to transfer any prisoners there but

a president he moves in that direction by releasing five yemeni terrorist. >> as americans we commit to justice it makes no sense to spend throw million to keep open a prison that terrorist use to recruit and world condemns. >> i can't get over the fact

this morning the yemeni government a critical ally of the u.s. is on the brink of

this morning the yemeni government a critical ally of the u.s. is on the brink of collapse. rebels staging a coup taking control of the presidential palace forcing the u.s. to

first a power grab in yemen cap two days of turmoil in the yemeni region. houthi rebels storm the presidential building and kill two presidential guards. the president came under cheltenhaming. in a nationally televised statement, they blamed the houthi to enact better reform. who controls the government now is largely up to debate. the yemeni's official residence came under attack making hadi a prisoner in his own home. witnesses say it was largely between houthi and elite guards. the president's unwillingness to negotiate led to today's crisis. >> our country is suffering a domestic level. many of the internal forces in terms of the political party and are not living up to the degree, the level the current challenges. they are not addressing them responsebly. >> today's assaults were carried out as negotiations between president hadi and the houthi leadership were supposed to get under way. now some believe the way forward requires president hadi to step down. >> the only way for to maintain that is to push a leadership, one that is locally and internatio

. -- yemeni. >> since i've been president we worked responsibly to cut the population of gitmo in half. now it is time to finish the job and i will not relent in my determination to shut it down. it is not who we are.

will the yemeni government be overthrown in a coup? we will speak to journalists iona craig and jeremy scahill. then to guatemala. in a major victory for human righ activists, a former guatemalan police chief has been found guilty for ordering the spanish embassy to be set on fire in 1980. 37 peasant activists and student organizers died in the fire. we will speak to nobel peace prize-winner rigoberta menchÚ. her father died in the massacre. >> we have been denied the truth for 35 years and today, the responsibility for mr. garcia is clear and also that of all of the people that remained in the hearing, many of whom have already died, but also responsibility of the state. i think this is what makes us the most happy and due process makes us happy, too, because we have the patience to reach this moment and we are really excited. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. islamic state militants have posted a new video threatening to execute two japanese hostages.

two yemeni men charged in the united states with plotting to kill americans overseas.ation on that. >>> meanwhile, happening right now, isis is threatening executions within 72 hours. the terrorist group says it will kill two japanese hostages unless japan hands over $200 million. that amount is important. the ransom is identical to what japan pledged to countries fighting isis. the militant group is directly linked to a terror cell raided in belgium last week. the suspected leader of that cell a man connected to isis believed to be an isis fighter, is right now on the loose. authorities say his last known location was believed to be greece. there is also an isis connection to anti-terror raids in germany. some 200 police launched a huge operation raiding 13 separate homes across germany. those subjected to rates haveids have not been charged with crimes but they were in contact with two suspected islamist accused of providing logistical aid to isis. >>> to france reports that french police arrested five men for planning an act of terrorism. this is a new development.

obviously, the yemenis are facing the prospect of becoming a failed state. how far away is that at this moment. >> if it goes that far, it will be a failed state. but at this point it is not. >> for now, thank you very much, indeed for your thoughts on the current situation in yemen. thank you. >> now fighting between ukraine's army and pro-russian separatists have killed 15 ukrainian soldiers in the last day alone. three civilians also died in this fighting that took place in the east of the country. ukraine is sent to shore up border defense in the south of the country. well the peace talks between pro russia rebels and the government of kiev now seem to be back on track. both sides were set to be on friday but those meetings have been canceled. we can get more on the talks in moscow. it seems that they are going to give dialogue a chance? >> yes there has been considerable hard ball or gamesmanship, whatever you want to call it, just to get to this stage. as you said yesterday these talks are supposed to happen. the reason why they didn't is that kiev sai

-born yemeni cleric who was killed by a u.s. drone attack in september 2011 north of yep en.was described by western security agencies as the main influencer recruiter and prop began assistsnistpropagandist for the group. a.q.a.p. said it was behind the attacks. a muslim u.s. army officer shot and killed 13 of had us colleagues at fort hood, texas he had contacts with the group. in december of the same year, eye nigerian failed to deposit nate his plastic explosives hid then his underwear. he was on an american airline flight bound for detroit on christmas day. abdul lived in yemen and the a.q.a.p. claimed it was behind at tempt. some experts suggest that the group is capable of carrying out attacks on a global scale. >> translator: the blessings of al qaeda in yemen to to attack means it is behind it. the other evidence is dead. they were influenced by the group ideals. many help al qaeda in political turmoil. the cooperation between the government and america p.u.s. drone attacks help the group gain more popularity and sport with the trikes. the last three years have been t

on thursday, yemeni president abdu rabbu mansour hadi, his prime minister and entire government cabinet resigned en masse. the exodus came just 24-hours after shia houthi rebels stormed the presidential compound in the capital city of sanaa. hadi said he could not continue ruling after houthis allegedly broke a peace deal to retreat from key positions in return for increased political power. the houthis appear to have backing from the ousted leader who was forced from office in a popular uprising in 2011. talks the obama administration had praised the yemeni government is being a model for successful counterterrorism partnerships, but on thursday, the u.s. announced it was pulling more staff out of its embassy in yemen. some warn the developments could result in civil war and help al qaeda in the arabian peninsula gain more power. meanwhile, oxfam's warning or than half of yemen's population needs eight and he manager in crisis of extreme proportions is at risk of unfolding in the country if instability continues. 10 million yemenis to not have enough to eat, including 850,000 acutely m

