In Yemeni capital,students back to university despite war

By Nasser Arrabyee 13/10/2011

Next Sunday is happy day for tens of thousands of university students.

 The government finally has found new places for them to study in instead of the buildings of Sanaa university which is still occupied by defected troops and Islamic militants who  wish to establish " Islamic State" if they succeed to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh's a regime. 

Life must continue,and my university must be open,says Ashraq Rashed who refused to stay at  home after the  armed opposition and  defected  troops and Islamic militants closed and occupied her Sana'a university early last month. 

Ishraq, who studies medicine, fifth year,is one of tens of thousands of female and  male students who were deprived from going to university because the opposition protests have been   camping  out at the gate of university since last February.

Ashraq said that she and hundreds of her colleagues swore they would study this year  in the halls of university or even in tents or under trees.

"We must study this year by hook or by crook, we are not ready to lose this year after we lost the previous year," Said Ashraq as she goes to a temporary class room in the hospital of Al Thawrah in the capital Sanaa.

Jamal Abdu, another medicine student said if the government would fail to protect them in the new places as it failed to protect them in Sanaa university, they would coordinate classes at their own houses.

" The majority of students are now fed up with politics, they want to study even under trees," he said.

The Sanaa university is completely occupied by defected troops supported by  armed Islamic extremists who want  to establish what they call Islamic Caliphate after collapse of President Saleh regime.

When students went to Sanaa university this year on September 17th, the day announced by the government as the beginning of the academic year, they were forced to go out from classes and some students and professors  were attacked and  beaten by the defected troops and the militants.

The defected troops belong to the defected general Ali Muhsen who declared his support for anti-Saleh protests last March. 

The  majority of militants belong to the cleric Abdul Majid Al Zandani, who also supported the protesters last March and promised them to establish the Islamic Caliphate. The headquarters of Muhsen's first armored division and the Zandani's Eman religious university are located around the occupied Sanaa university.

The government announced Tuesday that study for all colleges of Sanaa university  would resume starting from October 16th, 2011 in hired halls of hotels and tents.

"We set up tents and hired halls in sone hotels in places far from violence and tension," Said Khaled Tamim, head of the occupied Sanaa university Tuesday.2

" I am very happy, very happy that I am going to study on Sunday, I can not wait," said Afnan who studies dentistry.

Meanwhile tension  remains high in the capital and other places especially after statements by general Muhsen.


The defected general Muhsen said Monday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh  did not win  the  presidential elections of 2006. 

In the 2006 presidential elections, President Saleh had 78  per cent of the vote while his main rival,  the opposition coalition candidate, Faisal Bin Shamlan had 21 per cent of the vote.    

The elections  were  recognized by the opposition and  the international community as " reasonably free, fair and competitive".


" At the end of the day of election, I went to President  Saleh in his palace, he  was very sad, he told me the computer made a mistake, and he would correct it," general Muhsen told a group of journalists in his office.

 Then , they spent three days to correct that " mistake"  and Saleh was announced as the winner and Bin Shamlan the loser.

" Saleh is still alive, Allah Almighty  may preserve him and give him long life, you can make sure of what I am saying by asking him," said the general to the journalists who were only demanding him to release their colleague Mohammed Sudam, Reuter's reporter, who was kidnapped by the general's soldiers two days ago.


" this is the real story of the 2006 elections, so what constitutional legitimacy he is talking about," the general wonders.

"it's only today I know that   Mohammed  Sudam is a journalist, I know him only as the translator of the president," he said about the kidnapped journalist, before he released him.

Surprisingly, the opposition activist, lawyer Jamal Al Jubi,who worked as the head of the legal team of Bin Shamlan in 2006 presidential elections said the opposition candidate lost and Saleh won.

"There was some forgery but it does not mean we would have won," said the lawyer Al Jubi.

"I was the head of the legal team of Bin Shamlan, we did not claim we won, we were expecting between 30 to 35 of the vote not only 21,"  he said.

" I am wondering now why general Muhsen says now Saleh did not win," he added.

Father of Nobel  prize winner blames daughter and defends President Saleh

Father of Tawakul Karman, the Yemeni  female activist who shared the Nobel prize for peace last week with two other Liberian women, criticized her daughter for being rude to President.
 
Abdul Salam Karman, one of Saleh's advisors,said his daughter's win of Nobel prize was an honor to Yemen.

" But I am sad that my daughter did not listen to my talk, yes she has the right to oppose, but politely," he said.

"the exaggeration and extremism would lead Yemen to the he'll"

"President Saleh is not with someone against someone, I know him since more  than 33 years since he was the military commander of Taiz," said Mr Karman on Sunday October 9th, while voting for a new chairman for the Saleh's advisory council , Shura council.

Mr Karman voted for Abdul Reham Ali Othman who became chairman of Shura council after Abdul Azeez Abdul Ghani who died late last August from injuries he suffered in the failed assassination attempt against Saleh last June.