Source : New York Times, By SCOTT SHANE
31/03/2011
WASHINGTON — Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American cleric who is a top propagandist for Al Qaeda, broke his silence on the uprisings in the Arab world on Wednesday, claiming that Islamist extremists had gleefully watched the success of protest movements against governments they had long despised.
“The mujahedeen around the world are going through a moment of elation,” Mr. Awlaki wrote in a new issue of the English-language Qaeda magazine Inspire, “and I wonder whether the West is aware of the upsurge of mujahedeen activity in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Arabia, Algeria and Morocco?”
Mr. Awlaki’s four-page essay, titled “The Tsunami of Change,” is among a handful of statements by Al Qaeda’s leaders countering the common view among Western analysts that the terrorist network looks irrelevant at a time of change unprecedented in the modern Middle East.
In ousting the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt and threatening other Arab leaders, a core of secular-leaning demonstrators have called for democracy and generally avoided violence — all at odds with Al Qaeda’s creed as it tries to instill rigid Islamist rule across the world.
In an audio statement this month, the Egyptian deputy to Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahri, pleaded with the Egyptians who toppled President Hosni Mubarak to shun the United States, reject democracy and embrace Islam as the answer to their problems.
Arguing that Al Qaeda deserved some indirect credit for the uprisings, he said the United States’ willingness to drop its support for Mr.
Mubarak and other authoritarian leaders was a “direct result” of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mr. Awlaki’s essay is more colloquial and confident, asserting that the momentous change in Arab countries left Western leaders “confused, worried, and unhappy for the departure of some of its closest and most reliable friends.”
He quotes American commentators who describe the uprisings as a refutation of Al Qaeda, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s assertion last month that “the success of peaceful protests has discredited the extremists.”
Mr. Awlaki, who is thought to be hiding in Yemen, argues that such conclusions are premature. “The outcome doesn’t have to be an Islamic government for us to consider what is occurring to be a step in the right direction,” he writes.
By “breaking the barriers of fear” and toppling leaders who protected “American imperial interests,” he asserts, the uprisings should play to the long-term advantage of Al Qaeda’s philosophy.
He points to Yemen and Libya, where embattled leaders are clinging to power, as places where turmoil could open possibilities for jihadists to organize.
Mr. Awlaki’s statement comes as some American officials have expressed anxiety about just that possibility. In Libya, an American military official said this week that there were “flickers” of intelligence suggesting that Qaeda or Hezbollah operatives were among the rebels fighting Col.
Muammar el-Qaddafi. And in Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s weakening grip on power could take pressure off Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Expressing hope that revolution will spread from Yemen to Saudi Arabia, Mr. Awlaki asks, “Doesn’t the West realize how the jihadi work would just take off as soon as the regimes of the Gulf start crumbling?”
Jarret Brachman, a counterterrorism analyst and author of “Global Jihadism,” said the Qaeda propagandists are “consummate opportunists — no matter what happens, these guys will try to spin it to their benefit.” But he said several influential Qaeda theorists appear to believe that the departure of authoritarian leaders will prove advantageous.
“Al Qaeda recognizes how marginal they are on this,” Mr. Brachman said. “But it could open the kind of operating space they’ve wanted for a long time.”
Inspire magazine, five issues of which have been posted on militant Web sites, is believed to be the work primarily of Samir Khan, a Saudi-born American who grew up in Queens and North Carolina before moving to Yemen in 2009.
It is a slick, graphics-heavy, irreverent publication aimed at young Muslims attracted to the extremist cause; the latest issue includes an invitation to readers to e-mail questions to Mr. Awlaki and a two-page primer on how to use an AK automatic rifle.
Mr. Khan himself contributed to Inspire an appeal to Egyptians not to stop after overthrowing Mr. Mubarak but to impose religious rule.
“The question now comes: what do you do if your government decides not to rule by Shariah?” he asks, referring to Islamic law. “Who does your loyalty go to? The state or Allah?”
Thursday, 31 March 2011
In Yemen, Sit-In Against the Government Yields Business Opportunities
Source: The New York Times, By Laura Kasinof
31/03/2011
SANA’A-The antigovernment sit-in here in the capital has endured everything from violent attacks to driving rain over the last two months. It has transformed from a small student demonstration at the university to a vast mass of determination stretching for two miles down an adjacent boulevard. It is shaking the government.
And it has turned into a bustling business opportunity. After all, the tens of thousands of protesters say they intend to stay until President Ali Abdullah Saleh goes. And they have to eat.
One enterprising young man who used to sell snacks from a pushcart in front of the main gates of the university, the center of the protest, now has set up a makeshift shop with wooden beams and crates in the same location. So busy is he, selling brightly colored packs of date-filled cookies, canned fruit drinks and other snacks to a long line of men, he responds to a reporter’s questions only by yelling his name, Zacharia Thabet.
A new branch of a well-known family-owned restaurant chain sells 3,000 plates of eggs and beans at breakfast and another 3,000 at dinner. The manager, Abdel Kareem al-Shaibani, says the restaurant is busier than his brother’s popular branch three miles down the road.
Though he said he sided with neither the protesters nor Mr. Saleh, he just cut the price of a plate of beans to 45 cents from 70 cents. “A service to the youth,” he called it. “I feel like I’m helping the future.”
“The young people even ask me, ‘Can I help you get gas?’ ” he said. “ ‘Can I help you get your supplies?’ ” he said.
Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, is not exactly a hotbed for business. But the demonstration has created a captive audience, or rather market, representing a wide range of society, if dominated by tribesmen from the countryside.
One commonality: in a country with a 35 percent unemployment rate, many of those camped on the street here have no pressing need to be elsewhere.
Some have found their inner entrepreneur. Mohamed Saleh, a skinny young man, sells Photoshopped images of Mr. Saleh for 20 cents each, one of the leader dressed as an American professional wrestler, another as Osama bin Laden.
They are souvenirs of Yemen’s uprising against a man who has ruled the country for 32 years.
“Of course business is good,” he said. “Many people want to buy these things.”
Just down the street, Abdullah Majhady, 23, sells white headbands for 20 cents marked with the slogans and chants used here: “This is a youth revolution,” “I am the next martyr,” and a simple directive to Mr. Saleh, “Leave.”
His business booms on Fridays, when even more people come to the protest for noon prayers. Many of them are working people from the capital, with a little more money for nonessentials. The headbands fly out by the score.
“A new economy was created in this square,” said one student leader, Humaid Mansour, 25, who has been at the sit-in since mid-February.
Carts selling egg sandwiches, corn on the cob and cucumbers are a short walk down from Mr. Majhady. Past that, a crowd of 100 men is an open-air stage, where activists make passionate speeches and recite revolutionary poetry.
In the evening musicians perform songs, many with politically inspired lyrics. The young men dance.
In a place where there are few recreational activities for the young, the carnival atmosphere is as unusual as the retail fever.
There are touches of socialism, too. When night falls, volunteer members of a cleaning committee sweep through the sit-in area, including the line of portable toilets next to a makeshift medical clinic, setting everything to rights for another day of chanting and waiting.
And however much money changes hands, the laws of supply and demand are not the only rules that apply to sellers and buyers.
Shopkeepers, restaurant workers, vendors — all have been witnesses to the demonstration’s growth from a meager band of students to a mass of tens of thousands camped out day and night.
Early on, they saw protesters beaten daily by plainclothes government supporters. Two Fridays ago, they saw snipers open fire. At least 50 people were killed.
Abulaziz Sama pointed to the spot outside the cafeteria where he works. There, he said, a man was shot in the head by a sniper.
“After that,” said Mr. Sama, “we closed the shop for the day.”
31/03/2011
SANA’A-The antigovernment sit-in here in the capital has endured everything from violent attacks to driving rain over the last two months. It has transformed from a small student demonstration at the university to a vast mass of determination stretching for two miles down an adjacent boulevard. It is shaking the government.
And it has turned into a bustling business opportunity. After all, the tens of thousands of protesters say they intend to stay until President Ali Abdullah Saleh goes. And they have to eat.
One enterprising young man who used to sell snacks from a pushcart in front of the main gates of the university, the center of the protest, now has set up a makeshift shop with wooden beams and crates in the same location. So busy is he, selling brightly colored packs of date-filled cookies, canned fruit drinks and other snacks to a long line of men, he responds to a reporter’s questions only by yelling his name, Zacharia Thabet.
A new branch of a well-known family-owned restaurant chain sells 3,000 plates of eggs and beans at breakfast and another 3,000 at dinner. The manager, Abdel Kareem al-Shaibani, says the restaurant is busier than his brother’s popular branch three miles down the road.
Though he said he sided with neither the protesters nor Mr. Saleh, he just cut the price of a plate of beans to 45 cents from 70 cents. “A service to the youth,” he called it. “I feel like I’m helping the future.”
“The young people even ask me, ‘Can I help you get gas?’ ” he said. “ ‘Can I help you get your supplies?’ ” he said.
Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, is not exactly a hotbed for business. But the demonstration has created a captive audience, or rather market, representing a wide range of society, if dominated by tribesmen from the countryside.
One commonality: in a country with a 35 percent unemployment rate, many of those camped on the street here have no pressing need to be elsewhere.
Some have found their inner entrepreneur. Mohamed Saleh, a skinny young man, sells Photoshopped images of Mr. Saleh for 20 cents each, one of the leader dressed as an American professional wrestler, another as Osama bin Laden.
They are souvenirs of Yemen’s uprising against a man who has ruled the country for 32 years.
“Of course business is good,” he said. “Many people want to buy these things.”
Just down the street, Abdullah Majhady, 23, sells white headbands for 20 cents marked with the slogans and chants used here: “This is a youth revolution,” “I am the next martyr,” and a simple directive to Mr. Saleh, “Leave.”
His business booms on Fridays, when even more people come to the protest for noon prayers. Many of them are working people from the capital, with a little more money for nonessentials. The headbands fly out by the score.
