When we last left them he was allegedly on his way out..
“It the end, we may have foreign intervention’’
And what with Al-CIA-Duh being most active there and bin Laden dead again, we better, huh?
"Security forces fired on antigovernment protesters in Sana, Yemen’s capital, yesterday as hundreds of thousands of marchers packed cities around the country to denounce the president and demand his ouster."
"Several top figures who defected from the embattled president’s camp set up their own opposition party yesterday in another blow to the longtime ruler who has clung to power in Yemen despite near-daily protests demanding his ouster.
Police in a southern port town fired tear gas and live ammunition at thousands of protesters calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, injuring 45 people."
"In Yemen yesterday, gunmen on motorcycles sped by and opened fire on hundreds of demonstrators camped out in the early hours of the morning in a port city, killing one and wounding several others, an opposition activist said.
Radwan al-Obisi said the protesters in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida were demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh when they were attacked by men hired by the ruling party."
The only ones not reversing themselves are the people!
"The secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council traveled to the Yemeni capital, Sana, yesterday to offer embattled president Ali Abdullah Saleh a deal to solve Yemen’s political crisis. A Yemeni government statement promised a response within 24 hours.
You know, the same guys currently occupying Bahrain after putting down those protests.
The arrangement calls for the president to hand over power immediately and step down in 30 days, and it sets up presidential elections 60 days later, a Yemeni official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. It also calls for an immediate end to protests.
That LAST ONE looks like a NON-STARTER!!
The plan adheres in part to a draft backed by the United States and the European Union, which also allows immunity from prosecution for Saleh and his family."
Yeah, THAT ALSO has to be a NON-STARTER for the Yemeni people!
What kind of "deal" is that?
"Yemeni authorities arrested dozens of soldiers and military officers for joining antigovernment protesters in an attempt to halt defections chipping away at a critical line of defense for the embattled president, a military official said....
Can't fight government from jail, can they?
In comments to supporters yesterday, Saleh ridiculed the the defectors and other protesters as “cowards’’ and “renegades.’’
That isn't going to help him hold on, is it?
*************
Two people were killed in new protests that broke out across the country yesterday, including 15-year-old Abdel-Hamid Mohammed, who was struck in the eye by a bullet and bled to death, said a medical official in the northern province of Hagga. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to release the information.
Where is the U.S. outrage, 'eh?
--more--"
"Yemen’s president to hand over power in 30 days; Other parties approve deal with hesitation" by Ahmed Al-Haj, Associated Press / April 24, 2011
SANA, Yemen — Yemen’s embattled president agreed yesterday to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a major about-face for the autocratic leader who has ruled for 32 years.
A coalition of seven opposition parties said it also accepted the deal but with reservations. Even if the differences are overcome, those parties do not speak for all of the hundreds of thousands of protesters seeking President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s ouster, and signs were emerging that a deal on those terms would not end confrontations in the streets.
A day earlier, protesters staged the largest of two months of demonstrations, filling a five-lane boulevard across the capital with hundreds of thousands of people.
As an AmeriKan citizen I am envious.
Day after day of protests have presented a stunning display of defiance in the face of a crackdown that has included sniper attacks and killed more than 130 people....
A spokesman for the youth movement that is one of the key organizers of street protests said any deal that protects him from prosecution is unacceptable....
I would feel the same way.
--more--"
"Yemeni protesters oppose Saleh deal" April 25, 2011|By Ahmed Al-Haj, Associated Press
SANA, Yemen — Deep divisions within Yemen’s opposition appeared to doom an Arab proposal for the president to step down within a month, raising the prospect of more bloodshed and instability in a nation already beset by deep poverty and conflict.
You can just feel that foreign intervention getting closer.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled for 32 years, agreed Saturday to the Gulf Cooperation Council’s formula for him to transfer power to his vice president within 30 days of a deal being signed in exchange for immunity from prosecution for him and his sons.
A coalition of seven opposition parties generally accepted the deal. But thousands stood their ground yesterday in a permanent protest camp in part of the capital, Sana, and their leaders said they suspect Saleh is just maneuvering to buy time and cling to power.
They know him!
The protesters say the established opposition political parties taking part in the talks with Arab mediators do not represent them and cannot turn off the rage on the streets.
“President Saleh has in the past agreed to initiatives, and he went back on his word,’’ said Khaled al-Ansi, one of the youth leaders organizing the street protests. “We have no reason to believe that he would not do this again.’’
He will again.
So far, Saleh has outrun more than two months of protests pressing for him to immediately step down, thanks in large part to the unwavering loyalty of the country’s best military units, which are controlled by one of his sons and other close relatives.
