Tue Dec 6, 2011
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations called on all factions in Yemen on Tuesday to cease attacks on civilians and urged the government to allow access for aid supplies and U.N. human rights monitors.
In coordinated statements, the U.N. human rights office, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Yemen Humanitarian Coordinator voiced concern about the deteriorating situation despite the signing of a peace deal nearly two weeks ago.
"We condemn continuing attacks on civilians particularly in Taiz where we are seeing reports that 22 people have been killed in shooting and shelling since Thursday last week (December 1), including two children," Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, told a news briefing.
"The continued use of disproportionate force by part of the government security forces despite commitments made to investigate serious human rights violations is extremely disappointing," she said. "The killings must stop immediately and we urge all sides to halt the use of violent force."
Forces loyal to outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shot dead a woman at a protest march in Taiz on Monday, witnesses and activists said, despite tanks withdrawing under a ceasefire pact.
Anti-Saleh tribesmen brandishing Kalashnikov rifles and members of the Republican Guard, led by Saleh's son Ahmed, were still on many of Taiz's streets, witnesses said.
UNICEF said that its figures showed that 3 children had been killed and 7 injured in the latest round of violence in Taiz, some 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa.
"That brings the total number of children killed so far to 138, the majority through live ammunition. This includes bullets, shelling and missile attacks," UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said, adding that 568 children had been wounded to date.
"Our youngest victim thus far was 3 months old, killed in Taiz on the first of December," she told reporters in Geneva.
Heavy shelling and street fighting have damaged civilian neighbourhoods and forced many residents to flee their homes in Taiz, the Yemen Humanitarian Country Team that links U.N. and other aid agencies said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
"Access to basic social services is increasingly limited and schools and hospitals have been occupied or come under attack by armed forces and armed groups," depriving more than 100,000 children of access to schooling or health care, it said.
"We call upon all armed actors involved in the conflict in Taiz to ensure the safety and protection of all civilians in accordance with universally recognised principles of human rights and international humanitarian law," said Jens Toyberg-Frandzen, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
YEMEN: Children at risk as aid access denied
SANA’A, 6 December 2011 (IRIN) - Thousands of people under “siege” by armed rebels in northern Yemen lack food and healthcare, which has already resulted in deaths and risks killing many more, local leaders and aid workers say.
Four children under five have died of hunger since Houthi gunmen cut off access to Dammaj village more than a month ago, Ahmad al-Qurashi, of the local NGO Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection (SOCP), told IRIN.
The village, 9km southeast of Sa’ada City, the capital of Sa’ada governorate, is home to about 12,000 people. The area is controlled by the rebels but is home to an institute for Islamic Salafi teachings, Dar al-Hadith, which is at the centre of the conflict.
Up to 200 other children are at high risk due to the lack of food, water and medical supplies, according to Hussein al-Hajouri, a spokesman for Dar al-Hadith. They could die if aid organizations are not allowed access, he said.
"The situation is getting much worse for those stranded children amid lack of food, fuel and medical supplies,” said SOCP chairman Ahmad al-Qurashi. “Healthcare centres in the area have become inaccessible."
All the roads to medical centres are blocked or unsafe. “For this reason, mothers are compelled to deliver at home unattended,” Al-Hajouri told IRIN. “Last week, a woman died in labour at home after [being in pain] for six days. A number of new-borns have died due to lack of medical services."
Three elderly men have also died because they could not obtain their regular medication, according to the local independent news website, Sahafah.net.
Appeal
An armed conflict between the Houthi rebels, who belong to an extreme Shi’a sect of Islam, and Salafi residents of the town, who subscribe to the fundamentalist Sunni branch of Islam taught at Dar al-Hadith, has now killed 30 people and injured dozens more since it erupted in the final week of October, according to Dhaifallah Solaiman, a local council member from Sa’ada.
On 3 December, SOCP made a humanitarian appeal to save the lives of some 3,000 children stranded in Dammaj.
A team with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was finally able to enter the area on 2 December to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance, said communication coordinator Rabab al-Rifai.
According to Al-Rifai, the initial assistance consisted of 500 rations of food, which included wheat grain, rice, beans, sugar, salt and cooking oil.
The ICRC also provided medical items – dressing kits, intravenous fluids, painkillers and antibiotics – and several people were transferred to hospital for treatment. In view of the cold winter, the ICRC also made available 1,000 blankets, soap and nappies to help improve hygiene conditions.
“Thousands of people who live in this part of Sa'ada governorate have been denied access to essential commodities, including their daily needs in food and basic medicines,” said Eric Marclay, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen. “This is taking its toll on the population there, namely the sick, the elderly, women and children, but also the injured.”
Fuel shortages
Complicating matters further, the stranded civilians say they cannot use the wheat grains they received from ICRC because of a lack of fuel in their village.
"We don't need wheat,” Moflih Hajar told IRIN from Dammaj. “How can we have it grinded into flour? All the grinding machines in the village have been closed down due to lack of diesel."
He said almost all the families that received wheat were still without food. "Our children and ourselves need bread, which is impossible to make under the status quo.”
Source of conflict
Sectarian tensions between the Shi’a Houthis and the Salafi students have existed for years, with each trying to spread their ideology in the area. Politics are also at play. The rebels support the popular uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, while the Salafis believe that a ruler must be obeyed and respected and have issued edicts banning protests.
But according to the local weekly Yemen Times, the current conflict surfaced last month after a letter, written by Yahya al-Hajouri, head of Dar al-Hadith, was leaked to the Houthis. The letter expressed thanks to both the Yemeni and Saudi governments for fighting the Houthis in 2009. The Houthis attacked Dar al-Hadith and residential homes suspected of housing armed Salafis. The latter fired back. The Houthis then resorted to heavy artillery and banned entry and exit from the village.
Dar al-Hadith is run by a hard-core Salafi group and teaches about 7,000 students, including women and children, from Yemen and foreign nations.
Mohammed Abdussalam, a spokesman for the Houthis, accused Salafi students at Dar al-Hadith of attacking them from time to time. "They have been attempting to take over strategic military positions outside their area," he said.
The Houthis have been waging attacks and provoking war inside Yemen since 2004.
Four children under five have died of hunger since Houthi gunmen cut off access to Dammaj village more than a month ago, Ahmad al-Qurashi, of the local NGO Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection (SOCP), told IRIN.
The village, 9km southeast of Sa’ada City, the capital of Sa’ada governorate, is home to about 12,000 people. The area is controlled by the rebels but is home to an institute for Islamic Salafi teachings, Dar al-Hadith, which is at the centre of the conflict.
Up to 200 other children are at high risk due to the lack of food, water and medical supplies, according to Hussein al-Hajouri, a spokesman for Dar al-Hadith. They could die if aid organizations are not allowed access, he said.
"The situation is getting much worse for those stranded children amid lack of food, fuel and medical supplies,” said SOCP chairman Ahmad al-Qurashi. “Healthcare centres in the area have become inaccessible."
All the roads to medical centres are blocked or unsafe. “For this reason, mothers are compelled to deliver at home unattended,” Al-Hajouri told IRIN. “Last week, a woman died in labour at home after [being in pain] for six days. A number of new-borns have died due to lack of medical services."
Three elderly men have also died because they could not obtain their regular medication, according to the local independent news website, Sahafah.net.
Appeal
An armed conflict between the Houthi rebels, who belong to an extreme Shi’a sect of Islam, and Salafi residents of the town, who subscribe to the fundamentalist Sunni branch of Islam taught at Dar al-Hadith, has now killed 30 people and injured dozens more since it erupted in the final week of October, according to Dhaifallah Solaiman, a local council member from Sa’ada.
On 3 December, SOCP made a humanitarian appeal to save the lives of some 3,000 children stranded in Dammaj.
A team with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was finally able to enter the area on 2 December to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance, said communication coordinator Rabab al-Rifai.
According to Al-Rifai, the initial assistance consisted of 500 rations of food, which included wheat grain, rice, beans, sugar, salt and cooking oil.
The ICRC also provided medical items – dressing kits, intravenous fluids, painkillers and antibiotics – and several people were transferred to hospital for treatment. In view of the cold winter, the ICRC also made available 1,000 blankets, soap and nappies to help improve hygiene conditions.
“Thousands of people who live in this part of Sa'ada governorate have been denied access to essential commodities, including their daily needs in food and basic medicines,” said Eric Marclay, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen. “This is taking its toll on the population there, namely the sick, the elderly, women and children, but also the injured.”
Fuel shortages
Complicating matters further, the stranded civilians say they cannot use the wheat grains they received from ICRC because of a lack of fuel in their village.
"We don't need wheat,” Moflih Hajar told IRIN from Dammaj. “How can we have it grinded into flour? All the grinding machines in the village have been closed down due to lack of diesel."
He said almost all the families that received wheat were still without food. "Our children and ourselves need bread, which is impossible to make under the status quo.”
Source of conflict
Sectarian tensions between the Shi’a Houthis and the Salafi students have existed for years, with each trying to spread their ideology in the area. Politics are also at play. The rebels support the popular uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, while the Salafis believe that a ruler must be obeyed and respected and have issued edicts banning protests.
But according to the local weekly Yemen Times, the current conflict surfaced last month after a letter, written by Yahya al-Hajouri, head of Dar al-Hadith, was leaked to the Houthis. The letter expressed thanks to both the Yemeni and Saudi governments for fighting the Houthis in 2009. The Houthis attacked Dar al-Hadith and residential homes suspected of housing armed Salafis. The latter fired back. The Houthis then resorted to heavy artillery and banned entry and exit from the village.
Dar al-Hadith is run by a hard-core Salafi group and teaches about 7,000 students, including women and children, from Yemen and foreign nations.
Mohammed Abdussalam, a spokesman for the Houthis, accused Salafi students at Dar al-Hadith of attacking them from time to time. "They have been attempting to take over strategic military positions outside their area," he said.
The Houthis have been waging attacks and provoking war inside Yemen since 2004.
Yemen opposition blames regime for killings
By Wissam Keyrouz (AFP)
Dec 6, 2011
SANAA — A civilian was killed when a shell hit a bus in Yemen's second city of Taez where fighting has cost more than 30 lives since last week, medics said, as the opposition blamed the regime for the violence.
The bus was heading towards the restive northern Al-Hasab district of the flashpoint city late on Monday when it was hit by an artillery round fired by troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the sources said.
"One passenger was killed while several others were wounded," a medic said.
After a lull in the fighting on Sunday, clashes between armed tribesmen and Saleh's forces erupted in Taez late on Monday.
Earlier the same day, two women were killed and six people were wounded when Saleh's forces fired on a crowd of anti-regime protesters in the city.
The latest deaths brought to 34 the number of people killed in Taez since Thursday.