“A new economy was created in this square,” said one student leader, Humaid Mansour, 25, who has been at the sit-in since mid-February.
Carts selling egg sandwiches, corn on the cob and cucumbers are a short walk down from Mr. Majhady. Past that, a crowd of 100 men is an open-air stage, where activists make passionate speeches and recite revolutionary poetry.
In the evening musicians perform songs, many with politically inspired lyrics. The young men dance.
In a place where there are few recreational activities for the young, the carnival atmosphere is as unusual as the retail fever.
There are touches of socialism, too. When night falls, volunteer members of a cleaning committee sweep through the sit-in area, including the line of portable toilets next to a makeshift medical clinic, setting everything to rights for another day of chanting and waiting.
And however much money changes hands, the laws of supply and demand are not the only rules that apply to sellers and buyers.
Shopkeepers, restaurant workers, vendors — all have been witnesses to the demonstration’s growth from a meager band of students to a mass of tens of thousands camped out day and night.
Early on, they saw protesters beaten daily by plainclothes government supporters. Two Fridays ago, they saw snipers open fire. At least 50 people were killed.
Abulaziz Sama pointed to the spot outside the cafeteria where he works. There, he said, a man was shot in the head by a sniper.
“After that,” said Mr. Sama, “we closed the shop for the day.”
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Islamic State for Al Qaeda, and Sa’ada for Al Houthi rebels in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee/30/03/2011
*Al Qaeda declares Abyan Islamic State and ban women from going out
*Al Houthi wants money for his people in Sa’ada after government disappeared
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) declared Wednesday an Islamic State in one of the Yemeni provinces after full control of its parts.
An internet statement attributed to AQAP, said that the southern province of Abyan has become an Islamic Emirate and should be governed by the Islamic Shariah.
The statement of AQAP called the women in Abyan province (their Islamic Emirate) not to go out at all without necessary needs.
“And she who urgently needs to go out, should be with one of her male relatives, and should have ID with her,” the statement said.
Earlier in the week, militants of Al Qaeda controlled the local broadcasting and the local government buildings and a factory of ammunition in the district of Ja’ar of the province of Abyan. More than 150 local people were killed while looting the factory of ammunition in Ja’ar, a remote and mountainous area where Jihadists activity has been increasing and decreasing since early 1990s.
The serious threat of Al Qaeda in Yemen is always confused with the exaggeration of the government officials and belittling of the opposition.
Both sides try to exploit Al Qaeda for their interest in their political wrangles and Al Qaeda is exploiting both of them to increase and expand.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Shiite rebels in Sa’ada north of the country, Abdul Malik Al Houthi, said that the money of the local central bank of Sa’ada was taken by the governor who quitted last week and returned to Sana’a.
Al Houthi denied Wednesday the reports that he had appointed a governor for Sa’ada instead of the one fled because of the unrest.
Al Houthi rebels have been controlling almost all the province of Sa’ada during the 6-year old on-and off war with the government troops, but the city of Sa’ada, the capital of his province, was always under the control of the central government.
But last week, as the country’s unrest worsened, the President Saleh-appointed governor of Sa’ada, Taha Hajer, quitted and returned to Sana’a.
Al Houthi said in his statement, “ We have not appointed any one as a governor, we have not appointed Fares Mana’a as a governor, we want to topple the regime not to appoint people from it.”
The statement said the soldiers of the state are still safeguarding the buildings of the government compound and security check points are still deployed.
“But the people are complaining from not having received their salaries because the governor took the money from the local central bank of Sa’ada and returned to Sana’a,” Al Houthi said in his statement.
Last week, local people from Sa’ada said that the most famous Yemeni weapon trader, Fares Mana’a declared himself a governor for Sa’ada in presence of representatives from Al Houthi and from the defected army general Ali Muhsen, who was always the commander of the war with Al Houthi since 2004.
Like his close friend general Ali Muhsen, Fares Mana’a declared his support for the “peaceful popular revolution” against President Saleh before he went to govern his province of Sa’ada last week.
*Al Qaeda declares Abyan Islamic State and ban women from going out
*Al Houthi wants money for his people in Sa’ada after government disappeared
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) declared Wednesday an Islamic State in one of the Yemeni provinces after full control of its parts.
An internet statement attributed to AQAP, said that the southern province of Abyan has become an Islamic Emirate and should be governed by the Islamic Shariah.
The statement of AQAP called the women in Abyan province (their Islamic Emirate) not to go out at all without necessary needs.
“And she who urgently needs to go out, should be with one of her male relatives, and should have ID with her,” the statement said.
Earlier in the week, militants of Al Qaeda controlled the local broadcasting and the local government buildings and a factory of ammunition in the district of Ja’ar of the province of Abyan. More than 150 local people were killed while looting the factory of ammunition in Ja’ar, a remote and mountainous area where Jihadists activity has been increasing and decreasing since early 1990s.
The serious threat of Al Qaeda in Yemen is always confused with the exaggeration of the government officials and belittling of the opposition.
Both sides try to exploit Al Qaeda for their interest in their political wrangles and Al Qaeda is exploiting both of them to increase and expand.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Shiite rebels in Sa’ada north of the country, Abdul Malik Al Houthi, said that the money of the local central bank of Sa’ada was taken by the governor who quitted last week and returned to Sana’a.
Al Houthi denied Wednesday the reports that he had appointed a governor for Sa’ada instead of the one fled because of the unrest.
Al Houthi rebels have been controlling almost all the province of Sa’ada during the 6-year old on-and off war with the government troops, but the city of Sa’ada, the capital of his province, was always under the control of the central government.
But last week, as the country’s unrest worsened, the President Saleh-appointed governor of Sa’ada, Taha Hajer, quitted and returned to Sana’a.
Al Houthi said in his statement, “ We have not appointed any one as a governor, we have not appointed Fares Mana’a as a governor, we want to topple the regime not to appoint people from it.”
The statement said the soldiers of the state are still safeguarding the buildings of the government compound and security check points are still deployed.
“But the people are complaining from not having received their salaries because the governor took the money from the local central bank of Sa’ada and returned to Sana’a,” Al Houthi said in his statement.
Last week, local people from Sa’ada said that the most famous Yemeni weapon trader, Fares Mana’a declared himself a governor for Sa’ada in presence of representatives from Al Houthi and from the defected army general Ali Muhsen, who was always the commander of the war with Al Houthi since 2004.
Like his close friend general Ali Muhsen, Fares Mana’a declared his support for the “peaceful popular revolution” against President Saleh before he went to govern his province of Sa’ada last week.
President Saleh willing to transfer powers to opposition government
By Nasser Arrabyee/30/03/2011
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh may transfer all his powers to a government chaired by the opposition as a solution for the crisis, said sources close to mediators on Wednesday.
The chairman of the Islamist party Islah, Mohammed Al Yadomi, or the secretary general of the party, Abdul Wahab Al Ansi, will be the prime minister of the government, Al Wasat weekly quoted unnamed sources as saying.
The mediators between President Saleh and the opposition included the minister Abdul Qader Hilal, tribal leader Ahmed Ismael Abu Huriah, and the chairman of the political security organization (intelligence) Ghaleb, Al Kamish.
The sources said that Saleh met twice on Tuesday with the chairman of the Islamist party, Islah, to discuss the deal.
The new government is expected to be proclaimed today Wednesday, if the opposition agreed on the deal. The portfolios of the government will be equally divided between the ruling party and the Islamist-led opposition coalition.
Earlier in the week, the Yemeni crisis had reached a dangerous turning point. Al Qaeda has become the third party in it.
The opposition and President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government traded charges about murder of more than 150 people on Monday March 28th, 2011, in explosion of ammunition factory in Ja’ar, Abyan south of the country, an area which has become under a total control of Al Qaeda.
The majority of victims were civilians who went to loot the factory of October 7th, in Al Husn area after the disappearance of the army and security forces from their areas.
The Islamist- led opposition coalition which includes Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites, accused, in a statement Tuesday, the embattled Saleh, of colluding with Al Qaeda to attract more attention and support from the west and to stay longer in power.
The government accused the opposition and separatist of helping Al Qaeda.
Before the Monday massacre, the two sides failed to reach a deal to transfer the power and guarantee a safe and honored exit for President Saleh for avoiding possible bloody conflict between two huge rival army groups deployed in the capital Sana’a and other places.
The President Saleh said Sunday March 27th, 2011, he would not offer any more concessions after the opposition refused all his initiatives which met all their demands except “ the immediate ouster”.
His ruling party, in an exceptional meeting on the same day, Sunday, said explicitly, President Saleh would leave the power only at the end of his constitutional current term on September 20th, 2013.
These two statements from Saleh and his party, made the opposition say Saleh is violating a deal which was made between them and Saleh in cooperation with of the American and British ambassadors in Yemen on Wednesday March 23rd, 2011, in which Saleh agreed to leave the power in 60 days only.
The defected army general , Ali Muhsen, the most powerful general, vowed also publicly to topple Saleh and his regime after these two statements from Saleh and his party.
The “ retraction” of Saleh came after successful and peaceful rallies on Friday March 25th, in which Saleh confidently and defiantly said , “ This is the legitimacy of my regime” declaring that he would only hand over the power to “safe and clean” hands not to “conspirators.” , in obvious reference to the opposition leaders.
More than one million supporters assembled around Saleh in the Parade Square in the capital Sana’a on Friday which was called the “Friday of Tolerance.”, to face the “Friday of Departure” called for by the opposition. Hundreds of thousands attended the opposition rally. The opposition media estimated them at more than million and a half.
The state-run media estimated the number of Saleh supporters who attended the Friday rally in Sana’a at more than 2 millions. And many smaller rallies were held in the other cities on the same Friday to support Saleh.
It was special rally as the Saleh’s supporters were extremely angry after the spokesman of the opposition called their supporters to march forward to the Presidential Palace and even to Saleh’s “bed room”.