How long can he keep running?
That seems to have insulated him even as outrage over the severity of his crackdown on protesters has stripped him of many close allies in his party, his tribe, and the military.
International pressure is also bearing down on him to leave, including pressure from the United States, which had backed his rule with millions of dollars in financial assistance and military aid....
Yeah, we did a 180 on him.
A bloc of Gulf nations, including powerful Saudi Arabia, has been trying to broker an end to the crisis, fearing the potential blowback of more instability in the fragile country on the southern edge of Arabia.
Then send in the troops like you did in Bahrain, Saudi.
But the protesters, who are from an array of different backgrounds and are not represented in the talks, reject the proposal outright and want nothing short of Saleh’s immediate resignation and his trial on charges of corruption and for the killings of unarmed protesters.
WHO can BLAME THEM?
The proposal’s steps call for the established opposition parties to join Saleh in a unity government. The president would then submit his resignation to a Parliament dominated by his own party, which would have to approve or reject it. What happens if they reject it is unclear. If approved, he would transfer his power to his vice president....
That's the "deal?"
The protesters, meanwhile, are calling for more demonstrations in the next few days....
Thousands of protesters, meanwhile, held onto their camp in the capital’s Change Square, where they are ringed by military units that defected to join and protect them.
Their anger has been fed by the heavy crackdown. More than 130 people have been killed by security forces and Saleh supporters since the unrest began in early February.
Yeah, KILLING YOUR OWN PEOPLE never seems to WORK!
--more--"
"100,000 protest in Yemen’s capital; Nine killed amid civil disobedience across the country" April 28, 2011|By Amed Al-Haj, Associated Press
SANA, Yemen — Yemeni security forces opened fire on a massive antigovernment demonstrationin the capital Sana yesterday, killing nine protesters and wounding some 100, a doctor at the scene said.
The violence broke out as about 100,000 government opponents filled a landmark square at the epicenter of the uprising, spilling into the streets around the state television building. Witnesses said security forces, including members of the elite Republican Guard, fired live ammunition and tear gas into the crowd to break it up. Snipers were seen on nearby rooftops aiming at the crowd.
“Many of the dead and wounded were shot in the head and torso,’’ said Dr. Mohammed al-Ibahi.
Yemenis in least 18 cities and towns launched a civil disobedience campaign yesterday in an escalation of their more than two-month-old uprising to bring down long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
An "escalation," huh?
Yes, the poor government is having war waged against it by its own people!
And what is gunning people down in the streets, you insulting PoS war media?
Shops, schools, and government offices were shuttered. The closures are planned twice weekly until Saleh steps down, activists said.
The Yemenis ought to right a textbook on peaceful protests.
Inspired by revolts across the Arab world, Yemenis have staged near-daily protests calling for the ouster of Saleh, the country’s ruler of 32 years. At times, millions have flooded the streets of the capital and other cities and towns. The president has clung to power despite the street protests and defections by many loyalists, including his tribesmen, military officers, and senior officials....
Also yesterday, units of the Republican Guard in the southern port city of Aden clashed with antigovernment demonstrators who were marking the anniversary of the 1994 outbreak of a civil war that saw Saleh’s army suppress an attempt by the southerners to secede.
The more things change....
One protester was killed and dozens were wounded in the clashes that involved tanks and armored cars, according to local activist Wajdi al-Shaabi.
And in the country’s second largest city, Taiz, tens of thousands demonstrated in main streets against a Gulf Arab initiative which has proposed giving Saleh and his family immunity from prosecution if the president steps down within 30 days, activist Nouh al-Wafi said.
Elsewhere, two soldiers were killed and three wounded when masked gunmen attacked a military checkpoint in Zinjibar, the capital of southern Abyan province, which has been a hotbed for Islamic militants.
Colonel Ahmed al-Muhsini of the Zinjibar intelligence office confirmed the attack and said that the assailants fled afterward.
The members of the Gulf Arab initiative, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, will meet Sunday in the Saudi capital Riyadh where its foreign ministers are to fine-tune the draft proposal for ending Yemen’s crisis.
Yemen’s opposition parties said Tuesday they will soon sign the deal, which Saleh has already agreed to. It calls for the creation of national unity government and would have Saleh transfer power to his vice president within 30 days of the signing of the deal. In exchange, Saleh and his family would receive immunity from prosecution.
But the proposal appears to have opened a rift between opposition parties and the protesters on the streets.
Maybe that is what it was meant to do.
Cui bono? Who is still clinging to power?
