Protests in Yemen Continue Unabated by Saleh's Agreement to Yield Power
Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh
Claro Cortes IV/POOL/Bloomberg
Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Photographer: Claro Cortes IV/POOL/Bloomberg
Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh
Marcel Mettelsiefen/Stringer/Getty Images
Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Photographer: Marcel Mettelsiefen/Stringer/Getty Images
Protests in Yemen showed no signs of ending after President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the opposition agreed to a Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered peace plan.
Demonstrators today rallied in Sana’a, the country’s capital, chanting “Down, down with the regime” and demanding the president’s unconditional departure. In al-Turbah, a district of Taiz province, six people were wounded when police fired on thousands of protesters, Bushra al-Maktari, a protest leader, said in a phone interview.
GCC officials want to avert an escalation of violence in Yemen or a deadly military divide like the one in Libya. Rising social unrest also threatens to strengthen al-Qaeda as it seeks to use Yemen, the poorest Arab nation, as a base from which to destabilize neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of crude oil.
Saleh agreed to a GCC plan that would give him immunity in exchange for ceding power, Tarik al-Shami, spokesman at the ruling General People’s Congress, said in a phone interview yesterday. Saleh would transfer power to a deputy within 30 days and hold elections 60 days after that, he said. The opposition must end protests, accept immunity for Saleh and his aides, al- Shami said.
The ruling party said today that it still supported the GCC plan based on the terms of the agreement and within the framework of the constitution, the official Saba news agency reported, citing an unidentified government official.
Youth Protests
Yemeni youth protest groups rejected the GCC initiative and called for continued rallies against Saleh, the Revolution Coalition of Peaceful Change said today in a press conference in Sana’a. The government “doesn’t keep its word and its existence has become dangerous not only to Yemen but to the entire region,” the group said.
The Joint Meeting Parties, a coalition of six opposition groups, have agreed to the GCC plan. They wouldn’t participate in a national unity government under Saleh during the 30 days he’d remain in power, Mohammed al-Sabri, a leader in the opposition, said. They also support the right to protest.
The ruling party has already informed GCC Secretary-General Abdel Latif al-Zayyani that it endorses the plan, according to spokesman al-Shami. Saleh met with him on April 21, al-Shami said. The GCC, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait, has also had talks with representatives of Yemen’s opposition this month.
Third Leader
Saleh would be the third leader forced from office since popular unrest spread through the Middle East, resulting in the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia. In March, Saleh, 68, agreed to an opposition proposal to hand over power by the end of the year, then backtracked by saying he’d stand down only after a newly elected government was formed and power was transferred to safer hands.
“It is possible that Saleh is maneuvering,” Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said today in a phone interview. “The more time he gets the better it is for himself and his supporters. Thirty days is a long time in Yemeni politics and there is likely to be more squabbling.”
Police and snipers killed 46 demonstrators in the Yemeni capital Sana’a last month, prompting several military and government officials to abandon Saleh’s regime. A total of 109 protesters have been killed since Feb. 11, according to Majed al-Madhaji, a spokesman at the Arabic Sisters Forum for Human Rights in the city.
Obama Comment
A weak central government in Yemen also risks mirroring the situation in Somalia across the Gulf of Aden, where there hasn’t been a functioning administration since 1991. Somalia has become a breeding ground for pirates who attack shipping lanes.
United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan urged all parties in Yemen to agree to the GCC plan in a meeting yesterday with his Yemeni counterpart, Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi, Emirates News Agency said. The GCC “is keen on the stability and unity of Yemen,” the news service cited Abdullah as saying.
The GCC’s plan for the transfer of power in Yemen could “resolve the political crisis in a peaceful and orderly manner,” the Obama administration said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. “We encourage all parties to move swiftly to implement the terms of the agreement,” the White House said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mohammed Hatem in Sana’a at mhatem1@bloomberg.net; Glen Carey in Riyadh at gcarey8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
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