Brief overnight clashes between tribesmen loyal to dissident tribal chief Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar and Saleh's troops also shook Sanaa's northern Al-Hasaba district, but no casualties were reported.
Both Sanaa and Taez were quiet later on Tuesday, residents said.
Hundreds of people have been killed nationwide since an uprising began against Saleh's 33-year-long rule in late January.
On November 23, Saleh signed a Gulf-brokered and UN-backed transfer deal to transfer power to his deputy, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, in return for immunity from prosecution.
Opposition spokesman Mohammed Qahtan accused "Saleh and his sons" of orchestrating the violence in Taez.
Saleh's son Ahmed commands the elite Republican Guards, who have been repeatedly locked in deadly confrontations with dissidents.
Opposition sources have said the ambassadors of several Gulf and Western countries in Sanaa, monitoring the implementation of the Gulf deal, have asked to visit Taez.
Monday's killings came a day after Hadi formed a military commission under the Gulf Cooperation Council agreement to oversee the restructuring of the security forces, many of which are controlled by Saleh's relatives.
The official Saba news agency said the 14-member commission would also oversee the withdrawal of gunmen from the streets.
Meanwhile, Saba said on Tuesday that 110 officers and soldiers from the First Armoured Brigade led by dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar had been arrested.
Led by General Sadiq Ali Sarhan, the soldiers were sent to Taez to "implement a terrorist plan by (the Islamist) Al-Islah (reform) party and its civilians and army branches and arms... to occupy the city and cause trouble," it said.
The statement accused General Ahmar, whose troops protect protesters in Sanaa, of plotting to seize control of "Yemeni cities one after the other and carry out assassinations" in Taez.
A ceasefire was reported on Saturday in Taez between pro-Saleh troops and armed tribesmen who have thrown their support behind the mass protest movement.
The developments came as prime minister-designate Mohammed Basindawa was expected to announce a national unity government within two days, a European diplomat and a Yemeni official said on Sunday.
"There are no problems regarding the government. It will be formed today or tomorrow," Qahtan said on Tuesday.
"Both sides have agreed not to propose provocative names to take part in the government," said Qahtan, adding that he himself was "a provocative name."
Under the Gulf initiative, half of the government must be opposition members, with regime loyalists making up the other half.
Dec 6, 2011
SANAA — A civilian was killed when a shell hit a bus in Yemen's second city of Taez where fighting has cost more than 30 lives since last week, medics said, as the opposition blamed the regime for the violence.
The bus was heading towards the restive northern Al-Hasab district of the flashpoint city late on Monday when it was hit by an artillery round fired by troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the sources said.
"One passenger was killed while several others were wounded," a medic said.
After a lull in the fighting on Sunday, clashes between armed tribesmen and Saleh's forces erupted in Taez late on Monday.
Earlier the same day, two women were killed and six people were wounded when Saleh's forces fired on a crowd of anti-regime protesters in the city.
The latest deaths brought to 34 the number of people killed in Taez since Thursday.
Brief overnight clashes between tribesmen loyal to dissident tribal chief Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar and Saleh's troops also shook Sanaa's northern Al-Hasaba district, but no casualties were reported.
Both Sanaa and Taez were quiet later on Tuesday, residents said.
Hundreds of people have been killed nationwide since an uprising began against Saleh's 33-year-long rule in late January.
On November 23, Saleh signed a Gulf-brokered and UN-backed transfer deal to transfer power to his deputy, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, in return for immunity from prosecution.
Opposition spokesman Mohammed Qahtan accused "Saleh and his sons" of orchestrating the violence in Taez.
Saleh's son Ahmed commands the elite Republican Guards, who have been repeatedly locked in deadly confrontations with dissidents.
Opposition sources have said the ambassadors of several Gulf and Western countries in Sanaa, monitoring the implementation of the Gulf deal, have asked to visit Taez.
Monday's killings came a day after Hadi formed a military commission under the Gulf Cooperation Council agreement to oversee the restructuring of the security forces, many of which are controlled by Saleh's relatives.
The official Saba news agency said the 14-member commission would also oversee the withdrawal of gunmen from the streets.
Meanwhile, Saba said on Tuesday that 110 officers and soldiers from the First Armoured Brigade led by dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar had been arrested.
Led by General Sadiq Ali Sarhan, the soldiers were sent to Taez to "implement a terrorist plan by (the Islamist) Al-Islah (reform) party and its civilians and army branches and arms... to occupy the city and cause trouble," it said.
The statement accused General Ahmar, whose troops protect protesters in Sanaa, of plotting to seize control of "Yemeni cities one after the other and carry out assassinations" in Taez.
A ceasefire was reported on Saturday in Taez between pro-Saleh troops and armed tribesmen who have thrown their support behind the mass protest movement.
The developments came as prime minister-designate Mohammed Basindawa was expected to announce a national unity government within two days, a European diplomat and a Yemeni official said on Sunday.
"There are no problems regarding the government. It will be formed today or tomorrow," Qahtan said on Tuesday.
"Both sides have agreed not to propose provocative names to take part in the government," said Qahtan, adding that he himself was "a provocative name."
Under the Gulf initiative, half of the government must be opposition members, with regime loyalists making up the other half.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Protester shot dead as snipers stay in Taiz, tanks quit
Mon Dec 5, 2011
By Mohammed Ghobari
TAIZ, Yemen (Reuters) - Forces loyal to outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shot dead a woman in a protest march in Taiz on Monday, witnesses and activists said, despite tanks withdrawing under a ceasefire pact.
Anti-Saleh tribesmen brandishing Kalashnikov rifles and members of the Republican Guard, led by Saleh's son Ahmed, were still on many of Taiz's streets, witnesses said.
Tanks, armoured vehicles and opposition fighters left some areas of Taiz, a hub of 10 months of unrest against Saleh's 33-year rule, but gunmen and snipers remained and had fired on demonstrators, witnesses said.
"Both sides violated the ceasefire agreement. We were marching peacefully and they (Saleh's forces) shot at us yet again," medical student Hamoud al-Aklamy told Reuters.
Both sides had pulled out of parts of the city on the orders of a committee of lawmakers, set up by acting head of state Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi this weekend, to try to end fighting that has killed at least 20 since Thursday.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the centre of Taiz, some 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa, to protest against attacks on peaceful protesters.
At least eight people in the anti-Saleh march were injured by gunmen seen shooting from rooftops, including a 20-year-old woman who died at a hospital after she was shot in the chest, doctors said.
The attempts to end clashes in Taiz came less than two weeks after Saleh signed a deal to hand over power to his deputy as part of a Gulf initiative by Yemen's wealthy Arab neighbours to end protests there.
The United States has been worried that the protests, which have weakened central government control in Yemen, could allow al Qaeda to take advantage of the security vacuum and threaten the world's number one oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, next door.
Activists blamed Monday's attacks on Saleh, who they say was determined to assert his control over the army despite the accord that made him a ceremonial president with no real powers.
"Saleh said he transferred his authority to the vice president, but this is a game. We won't have a new government until half of Taiz is dead," said Aklamy.
Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Basindwa, an opposition leader who is to form a unity government with Saleh's General People's Congress party, has said he would rethink his commitments under the deal if fighting in Taiz did not stop.
Although the violence had eased since Sunday, witnesses heard at least six explosions in the city on Monday.
Political crisis has frequently halted the modest oil exports Yemen uses to finance imports of basic foodstuffs, and ushered in what aid agencies deem a humanitarian crisis.
More than 100,000 people have been displaced by military conflicts in both the north and south.
By Mohammed Ghobari
TAIZ, Yemen (Reuters) - Forces loyal to outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shot dead a woman in a protest march in Taiz on Monday, witnesses and activists said, despite tanks withdrawing under a ceasefire pact.
Anti-Saleh tribesmen brandishing Kalashnikov rifles and members of the Republican Guard, led by Saleh's son Ahmed, were still on many of Taiz's streets, witnesses said.
Tanks, armoured vehicles and opposition fighters left some areas of Taiz, a hub of 10 months of unrest against Saleh's 33-year rule, but gunmen and snipers remained and had fired on demonstrators, witnesses said.
"Both sides violated the ceasefire agreement. We were marching peacefully and they (Saleh's forces) shot at us yet again," medical student Hamoud al-Aklamy told Reuters.
Both sides had pulled out of parts of the city on the orders of a committee of lawmakers, set up by acting head of state Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi this weekend, to try to end fighting that has killed at least 20 since Thursday.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the centre of Taiz, some 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa, to protest against attacks on peaceful protesters.
At least eight people in the anti-Saleh march were injured by gunmen seen shooting from rooftops, including a 20-year-old woman who died at a hospital after she was shot in the chest, doctors said.
The attempts to end clashes in Taiz came less than two weeks after Saleh signed a deal to hand over power to his deputy as part of a Gulf initiative by Yemen's wealthy Arab neighbours to end protests there.
The United States has been worried that the protests, which have weakened central government control in Yemen, could allow al Qaeda to take advantage of the security vacuum and threaten the world's number one oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, next door.
Activists blamed Monday's attacks on Saleh, who they say was determined to assert his control over the army despite the accord that made him a ceremonial president with no real powers.
"Saleh said he transferred his authority to the vice president, but this is a game. We won't have a new government until half of Taiz is dead," said Aklamy.
Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Basindwa, an opposition leader who is to form a unity government with Saleh's General People's Congress party, has said he would rethink his commitments under the deal if fighting in Taiz did not stop.
Although the violence had eased since Sunday, witnesses heard at least six explosions in the city on Monday.
Political crisis has frequently halted the modest oil exports Yemen uses to finance imports of basic foodstuffs, and ushered in what aid agencies deem a humanitarian crisis.
More than 100,000 people have been displaced by military conflicts in both the north and south.
Yemen youths defiant despite power transfer deal
December 5, 2011
SANAA — President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s inking of a power transfer deal has failed to convince thousands of Yemeni youths who are still staging a sit-in demonstration, proclaiming their revolution far from over.
Protesters from the “Youth Revolution” who initiated the uprising accuse traditional opposition parties, backed by prominent tribal forces, of having stolen their revolt by sharing power with Saleh’s regime.
Hammud Hazza, an activist who camps in Change Square — the epicentre of anti-regime protests in Sanaa since February — insists that “we have no alternative to the revolution.”
“Our main demands are: not to grant Saleh any immunity; to overthrow all members of his regime; and to establish a modern state,” said Hazza.
The Gulf-brokered deal which Saleh signed on November 23 grants immunity to him and members of his family — who control basic security and military institutions in the country — if he transfers all his powers to his deputy by February.
During the three-month period which began when he signed the UN-backed accord that he had stalled signing for months, Saleh stays on as an honorary president.