Such a call by the Islamist leader, Mohammed Qahtan, as viewed by observers here, was in the interest of President Saleh who used it very well to incite the tribesmen considered “Marching to bed rooms” as a “big shame” and socially and unacceptable by Yemenis and their norms and traditions.
Although the talks seemed to be stopped, and the two sides are betting only on the streets, sources from both sides and from western diplomats, confirmed Tuesday that talks are going on for finding out a safe and honored exit for President Saleh and a way to transfer the power from Saleh peacefully and smoothly.
“These conflicting statements are just kind of maneuvering from both sides, to reach reasonable and acceptable deal,” one of the sources said on Tuesday.
The fate of Saleh and his sons and nephews after handing over the power is the most difficult and controversial point. Saleh wants concrete guarantees he would not be sued by anybody after stepping down.
“No one would hand himself over to be hanged,” Saleh said in a meeting held Sunday by the permanent committee, the highest authority of his party.
Saleh asked the leaders of his party to stop making statements to media and writing proposals to him and go to their people in their areas all over Yemen and help security and army forces in maintaining the security and stability.
“You are the legitimate majority, and you should show it to the world, and should go to your people in your areas,” Saleh said.
The President Saleh is still receiving an international and regional support. The United States is very interested in finding out a peaceful and smooth transfer of the power.
The Defense Secretary Robert Gates said earlier this week, US would be facing additional challenges if the current regime collapses in Yemen where Al Qaeda is getting stronger and stronger.
The Secretary general of the Gulf operation Council Abdul Rehman Al Atyah, and Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Ikmal Al Deen Ogli, said in a joint statement in the Saudi capital on Monday, that they support security and stability of Yemen and respect the choice of Yemeni people for avoiding any bloody conflict.
The young people and opposition leaders who protest in the streets demanding the ouster of Saleh, are waiting for a clear-cut position towards President Saleh from US.
The opposition leader Mohammed Al Sabri accused Tuesday the US Defense Ministry of colluding with Saleh.
And the young people demanded, in a statement, the US administration, to declare its position about the ouster of Saleh.
Undoubtedly, Al Qaeda is making advantages of the worsening situation in Yemen.
The four provinces where Al Qaeda is believed to be hiding and strengthening, Abyan, Shabwa in the south, and Mareb and Al Jawf, in the north east, have become almost out of the control of the central government in Sana’a.
For instance, it’s only the tribesmen who run their affairs in Al Jawf after the governor and military and security commanders quit and returned to Sana’a earlier this month.
To add injury to insult, Sa’ada in the north became under full control of the Shiite rebels of Al Houthi after the governor also returned to Sana’a earlier this month.
The Sa’ada people and Al Houthi rebels agreed to let the opposition leader, Fares Mana’a to act as a governor. The businessman Man’a is the Yemen’s most famous weapons trader.
The governors of Mareb, Shabwa, and Abyan have not quitted yet.
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh may transfer all his powers to a government chaired by the opposition as a solution for the crisis, said sources close to mediators on Wednesday.
The chairman of the Islamist party Islah, Mohammed Al Yadomi, or the secretary general of the party, Abdul Wahab Al Ansi, will be the prime minister of the government, Al Wasat weekly quoted unnamed sources as saying.
The mediators between President Saleh and the opposition included the minister Abdul Qader Hilal, tribal leader Ahmed Ismael Abu Huriah, and the chairman of the political security organization (intelligence) Ghaleb, Al Kamish.
The sources said that Saleh met twice on Tuesday with the chairman of the Islamist party, Islah, to discuss the deal.
The new government is expected to be proclaimed today Wednesday, if the opposition agreed on the deal. The portfolios of the government will be equally divided between the ruling party and the Islamist-led opposition coalition.
Earlier in the week, the Yemeni crisis had reached a dangerous turning point. Al Qaeda has become the third party in it.
The opposition and President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government traded charges about murder of more than 150 people on Monday March 28th, 2011, in explosion of ammunition factory in Ja’ar, Abyan south of the country, an area which has become under a total control of Al Qaeda.
The majority of victims were civilians who went to loot the factory of October 7th, in Al Husn area after the disappearance of the army and security forces from their areas.
The Islamist- led opposition coalition which includes Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites, accused, in a statement Tuesday, the embattled Saleh, of colluding with Al Qaeda to attract more attention and support from the west and to stay longer in power.
The government accused the opposition and separatist of helping Al Qaeda.
Before the Monday massacre, the two sides failed to reach a deal to transfer the power and guarantee a safe and honored exit for President Saleh for avoiding possible bloody conflict between two huge rival army groups deployed in the capital Sana’a and other places.
The President Saleh said Sunday March 27th, 2011, he would not offer any more concessions after the opposition refused all his initiatives which met all their demands except “ the immediate ouster”.
His ruling party, in an exceptional meeting on the same day, Sunday, said explicitly, President Saleh would leave the power only at the end of his constitutional current term on September 20th, 2013.
These two statements from Saleh and his party, made the opposition say Saleh is violating a deal which was made between them and Saleh in cooperation with of the American and British ambassadors in Yemen on Wednesday March 23rd, 2011, in which Saleh agreed to leave the power in 60 days only.
The defected army general , Ali Muhsen, the most powerful general, vowed also publicly to topple Saleh and his regime after these two statements from Saleh and his party.
The “ retraction” of Saleh came after successful and peaceful rallies on Friday March 25th, in which Saleh confidently and defiantly said , “ This is the legitimacy of my regime” declaring that he would only hand over the power to “safe and clean” hands not to “conspirators.” , in obvious reference to the opposition leaders.
More than one million supporters assembled around Saleh in the Parade Square in the capital Sana’a on Friday which was called the “Friday of Tolerance.”, to face the “Friday of Departure” called for by the opposition. Hundreds of thousands attended the opposition rally. The opposition media estimated them at more than million and a half.
The state-run media estimated the number of Saleh supporters who attended the Friday rally in Sana’a at more than 2 millions. And many smaller rallies were held in the other cities on the same Friday to support Saleh.
It was special rally as the Saleh’s supporters were extremely angry after the spokesman of the opposition called their supporters to march forward to the Presidential Palace and even to Saleh’s “bed room”.
Such a call by the Islamist leader, Mohammed Qahtan, as viewed by observers here, was in the interest of President Saleh who used it very well to incite the tribesmen considered “Marching to bed rooms” as a “big shame” and socially and unacceptable by Yemenis and their norms and traditions.
Although the talks seemed to be stopped, and the two sides are betting only on the streets, sources from both sides and from western diplomats, confirmed Tuesday that talks are going on for finding out a safe and honored exit for President Saleh and a way to transfer the power from Saleh peacefully and smoothly.
“These conflicting statements are just kind of maneuvering from both sides, to reach reasonable and acceptable deal,” one of the sources said on Tuesday.
The fate of Saleh and his sons and nephews after handing over the power is the most difficult and controversial point. Saleh wants concrete guarantees he would not be sued by anybody after stepping down.
“No one would hand himself over to be hanged,” Saleh said in a meeting held Sunday by the permanent committee, the highest authority of his party.
Saleh asked the leaders of his party to stop making statements to media and writing proposals to him and go to their people in their areas all over Yemen and help security and army forces in maintaining the security and stability.
“You are the legitimate majority, and you should show it to the world, and should go to your people in your areas,” Saleh said.
The President Saleh is still receiving an international and regional support. The United States is very interested in finding out a peaceful and smooth transfer of the power.
The Defense Secretary Robert Gates said earlier this week, US would be facing additional challenges if the current regime collapses in Yemen where Al Qaeda is getting stronger and stronger.
The Secretary general of the Gulf operation Council Abdul Rehman Al Atyah, and Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Ikmal Al Deen Ogli, said in a joint statement in the Saudi capital on Monday, that they support security and stability of Yemen and respect the choice of Yemeni people for avoiding any bloody conflict.
The young people and opposition leaders who protest in the streets demanding the ouster of Saleh, are waiting for a clear-cut position towards President Saleh from US.
The opposition leader Mohammed Al Sabri accused Tuesday the US Defense Ministry of colluding with Saleh.
And the young people demanded, in a statement, the US administration, to declare its position about the ouster of Saleh.
Undoubtedly, Al Qaeda is making advantages of the worsening situation in Yemen.
The four provinces where Al Qaeda is believed to be hiding and strengthening, Abyan, Shabwa in the south, and Mareb and Al Jawf, in the north east, have become almost out of the control of the central government in Sana’a.
For instance, it’s only the tribesmen who run their affairs in Al Jawf after the governor and military and security commanders quit and returned to Sana’a earlier this month.
To add injury to insult, Sa’ada in the north became under full control of the Shiite rebels of Al Houthi after the governor also returned to Sana’a earlier this month.
The Sa’ada people and Al Houthi rebels agreed to let the opposition leader, Fares Mana’a to act as a governor. The businessman Man’a is the Yemen’s most famous weapons trader.
The governors of Mareb, Shabwa, and Abyan have not quitted yet.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Al Qaeda worsens Yemen’s crisis
By Nasser Arrabyee/29/03/2011
The Yemeni crisis has reached a dangerous turning point. Al Qaeda has become the third party in it.
The opposition and President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government traded charges about murder of more than 150 people on Monday March 28th, 2011, in explosion of ammunition factory in Ja’ar, Abyan south of the country, an area which has become under a total control of Al Qaeda.
The majority of victims were civilians who went to loot the factory of October 7th, in Al Husn area after the disappearance of the army and security forces from their areas.
The Islamist- led opposition coalition which includes Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites, accused, in a statement Tuesday, the embattled Saleh, of colluding with Al Qaeda to attract more attention and support from the west and to stay longer in power. The government accused the opposition and separatist of helping Al Qaeda.
Before the Monday massacre, the two sides failed to reach a deal to transfer the power and guarantee a safe and honored exit for President Saleh for avoiding possible bloody conflict between two huge rival army groups deployed in the capital Sana’a and other places.
