国际英语新闻：Clinton arrives in Yemen to help ease political crisis, fighting al-Qaida

SANAA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday made an unannounced visit to Yemen, aiming to help Sanaa government resolve its internal conflicts and make progress in joint fight against resurgent al-Qaida wing.

"We are facing common threats from terrorists and al-Qaida, but our partnership with the Yemeni government extends to more cooperative fields, further than combating terrorism and military cooperation," Clinton said following a meeting with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa soon after her arrival.

"We focus on long-term challenges, not only on the short-range threats," she added.

According to a source at the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Washington is very worried about the latest political and security development in Yemen, as it neighbors the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.

"Clinton has many issues to discuss with President Saleh and other Yemeni officials, including officials from the opposition," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"Clinton will try to push reconciliation between President Saleh's ruling party and the opposition after the latest disagreement between both sides threatens the security and stability of Yemen," the source added.

A top Yemeni security official told Xinhua that Clinton also will focus on the Yemeni-U.S. joint security, intelligence efforts on fighting resurgent al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

"U.S. officials told us that if all Yemeni internal conflicts are solved, we all will succeed in eliminating al-Qaida's existence in Yemen," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"They said al-Qaida's threats are growing at the regional and the international levels and if the terrorist group was not uprooted from Yemen, the group then would make its way to destroy Saudi Arabia," he added.

An official of the Yemeni Defense Ministry told Xinhua that Clinton is also expected to discuss the military aid to Yemen with Saleh, as well as the progress of a U.S.-funded program to purchase heavy weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles from the Yemeni tribesmen.

"The U.S.-funded program was established five years ago, under which the Yemeni Defense Ministry has to buy all weapons, especially anti-aircraft missiles from the Yemeni tribes over the fear of that such missiles could be finally at the hand of al- Qaida militants," the official told Xinhua, asked not to be named.

"Such concern has been raised by Saudi government after AQAP claimed it targeted the plane of the Saudi deputy interior minister late in 2009," he added.

U.S. military's aid fund to Yemen is reportedly estimated at 150 million U.S. dollars in 2010 fiscal year.

Besides the growing threats of resurgent al-Qaida wing, Yemen has been struggling with a series of internal conflicts, a Shiite rebellion in the north, separatist southern movement in the south, and it has recently plunged in a political crisis with the opposition over constitutional amendment to elections law.

On Jan. 1, Yemeni parliament voted in favor of constitutional amendments that could make President Ali Abdullah Saleh the country's president for life, which aroused the opposition protests.

Clinton came here from United Arab Emirates in a five-day tour of the Arab Gulf countries.