what is the handle that yemeni officials have? they've been losing ground against aqap in recent months rather than gaining? >> reporter: well actually the country has been in such turmoil for the past few years that that's what's happened in the aqap to have a strong hold. the houfis have swept into the capital behind me. that has caused significant up heave upheaval. there's an escalation in the war there. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula are benefitting strangely furthermore from this up heaval because some sunnis concerned with what they see as the shia advance here the houfi's advance are taking up arms and making the local ground battle for al qaeda a sunni group slightly easier because they have more men in numbers allowing them to strengthen. they claim that operations against the "charlie hebdo" magazine that was the name that was shouted by the kouachi brothers during those attacks. the only thing the investigators have to piece together now, jim, is what level of reality that corresponds to. how much of a logistic call

houthi fighters are launching a fight in the yemeni capital sanaa. president is reportedly in the palace. >>> funerals for lebanese hezbollah fighters who were killed in an israeli helicopter attack on sunday will be held in a few hours from now. syrian province konetra close to the golan heights. >>> threat to boko haram fighters who have kidnapped at least 80 people mostly women and children in northern cameroon. it happened in villages close to nigeria where the group originates. cameroon's minister has been talking to al jazeera. >>> attacked a village and they destroyed 80 residences. they killed three people and many people including children, teenagers, were taken hostages. i think at the end of the day we have no chance to get rid of them by fighting them through area. >> boko haram is also suspected of having carried out a suicide attack in northeastern nigeria. five people have been killed, 35 wounded, all happened in a town of potascam. a bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives. >> 42 days without a new case of ebola, in the last two

it is an opportunity ink situation. >> the yes yes yemenis are not able, what are we going to do? >> the number one thing helping president hadi and his government helping people back to the negotiation tables and the muscle off the street. it is pretty clear the tribal faction will use their muscle to force people to thearms couldn't be won around the negotiating table, to the extent that the united states and our allies in the gulf can get people back to the negotiating table that should be our first priority. in terms of dealing with aqap, security services continue to be loyal to the yemeni state and not particular individuals or factions within it, that's going to be very important. and then look at a certain point with organizations like aqap and i.s.i.l, you have to sort of look at what they're doing out of the area or what they're doing against your interest and take that into mind when planning your counterterrorism strategy. >> you talked about the internal politics. there was also entry today, al jazeera obtained otape showing that former president saleh had been doing

how much more difficult is it for yemeni officials to try to tackle?rating there and planning terror? >> reporter: well the key one of concern is al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, as you mentioned. but the real fact here is that nobody can be entirely sure who is operating in kind of the badlands of yemen, so to speak. as we talked earlier, the presidential chief of staff isn't safe in the capital city. there is so much of a power vacuum here that years ago al qaeda could move in they are said to be benefitting from this strive here because many frightened sunnis frightened of the advance of dominant shia are taking up arms to assist al qaeda and allowing them to focus on external operations. really yemen is such a -- enormous trouble spot now that many are concerned we'll see more attacks in western europe because, simply of how close to collapse yemen is. fredricka? >> nick paton walsh, thank you so much from yemen. >>> we are also learning more about the role u.s. intelligence played in the raid on that belgian terror cell. here now is cnn's barbar

the group says 10 million yemenis don't have enough to eat. they worry that the instability threatens a humanitarian concern of extreme importance. joint chiefs of staff he joins us night from washington. colonel it's good to have you on the program. let me ask you first what's the relationship? does the united states have a relationship with yemen now that this government has collapsed? >> well, john, it doesn't. and it needs to start getting one really quickly. and the problem they're going to have is finding whom to talk to. the houthis are the ones that seem to have the upper hand right now but there are also other factions that have significant play regionally or nationally for yemen so there are significant issues that the u.s. has to sort out very quickly and right now in terms of everything we have done in our military relationships is basically suspended. >> how does the u.s. reach out to the houthis and will the houthis trust the u.s? >> that's going to be the difficult part. i don't think the houthis trust the u.s., they are going t

. >> who then controls the yemeni capitol? we heard that the t.v. station and other outlets were in the hands of the houthis what is that telling us? >> the majority of the capitol is controlled by the houthis the government only controls a small area, next to his house and palace, other than that, everything is in the hands of the hotties, will be in the next hour. >> what reports are you hearing about the whereabouts of the president and prime minister? where are they, how safe are they? what condition are they in? >> the prime minister is in the statehouse the president going to on unknown destination. >> we know the president has come under pressure for not doing enough to stop the houthis to stop their influence across the country. what's his next step likely to be? can he do a deal? >> all right i think we've lost him, there's a power cut going on in the yemeni capitol not surprisings. let's go to the southern port city of adan. we were talking to the information minister earlier she said this morning's fighting was an attempted coup. that was