The President Saleh said Sunday March 27th, 2011, he would not offer any more concessions after the opposition refused all his initiatives which met all their demands except “ the immediate ouster”.
His ruling party, in an exceptional meeting on the same day, Sunday, said explicitly, President Saleh would leave the power only at the end of his constitutional current term on September 20th, 2013.
These two statements from Saleh and his party, made the opposition say Saleh is violating a deal which was made between them and Saleh in cooperation with of the American and British ambassadors in Yemen on Wednesday March 23rd, 2011, in which Saleh agreed to leave the power in 60 days only.
The defected army general , Ali Muhsen, the most powerful general, vowed also publicly to topple Saleh and his regime after these two statements from Saleh and his party.
The “ retraction” of Saleh came after successful and peaceful rallies on Friday March 25th, in which Saleh confidently and defiantly said , “ This is the legitimacy of my regime” declaring that he would only hand over the power to “safe and clean” hands not to “conspirators.” , in obvious reference to the opposition leaders.
More than one million supporters assembled around Saleh in the Parade Square in the capital Sana’a on Friday which was called the “Friday of Tolerance.”, to face the “Friday of Departure” called for by the opposition. Hundreds of thousands attended the opposition rally. The opposition media estimated them at more than million and a half.
The state-run media estimated the number of Saleh supporters who attended the Friday rally in Sana’a at more than 2 millions. And many smaller rallies were held in the other cities on the same Friday to support Saleh.
It was special rally as the Saleh’s supporters were extremely angry after the spokesman of the opposition called their supporters to march forward to the Presidential Palace and even to Saleh’s “bed room”.
Such a call by the Islamist leader, Mohammed Qahtan, as viewed by observers here, was in the interest of President Saleh who used it very well to incite the tribesmen considered “Marching to bed rooms” as a “big shame” and socially and unacceptable by Yemenis and their norms and traditions.
Although the talks seemed to be stopped, and the two sides are betting only on the streets, sources from both sides and from western diplomats, confirmed Tuesday that talks are going on for finding out a safe and honored exit for President Saleh and a way to transfer the power from Saleh peacefully and smoothly.
“These conflicting statements are just kind of maneuvering from both sides, to reach reasonable and acceptable deal,” one of the sources said on Tuesday.
The fate of Saleh and his sons and nephews after handing over the power is the most difficult and controversial point. Saleh wants concrete guarantees he would not be sued by anybody after stepping down.
“No one would hand himself over to be hanged,” Saleh said in a meeting held Sunday by the permanent committee, the highest authority of his party.
Saleh asked the leaders of his party to stop making statements to media and writing proposals to him and go to their people in their areas all over Yemen and help security and army forces in maintaining the security and stability.
“You are the legitimate majority, and you should show it to the world, and should go to your people in your areas,” Saleh said.
The President Saleh is still receiving an international and regional support. The United States is very interested in finding out a peaceful and smooth transfer of the power.
The Defense Secretary Robert Gates said earlier this week, US would be facing additional challenges if the current regime collapses in Yemen where Al Qaeda is getting stronger and stronger.
The Secretary general of the Gulf operation Council Abdul Rehman Al Atyah, and Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Ikmal Al Deen Ogli, said in a joint statement in the Saudi capital on Monday, that they support security and stability of Yemen and respect the choice of Yemeni people for avoiding any bloody conflict.
The young people and opposition leaders who protest in the streets demanding the ouster of Saleh, are waiting for a clear-cut position towards President Saleh from US.
The opposition leader Mohammed Al Sabri accused Tuesday the US Defense Ministry of colluding with Saleh.
And the young people demanded, in a statement, the US administration, to declare its position about the ouster of Saleh.
Undoubtedly, Al Qaeda is making advantages of the worsening situation in Yemen.
The four provinces where Al Qaeda is believed to be hiding and strengthening, Abyan, Shabwa in the south, and Mareb and Al Jawf, in the north east, have become almost out of the control of the central government in Sana’a.
For instance, it’s only the tribesmen who run their affairs in Al Jawf after the governor and military and security commanders quit and returned to Sana’a earlier this month.
To add injury to insult, Sa’ada in the north became under full control of the Shiite rebels of Al Houthi after the governor also returned to Sana’a earlier this month.
The Sa’ada people and Al Houthi rebels agreed to let the opposition leader, Fares Mana’a to act as a governor. The businessman Man’a is the Yemen’s most famous weapons trader.
The governors of Mareb, Shabwa, and Abyan have not quitted yet.
The Yemeni crisis has reached a dangerous turning point. Al Qaeda has become the third party in it.
The opposition and President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government traded charges about murder of more than 150 people on Monday March 28th, 2011, in explosion of ammunition factory in Ja’ar, Abyan south of the country, an area which has become under a total control of Al Qaeda.
The majority of victims were civilians who went to loot the factory of October 7th, in Al Husn area after the disappearance of the army and security forces from their areas.
The Islamist- led opposition coalition which includes Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites, accused, in a statement Tuesday, the embattled Saleh, of colluding with Al Qaeda to attract more attention and support from the west and to stay longer in power. The government accused the opposition and separatist of helping Al Qaeda.
Before the Monday massacre, the two sides failed to reach a deal to transfer the power and guarantee a safe and honored exit for President Saleh for avoiding possible bloody conflict between two huge rival army groups deployed in the capital Sana’a and other places.
The President Saleh said Sunday March 27th, 2011, he would not offer any more concessions after the opposition refused all his initiatives which met all their demands except “ the immediate ouster”.
His ruling party, in an exceptional meeting on the same day, Sunday, said explicitly, President Saleh would leave the power only at the end of his constitutional current term on September 20th, 2013.
These two statements from Saleh and his party, made the opposition say Saleh is violating a deal which was made between them and Saleh in cooperation with of the American and British ambassadors in Yemen on Wednesday March 23rd, 2011, in which Saleh agreed to leave the power in 60 days only.
The defected army general , Ali Muhsen, the most powerful general, vowed also publicly to topple Saleh and his regime after these two statements from Saleh and his party.
The “ retraction” of Saleh came after successful and peaceful rallies on Friday March 25th, in which Saleh confidently and defiantly said , “ This is the legitimacy of my regime” declaring that he would only hand over the power to “safe and clean” hands not to “conspirators.” , in obvious reference to the opposition leaders.
More than one million supporters assembled around Saleh in the Parade Square in the capital Sana’a on Friday which was called the “Friday of Tolerance.”, to face the “Friday of Departure” called for by the opposition. Hundreds of thousands attended the opposition rally. The opposition media estimated them at more than million and a half.
The state-run media estimated the number of Saleh supporters who attended the Friday rally in Sana’a at more than 2 millions. And many smaller rallies were held in the other cities on the same Friday to support Saleh.
It was special rally as the Saleh’s supporters were extremely angry after the spokesman of the opposition called their supporters to march forward to the Presidential Palace and even to Saleh’s “bed room”.
Such a call by the Islamist leader, Mohammed Qahtan, as viewed by observers here, was in the interest of President Saleh who used it very well to incite the tribesmen considered “Marching to bed rooms” as a “big shame” and socially and unacceptable by Yemenis and their norms and traditions.
Although the talks seemed to be stopped, and the two sides are betting only on the streets, sources from both sides and from western diplomats, confirmed Tuesday that talks are going on for finding out a safe and honored exit for President Saleh and a way to transfer the power from Saleh peacefully and smoothly.
“These conflicting statements are just kind of maneuvering from both sides, to reach reasonable and acceptable deal,” one of the sources said on Tuesday.
The fate of Saleh and his sons and nephews after handing over the power is the most difficult and controversial point. Saleh wants concrete guarantees he would not be sued by anybody after stepping down.
“No one would hand himself over to be hanged,” Saleh said in a meeting held Sunday by the permanent committee, the highest authority of his party.
Saleh asked the leaders of his party to stop making statements to media and writing proposals to him and go to their people in their areas all over Yemen and help security and army forces in maintaining the security and stability.
“You are the legitimate majority, and you should show it to the world, and should go to your people in your areas,” Saleh said.
The President Saleh is still receiving an international and regional support. The United States is very interested in finding out a peaceful and smooth transfer of the power.
The Defense Secretary Robert Gates said earlier this week, US would be facing additional challenges if the current regime collapses in Yemen where Al Qaeda is getting stronger and stronger.
The Secretary general of the Gulf operation Council Abdul Rehman Al Atyah, and Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Ikmal Al Deen Ogli, said in a joint statement in the Saudi capital on Monday, that they support security and stability of Yemen and respect the choice of Yemeni people for avoiding any bloody conflict.
The young people and opposition leaders who protest in the streets demanding the ouster of Saleh, are waiting for a clear-cut position towards President Saleh from US.
The opposition leader Mohammed Al Sabri accused Tuesday the US Defense Ministry of colluding with Saleh.
And the young people demanded, in a statement, the US administration, to declare its position about the ouster of Saleh.
Undoubtedly, Al Qaeda is making advantages of the worsening situation in Yemen.
The four provinces where Al Qaeda is believed to be hiding and strengthening, Abyan, Shabwa in the south, and Mareb and Al Jawf, in the north east, have become almost out of the control of the central government in Sana’a.
For instance, it’s only the tribesmen who run their affairs in Al Jawf after the governor and military and security commanders quit and returned to Sana’a earlier this month.
To add injury to insult, Sa’ada in the north became under full control of the Shiite rebels of Al Houthi after the governor also returned to Sana’a earlier this month.
The Sa’ada people and Al Houthi rebels agreed to let the opposition leader, Fares Mana’a to act as a governor. The businessman Man’a is the Yemen’s most famous weapons trader.
The governors of Mareb, Shabwa, and Abyan have not quitted yet.