Unimpressed protesters still spend their nights in Change Square, a huge camp of hundreds of tents set up outside Sanaa University which has spread to surrounding streets across the capital’s north.
The camp has grown into a small town within Sanaa where a podium stands from which speeches are made each day, surrounded by small shops that sell civilian and military suits.
A market sells qat — a soft narcotic leaf that contains cathin and cathinone, which Yemenis chew for hours — alongside sandwiches, juice and traditional herbs and spices.
The square is protected by dissident troops led by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar whose soldiers were locked in deadly battles with Saleh’s forces in which hundreds have been killed, many of them civilians.
Steps taken by the regime and the opposition to implement the Gulf plan, including the formation of a government of national unity and a commission to oversee the restructuring of the security forces, have not diminished the ardour of protesters.
Some have even started converting their tents into permanent mud brick buildings, apparently sending messages to both the government and the opposition alike that they are unconcerned by any agreement that does not see all members of Saleh’s regime out of power and bring him to trial.
“We are going ahead with our sit-in because we do not believe that Saleh will implement the Gulf deal,” says Mohammed al-Assal, a leading youth activist.
Khaled al-Madani, who represents the Shiite Zaidi rebels in Change Square, accuses the parliamentary opposition of having “hijacked the revolution and betrayed the blood of the martyrs to take its part of the pie.”
Independent activist Bassam al-Asbahi said “our revolution is against tribalism and backwardness.
“We know that we are against everyone — the president, the opposition, Saudi Arabia, and all super powers sponsoring the Gulf Initiative,” he said.
Asbahi said younths were divided between those in support of the opposition, including the influential Islamist Al-Islah (reform) party, and independent activists who have higher demands.
Parliamentary opposition leaders were “influenced by the tribes and do not really support our demands,” he added.
But it is Al-Islah figure Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, also a wealthy tribal leader, who financially backs the protesters.
Every day, the businessman provides protesters in the impoverished country’s Change Square with hot meals — the traditional rice with meat, chicken, and spices.
“The parliamentary opposition parties have a real historically important base in Yemen, as well as the financial and organising means by which they could keep the youths in the square,” said political analyst Fares al-Saqqaf.
“Without financing from these parties, Change Square would have been over,” said Saqqaf, who heads the Yemeni Centre for Future Studies based in Sanaa.
The parliamentary opposition parties use the youths to apply pressure on the president who has clung to 33 years of power.
“These parties realise that they are the youths who have forced Saleh to sign the deal, therefore these youths present a strategic reserve which the parties use to press the president to implement the initiative,” said Saqqaf.
SANAA — President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s inking of a power transfer deal has failed to convince thousands of Yemeni youths who are still staging a sit-in demonstration, proclaiming their revolution far from over.
Protesters from the “Youth Revolution” who initiated the uprising accuse traditional opposition parties, backed by prominent tribal forces, of having stolen their revolt by sharing power with Saleh’s regime.
Hammud Hazza, an activist who camps in Change Square — the epicentre of anti-regime protests in Sanaa since February — insists that “we have no alternative to the revolution.”
“Our main demands are: not to grant Saleh any immunity; to overthrow all members of his regime; and to establish a modern state,” said Hazza.
The Gulf-brokered deal which Saleh signed on November 23 grants immunity to him and members of his family — who control basic security and military institutions in the country — if he transfers all his powers to his deputy by February.
During the three-month period which began when he signed the UN-backed accord that he had stalled signing for months, Saleh stays on as an honorary president.
Unimpressed protesters still spend their nights in Change Square, a huge camp of hundreds of tents set up outside Sanaa University which has spread to surrounding streets across the capital’s north.
The camp has grown into a small town within Sanaa where a podium stands from which speeches are made each day, surrounded by small shops that sell civilian and military suits.
A market sells qat — a soft narcotic leaf that contains cathin and cathinone, which Yemenis chew for hours — alongside sandwiches, juice and traditional herbs and spices.
The square is protected by dissident troops led by General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar whose soldiers were locked in deadly battles with Saleh’s forces in which hundreds have been killed, many of them civilians.
Steps taken by the regime and the opposition to implement the Gulf plan, including the formation of a government of national unity and a commission to oversee the restructuring of the security forces, have not diminished the ardour of protesters.
Some have even started converting their tents into permanent mud brick buildings, apparently sending messages to both the government and the opposition alike that they are unconcerned by any agreement that does not see all members of Saleh’s regime out of power and bring him to trial.
“We are going ahead with our sit-in because we do not believe that Saleh will implement the Gulf deal,” says Mohammed al-Assal, a leading youth activist.
Khaled al-Madani, who represents the Shiite Zaidi rebels in Change Square, accuses the parliamentary opposition of having “hijacked the revolution and betrayed the blood of the martyrs to take its part of the pie.”
Independent activist Bassam al-Asbahi said “our revolution is against tribalism and backwardness.
“We know that we are against everyone — the president, the opposition, Saudi Arabia, and all super powers sponsoring the Gulf Initiative,” he said.
Asbahi said younths were divided between those in support of the opposition, including the influential Islamist Al-Islah (reform) party, and independent activists who have higher demands.
Parliamentary opposition leaders were “influenced by the tribes and do not really support our demands,” he added.
But it is Al-Islah figure Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, also a wealthy tribal leader, who financially backs the protesters.
Every day, the businessman provides protesters in the impoverished country’s Change Square with hot meals — the traditional rice with meat, chicken, and spices.
“The parliamentary opposition parties have a real historically important base in Yemen, as well as the financial and organising means by which they could keep the youths in the square,” said political analyst Fares al-Saqqaf.
“Without financing from these parties, Change Square would have been over,” said Saqqaf, who heads the Yemeni Centre for Future Studies based in Sanaa.
The parliamentary opposition parties use the youths to apply pressure on the president who has clung to 33 years of power.
“These parties realise that they are the youths who have forced Saleh to sign the deal, therefore these youths present a strategic reserve which the parties use to press the president to implement the initiative,” said Saqqaf.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
VP forms military affairs committee
Fatik Al-Rodaini
SANA'A, Dec. 04 - Vice President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi issued on Sunday a presidential decree to form a military affairs committee to realize the security and stability in the country.
According to the decree No. 29 for 2011, the Vice President is the chairman of the committee that also includes 14 members, topped by the defense and interior ministers.
The second article stipulates that the committee's chairman has the right to take the required measures and entrust anyone to carry out the committee's tasks.
The members of the military affairs committee as following:
1-Defense Minister
2- Interior Minster
3- General Nasser Abdo Rabbo Al-Taheri
4-General Mohammed Ali Al-Kassemi
5- General Abdullah Ali Aleoa
6- General Fadhel Al-Qawssi
7- General Rayadh Al-Qaershi
8- General Fadhel Abdul Majeed Al-Radfani
9- General Omar Abdul Samed Al-Yafeai
10- General Ali Said Abeed
11- General Abdul Rakeeb Thabet Al-Sobeehi
12- General Abdul Aziz Al-Shameri
13- General Qaed Al-Ansi
14- General Nasser Ali Al-Harabi (Secretary)
SANA'A, Dec. 04 - Vice President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi issued on Sunday a presidential decree to form a military affairs committee to realize the security and stability in the country.
According to the decree No. 29 for 2011, the Vice President is the chairman of the committee that also includes 14 members, topped by the defense and interior ministers.
The second article stipulates that the committee's chairman has the right to take the required measures and entrust anyone to carry out the committee's tasks.
The members of the military affairs committee as following:
1-Defense Minister
2- Interior Minster
3- General Nasser Abdo Rabbo Al-Taheri
4-General Mohammed Ali Al-Kassemi
5- General Abdullah Ali Aleoa
6- General Fadhel Al-Qawssi
7- General Rayadh Al-Qaershi
8- General Fadhel Abdul Majeed Al-Radfani
9- General Omar Abdul Samed Al-Yafeai
10- General Ali Said Abeed
11- General Abdul Rakeeb Thabet Al-Sobeehi
12- General Abdul Aziz Al-Shameri
13- General Qaed Al-Ansi
14- General Nasser Ali Al-Harabi (Secretary)
Yemen unity cabinet expected within 2 days
Dec 4, 2011 (AFP)
SANAA — Prime minister-designate Mohammed Basindawa is expected to announce a national unity government within two days, a European diplomat and a Yemeni official said on Sunday.
The government "will be formed within the next couple of days, and if they do it today it is even better," Michele Cervone d'Urso, the EU's first ambassador to Yemen, told AFP.
Yemen's outgoing deputy information minister, Abdo al-Janadi, said: "According to my information, the government should be announced today."
Half of the government must be opposition members while regime loyalists make up the other half, based on a Gulf-brokered and UN-backed power transfer plan which President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed on November 23.
Cervone said that a military commission, which under the agreement is to oversee a restructuring of the security services and the withdrawal of gunmen from the streets, would also be formed "with the next couple of days."
The opposition warned on Saturday that it will not go ahead with forming a unity government until the military commission is formed and fighting stopped in Taez where 31 people were killed in clashes between the army and dissident tribesmen.
State media reported later the same day that a ceasefire had come into effect after a call by Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi for an end to the fighting which broke out on Thursday and for a pullout of troops and militiamen.
Saleh signed the Gulf-brokered deal last month in Riyadh under which his powers were passed on to his deputy, although he remains honorary president until February.
SANAA — Prime minister-designate Mohammed Basindawa is expected to announce a national unity government within two days, a European diplomat and a Yemeni official said on Sunday.
The government "will be formed within the next couple of days, and if they do it today it is even better," Michele Cervone d'Urso, the EU's first ambassador to Yemen, told AFP.
Yemen's outgoing deputy information minister, Abdo al-Janadi, said: "According to my information, the government should be announced today."
Half of the government must be opposition members while regime loyalists make up the other half, based on a Gulf-brokered and UN-backed power transfer plan which President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed on November 23.
Cervone said that a military commission, which under the agreement is to oversee a restructuring of the security services and the withdrawal of gunmen from the streets, would also be formed "with the next couple of days."
The opposition warned on Saturday that it will not go ahead with forming a unity government until the military commission is formed and fighting stopped in Taez where 31 people were killed in clashes between the army and dissident tribesmen.
State media reported later the same day that a ceasefire had come into effect after a call by Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi for an end to the fighting which broke out on Thursday and for a pullout of troops and militiamen.
Saleh signed the Gulf-brokered deal last month in Riyadh under which his powers were passed on to his deputy, although he remains honorary president until February.
Yemen: 28 killed in 3 days of fighting in Taiz
By AHMED AL-HAJ
Dec 4, 2011
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni activists and medical officials say that three days of clashes in the southern city of Taiz has left at least 28 people dead.
