Nobel Prize Winning Journalist Tawakkol Karman : Arab Revolutions on the Right Lines

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Joint winner of Nobel peace prize 2011, Yemeni journalist, activist Tawakkol Karman has said that Arab revolutions not only toppled regime rulers, but also they would bring down the remaining figurative names of the regimes.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) on Tuesday on the occasion of a party convention in Rabat, Karman said that Arab revolutions were on the right lines.

"Women are participating in bringing down the regimes in the countries where the Arab Spring is occurring. However, women demonstrated a strong stance both during revolution and transition period in Yemen. I tried my best to help toppling over the regime in this country, too," said Karman.

Stating that regimes were brought down by people in those countries, "The Assad regime in Syria will also be overthrown soon like in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya," she said.

Karman said that Turkey should cooperate with international communities to stop mass killings in Syria, adding that Arab countries were expecting more action from Turkey.

Tawakkul Karman, known by some as the 'mother of the revolution', has long been a thorn in the side of Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Karman was born on 7 February 1979 in Yemen. She is a journalist, politician and senior member of the Al-Islah political party, and human rights activist who heads the group "Women Journalists Without Chains," which she co-founded in 2005.

Yemen: National dialogue begins despite criticisms

Jaber Ali

July 17, 2012.

The preparatory process for Yemen’s national dialogue conference has been launched by Ban Ki-moon, UN’s Secretary General, calling it “an opportunity for all actors in Yemen to collectively establish a new social contract and achieve national reconciliation” in his opening remarks. He appreciated the continued efforts of all the Yemenites, government officials and citizens, in their endeavor to maintain the country’s transition process on the right path. A committee was put in place by a republican decree to assure the implementation of an agreement reached around the end of 2011 for a national dialogue when the protests successfully forced the then president to abandon to his post.

The formation of the 25 member committee to oversee the preparation of a comprehensive national dialogue has heavily been criticized by the political actors and the general public. Amongst them is the committee’s lack of representation of all the political parties and the non consultation of all the parties concerned when the decree was taken.

The opposition party, JMP, warned that “such a move will take Yemen back to the first situation” because the committee has “specified…duties and that remains unhelpful.” The newly formed Salafist political party also claims it has been ignored even though the Salafists represent the majority of the population. Members of parliament also voiced their concerns claiming that it’s totally erroneous.

The committee has its deadline fixed on the 30th of September. It comprises of concerned political groups specified in the power-transfer deal, which was brokered by the GCC and backed by the UN in November, including the Houthi Group, the Southern Movement and the youth-led protesters. However, not every party and political group had equal representation according to the names of the members.