Monday, 28 March 2011
50 people killed in ammunition factory explosion in Yemen- Updated
By Ashwaq Arrabyee
About 50 citizens were killed and 75 were injured in a blast at an ammunition factory in the southern province of Abyan, after militants had taken control of the factory, local sources said Monday.
The sources said some citizens entered the ammunition factory in Jaar town in Abyan, to steal the leftover ammunition a day after a number of suspected Al-Qaeda militants had taken control of an ammunition factory and looted it. The reasons of explosion remain unknown.
Abyan Governor General Saleh Al-Zawari has instructed to form a committee to start an immediate investigation on the reasons of the explosion.
Earlier, The militants have seized control on Jaar town and set up security checkpoints and seized control of government buildings and military tanks after government forces withdrew from the city.
About 50 citizens were killed and 75 were injured in a blast at an ammunition factory in the southern province of Abyan, after militants had taken control of the factory, local sources said Monday.
The sources said some citizens entered the ammunition factory in Jaar town in Abyan, to steal the leftover ammunition a day after a number of suspected Al-Qaeda militants had taken control of an ammunition factory and looted it. The reasons of explosion remain unknown.
Abyan Governor General Saleh Al-Zawari has instructed to form a committee to start an immediate investigation on the reasons of the explosion.
Earlier, The militants have seized control on Jaar town and set up security checkpoints and seized control of government buildings and military tanks after government forces withdrew from the city.
Sunday, 27 March 2011
US says post-Saleh Yemen would pose 'real problem'
Source: (AFP)
WASHINGTON — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's eventual fall or his replacement by a weaker leader would pose "a real problem" for US counter-terrorism work, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.
In an interview with ABC television, Gates said Saleh's government and the Yemeni security services have helped the United States in fighting Al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch.
"I think it is a real concern because the most active and at this point perhaps the most aggressive branch of Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, operates out of Yemen," Gates said.
"And we've had counter-terrorism cooperation with President Saleh and the Yemeni security services," the defense secretary added.
"So if that government collapses, or is replaced by one who is dramatically more weak, then I think we'd face some additional challenges out of Yemen, there's no question about it. It's a real problem," he said.
The Washington Post said that, according to US spy agencies, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula could be close to launching an attack as the group may be seeking to capitalize on unrest roiling the Arab country.
The rising threat comes as Saleh hangs on to power amid months of street protests and high-profile defections in the ranks of top military and tribal leaders just in the past two weeks.
Saleh, in power for more than 30 years, has been a key US ally in its fight against the active Al-Qaeda branch operating out of his country. The group last year launched a failed plot to dispatch parcel bombs on US-bound cargo planes.
Alongside drone attacks targeting Al-Qaeda, the United States over the last 18 months has also dispatched "dozens" of CIA operatives and even Special Operations military troops to operate alongside Yemeni forces to counter and disrupt the group's operations, the Post said.
WASHINGTON — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's eventual fall or his replacement by a weaker leader would pose "a real problem" for US counter-terrorism work, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.
In an interview with ABC television, Gates said Saleh's government and the Yemeni security services have helped the United States in fighting Al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch.
"I think it is a real concern because the most active and at this point perhaps the most aggressive branch of Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, operates out of Yemen," Gates said.
"And we've had counter-terrorism cooperation with President Saleh and the Yemeni security services," the defense secretary added.
"So if that government collapses, or is replaced by one who is dramatically more weak, then I think we'd face some additional challenges out of Yemen, there's no question about it. It's a real problem," he said.
The Washington Post said that, according to US spy agencies, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula could be close to launching an attack as the group may be seeking to capitalize on unrest roiling the Arab country.
The rising threat comes as Saleh hangs on to power amid months of street protests and high-profile defections in the ranks of top military and tribal leaders just in the past two weeks.
Saleh, in power for more than 30 years, has been a key US ally in its fight against the active Al-Qaeda branch operating out of his country. The group last year launched a failed plot to dispatch parcel bombs on US-bound cargo planes.
Alongside drone attacks targeting Al-Qaeda, the United States over the last 18 months has also dispatched "dozens" of CIA operatives and even Special Operations military troops to operate alongside Yemeni forces to counter and disrupt the group's operations, the Post said.
President of Yemen Vows to Stay
The New York Times
By LAURA KASINOF
SANA, Yemen — A day after he said he was ready to yield power to “safe hands,” President Ali Abdullah Saleh asserted Saturday that his departure was not imminent, leaving unclear when and under what terms he would agree to step down.
His statement was the latest pivot in back-and-forth negotiations over a transfer of power, even as Mr. Saleh tries to frame the terms under which he would leave.
“A presidential source denied on Saturday what have been reported by some media outlets that President Ali Abdullah Saleh will step down,” said a statement by the official Saba news agency.
This was a reference to reports by several news agencies saying that the president was ready to agree to a transition as early as Saturday. Mr. Saleh said Friday that he would leave if he could hand the reins to safe hands, and not “malicious forces.” But early Sunday the president sounded obstinate in an appearance on Al Arabiya television, saying, “We are not clinging to power,” and adding that he would turn over power “to the people, but not to chaos.”
The shifting and sometimes murky stances of the government and its opponents have become a trademark of the current political crisis. A month ago, Yemen’s opposition coalition, the Joint Meetings Parties, proposed a plan under which Mr. Saleh would leave at the end of this year. The president recently agreed to the proposal.
But protesters have rejected the plan and called for Mr. Saleh’s immediate ouster. And the opposition has recently shifted positions and said that Mr. Saleh must leave immediately, without conditions.
Antigovernment protests continued across the country Saturday. In the southern city of Jaar, known as a Qaeda haven, militants took over all official government buildings, according to local reports.
By LAURA KASINOF
SANA, Yemen — A day after he said he was ready to yield power to “safe hands,” President Ali Abdullah Saleh asserted Saturday that his departure was not imminent, leaving unclear when and under what terms he would agree to step down.
His statement was the latest pivot in back-and-forth negotiations over a transfer of power, even as Mr. Saleh tries to frame the terms under which he would leave.
“A presidential source denied on Saturday what have been reported by some media outlets that President Ali Abdullah Saleh will step down,” said a statement by the official Saba news agency.
This was a reference to reports by several news agencies saying that the president was ready to agree to a transition as early as Saturday. Mr. Saleh said Friday that he would leave if he could hand the reins to safe hands, and not “malicious forces.” But early Sunday the president sounded obstinate in an appearance on Al Arabiya television, saying, “We are not clinging to power,” and adding that he would turn over power “to the people, but not to chaos.”
The shifting and sometimes murky stances of the government and its opponents have become a trademark of the current political crisis. A month ago, Yemen’s opposition coalition, the Joint Meetings Parties, proposed a plan under which Mr. Saleh would leave at the end of this year. The president recently agreed to the proposal.
But protesters have rejected the plan and called for Mr. Saleh’s immediate ouster. And the opposition has recently shifted positions and said that Mr. Saleh must leave immediately, without conditions.
Antigovernment protests continued across the country Saturday. In the southern city of Jaar, known as a Qaeda haven, militants took over all official government buildings, according to local reports.
Saturday, 26 March 2011
Presidential source denies news on Saleh's departure within 60 days
Ashwaq Arrabyee
A presidential source denied media reports that President will hand over power today, Saturday.
The source dismissed as false media reports that the Ruling party GPC and the Opposition JMPs have reached an agreement on the mechanism of peaceful transfer of power which included four points: the president will leave power within 60 days, the president will hand over power to his deputy, and forming a national committee for supervising power transfer.
"President Saleh confirmed the transfer of power must be via dialogue in the light of his initiative presented at the meeting with the Shura Council and Parliament and the eight conditions announced by sheikhs, scholars as well as his initiative delivered at the General National Conference, in addition to the five conditions presented by the opposition Joint Meeting Parties," the source added.
A presidential source denied media reports that President will hand over power today, Saturday.
The source dismissed as false media reports that the Ruling party GPC and the Opposition JMPs have reached an agreement on the mechanism of peaceful transfer of power which included four points: the president will leave power within 60 days, the president will hand over power to his deputy, and forming a national committee for supervising power transfer.
"President Saleh confirmed the transfer of power must be via dialogue in the light of his initiative presented at the meeting with the Shura Council and Parliament and the eight conditions announced by sheikhs, scholars as well as his initiative delivered at the General National Conference, in addition to the five conditions presented by the opposition Joint Meeting Parties," the source added.
Foreign Minister denies news on Saleh’s departure
The Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr AlQerbi dismissed as false some media reports that the President Ali Abdullah Saleh will step down today, Saturday.
Yemen Foreign Minister: Saleh will step down Today
The Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qerbi said that the President Ali Abdullah Saleh will hand over power today.
Arms Dealer appointed as Saada governor
Ashwaq Arrabyee
The Yemeni arms dealer Fares Manna was appointed as a new governor for Saada Province after holding control over the northern province of Sa'ada by Al-Houthi Shiite rebels.
Local source said Sheikh Manna held a meeting on Thursday with members of local council and some Houthi representatives. In the meeting, Manna was appointed as a governor succeeding Taha Hajer who left Saada last week.
“Following the current uprising demanding for ouster of the President, an exceptional meeting was held on Thursday with presence of members of local council and districts in the governorates. The attendees agreed to appoint sheikh Fares Manna as a temporary governor for Saada until conducting free and fair elections,” a statement issued by ‘media office of Saada Governor, Sheikh Fares Manna’ said.
The statement said a representative of Houthi rebels praised this step confirming Houthis’ readiness to cooperate with them for stabilizing the safety and security in the governorate.
This came after Houthi rebels were able to control Saada city and established security check points all over the city.
Last year, Yemeni government arrested Fares Manna on charges of providing arms to Houthi rebels in northern Yemen but then he was released.
Seven Al-Qaeda militants killed in Abyan
7 Al-Qaeda militants were killed in an attack on a security check point in Yemen's southern province of Abyan, local sources said Saturday.