They said Sunday that 13 civilians have been killed in government shelling of residential areas since Friday, among them three children. They also said that seven army troops and at least eight tribal fighters have been killed in clashes over the same period.
Taiz is a hotbed of opposition and Yemen's second-largest city. It has been regularly shelled by the military.
Dr. Mohammed al-Shogaa said that ambulances and rescue workers are not able to reach wounded civilians because of ongoing street fighting.
The violence has raged despite longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh's agreement to step down.
Dec 4, 2011
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni activists and medical officials say that three days of clashes in the southern city of Taiz has left at least 28 people dead.
They said Sunday that 13 civilians have been killed in government shelling of residential areas since Friday, among them three children. They also said that seven army troops and at least eight tribal fighters have been killed in clashes over the same period.
Taiz is a hotbed of opposition and Yemen's second-largest city. It has been regularly shelled by the military.
Dr. Mohammed al-Shogaa said that ambulances and rescue workers are not able to reach wounded civilians because of ongoing street fighting.
The violence has raged despite longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh's agreement to step down.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Ceasefire in Yemen city clashes, two dead
* At least 17 killed in three days of shelling
* Differences arise over composition of military committee
* Local committee says ceasefire agreed (Updates with ceasefire agreement, quotes)
By Mohammed Ghobari
SANAA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - At least two Yemenis were killed in a third day of shelling in the hotbed protest city of Taiz on Saturday, residents said, before a ceasefire in clashes between troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposition fighters which have killed 17 people.
Saleh handed over power last month to Vice-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, as part of a deal to end 10 months of protests against his 33-year-old rule that has paralysed Yemen.
But the violence has shown little sign of abating.
The governor of Taiz and opposition officials agreed a ceasefire from 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) and the withdrawal of fighters and heavy weapons following a call by Hadi, state news agency Saba reported.
Residents said intermittent fighting could still be heard.
"A seven-storey building has been set on fire," Abdel-Jabbar Mahmnoud told Reuters by telephone from the al-Hasab district in Taiz.
He said residents had fled shelling by government forces based at a security compound in the city.
Tens of thousands earlier defied the shelling to march in the city centre demanding that Saleh be put on trial.
Residents said government forces used artillery, tanks and rockets on Saturday in residential areas of Taiz, trapping about 3,000 families in the commercial hub some 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa.
Opposition fighters responded with medium and light fire, they said.
Medics said two people were killed, one of them an activist shot by a sniper during the demonstration. The second was a bakery worker killed in front of his shop. Four people were also wounded, including one woman.
An official from Saleh's party said the latest violence came amid differences with opposition parties over the composition of a military committee agreed last month as part of the transitional deal following Saleh's handover of his powers.
Ten people died in fighting on Thursday, including five government soldiers, and five more were killed on Friday, medics and security sources have reported.
A rights centre run by the opposition put the death toll at 21 people.
Saba quoted security sources as saying that armed groups were behind Friday's attacks on government facilities, including the criminal investigations building, the regional branch of the Immigration and Passports Department and a military camp.
The opposition blamed the army controlled by Saleh loyalists and relatives.
Opposition officials on Friday contacted representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council over the fighting, they said.
Saba said British Foreign Secretary William Hague also told Hadi in a telephone call on Friday that the UK was monitoring the situation in Yemen, hoping that "the government of national reconciliation, after it is formed, would ensure security and stability in the capital and in the capitals of the provinces."
AGREEMENT IN DANGER
Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Basindwa, an opposition leader, has warned that his side would rethink its commitments under the transition deal if the fighting in Taiz did not stop.
In a statement, Basindwa said the bombardment was "an intentional act to wreck the agreement" that opposition parties signed along with Saleh, who had backed out of signing the deal brokered by Yemen's Gulf neighbours three times.
Under the agreement, the military committee, headed by Hadi, would run the armed forces and oversee the end of fighting and the return of forces to barracks.
It would be made up of an equal number of people from Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) and the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP).
An official with the GPC said Saleh's party was not happy about opposition nominees to the committee.
The opposition blamed the Taiz violence on what they said was footdragging in forming the military committee.
"The vice president must act as a consensus president and be responsible for implementing the operational mechanism without delay," he told Reuters.
In separate violence, gunmen killed a colonel in the intelligence service at a coffee shop in the city of Ghayl Ba Wazir in Hadramout province, in southern Yemen, on Friday evening, local officials said. A resident was also killed and three were wounded in the attack, blamed on al Qaeda.
It was the latest in a series of attacks in recent months on senior officers in the army and security forces in southern Yemen.
* Differences arise over composition of military committee
* Local committee says ceasefire agreed (Updates with ceasefire agreement, quotes)
By Mohammed Ghobari
SANAA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - At least two Yemenis were killed in a third day of shelling in the hotbed protest city of Taiz on Saturday, residents said, before a ceasefire in clashes between troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposition fighters which have killed 17 people.
Saleh handed over power last month to Vice-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, as part of a deal to end 10 months of protests against his 33-year-old rule that has paralysed Yemen.
But the violence has shown little sign of abating.
The governor of Taiz and opposition officials agreed a ceasefire from 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) and the withdrawal of fighters and heavy weapons following a call by Hadi, state news agency Saba reported.
Residents said intermittent fighting could still be heard.
"A seven-storey building has been set on fire," Abdel-Jabbar Mahmnoud told Reuters by telephone from the al-Hasab district in Taiz.
He said residents had fled shelling by government forces based at a security compound in the city.
Tens of thousands earlier defied the shelling to march in the city centre demanding that Saleh be put on trial.
Residents said government forces used artillery, tanks and rockets on Saturday in residential areas of Taiz, trapping about 3,000 families in the commercial hub some 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa.
Opposition fighters responded with medium and light fire, they said.
Medics said two people were killed, one of them an activist shot by a sniper during the demonstration. The second was a bakery worker killed in front of his shop. Four people were also wounded, including one woman.
An official from Saleh's party said the latest violence came amid differences with opposition parties over the composition of a military committee agreed last month as part of the transitional deal following Saleh's handover of his powers.
Ten people died in fighting on Thursday, including five government soldiers, and five more were killed on Friday, medics and security sources have reported.
A rights centre run by the opposition put the death toll at 21 people.
Saba quoted security sources as saying that armed groups were behind Friday's attacks on government facilities, including the criminal investigations building, the regional branch of the Immigration and Passports Department and a military camp.
The opposition blamed the army controlled by Saleh loyalists and relatives.
Opposition officials on Friday contacted representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council over the fighting, they said.
Saba said British Foreign Secretary William Hague also told Hadi in a telephone call on Friday that the UK was monitoring the situation in Yemen, hoping that "the government of national reconciliation, after it is formed, would ensure security and stability in the capital and in the capitals of the provinces."
AGREEMENT IN DANGER
Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Basindwa, an opposition leader, has warned that his side would rethink its commitments under the transition deal if the fighting in Taiz did not stop.
In a statement, Basindwa said the bombardment was "an intentional act to wreck the agreement" that opposition parties signed along with Saleh, who had backed out of signing the deal brokered by Yemen's Gulf neighbours three times.
Under the agreement, the military committee, headed by Hadi, would run the armed forces and oversee the end of fighting and the return of forces to barracks.
It would be made up of an equal number of people from Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) and the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP).
An official with the GPC said Saleh's party was not happy about opposition nominees to the committee.
The opposition blamed the Taiz violence on what they said was footdragging in forming the military committee.
"The vice president must act as a consensus president and be responsible for implementing the operational mechanism without delay," he told Reuters.
In separate violence, gunmen killed a colonel in the intelligence service at a coffee shop in the city of Ghayl Ba Wazir in Hadramout province, in southern Yemen, on Friday evening, local officials said. A resident was also killed and three were wounded in the attack, blamed on al Qaeda.
It was the latest in a series of attacks in recent months on senior officers in the army and security forces in southern Yemen.
Five dead in clashes in Yemen
03 December, 2011
Sana'a- At least five people were killed Saturday in bombings by the Yemeni army on Taiz, the scene of violent clashes between the regime forces and gunmen belonging to tribes
Three of the victims of these bombings are members of the one family, while two gunmen were killed in clashes with troops of the regime of president Abdallah Salah.
Forces loyal to President Abdallah Salah try to take over this city (second of the country), in the hands of armed men of the tribes who protect anti-regime demonstrators.
The majority rejected the agreement on a peaceful transition at the head of state, signed by President Ali Abdallah Salah and the opposition.
During the past three days, more than thirty people, mostly civilians, were killed in bombings attributed to loyalist forces of the army.
Sana'a- At least five people were killed Saturday in bombings by the Yemeni army on Taiz, the scene of violent clashes between the regime forces and gunmen belonging to tribes
Three of the victims of these bombings are members of the one family, while two gunmen were killed in clashes with troops of the regime of president Abdallah Salah.
Forces loyal to President Abdallah Salah try to take over this city (second of the country), in the hands of armed men of the tribes who protect anti-regime demonstrators.
The majority rejected the agreement on a peaceful transition at the head of state, signed by President Ali Abdallah Salah and the opposition.
During the past three days, more than thirty people, mostly civilians, were killed in bombings attributed to loyalist forces of the army.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Al-Houthis attack Salafis in north Yemen, dozens killed
Zaid al-Alaya’a
Dec 2, 2011
Tribal sources revealed that al-Houthis rebels attacked a Sunni Islamist school and other sites in Dammaj, a district of the Yemeni northern province of Sa’ada, killing an estimated 21 people and wounding about 50 others.
It is believed that amongst the victims were American, French and Indonesian nationals who had come to the area to study.
A provincial security official and local Sunnis told foreign news agencies that the Shi’ite Zaidi rebels known as al-Houthis shelled Sunni targets in Dammaj district on Saturday and Sunday.
They stressed that amongst several targets the group aimed directly at a school run by the Salafists, a group of fervent Sunni Muslims who promotes a more traditional practice of Islam.
The Shi’ite sect which dominates the Sa’ada province has always considered the Salafists as authority, fearing that they would extend their zone of influence and eventually jeopardize al-Houthi’s hegemony plans. Recent clashes have prompted local tribesmen to try to secure a truce.
Dec 2, 2011
Tribal sources revealed that al-Houthis rebels attacked a Sunni Islamist school and other sites in Dammaj, a district of the Yemeni northern province of Sa’ada, killing an estimated 21 people and wounding about 50 others.
It is believed that amongst the victims were American, French and Indonesian nationals who had come to the area to study.
A provincial security official and local Sunnis told foreign news agencies that the Shi’ite Zaidi rebels known as al-Houthis shelled Sunni targets in Dammaj district on Saturday and Sunday.
