Yemen stopped granting entry visas at its airports Thursday to prevent militants from entering the country, widening its dragnet against an Al-Qaeda cell believed behind a spate of global attacks. The measure comes amid a military crackdown on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is entrenched in mountain redoubts east of the capital and claimed responsibility for the botched Christmas Day bid to down a US airliner over Detroit. “Yemen has stopped granting visas at the airport to halt terrorist infiltration,” state news agency Saba announced. A military official said that “in light of this decision, granting visas to foreigners will take place only through the embassies of Yemen, and after consulting security authorities to verify the identities of travelers.” This is to “prevent the infiltration of any suspected terrorist elements,” he was quoted by the Defense Ministry newspaper Sept. 26 as saying. Six Yemeni airports receive international flights, and up till now only travelers from a few countries having been required to obtain visas before flying. Earlier this week, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report warning that AQAP might be training as many as three dozen Americans who converted to Islam in prison. These people traveled to Yemen upon their release, ostensibly to study Arabic, but “possibly for Al-Qaeda training,” the report said. Under previous regulations, these people would have been allowed to enter the country without being previously vetted. US officials “are on heightened alert because of the potential threat from extremists carrying American passports and the related challenges involved in detecting and stopping homegrown operatives,” the report added. Meanwhile, the US and Yemen pledged to step up development work to support counterterrorism efforts in a country seen as increasingly under threat from Al-Qaeda. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Yemen's Foreign Minister Abubakr Al-Qirbi said a key Jan. 27 ministerial meeting in London of the country's aid donors would focus on improving the functioning of the Yemeni government and economic development. “We're seeing results in the counterterrorism efforts and we want to see similar results when it comes to development,” Clinton said after talks in Washington. Their meeting in Washington came amid rising concern in the US and elsewhere about Al-Qaeda's activities in Yemen. Al-Qirbi told reporters he had stressed to Clinton Yemen's “commitment to continue the fight against terrorism and against radicalization” but needed more resources for development. Yemen in recent years has taken “rather courageous decisions” on reform measures but has not make headway, he said. “The lack of achievement is due to the fact that Yemen did not have the resources to implement these reforms,” Al-Qirbi said. Clinton noted that the US Agency for International Development recently signed a three-year pact with Yemen that was expected to deliver $121 million in development aid to the country.