Eyewitnesses said that severe clashes were taken place early morning between security forces and Al-Qaeda militants in Lord District, in Abyan, killing seven people and injuring others. No more details on the number of the security men were killed on injured.
Meanwhile, some al-Qaeda militants are currently surrounding the Republican Palace and a local Radio station in Khanfer district, in Abyan province, local sources said.
The Yemeni arms dealer Fares Manna was appointed as a new governor for Saada Province after holding control over the northern province of Sa'ada by Al-Houthi Shiite rebels.
Local source said Sheikh Manna held a meeting on Thursday with members of local council and some Houthi representatives. In the meeting, Manna was appointed as a governor succeeding Taha Hajer who left Saada last week.
“Following the current uprising demanding for ouster of the President, an exceptional meeting was held on Thursday with presence of members of local council and districts in the governorates. The attendees agreed to appoint sheikh Fares Manna as a temporary governor for Saada until conducting free and fair elections,” a statement issued by ‘media office of Saada Governor, Sheikh Fares Manna’ said.
The statement said a representative of Houthi rebels praised this step confirming Houthis’ readiness to cooperate with them for stabilizing the safety and security in the governorate.
This came after Houthi rebels were able to control Saada city and established security check points all over the city.
Last year, Yemeni government arrested Fares Manna on charges of providing arms to Houthi rebels in northern Yemen but then he was released.
Seven Al-Qaeda militants killed in Abyan
7 Al-Qaeda militants were killed in an attack on a security check point in Yemen's southern province of Abyan, local sources said Saturday.
Eyewitnesses said that severe clashes were taken place early morning between security forces and Al-Qaeda militants in Lord District, in Abyan, killing seven people and injuring others. No more details on the number of the security men were killed on injured.
Meanwhile, some al-Qaeda militants are currently surrounding the Republican Palace and a local Radio station in Khanfer district, in Abyan province, local sources said.
Friday, 25 March 2011
President Saleh more defiant
Showdown Friday ended with prayers against and with Saleh
By Nasser Arrabyee/25/03/2011
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah has not gone. He seemed even more defiant than ever before this Friday which was set by his detractors to ouster him.
“This is the legitimacy of my regime”, President Saleh addressed more than one million people who assembled
in the Parade Square, Al Sabeen, nearby his palace.
“It’s you who will take the power from me, not the minority of the demagogues,” Said Saleh in obvious reference to leaders of the opposition who were attending the Friday sermons on the other part of the city where hundreds of thousands of their supporters were waiting the departure of Saleh on the “Friday of Departure” as they called it. He said he would hand the power only to “good hands”.
“We’ll keep as steadfast as the mountains of Numkum and Ayban,” he said referring to two mountains around Sana’a.
“This is the Friday of Tolerance and Peace, not the Friday of marching forward to the bed rooms” Saleh his supporters who were obviously angry after the opposition spokesman, Mohammed Qahtan who earlier called the protesters to march forward to Saleh’s room.
The supporters of Saleh, who came mainly from the provinces around Sana’a, considered that statement socially unaccepted.
President Saleh exploited Qahtan’s statement for mobilizing more people and for inciting against his detractors.
“The smart politician Mohammed Qahtan said they would march forward to our bed room,” Saleh said on Thursday in the State-run TV.
Threatening with going to one’s bed room is very sensitive thing in Yemen.
It seems that Saleh was very lucky this Friday, because one of his detractors (Qahtan) unknowingly helped in assembling people around Saleh.
Although this Friday was expected as a showdown Friday , it ended peacefully with each side praying to Allah to help for achieving their respective goals.
“Oh Allah(God) , Oh Allah, topple Ali Abdullah, Oh Allah, Oh Allah, topple Ali Abdullah,” the anti-Saleh were praying in their Friday sermons at the gate of Sana’a university.
“Oh Allah, Oh Allah, preserve Ali Abdulla, Oh Allah , Oh Allah, preserve Ali Abdullah,” the supporters of Saleh were praying in the two main square of the city, Al Tahreer and Al Sabeen.
Saleh called the young protesters who are not belonging to parties for dialogue and he called them to establish a political party.
But the protesters refused any kind of dialogue saying they would continue their sit-in until Saleh is ousted.
“Any one of us who would make any kind of dialogue would be considered a traitor,” Said the young protester Abdel Abdu, who is a member of the media committee of the anti Saleh sit-in camps.
By Nasser Arrabyee/25/03/2011
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah has not gone. He seemed even more defiant than ever before this Friday which was set by his detractors to ouster him.
“This is the legitimacy of my regime”, President Saleh addressed more than one million people who assembled
in the Parade Square, Al Sabeen, nearby his palace.
“It’s you who will take the power from me, not the minority of the demagogues,” Said Saleh in obvious reference to leaders of the opposition who were attending the Friday sermons on the other part of the city where hundreds of thousands of their supporters were waiting the departure of Saleh on the “Friday of Departure” as they called it. He said he would hand the power only to “good hands”.
“We’ll keep as steadfast as the mountains of Numkum and Ayban,” he said referring to two mountains around Sana’a.
“This is the Friday of Tolerance and Peace, not the Friday of marching forward to the bed rooms” Saleh his supporters who were obviously angry after the opposition spokesman, Mohammed Qahtan who earlier called the protesters to march forward to Saleh’s room.
The supporters of Saleh, who came mainly from the provinces around Sana’a, considered that statement socially unaccepted.
President Saleh exploited Qahtan’s statement for mobilizing more people and for inciting against his detractors.
“The smart politician Mohammed Qahtan said they would march forward to our bed room,” Saleh said on Thursday in the State-run TV.
Threatening with going to one’s bed room is very sensitive thing in Yemen.
It seems that Saleh was very lucky this Friday, because one of his detractors (Qahtan) unknowingly helped in assembling people around Saleh.
Although this Friday was expected as a showdown Friday , it ended peacefully with each side praying to Allah to help for achieving their respective goals.
“Oh Allah(God) , Oh Allah, topple Ali Abdullah, Oh Allah, Oh Allah, topple Ali Abdullah,” the anti-Saleh were praying in their Friday sermons at the gate of Sana’a university.
“Oh Allah, Oh Allah, preserve Ali Abdulla, Oh Allah , Oh Allah, preserve Ali Abdullah,” the supporters of Saleh were praying in the two main square of the city, Al Tahreer and Al Sabeen.
Saleh called the young protesters who are not belonging to parties for dialogue and he called them to establish a political party.
But the protesters refused any kind of dialogue saying they would continue their sit-in until Saleh is ousted.
“Any one of us who would make any kind of dialogue would be considered a traitor,” Said the young protester Abdel Abdu, who is a member of the media committee of the anti Saleh sit-in camps.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Showdown Friday in Yemen,Tolerance or Departure
Showdown Friday in Yemen, Tolerance or Departure
By Nasser Arrrabyee, 24/03/2011
The Yemeni protesters said Thursday they would not march forward to the Presidential Palace on Friday March 25th, 2011, despite an earlier call from the spokesman of the opposition who called them to march even to the “bed room” of President Saleh to force him to leave.
“Tomorrow Friday, March 25th, 2011, will be the Friday of departure not Friday of marching forward to the Palace,” said Dr Rashad Al Sharabi, in the name of the young protesters in the sit-in camps , in the Square of Change, at the gate of Sana’a university.
Earlier in the week, the Islamist leader, Mohammed Qahtan, who is the spokesman of the Islamist-led opposition coalition, which includes Islamists, Socialists, and Nasserites, called for marching forward to the Presidential palace on Friday March 25th.
“ We will march forward to the Presidential palace, to your room, to your hideout, and you can kill as many as you like,” Qahtan said referring to President Saleh on Tuesday March 22nd.
Many protesters including Islamists who earlier agreed with Qahtan retracted on Thursday the marching forward saying “Qahtan is the spokesman of the opposition coalition, and not spokesman of the young people.”
“Qahtan was speaking on a personal basis on his statement, may be, he was personally hurt,” said Adel Abdu, member of the media committee of the young people at the sit-in square at the university.
Meanwhile, the young protesters called the Yemeni people to participate in what they called “Friday of Departure”.
The ruling party, on its side, called for what it called “ Friday of Tolerance”. And it said in a statement that about 2 million people from inside and outside the capital Sana’a will participate in this demonstration in the main Parade Square of Al Sabeen, nearby the Presidential Palace.
The opposition national committee for dialogue, committee formed by the billionaire Islamic leader, Hamid Al Ahmar, who grooms himself for presidency, said in a statement “ The influential people in the ruling party will assemble thugs, criminals , and highway robbers, to make that demonstration.”
“But this will not bend us to topple the regime and put the President on trial.”
These two names of Friday (Tolerance and Departure) of the pro-anti-Saleh demonstrations came after a bloody Friday Much 18th, 2011, in which about 50 anti-Saleh protesters were killed and hundreds injured by gunmen believed to be loyal to Saleh. Events dramatically change. Emergency state was declared by Saleh for one month.
This Friday (the Friday of Tolerance and Departure) is expected to be a showdown Friday. The most optimistic scenario is finding a solution agreed by all for a safe and honored exit for Saleh who agreed on the opposition plan to step down. And the most pessimistic is collapsing into chaos after bloody conflict between the rival forces deployed in the capital since last Tuesday.
Bid to ship 16,000 guns to Yemen foiled: Dubai police
Source: AFP
DUBAI police have foiled a bid to smuggle 16,000 guns from Turkey to Yemen's northern province of Saada, a Shiite rebels' stronghold, police chief Dahi Khalfan said Thursday.
"Dubai police has foiled a major attempt to smuggle arms from Turkey to Yemen," said Khalfan, adding that "the shipment consititutes 16,000 guns" and "six Arabs residing in the United Arab Emirates have been arrested".
"The shipment was heading to Saada, we can't say to which side, but definitely not to the government," Khalfan told reporters.
DUBAI police have foiled a bid to smuggle 16,000 guns from Turkey to Yemen's northern province of Saada, a Shiite rebels' stronghold, police chief Dahi Khalfan said Thursday.