They stressed that amongst several targets the group aimed directly at a school run by the Salafists, a group of fervent Sunni Muslims who promotes a more traditional practice of Islam.
The Shi’ite sect which dominates the Sa’ada province has always considered the Salafists as authority, fearing that they would extend their zone of influence and eventually jeopardize al-Houthi’s hegemony plans. Recent clashes have prompted local tribesmen to try to secure a truce.
Yemen PM warns transition at risk, 5 dead in Taiz
By Mohammed Ghobari
Fri Dec 2, 2011
SANAA (Reuters) - At least five people were killed in the protest hotbed city of Taiz on Friday, activists and medical workers said, and the head of a new government meant to prevent civil war in Yemen said a week-old political pact could unravel if the killing went on.
The bloodshed in Taiz made clear that a deal to ease President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power has yet to defuse 10 months of violent unrest over the fate of Saleh and the political future of impoverished country.
Yemen's Gulf Arab neighbours and their U.S. ally hope the deal can reverse a drift toward chaos on the doorstep of the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and stop al Qaeda's Yemeni branch gaining a foothold near Red Sea shipping routes.
In Taiz in south Yemen, government forces shot dead three civilians, and a fresh battle between government troops and gunmen backing protesters killed two people trapped in their homes during fighting, protest leaders and medical workers said.
Witnesses said street battles with heavy weapons including tanks raged near a police headquarters in the centre of the city, and activist Tawfiq al-Shaabi said dozens of families had fled artillery and small arms fire in the western side of Taiz.
At least 12 civilians, government soldiers and anti-Saleh gunmen were killed in Taiz in recent days.
The casualties in the city 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa included five civilians killed by pro-Saleh troops during intense shelling of some Taiz neighbourhoods, according to residents and medical workers.
Protesters in Taiz are ringed by troops loyal to Saleh as well as tribal forces and troops opposed to him. Taiz's governor called for a ceasefire late on Thursday.
Mohammed Basindwa, a former foreign minister designated by opposition parties to lead a government to be split between them and Saleh's party, said his side would rethink its commitment to that pact if the killing in Taiz did not cease.
In a statement, Basindwa said the killing in Taiz was "an intentional act to wreck the agreement" that opposition parties signed along with Saleh, who had thwarted the deal brokered by Yemen's Gulf neighbours on three prior occasions.
An official of the bloc of opposition parties that signed the deal said on Thursday they had agreed a cabinet line-up with Saleh's party and the bloc's spokesman said this could be announced as early as Saturday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saleh's party would take portfolios including defence, foreign affairs and oil, while the opposition would get the interior, finance and education ministries.
A completed transfer of power would make Saleh the fourth Arab autocrat to be toppled by mass public protests that have reshaped the political landscape of the Middle East this year.
RIGHTS GROUP CALLS FOR FREEZE OF ASSETS
The prospective government is supposed to shepherd Yemen towards a presidential election that Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the vice president to whom Saleh has transferred his powers, has set for February 21, 2012.
Opposition sources also said they had given Hadi a list of their choices for a military council tasked with running the army until a new president is elected.
The list included former defence and interior ministers plus army commanders who turned on Saleh.
Under the Gulf initiative signed by Saleh, a body will be set up to restructure the armed forces. Saleh's son Ahmed commands the Republican Guard, one of the best equipped units.
Protesters in Taiz and elsewhere have denounced the immunity from prosecution that Saleh and his relatives would enjoy under the power transfer deal.
Human Rights Watch said last week that up to 35 civilians had been killed in Taiz since a U.N. Security Council resolution in October that endorsed the call for a power transfer and condemned the crackdown on protesters.
The group said most of those civilians were killed by artillery fire from Yemeni government forces, and called on the U.N. Security Council to freeze the assets of top Yemeni officials and distance itself from any promises of immunity.
Any Saleh successor will face multiple overlapping conflicts that have gained force during the political crisis, including rising separatist sentiment in the south, which fought a civil war with Saleh's north in 1994, and fighting with Islamists who have seized territory in the southern province of Abyan.
An local official in Abyan said the head of a volunteer force fighting Islamists was wounded and another person killed when unidentified attackers hurled a bomb at him as he was en route to Friday morning prayers in the city of Lawdar.
Fri Dec 2, 2011
SANAA (Reuters) - At least five people were killed in the protest hotbed city of Taiz on Friday, activists and medical workers said, and the head of a new government meant to prevent civil war in Yemen said a week-old political pact could unravel if the killing went on.
The bloodshed in Taiz made clear that a deal to ease President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power has yet to defuse 10 months of violent unrest over the fate of Saleh and the political future of impoverished country.
Yemen's Gulf Arab neighbours and their U.S. ally hope the deal can reverse a drift toward chaos on the doorstep of the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and stop al Qaeda's Yemeni branch gaining a foothold near Red Sea shipping routes.
In Taiz in south Yemen, government forces shot dead three civilians, and a fresh battle between government troops and gunmen backing protesters killed two people trapped in their homes during fighting, protest leaders and medical workers said.
Witnesses said street battles with heavy weapons including tanks raged near a police headquarters in the centre of the city, and activist Tawfiq al-Shaabi said dozens of families had fled artillery and small arms fire in the western side of Taiz.
At least 12 civilians, government soldiers and anti-Saleh gunmen were killed in Taiz in recent days.
The casualties in the city 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa included five civilians killed by pro-Saleh troops during intense shelling of some Taiz neighbourhoods, according to residents and medical workers.
Protesters in Taiz are ringed by troops loyal to Saleh as well as tribal forces and troops opposed to him. Taiz's governor called for a ceasefire late on Thursday.
Mohammed Basindwa, a former foreign minister designated by opposition parties to lead a government to be split between them and Saleh's party, said his side would rethink its commitment to that pact if the killing in Taiz did not cease.
In a statement, Basindwa said the killing in Taiz was "an intentional act to wreck the agreement" that opposition parties signed along with Saleh, who had thwarted the deal brokered by Yemen's Gulf neighbours on three prior occasions.
An official of the bloc of opposition parties that signed the deal said on Thursday they had agreed a cabinet line-up with Saleh's party and the bloc's spokesman said this could be announced as early as Saturday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saleh's party would take portfolios including defence, foreign affairs and oil, while the opposition would get the interior, finance and education ministries.
A completed transfer of power would make Saleh the fourth Arab autocrat to be toppled by mass public protests that have reshaped the political landscape of the Middle East this year.
RIGHTS GROUP CALLS FOR FREEZE OF ASSETS
The prospective government is supposed to shepherd Yemen towards a presidential election that Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the vice president to whom Saleh has transferred his powers, has set for February 21, 2012.
Opposition sources also said they had given Hadi a list of their choices for a military council tasked with running the army until a new president is elected.
The list included former defence and interior ministers plus army commanders who turned on Saleh.
Under the Gulf initiative signed by Saleh, a body will be set up to restructure the armed forces. Saleh's son Ahmed commands the Republican Guard, one of the best equipped units.
Protesters in Taiz and elsewhere have denounced the immunity from prosecution that Saleh and his relatives would enjoy under the power transfer deal.
Human Rights Watch said last week that up to 35 civilians had been killed in Taiz since a U.N. Security Council resolution in October that endorsed the call for a power transfer and condemned the crackdown on protesters.
The group said most of those civilians were killed by artillery fire from Yemeni government forces, and called on the U.N. Security Council to freeze the assets of top Yemeni officials and distance itself from any promises of immunity.
Any Saleh successor will face multiple overlapping conflicts that have gained force during the political crisis, including rising separatist sentiment in the south, which fought a civil war with Saleh's north in 1994, and fighting with Islamists who have seized territory in the southern province of Abyan.
An local official in Abyan said the head of a volunteer force fighting Islamists was wounded and another person killed when unidentified attackers hurled a bomb at him as he was en route to Friday morning prayers in the city of Lawdar.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Yemen’s turmoil
Has he really gone?
No one is betting yet on President Ali Abdullah Saleh actually ceding power
Dec 3rd 2011 | CAIRO | from the print edition
CELEBRATORY fireworks and gunfire lit up the skies across Yemen on November 23rd, after Ali Abdullah Saleh, the mountainous country’s president for the past 33 years, signed an agreement in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to surrender power to a caretaker government. Yet happiness at Mr Saleh’s apparent exit was so tempered with other worries that the joy was painfully fleeting. Indeed, few are certain that Mr Saleh, famed for his guile, is sincere in promising to bow out for good.
According to the agreement, first proposed by Yemen’s rich neighbours in the Gulf Co-operation Council back in May, the 67-year-old leader retains the honorary title of president while transferring responsibilities to his longstanding vice-president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The self-effacing Mr Hadi has vowed to be inclusive, and took an encouraging first step by choosing Muhammad Basindwa, a respected opposition politician from Yemen’s restive south, to form a national unity cabinet. Mr Hadi also set a date, February 21st, for presidential elections.
Yet Mr Saleh has found ways to signal his continuing influence. He had said he would fly from Riyadh to the United States to continue treatment for injuries he suffered in an assassination attempt in June. Instead, he returned to his palace in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. His family and allies still dominate the security forces, in particular elite army units and the air force. As if to underline that nothing has changed on the ground in the stand-off between his men and the mix of students, opposition parties, rebel tribes and defecting army brigades that have faced each other since January, loyalist forces continued to attack protesters, most recently in Yemen’s second biggest city, Taiz.
Aside from fearing that such clashes could erupt into full-scale civil war, Mr Saleh’s opponents are angry that the Riyadh agreement grants him and his family judicial immunity. The ruling clan is not only widely perceived as corrupt. It is also held responsible for killing and wounding hundreds of Yemenis during the recent protests. In any case, many protesters distrust the formal opposition, which has in the past formed cosy tactical alliances with Mr Saleh’s long-ruling General People’s Congress party. Hence the continuation of mass sit-ins such as the one that was attacked in Taiz on November 30th.
Whether Mr Saleh stays or goes, Yemen will continue to suffer other chronic and potentially explosive troubles. Yemen is the Arab world’s poorest country; 43% of its 25m people are under 15, 74% under 30. Half are jobless. Water is running out. Even in Sana’a barely half the people are connected to water mains, which tend to come on stream only once or twice a week. Given the country’s precarious politics, foreign donors are likely to shy away from giving more aid.
Along the border with Saudi Arabia in the far north, a rebellion that has made 300,000 people homeless since 2004 still simmers. A rocket attack by Houthi rebels, who present themselves as champions of Yemen’s large Zaydi Shia community, killed some 24 students, many of them foreigners, at a religious school run by ultra-orthodox Sunnis near the town of Saada on November 29th. The Yemeni south, meanwhile, suffers the dual challenge of a strong separatist movement and intense activity by jihadists aligned to al-Qaeda.
