Immediate threats to faith-based organizations in Yemen

There have been two attacks on expatriate teachers in Yemen within the past two weeks.  A female Swiss teacher working at an international school in Hodeida was kidnapped from her home on March 13 or 14 (reports differ).  On March 18 an American teacher at an international school in Taiz was shot and killed as he was driving in the city Sunday morning (local time).  There were reportedly two attackers on a motorcycle, and media images of the victim’s car indicate multiple shots were fired.  The attackers fled and have not been captured.

Yemeni and Swiss officials first described the Hodeida event as being typical of tribal kidnappings that are not uncommon in the region and are normally resolved without injury to the hostage(s).  However, in recent days anonymous Yemeni government officials have made several statements to the media that this kidnapping was in fact perpetrated by an al Qaeda entity.

A claim sent via text to media outlets within hours of the Taiz assassination claimed responsibility by the group Ansar al-Sharia, which is reportedly affiliated with al Qaeda elements.  The statement said “This operation comes as a response to the campaign of Christian proselytizing that the West (sic) has launched agains Muslims”.

CCI has been told by multiple sources that Islamic terrorist groups in Yemen have threatened Christian faith-based organizations in recent months.  At least one threat specified international schools and claimed that these schools are “fronts” for proselytizing by Christians and warned Yemenis to stay away from all such schools because the schools were targets.

It is too early to fully assess these events, and not all claims of responsibility come from the actual perpetrators. Although there are multiple reports claiming the first event (the kidnapping in Hodeida) is linked operationally to the Taiz assassination, at this point all of the information CCI has received about any such linkage has been speculative (but not inherently implausible).

CCI is in the process of seeking additional information from multiple sources. However, at this time we believe that these events represents a significant threat to other expatriate (“western”) faith-based personnel, organizations and programs in Yemen. Even if these two events are unrelated, their proximity in time combined with media speculation can create a synergy of momentum targeting others believed to be related to the first two events.

Although only expatriates have been attacked in this immediate cycle, if indeed al Qaeda affiliated organizations are involved, it is also very possible that the threat can extend to national (Yemeni) employees, clients and colleagues and associates of targeted “western” organizations. We recommend that any organizations that could be believed or even suspected of having Christian origins and/or any ministry objectives in Yemen take appropriate security measures to mitigate this threat as much as possible. CCI stresses that the threat originates with suspicions and perceptions of terrorist organizations that are pre-disposed to link almost any “western” non-governmental organization in Yemen to Christian proselytizing.  The threat originates from the perception, and not any actual structure or strategy of a particular organization or entity.

Recommended actions include:

  • Increased awareness of activities that may indicate surveillance at any facility, home, church or other location frequented by such staff.
  • Rapid communication of all suspicious events, sightings and other circumstances both throughout the involved organization, and also between all like-minded organizations in the area.
  • Immediate steps to change daily patterns of activity and avoiding all predictable behavior. This may include changing the time of daily movements; changing the routes traveled; and changing vehicles and/or other means of travel; all in random patterns.
  • Communicate a shelter-in-place policy in secure locations for all staff – staff should know where and how to rapidly shelter-in-place in the most secure room or setting possible at all times.
  • Update all security contingency plans.
  • Update (or create if they don’t exist) evacuation plans for all potentially affected staff.