"Dubai police has foiled a major attempt to smuggle arms from Turkey to Yemen," said Khalfan, adding that "the shipment consititutes 16,000 guns" and "six Arabs residing in the United Arab Emirates have been arrested".
"The shipment was heading to Saada, we can't say to which side, but definitely not to the government," Khalfan told reporters.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
President Saleh agrees to the opposition plan to step down
Opposition want Saleh to leave in one month and to remove sons and nephews from their posts
Protesters determined to march to the Presidential Palace Friday.
By Nasser Arrabyee/24/03/2011
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh accepted Wednesday a plan suggested by the opposition to step down by the end of this year.
The plan is the same that was offered by the opposition earlier this month but was rejected by president Saleh.
Two tribal leaders Sadeq Abdullah Al Ahmar, and Ahmed Abu Huriah mediated on Tuesday between President Saleh and the Islamist-led opposition collation which includes the Islamists , Socialists, and Nasserites.
The two tribal leaders are also mediating between the two military commanders Ali Muhsen, and Ahmed Ali , son of the President, to prevent any bloody conflict between their forces.
A presidential statement said late Wednesday that President Saleh responded to the desire and advices of these two tribal mediators, both of them from his tribe Hashed, and accepted the five point plan of the opposition to save the blood of Yemenis.
The five-point plan of the opposition would be implemented according to the presidential statement as follows: A compromised national government should be formed, and committee for formulating a new constitution.
New law for elections on the basis of the proportional system. New committee for elections.
Referendum on the constitution, then holding parliamentary elections, and forming a new elected government. And then presidential elections. And all these steps should be taken before the end of this year.
As a condition to accept this mechanism of implementing this plan, sources close to the mediators said the opposition asked the mediators to tell President Saleh to remove his sons and nephews from their posts and that President himself should leave the power within one month from now.
However, the protesters in the streets do not care about these initiatives and plans.
On Wednesday thousands of protesters were celebrating the “end of their revolution” in what they called the Square of Change at the gate of Sana’a university where they have been sitting in for more than one month.
With big pictures of the defected military general Ali Muhsen in their podium, the protesters wrote a big banner which reads “ The people have toppled the regime, that’s it”.
A lot of them considered it as victory and end of their revolution when the most powerful army general Ali Muhsen, declared his support for them on Monday March 21st, 2011.
But some of the protesters refuse Ali Muhsen and say , the sit-in must continue until Ali Abdulla Saleh all his regime including general Ali Muhsen, go out, while some say the “end of the end” will be next Friday March 25th when they will march forward to the Presidential Palace to force Saleh to leave, under the protection of their “supporter” general Ali Muhsen.
The young protester Kamal Sharaf, independent, says “No I refuse marching forward, if the opposition want to march let them do that.”
Wadha Abdul Jaleel, says “why bother marching, the regime is collapsing, we should only wait until it’s collapsed.”
Tawakul Karman, a leading Islamist female member, one of the leaders of the anti-Saleh protests from the beginning of last February, says “ we must march forward on Friday, Mohammed Qahtan declared that Friday is for marching forward, and he is the spokesman of the opposition, and they are our big partners and we must follow what they say.”
Mrs Karman is in the same Islamist party , Islah, of Mohammed Qahtan who called the protesters on Tuesday to march forward to the “bed room of Saleh” with open chests “to let Saleh kill whatever he likes from the protesters”
And commenting on Saleh’s accepting the five-point plan on Wednesday, Qahtan said , “ The people have divorced the regime of Saleh, and what’s left now is the marching forward on Friday to the Presidential Palace.”
While people and protesters and even officials themselves, interpret the declared support of the general Ali Mushen in different ways, the general Muhsen sent an envoy to the camps of the protesters with a clarification statement on Tuesday.
The envoy of Muhsen, Askar Zuail, said from the podium of the protesters in the Square of Change , “ The era now is the era of peaceful struggle and not era of coups, and we will protect you and your peaceful revolution, and we will protect the accomplishments of the nation, and we will be with you until the peaceful transfer of power happens.”
Protesters determined to march to the Presidential Palace Friday.
By Nasser Arrabyee/24/03/2011
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh accepted Wednesday a plan suggested by the opposition to step down by the end of this year.
The plan is the same that was offered by the opposition earlier this month but was rejected by president Saleh.
Two tribal leaders Sadeq Abdullah Al Ahmar, and Ahmed Abu Huriah mediated on Tuesday between President Saleh and the Islamist-led opposition collation which includes the Islamists , Socialists, and Nasserites.
The two tribal leaders are also mediating between the two military commanders Ali Muhsen, and Ahmed Ali , son of the President, to prevent any bloody conflict between their forces.
A presidential statement said late Wednesday that President Saleh responded to the desire and advices of these two tribal mediators, both of them from his tribe Hashed, and accepted the five point plan of the opposition to save the blood of Yemenis.
The five-point plan of the opposition would be implemented according to the presidential statement as follows: A compromised national government should be formed, and committee for formulating a new constitution.
New law for elections on the basis of the proportional system. New committee for elections.
Referendum on the constitution, then holding parliamentary elections, and forming a new elected government. And then presidential elections. And all these steps should be taken before the end of this year.
As a condition to accept this mechanism of implementing this plan, sources close to the mediators said the opposition asked the mediators to tell President Saleh to remove his sons and nephews from their posts and that President himself should leave the power within one month from now.
However, the protesters in the streets do not care about these initiatives and plans.
On Wednesday thousands of protesters were celebrating the “end of their revolution” in what they called the Square of Change at the gate of Sana’a university where they have been sitting in for more than one month.
With big pictures of the defected military general Ali Muhsen in their podium, the protesters wrote a big banner which reads “ The people have toppled the regime, that’s it”.
A lot of them considered it as victory and end of their revolution when the most powerful army general Ali Muhsen, declared his support for them on Monday March 21st, 2011.
But some of the protesters refuse Ali Muhsen and say , the sit-in must continue until Ali Abdulla Saleh all his regime including general Ali Muhsen, go out, while some say the “end of the end” will be next Friday March 25th when they will march forward to the Presidential Palace to force Saleh to leave, under the protection of their “supporter” general Ali Muhsen.
The young protester Kamal Sharaf, independent, says “No I refuse marching forward, if the opposition want to march let them do that.”
Wadha Abdul Jaleel, says “why bother marching, the regime is collapsing, we should only wait until it’s collapsed.”
Tawakul Karman, a leading Islamist female member, one of the leaders of the anti-Saleh protests from the beginning of last February, says “ we must march forward on Friday, Mohammed Qahtan declared that Friday is for marching forward, and he is the spokesman of the opposition, and they are our big partners and we must follow what they say.”
Mrs Karman is in the same Islamist party , Islah, of Mohammed Qahtan who called the protesters on Tuesday to march forward to the “bed room of Saleh” with open chests “to let Saleh kill whatever he likes from the protesters”
And commenting on Saleh’s accepting the five-point plan on Wednesday, Qahtan said , “ The people have divorced the regime of Saleh, and what’s left now is the marching forward on Friday to the Presidential Palace.”
While people and protesters and even officials themselves, interpret the declared support of the general Ali Mushen in different ways, the general Muhsen sent an envoy to the camps of the protesters with a clarification statement on Tuesday.
The envoy of Muhsen, Askar Zuail, said from the podium of the protesters in the Square of Change , “ The era now is the era of peaceful struggle and not era of coups, and we will protect you and your peaceful revolution, and we will protect the accomplishments of the nation, and we will be with you until the peaceful transfer of power happens.”
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
End of Yemen Crisis : Protesters impatient as some looking for safe exit for Saleh
Islamists and tribesmen happy with army support and young protesters sad for “stealing” their revolution.
By Nasser Arrabyee/22/03/2011
The Yemen crisis has become very close to the end, after the popular revolution, against the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has gained an unprecedented support from powerful army generals and influential tribal leaders.
But a safe and honored exit for Saleh, and peaceful and smooth transfer of power from him to a national council for running the country until elections are held, is still the most important thing that a lot of effective people including those who defected, want to do.
Although none of them has any control on the hundreds of thousands simmering with rage in the streets and demanding only one thing . Saleh must go now.
It’s extremely difficult to guess what’s going to happen in the flowing day let alone next Friday after rival tanks and armored vehicles were deployed in the streets of the capital and around the presidential palace.
The protesters are determined to march to the presidential place next Friday, which is called “the Friday of Creeping”, according to a statement attributed to the young people of revolution on Tuesday March 22nd ,2011.
The spokesman of the Islamist-led opposition coalition which include the Islamists, Socialist, and Nasserites, Mohammed Qhtan said “ We would creep to the presidential palace, with open chests, and you (Saleh) can kill whatever you like to kill.”
Qahtan, a moderate Islamist leader, was commenting Tuesday on a Saudi-led gulf mediation that suggests President Saleh should step down at the end of this year when presidential elections must be held without him participating.
“The young people in the street can not wait minutes let alone days,” Qahtan said.
The President Saleh in a meeting with the remaining military commanders on Tuesday warned from a civil war after general Ali Muhsen, the second powerful military commander after Saleh himself, declared his support for the revolution on Monday March 21st, 2011.
Many military commanders, and tribal leaders declared their support on the same day after Ali Muhsen who is very influential among military and tribal people all over Yemen not only his tribe Hashed, the same tribe of President, and the most power tribe in Yemen.
The top leader of Hashed, Sadek Al Ahmar, declared his support for the revolution after general Ali Muhsen.
Sadeq Al Ahmar was the last to declare his support for the popular revolution of the 10 sons of the departed Abdullah Al Ahmar, who was always helping President Saleh in similar difficult situations, but not “revolutions.”
Trying to copy his father in helping Saleh, Sadeq said on Tuesday after declaring his support for the revolution “I’m ready to mediate between Saleh and the opposition to a find a safe and honored exit for president Saleh.”