One of Mr Saleh’s well-tested survival tactics was to stoke problems that only he had the key to resolve. Even with him gone, these hideous problems remain.
No one is betting yet on President Ali Abdullah Saleh actually ceding power
Dec 3rd 2011 | CAIRO | from the print edition
CELEBRATORY fireworks and gunfire lit up the skies across Yemen on November 23rd, after Ali Abdullah Saleh, the mountainous country’s president for the past 33 years, signed an agreement in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to surrender power to a caretaker government. Yet happiness at Mr Saleh’s apparent exit was so tempered with other worries that the joy was painfully fleeting. Indeed, few are certain that Mr Saleh, famed for his guile, is sincere in promising to bow out for good.
According to the agreement, first proposed by Yemen’s rich neighbours in the Gulf Co-operation Council back in May, the 67-year-old leader retains the honorary title of president while transferring responsibilities to his longstanding vice-president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The self-effacing Mr Hadi has vowed to be inclusive, and took an encouraging first step by choosing Muhammad Basindwa, a respected opposition politician from Yemen’s restive south, to form a national unity cabinet. Mr Hadi also set a date, February 21st, for presidential elections.
Yet Mr Saleh has found ways to signal his continuing influence. He had said he would fly from Riyadh to the United States to continue treatment for injuries he suffered in an assassination attempt in June. Instead, he returned to his palace in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. His family and allies still dominate the security forces, in particular elite army units and the air force. As if to underline that nothing has changed on the ground in the stand-off between his men and the mix of students, opposition parties, rebel tribes and defecting army brigades that have faced each other since January, loyalist forces continued to attack protesters, most recently in Yemen’s second biggest city, Taiz.
Aside from fearing that such clashes could erupt into full-scale civil war, Mr Saleh’s opponents are angry that the Riyadh agreement grants him and his family judicial immunity. The ruling clan is not only widely perceived as corrupt. It is also held responsible for killing and wounding hundreds of Yemenis during the recent protests. In any case, many protesters distrust the formal opposition, which has in the past formed cosy tactical alliances with Mr Saleh’s long-ruling General People’s Congress party. Hence the continuation of mass sit-ins such as the one that was attacked in Taiz on November 30th.
Whether Mr Saleh stays or goes, Yemen will continue to suffer other chronic and potentially explosive troubles. Yemen is the Arab world’s poorest country; 43% of its 25m people are under 15, 74% under 30. Half are jobless. Water is running out. Even in Sana’a barely half the people are connected to water mains, which tend to come on stream only once or twice a week. Given the country’s precarious politics, foreign donors are likely to shy away from giving more aid.
Along the border with Saudi Arabia in the far north, a rebellion that has made 300,000 people homeless since 2004 still simmers. A rocket attack by Houthi rebels, who present themselves as champions of Yemen’s large Zaydi Shia community, killed some 24 students, many of them foreigners, at a religious school run by ultra-orthodox Sunnis near the town of Saada on November 29th. The Yemeni south, meanwhile, suffers the dual challenge of a strong separatist movement and intense activity by jihadists aligned to al-Qaeda.
One of Mr Saleh’s well-tested survival tactics was to stoke problems that only he had the key to resolve. Even with him gone, these hideous problems remain.
Yemen opposition says govt agreed, 10 killed in Taiz
SANAA Dec 1 (Reuters) - Yemen's opposition said it agreed the lineup of an interim government on Thursday with outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh's party, under a deal to end a struggle over his fate that has brought the country close to civil war.
However, progress on the deal crafted by Yemen's Gulf Arab neighbours showed no signs of ending the bloodshed that has stained 10 months of protests against Saleh. At least 10 civilians and government troops died overnight in the country's commercial capital, a hotbed of anti-Saleh demonstrations, residents and officials said.
The plan's sponsors hope it can reverse a slide toward chaos on the doorstep of the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and prevent al Qaeda's Yemeni branch from gaining a foothold near shipping routes through the Red Sea.
An official of the Joint Meeting Parties, a bloc of opposition parties that signed the power transfer plan in Riyadh, said they had settled on a division of cabinet seats between themselves and Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC).
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saleh's party would take portfolios including defence, foreign affairs and oil, while the opposition would get the interior, finance and education ministries.
The prospective government would lead the country to a presidential election that Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the vice president to whom Saleh has transferred his powers, has set for Feb. 21, 2012.
Opposition sources also said they had given Hadi a list of their choices for a military council tasked with running the army until a new president is elected. The list included former defence and interior ministers, and army commanders who turned on Saleh.
Under the Gulf initiative signed by Saleh, a body will be set up to restructure the armed forces. Saleh's son Ahmed commands the Republican Guard, one of the best equipped units.
A completed transfer of power would make Saleh the fourth Arab leader to be toppled following mass protests that have reshaped the political landscape of the Middle East.
Any successor would face multiple, overlapping conflicts that have gained force during the political crisis, including rising separatist sentiment in the south, which fought a civil war with Saleh's north in 1994, and fighting with Islamists who have seized territory in the southern Abyan province.
SOUTHERN PROTEST CENTRE
In Taiz, about 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa, at least 10 civilians and soldiers were killed, medical workers and security sources said.
Five civilians died in what residents said was shelling by government forces overnight in Taiz, a centre of protests ringed by troops loyal to Saleh as well as tribal forces and troops who back the protesters.
"We are living in an atmosphere of real war. We couldn't sleep from the intensity of the blasts. We came to the aid of five residents of the quarter whose house a shell landed on," resident Abdullah al-Sharaabi told Reuters by telephone.
A security official dismissed the reports of the shelling of residential areas as lies and said "armed elements" had attacked several security checkpoints in the city.
Gunmen allied with opposition parties killed five soldiers and wounded 15 others, a security source said.
Staff at al-Rawdah hospital said five civilians had been killed and several injured. A field hospital in Taiz also received 10 injured civilians.
"Saleh's forces, which are concentrated in various parts of the city, fired shells on al-Manakh and al-Hasab and Bir Basha districts and the shelling continued until the early hours of Thursday morning," said lawyer Tawfeeq al-Shaabi, an activist in the protest movement.
Protesters in Taiz and elsewhere have denounced the immunity from prosecution Saleh and relatives would enjoy under the power transfer deal.
Human Rights Watch said last week that up to 35 civilians had been killed in Taiz since a U.N. Security Council resolution in October that backed the call for a power transfer and condemned the crackdown on protesters.
The group said most of those civilians were killed by artillery fire from Yemeni government forces, and called on the U.N. Security Council to freeze the assets of top Yemeni officials and distance itself from any promises of immunity.
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Yemen called for immediate access to conflict zones -- including one in the northern Saada province, where Shi'ite rebels who Saleh tried to crush are now fighting Sunni Islamists.
"The general humanitarian situation is dire," Eric Marclay told Reuters. "On one hand you have an agreement between the government and opposition parties but this does not translate immediately ... to an improvement in the ... humanitarian situation."
However, progress on the deal crafted by Yemen's Gulf Arab neighbours showed no signs of ending the bloodshed that has stained 10 months of protests against Saleh. At least 10 civilians and government troops died overnight in the country's commercial capital, a hotbed of anti-Saleh demonstrations, residents and officials said.
The plan's sponsors hope it can reverse a slide toward chaos on the doorstep of the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and prevent al Qaeda's Yemeni branch from gaining a foothold near shipping routes through the Red Sea.
An official of the Joint Meeting Parties, a bloc of opposition parties that signed the power transfer plan in Riyadh, said they had settled on a division of cabinet seats between themselves and Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC).
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saleh's party would take portfolios including defence, foreign affairs and oil, while the opposition would get the interior, finance and education ministries.
The prospective government would lead the country to a presidential election that Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the vice president to whom Saleh has transferred his powers, has set for Feb. 21, 2012.
Opposition sources also said they had given Hadi a list of their choices for a military council tasked with running the army until a new president is elected. The list included former defence and interior ministers, and army commanders who turned on Saleh.
Under the Gulf initiative signed by Saleh, a body will be set up to restructure the armed forces. Saleh's son Ahmed commands the Republican Guard, one of the best equipped units.
A completed transfer of power would make Saleh the fourth Arab leader to be toppled following mass protests that have reshaped the political landscape of the Middle East.
Any successor would face multiple, overlapping conflicts that have gained force during the political crisis, including rising separatist sentiment in the south, which fought a civil war with Saleh's north in 1994, and fighting with Islamists who have seized territory in the southern Abyan province.
SOUTHERN PROTEST CENTRE
In Taiz, about 200 km (120 miles) south of the capital Sanaa, at least 10 civilians and soldiers were killed, medical workers and security sources said.
Five civilians died in what residents said was shelling by government forces overnight in Taiz, a centre of protests ringed by troops loyal to Saleh as well as tribal forces and troops who back the protesters.
"We are living in an atmosphere of real war. We couldn't sleep from the intensity of the blasts. We came to the aid of five residents of the quarter whose house a shell landed on," resident Abdullah al-Sharaabi told Reuters by telephone.
A security official dismissed the reports of the shelling of residential areas as lies and said "armed elements" had attacked several security checkpoints in the city.
Gunmen allied with opposition parties killed five soldiers and wounded 15 others, a security source said.
Staff at al-Rawdah hospital said five civilians had been killed and several injured. A field hospital in Taiz also received 10 injured civilians.
"Saleh's forces, which are concentrated in various parts of the city, fired shells on al-Manakh and al-Hasab and Bir Basha districts and the shelling continued until the early hours of Thursday morning," said lawyer Tawfeeq al-Shaabi, an activist in the protest movement.
Protesters in Taiz and elsewhere have denounced the immunity from prosecution Saleh and relatives would enjoy under the power transfer deal.
Human Rights Watch said last week that up to 35 civilians had been killed in Taiz since a U.N. Security Council resolution in October that backed the call for a power transfer and condemned the crackdown on protesters.
The group said most of those civilians were killed by artillery fire from Yemeni government forces, and called on the U.N. Security Council to freeze the assets of top Yemeni officials and distance itself from any promises of immunity.
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Yemen called for immediate access to conflict zones -- including one in the northern Saada province, where Shi'ite rebels who Saleh tried to crush are now fighting Sunni Islamists.
"The general humanitarian situation is dire," Eric Marclay told Reuters. "On one hand you have an agreement between the government and opposition parties but this does not translate immediately ... to an improvement in the ... humanitarian situation."
5 Killed as Yemeni Government Forces Shell Taiz
Sana'a, December 1, 2011 -Shells and mortar fire rained down on the Yemeni city of Taiz on Thursday, killing five people and wounding at least 20.
Residents of several Taiz neighborhoods said government forces launched the attack early in the day. Medical officials confirmed the death toll and said some of those wounded were in critical condition.