--more--"
"Tens of thousands rallied across Yemen yesterday, denouncing the killing of 12 protesters the previous day in Sana and demanding the country’s longtime ruler step down.
Demonstrators condemned Wednesday’s brutal crackdown by forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana and several other Yemeni cities.
Wednesday’s violence drew a condemnation from the US Embassy, which said it was distressed by the killings.
Finally!
It urged Yemenis to avoid “all provocative demonstrations, marches, and speeches in the coming days’’ and called on security forces to refrain from using violence against demonstrators....
They CONDEMNED the PROTESTERS?
On Wednesday, security forces backed by snipers on rooftops, fired into a crowd of demonstrators in Sana, killing 12 and wounding nearly 200.
Opposition parties said in a joint statement that Wednesday’s killings were a “savage massacre’’ and constituted a crime against humanity by Saleh and the members of his family.
Yeah, he's a U.S. ally all right.
Foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council will meet Sunday in the Saudi capital Riyadh to fine-tune a draft proposal, accepted by Saleh and opposition political parties, for ending Yemen’s crisis.
--more--"
That won't matter:
"Yemen president backs away from deal to resign" by Associated Press / May 1, 2011
SANA, Yemen — Yemen’s embattled president backed away from a mediated deal that would have seen him step down in exchange for legal immunity, and his forces killed four people yesterday while pushing hundreds of antigovernment demonstrators out of a square where they had been camped, witnesses said.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh said he did not want to sign the deal that was mediated by a bloc of neighboring Gulf countries, said his close ally, Abed al-Jundi....
After everyone went to all that trouble?
Looks like the protesters were right about the guy after all.
Jundi said Saleh objected to signing the agreement, saying it should be signed by the leader of his political party, the Ruling Party Congress. He added that Saleh also wanted to ensure that he would remain president to oversee a 30-day transition period after signing the deal.
Look at him with the "yeah, but, ifs."
A leading opposition member, Mohammed Basnadwa, said they subsequently told the senior Gulf mediator that they would not agree to any deal unless Saleh signed it first.
It was a new blow to efforts to mediate the months-old crisis between the US-backed Saleh and tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding the ouster of their ruler of 32 years....
While the meeting was being held, Saleh’s forces, backed by tanks and heavy weapons, forcibly removed about 1,500 demonstrators from a square where they had been camping in the Mansour district of the southern port city of Aden for about two months. Four demonstrators died of gunshot wounds, said activist Wajdi al-Shaabi.
Isn't that kind of an in-your-face move as pace talks were allegedly being held?
--more--"
"Bid to end Yemen conflict nears collapse" by Associated Press / May 2, 2011
SANA, Yemen — A deal to end Yemen’s political crisis neared collapse yesterday after the country’s embattled president refused to sign it, leaving a deadlock that threatens to plunge the impoverished Arab nation and key United States ally deeper into disorder and bloodshed.
An unraveling of the deal for Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down after nearly three months of protests against his rule would greatly increase the prospects of more bloodshed in a nation long beset by serious conflict and deep poverty and which is home to Al Qaeda’s most active offshoot.
At least 140 people have been killed in the government’s crackdown on the protesters, who have nonetheless grown in number week after week. The violence, which has included sniper attacks, has prompted several top military commanders, ruling party members, diplomats, and others to defect to the opposition, largely isolating the president.
Still, Saleh has clung to power, due in part to the key backing of Yemen’s best trained and equipped military units, which are under the command of one of his sons and other close relatives.
And U.S. support. If they removed that he'd be gone in a flash.
“There will likely be more violence now,’’ said analyst Fares al-Saqqaf. “It the end, we may have foreign intervention to end the chaos and bloodshed,’’ he predicted.
Those always ADD TO IT!
A mediation plan put forward by six US allies grouped in the Gulf Cooperation Council had looked close to fruition, with the established opposition political parties and Saleh agreeing to it....
The council nations’ foreign ministers met yesterday in Riyadh and said they were sending the council’s secretary general, Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, back to Yemen to try to salvage the deal. The council represents Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain.
How ironic that the repressive government of Bahrain and the Libyan-bombing government of Qatar are trying to make peace in Yemen, no?
The street protesters rejected the deal and said nothing less than Saleh’s immediate resignation would persuade them to halt their demonstrations.
Saleh told a council envoy late Saturday that he would send representatives to sign the deal — rather than signing it himself — at a ceremony that had been scheduled for yesterday or today in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
The opposition said it would not sign it unless Saleh did and the council said it was indefinitely postponing the ceremony.
--more--"