Taiz residents have been protesting for several months, pushing for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. Saleh and Yemen's main political parties agreed earlier this month to a Gulf-sponsored plan for transferring power to his vice president and holding an early presidential election.
Earlier this week, Saleh announced a general amnesty for all those who "committed errors" during the country's 10-month political crisis. Saleh said the only exception to the amnesty would be those involved in an apparent attempt to assassinate him back in June.
The Gulf-sponsored plan allows for Saleh to remain president in an honorary capacity until the February 21 presidential election.
Residents of several Taiz neighborhoods said government forces launched the attack early in the day. Medical officials confirmed the death toll and said some of those wounded were in critical condition.
Taiz residents have been protesting for several months, pushing for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. Saleh and Yemen's main political parties agreed earlier this month to a Gulf-sponsored plan for transferring power to his vice president and holding an early presidential election.
Earlier this week, Saleh announced a general amnesty for all those who "committed errors" during the country's 10-month political crisis. Saleh said the only exception to the amnesty would be those involved in an apparent attempt to assassinate him back in June.
The Gulf-sponsored plan allows for Saleh to remain president in an honorary capacity until the February 21 presidential election.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
3 killed in Yemen army shelling, militant attack
By Ahmed Al-Haj
Associated Press / November 30, 2011
SANAA, Yemen—Thousands of residents fled the central Yemen city of Taiz Wednesday when government forces shelled the city, killing one person, and two guards were shot dead in the south by Islamist militants, and activist and an official said.
The violence raged despite longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh's agreement to step down. He has been the target of months of protests, and some units of his military have joined the rebels.
Government forces began shelling Taiz Tuesday and continued Wednesday, according to activist Nouh al-Wafi. He said three people were wounded and several shops were destroyed.
Taiz is Yemen's second-largest city and a hotbed of the opposition to Saleh.
The city is often shelled by the army in response to hit-and-run attacks by armed tribesmen and soldiers who support the anti-government protesters.
In the southern province of Aden, a security official said gunmen opened fire on a security officer of the special forces while driving in the Khor Maksar town, killing two of his guards. The officer escaped unharmed.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with security rules, said the attackers were believed to be al-Qaida-linked militants. Yemen has one of the world's most active al-Qaida branches.
Tens of thousands of Yemenis demonstrated in Aden Wednesday on the 44th anniversary of independence of South Yemen from Britain. South and North Yemen merged under Saleh in 1990.
Also, thousands demonstrated in the southern town of Ibb, activist Ahmed Aqil said.
The demonstrators called for Saleh to be put on trial for alleged corruption and killing of protesters during the nine-month uprising.
Saleh signed a U.S.-backed power transfer deal, brokered by neighboring countries, last week in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. It transfers power to his vice president and grants Saleh immunity from prosecution.
Associated Press / November 30, 2011
SANAA, Yemen—Thousands of residents fled the central Yemen city of Taiz Wednesday when government forces shelled the city, killing one person, and two guards were shot dead in the south by Islamist militants, and activist and an official said.
The violence raged despite longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh's agreement to step down. He has been the target of months of protests, and some units of his military have joined the rebels.
Government forces began shelling Taiz Tuesday and continued Wednesday, according to activist Nouh al-Wafi. He said three people were wounded and several shops were destroyed.
Taiz is Yemen's second-largest city and a hotbed of the opposition to Saleh.
The city is often shelled by the army in response to hit-and-run attacks by armed tribesmen and soldiers who support the anti-government protesters.
In the southern province of Aden, a security official said gunmen opened fire on a security officer of the special forces while driving in the Khor Maksar town, killing two of his guards. The officer escaped unharmed.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with security rules, said the attackers were believed to be al-Qaida-linked militants. Yemen has one of the world's most active al-Qaida branches.
Tens of thousands of Yemenis demonstrated in Aden Wednesday on the 44th anniversary of independence of South Yemen from Britain. South and North Yemen merged under Saleh in 1990.
Also, thousands demonstrated in the southern town of Ibb, activist Ahmed Aqil said.
The demonstrators called for Saleh to be put on trial for alleged corruption and killing of protesters during the nine-month uprising.
Saleh signed a U.S.-backed power transfer deal, brokered by neighboring countries, last week in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. It transfers power to his vice president and grants Saleh immunity from prosecution.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
New Yemen PM promises govt soon, gets Saudi, UAE help
Tue Nov 29, 2011
SANAA Nov 29 (Reuters) - Yemen's prime minister-designate promised on Tuesday to announce his government within days, saying Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would help the country with oil and electricity as it tries to pull back from the brink of civil war.
Mohammed Basindwa, a former foreign minister, has been tasked under a Gulf-brokered peace plan with forming the interim cabinet after President Ali Abdullah Saleh handed power to his deputy following 10 months of protests seeking his overthrow.
"The government will be announced within days," Basindwa told a meeting of opposition groups that he led during the protests against Saleh.
Basindwa said he had told the Saudi and UAE foreign ministers that "Yemen urgently needed immediate support in the electricity and oil sectors ... and they agreed to that".
It was not clear on what terms the two Gulf states were offering to help with the oil and power.
However, earlier this year Riyadh granted three million barrels of crude oil to Yemen, whose modest exports -- a source of revenue for imports of staple foodstuffs -- have often been halted by attacks on pipelines during the political standoff.
Yemeni Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has been empowered to run the country during an interim period, has called an early presidential election on Feb. 21, 2012 as part of the Gulf Coooperation Council initiative.
Hadi named Basindwa, who joined the opposition during the protests, as interim premier on Sunday.
Under the power transfer plan which Saleh signed in Riyadh last week, a government should be formed with the participation of opposition groups.
But it also effectively ensures Saleh and his family immunity from prosecution. This has angered youth organisers of the protests against Saleh's 33-year rule, during which hundreds of people have been killed and simmering conflicts with separatists and both Sunni and Shi'ite rebels have flared.
SANAA Nov 29 (Reuters) - Yemen's prime minister-designate promised on Tuesday to announce his government within days, saying Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would help the country with oil and electricity as it tries to pull back from the brink of civil war.
Mohammed Basindwa, a former foreign minister, has been tasked under a Gulf-brokered peace plan with forming the interim cabinet after President Ali Abdullah Saleh handed power to his deputy following 10 months of protests seeking his overthrow.
"The government will be announced within days," Basindwa told a meeting of opposition groups that he led during the protests against Saleh.
Basindwa said he had told the Saudi and UAE foreign ministers that "Yemen urgently needed immediate support in the electricity and oil sectors ... and they agreed to that".
It was not clear on what terms the two Gulf states were offering to help with the oil and power.
However, earlier this year Riyadh granted three million barrels of crude oil to Yemen, whose modest exports -- a source of revenue for imports of staple foodstuffs -- have often been halted by attacks on pipelines during the political standoff.
Yemeni Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has been empowered to run the country during an interim period, has called an early presidential election on Feb. 21, 2012 as part of the Gulf Coooperation Council initiative.
Hadi named Basindwa, who joined the opposition during the protests, as interim premier on Sunday.
Under the power transfer plan which Saleh signed in Riyadh last week, a government should be formed with the participation of opposition groups.
But it also effectively ensures Saleh and his family immunity from prosecution. This has angered youth organisers of the protests against Saleh's 33-year rule, during which hundreds of people have been killed and simmering conflicts with separatists and both Sunni and Shi'ite rebels have flared.
Stability remains elusive for Yemen
November 29, 2011
By James Fallon
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh last week signed a deal crafted by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to exit from power. While a marginally positive development, the pact is not sufficient to restore political stability in the near future. There are serious challenges to implementation and the ten-month political crisis has made ink on paper less relevant than the competing interests of Yemen's political players. Military and political power has fragmented to such a degree over the past ten months that repairing the state will be a difficult and protracted process. Furthermore, the deal does not satisfy the demands of protestors who have emerged as influential political stakeholders over the course of the crisis. And while most establishment players will likely work with the deal, they are not likely to quickly abandon any territorial, political, or military advantage gained over the past ten months.
Under the agreement, Saleh is to transfer his presidential powers to Vice President Abed Rabo Mansour Hadi while remaining honorary president for 90 days. Within this time, the vice president is expected to steward the formation of a national unity government chaired by an opposition figure (Hadi has tapped opposition leader and long-time Yemeni politician Mohammed Basindwa for the task) and preside over a presidential election, currently slated for February 2012. Hadi will also lead efforts to restructure the military. In return, Saleh is to receive immunity from prosecution.
But the deal is unlikely to usher in the return of a normal political process in such a neat timeframe. The most immediate challenge will be demilitarizing major cities such as Sana'a and Taiz and restructuring the military. Certain units remain under the control of Saleh's family members and allies, and others are controlled by their political rivals -- the GCC deal does not change this reality. Tribal forces have also proven formidable and have gained military control of some parts of the country; on-again off-again clashes between tribesmen and pro-Saleh units continue north of the capital. Should Saleh leave the country during the transition period, as has been rumored, it could reinforce the transition process's credibility. But he would still exercise influence. On Nov. 26, he issued a general amnesty, highlighting the ambiguity of his current position; a tactic that he has employed consistently to maintain his power. Protesters will continue to fill the streets in order to draw concessions from the political establishment; they reject the immunity clause in the GCC deal and remain suspicious of establishment opposition figures. Street protests alone are unlikely to derail the political process, but will influence its credibility and ultimate success or failure.
Apart from political wrangling, Yemen will also continue to face serious territorial challenges. The issue of southern independence, which has been largely eclipsed by the political standoff, will likely resurface as the country grapples with building a new governing structure. Further, the situation in Sa'ada province has deteriorated significantly, with increasing clashes between Salafist and Houthi militias. Clandestine financial or military assistance for these groups from the Gulf countries and Iran is difficult to gauge, but the perception alone heightens tensions. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has also gained room to operate as a result of the crisis and the state will remain constrained in its ability to confront the group. AQAP, however, will be hard pressed to cause any sustained disruptions to Saudi oil output or sea transport through the Gulf of Aden, and is highly unlikely to exercise any direct influence in the political process. The United States and Saudi Arabia will continue to use their military and intelligence capabilities to confront the group -- but neither of these countries has the capacity to effect a sustainable military solution to Yemen's problems.
James Fallon is an associate with Eurasia Group's Middle East practice.
By James Fallon
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh last week signed a deal crafted by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to exit from power. While a marginally positive development, the pact is not sufficient to restore political stability in the near future. There are serious challenges to implementation and the ten-month political crisis has made ink on paper less relevant than the competing interests of Yemen's political players. Military and political power has fragmented to such a degree over the past ten months that repairing the state will be a difficult and protracted process. Furthermore, the deal does not satisfy the demands of protestors who have emerged as influential political stakeholders over the course of the crisis. And while most establishment players will likely work with the deal, they are not likely to quickly abandon any territorial, political, or military advantage gained over the past ten months.
Under the agreement, Saleh is to transfer his presidential powers to Vice President Abed Rabo Mansour Hadi while remaining honorary president for 90 days. Within this time, the vice president is expected to steward the formation of a national unity government chaired by an opposition figure (Hadi has tapped opposition leader and long-time Yemeni politician Mohammed Basindwa for the task) and preside over a presidential election, currently slated for February 2012. Hadi will also lead efforts to restructure the military. In return, Saleh is to receive immunity from prosecution.
But the deal is unlikely to usher in the return of a normal political process in such a neat timeframe. The most immediate challenge will be demilitarizing major cities such as Sana'a and Taiz and restructuring the military. Certain units remain under the control of Saleh's family members and allies, and others are controlled by their political rivals -- the GCC deal does not change this reality. Tribal forces have also proven formidable and have gained military control of some parts of the country; on-again off-again clashes between tribesmen and pro-Saleh units continue north of the capital. Should Saleh leave the country during the transition period, as has been rumored, it could reinforce the transition process's credibility. But he would still exercise influence. On Nov. 26, he issued a general amnesty, highlighting the ambiguity of his current position; a tactic that he has employed consistently to maintain his power. Protesters will continue to fill the streets in order to draw concessions from the political establishment; they reject the immunity clause in the GCC deal and remain suspicious of establishment opposition figures. Street protests alone are unlikely to derail the political process, but will influence its credibility and ultimate success or failure.
Apart from political wrangling, Yemen will also continue to face serious territorial challenges. The issue of southern independence, which has been largely eclipsed by the political standoff, will likely resurface as the country grapples with building a new governing structure. Further, the situation in Sa'ada province has deteriorated significantly, with increasing clashes between Salafist and Houthi militias. Clandestine financial or military assistance for these groups from the Gulf countries and Iran is difficult to gauge, but the perception alone heightens tensions. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has also gained room to operate as a result of the crisis and the state will remain constrained in its ability to confront the group. AQAP, however, will be hard pressed to cause any sustained disruptions to Saudi oil output or sea transport through the Gulf of Aden, and is highly unlikely to exercise any direct influence in the political process. The United States and Saudi Arabia will continue to use their military and intelligence capabilities to confront the group -- but neither of these countries has the capacity to effect a sustainable military solution to Yemen's problems.
James Fallon is an associate with Eurasia Group's Middle East practice.
UN - Security Council Press Statement on Situation in Yemen
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President José Filipe Moraes Cabral (Portugal):
On 29 November, the members of the Security Council heard a briefing on the situation in Yemen from the United Nations Special Adviser, Jamal Benomar, and the Deputy Director for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) Coordination and Response Division, Philippe Lazzarini.
The members of the Security Council commended the efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and of the United Nations Special Adviser, Mr. Benomar. They welcomed the agreement by the parties, on the basis of the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative, as well as the signing of the initiative by the President of Yemen, and the signing by the parties of the implementation mechanism, thus beginning the period of peaceful transition of power, as called for in Security Council resolution 2014 (2011).
The members of the Security Council agreed that the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative and implementation mechanism must now be implemented in a serious, transparent and timely manner, and in a spirit of inclusion and reconciliation. They noted the Security Council’s support for Yemen in its efforts to reach key milestones in the implementation plan, and expected the parties to honour the timetable set out in the agreement, including the formation of a Government of National Consensus, presidential elections within 90 days, a national dialogue, a constitutional review and a programme of reforms that start to tackle the profound humanitarian, economic and security challenges that Yemen faces.
The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their commitment to the territorial integrity and unity of Yemen. They urged all the parties to reject violence, refrain from any further provocations and to fully implement Security Council resolution 2014 (2011). The members of the Security Council reiterated that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable. They deplored the violence on 24 November that reportedly led to five deaths in Sana’a. The members of the Security Council emphasized the need for increased and unimpeded humanitarian access to address the growing crisis. The members of the Security Council also called on all the Yemeni parties to work with the increasing support of the United Nations, international community and the GCC countries, immediately towards achieving peace, stability and reconciliation, as well as alleviating the humanitarian and economic situation in Yemen.
The members of the Security Council welcomed the efforts of the good offices of the Secretary-General and the dispatch of the United Nations electoral assistance mission. They reaffirmed their intention to continue to actively monitor the security, political and humanitarian situation in Yemen and the implementation of Security Council resolution 2014 (2011). They looked forward to a further update on the situation within 30 days, including on the status of the implementation of the political transition agreements.
On 29 November, the members of the Security Council heard a briefing on the situation in Yemen from the United Nations Special Adviser, Jamal Benomar, and the Deputy Director for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) Coordination and Response Division, Philippe Lazzarini.
The members of the Security Council commended the efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and of the United Nations Special Adviser, Mr. Benomar. They welcomed the agreement by the parties, on the basis of the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative, as well as the signing of the initiative by the President of Yemen, and the signing by the parties of the implementation mechanism, thus beginning the period of peaceful transition of power, as called for in Security Council resolution 2014 (2011).
The members of the Security Council agreed that the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative and implementation mechanism must now be implemented in a serious, transparent and timely manner, and in a spirit of inclusion and reconciliation. They noted the Security Council’s support for Yemen in its efforts to reach key milestones in the implementation plan, and expected the parties to honour the timetable set out in the agreement, including the formation of a Government of National Consensus, presidential elections within 90 days, a national dialogue, a constitutional review and a programme of reforms that start to tackle the profound humanitarian, economic and security challenges that Yemen faces.
The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their commitment to the territorial integrity and unity of Yemen. They urged all the parties to reject violence, refrain from any further provocations and to fully implement Security Council resolution 2014 (2011). The members of the Security Council reiterated that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable. They deplored the violence on 24 November that reportedly led to five deaths in Sana’a. The members of the Security Council emphasized the need for increased and unimpeded humanitarian access to address the growing crisis. The members of the Security Council also called on all the Yemeni parties to work with the increasing support of the United Nations, international community and the GCC countries, immediately towards achieving peace, stability and reconciliation, as well as alleviating the humanitarian and economic situation in Yemen.
The members of the Security Council welcomed the efforts of the good offices of the Secretary-General and the dispatch of the United Nations electoral assistance mission. They reaffirmed their intention to continue to actively monitor the security, political and humanitarian situation in Yemen and the implementation of Security Council resolution 2014 (2011). They looked forward to a further update on the situation within 30 days, including on the status of the implementation of the political transition agreements.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Can Yemen's New Prime Minister Really Bring Peace?
By Daniel Tovrov
November 28, 2011
Living up to his task of rebuilding the national government, Yemen's transitional president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi named opposition leader Mohammed Basindwa as the country's new prime minister on Sunday.
Hadi was vice-president under Ali Abdullah Saleh, who despite making an appearance on Monday and pardoning protestors (although not the ones who tried to kill him by bombing the presidential palace) agreed to step down last week.
In Yemen, the prime minister is the head of the government and is appointed by the president, who is the head of the state. The Council of Ministers, who make up most of the Cabinet, are appointed by the president on the prime minster's recommendation.
Yemen's last Prime Minister, Ali Muhammad Mujawar, was fired by Saleh in March along with other members of the cabinet, but asked to stay on until a new government was formed.
Basindwa has been given the role of forming a new, reconciliation government before presidential elections are held in February.
"A presidential decree issued today ... mandated Mohammed Salem Basindwa to form a government of national unity," news agency Saba reported.
Basindwa served as a foreign minister for Saleh between 1993 to 1994, but left Saleh's ruling General People's Congress a decade ago to become an independent politician.
Basindwa was endorsed by a number of opposition parties for the prime minister position. But will his appointment do enough to stop the unrest and demonstrations in the country?
If Saleh does actually concede power, he will be the fourth Arab leader to do so this year. His 33-year reign was ended after 10 months of protesting, during which hundreds of people died. Anti-government activists were thrilled with Saleh's apparent departure, but his appearance on Monday angered those who hoped Saleh was gone from Yemeni politics for good.
Saleh's departure does open up Yemen to new threats. The former leader had unified the many fractious groups in Yemen by using force and strategic allegiances -- however, now the many tribes and militant groups in the country are finding room to operate since Saleh is weakened.
On Sunday, Shi'ite rebels from the Zaidi sect allegedly attacked a Sunni Islamist school, among other places, in the province of Saada. At least 24 people were killed and 50 wounded, according to Voice of America News.
In the three months leading up to the new presidential elections, Hadi and Basindwa will also have to deal with southern separatists, Salafi tribes and a branch of al-Qaida.
November 28, 2011
Living up to his task of rebuilding the national government, Yemen's transitional president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi named opposition leader Mohammed Basindwa as the country's new prime minister on Sunday.
Hadi was vice-president under Ali Abdullah Saleh, who despite making an appearance on Monday and pardoning protestors (although not the ones who tried to kill him by bombing the presidential palace) agreed to step down last week.
In Yemen, the prime minister is the head of the government and is appointed by the president, who is the head of the state. The Council of Ministers, who make up most of the Cabinet, are appointed by the president on the prime minster's recommendation.
Yemen's last Prime Minister, Ali Muhammad Mujawar, was fired by Saleh in March along with other members of the cabinet, but asked to stay on until a new government was formed.
Basindwa has been given the role of forming a new, reconciliation government before presidential elections are held in February.
"A presidential decree issued today ... mandated Mohammed Salem Basindwa to form a government of national unity," news agency Saba reported.
Basindwa served as a foreign minister for Saleh between 1993 to 1994, but left Saleh's ruling General People's Congress a decade ago to become an independent politician.
Basindwa was endorsed by a number of opposition parties for the prime minister position. But will his appointment do enough to stop the unrest and demonstrations in the country?
If Saleh does actually concede power, he will be the fourth Arab leader to do so this year. His 33-year reign was ended after 10 months of protesting, during which hundreds of people died. Anti-government activists were thrilled with Saleh's apparent departure, but his appearance on Monday angered those who hoped Saleh was gone from Yemeni politics for good.
Saleh's departure does open up Yemen to new threats. The former leader had unified the many fractious groups in Yemen by using force and strategic allegiances -- however, now the many tribes and militant groups in the country are finding room to operate since Saleh is weakened.
On Sunday, Shi'ite rebels from the Zaidi sect allegedly attacked a Sunni Islamist school, among other places, in the province of Saada. At least 24 people were killed and 50 wounded, according to Voice of America News.
In the three months leading up to the new presidential elections, Hadi and Basindwa will also have to deal with southern separatists, Salafi tribes and a branch of al-Qaida.
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