On contrary, his brother Hamid Al Al Ahmar, the billionaire Islamist leader who grooms himself for presidency after Saleh said “ Saleh must surrender to justice” after the bloody Friday March 18th, 2011, on which about 50 protesters were killed by armed men believed to be loyal to Saleh.
Regardless of all officials and diplomats who resigned, there was a special celebration last Monday among the protesters especially the Islamists and the tribesmen after a general like Ali Muhsen and a tribal leader like Sadeq declared support for the revolution.
And before these two symbols: the protesters gained a similar support from the most famous religious leader, Abdul Majid Al Zandani, who left the capital Sana’a earlier this month to his tribe Arhab after he lost protection from his ally Ali Abdullah Saleh who has been always defending him from United Sates who wants him as a global terrorist.
Despite all that gladness and happiness among the Islamists and tribesmen, a lot of young people who dream of a good future under modern and secular state, were very sad and shocked.
“Ali Muhsen is the general who ignited the war of 1994, and he is the main partner of Abdul Majid Al Zandani who established the Al Qaeda in Yemen.” Muhsen Aydh, one of the young protesters, said.
“The tank of Ali Muhsen, and the beard of Al Zandani, and the Jambya (traditional dagger) of Al Ahmar, are not at all a revolution but only competition for the loyalty to the Saudi royal family.”
“The president Ali Abdullah Saleh has succeeded in marketing these three men, Ali Muhsen, Abdul Majid Al Zandani, and Hamid Al Ahmar with their blood-stained hands, to tell the world: these are the leaders of Yemen’s revolution against freedom and democracy.” Ayadh added.
Two young women : Iman and Reem also refused these three men totally. Iman said in her face “Please tell me where can I find Afghan-style Abaya (clothes covering all the body) so that I can go out from now on?”.
And Reem answered “Do not worry, they will distribute to everyone with beards also to our men, and barbers’ shops will be closed.”
Fuad Al Salahi, sociologist professor at Sana’a university said “ There must have been a coordination between leaders of the Islamist party Islah, and Hashid tribe and the Saudi officials, this is a tragedy and it’s worse than killing the protesters.”
“Even the resignations were only a play to pave the way for that deal.” The professor added.
Arwa Othman, a writer and feminist activist said, “ We must continue the sit-in until the regime and all its members and aides collapse even if they were prophets.”
The protester Mohammed Al Makaleh, who is a writer and socialist leader said , “ Before the coalition of opposition was proclaimed more than 6 years ago, the Islamist party, Islah, was in an alliance with the same military and tribal leaders.”
“After they (military and tribal) stayed in a vacation during about 6 years, now the old allies are coming back for the harvest,” he said in a clear reference to the return of Ali Muhsen and Al Ahmar and Al Zandani.
The Islamists and Socialists and Nasserites proclaimed their coalition about six years ago amid objections from these tribal and military leaders for ideological reasons.
The protester Khalid Saeed, sai “ I left the sit-in and returned home when I saw protesters celebrate the joining of military and tribal leaders whom we have been complaining from.”
Fekri Qasem, editor-in-chief of Hadith Al Madina independent weekly newspaper ironically commenting on joining of these three men, said, “ What’s left now is Muamar Al Gaddafi,to join the Yemeni youth peaceful revolution.”
The declared support of the second most powerful military commander for the “Yemen’s popular revolution” was likely coordinated to find out a solution for a peaceful transfer of power and a secured and honored exit for the President Saleh. And it does not necessarily mean confrontations between the republican guards and armored forces.
The Yemeni supreme council of defense said Monday it is against any coup or overthrow on the constitutional legitimacy represented by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The foreign minister Abu Bakr Al Querbi flew late Monday to the Saudi king in Riyadh where Saudi-led regional mediation is going on.
Chaired by President Saleh, the council said it would be in a permanent meeting to follow up the military and security developments after important military commanders declared their support for the popular revolution against the President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.
Before this meeting, a military statement published by the state-run media said, the armed forces would remain with the constitutional legitimacy and its president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Earlier in the day, the president Saleh addressed a gathering of tribesmen from Safan and Mankha west of the capital by saying “ We are as steadfast as the mountains of Nukum and Ayban and the majority of the people is with the security and stability.” Nukum and Ayban the highest two mountains around the capital Sana’a from the east and west respectively.
Troops with tanks and armored vehicles from the republican guards which are led by President Saleh’s son, Ahmed, were deployed late Monday, after the troops of the armored forces which are led by general Ali Muhsen were deployed around the anti-Saleh protesters earlier Monday and Sunday.
Earlier in the day, in an big turning point in the Yemeni crisis, the military commander of the northern region, Ali Muhsen, declared his support for the peaceful revolution against the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The step came after the general Muhsen’s army (armored division1) was deployed around the sit-in camps nearby the university from Sunday 20 March 2011.
The troops of the armored division1 replaced the central security forces of the general Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, President’s Saleh’s nephew.
“On my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues in the armed forces, We are declaring our peaceful support for the peaceful revolution of the young people and their demands, and we will perform our duties fully in maintaining the security and stability in the capital and wherever our military units are, beside our brothers from the security forces,” The general said.
General Muhsen, one of the President Saleh's relatives (cousin not half brother as misreported by western media ) is considered the second most powerful military commander after Saleh. He was the main pillar of Saleh’s rule since Saleh took power in 1978.
General Muhsen has good reputation and good relations with most of Yemen’s tribal and religious leaders (he is religious himself).
His support to the popular revolution today, does not necessarily mean he has become an enemy of his longstanding commander and relative and does not mean armed confrontation between the two army divisions: armored forces of Ali Muhsen and republican guards of Saleh’s son Ahmed. At the same time, it does not mean conspiracy between the two powerful men against the protesters but it likely means, coordination for peaceful transfer of power and secure exist of Saleh.
By Nasser Arrabyee/22/03/2011
The Yemen crisis has become very close to the end, after the popular revolution, against the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has gained an unprecedented support from powerful army generals and influential tribal leaders.
But a safe and honored exit for Saleh, and peaceful and smooth transfer of power from him to a national council for running the country until elections are held, is still the most important thing that a lot of effective people including those who defected, want to do.
Although none of them has any control on the hundreds of thousands simmering with rage in the streets and demanding only one thing . Saleh must go now.
It’s extremely difficult to guess what’s going to happen in the flowing day let alone next Friday after rival tanks and armored vehicles were deployed in the streets of the capital and around the presidential palace.
The protesters are determined to march to the presidential place next Friday, which is called “the Friday of Creeping”, according to a statement attributed to the young people of revolution on Tuesday March 22nd ,2011.
The spokesman of the Islamist-led opposition coalition which include the Islamists, Socialist, and Nasserites, Mohammed Qhtan said “ We would creep to the presidential palace, with open chests, and you (Saleh) can kill whatever you like to kill.”
Qahtan, a moderate Islamist leader, was commenting Tuesday on a Saudi-led gulf mediation that suggests President Saleh should step down at the end of this year when presidential elections must be held without him participating.
“The young people in the street can not wait minutes let alone days,” Qahtan said.
The President Saleh in a meeting with the remaining military commanders on Tuesday warned from a civil war after general Ali Muhsen, the second powerful military commander after Saleh himself, declared his support for the revolution on Monday March 21st, 2011.
Many military commanders, and tribal leaders declared their support on the same day after Ali Muhsen who is very influential among military and tribal people all over Yemen not only his tribe Hashed, the same tribe of President, and the most power tribe in Yemen.
The top leader of Hashed, Sadek Al Ahmar, declared his support for the revolution after general Ali Muhsen.
Sadeq Al Ahmar was the last to declare his support for the popular revolution of the 10 sons of the departed Abdullah Al Ahmar, who was always helping President Saleh in similar difficult situations, but not “revolutions.”
Trying to copy his father in helping Saleh, Sadeq said on Tuesday after declaring his support for the revolution “I’m ready to mediate between Saleh and the opposition to a find a safe and honored exit for president Saleh.”
On contrary, his brother Hamid Al Al Ahmar, the billionaire Islamist leader who grooms himself for presidency after Saleh said “ Saleh must surrender to justice” after the bloody Friday March 18th, 2011, on which about 50 protesters were killed by armed men believed to be loyal to Saleh.
Regardless of all officials and diplomats who resigned, there was a special celebration last Monday among the protesters especially the Islamists and the tribesmen after a general like Ali Muhsen and a tribal leader like Sadeq declared support for the revolution.
And before these two symbols: the protesters gained a similar support from the most famous religious leader, Abdul Majid Al Zandani, who left the capital Sana’a earlier this month to his tribe Arhab after he lost protection from his ally Ali Abdullah Saleh who has been always defending him from United Sates who wants him as a global terrorist.
Despite all that gladness and happiness among the Islamists and tribesmen, a lot of young people who dream of a good future under modern and secular state, were very sad and shocked.
“Ali Muhsen is the general who ignited the war of 1994, and he is the main partner of Abdul Majid Al Zandani who established the Al Qaeda in Yemen.” Muhsen Aydh, one of the young protesters, said.
“The tank of Ali Muhsen, and the beard of Al Zandani, and the Jambya (traditional dagger) of Al Ahmar, are not at all a revolution but only competition for the loyalty to the Saudi royal family.”
“The president Ali Abdullah Saleh has succeeded in marketing these three men, Ali Muhsen, Abdul Majid Al Zandani, and Hamid Al Ahmar with their blood-stained hands, to tell the world: these are the leaders of Yemen’s revolution against freedom and democracy.” Ayadh added.
Two young women : Iman and Reem also refused these three men totally. Iman said in her face “Please tell me where can I find Afghan-style Abaya (clothes covering all the body) so that I can go out from now on?”.
And Reem answered “Do not worry, they will distribute to everyone with beards also to our men, and barbers’ shops will be closed.”
Fuad Al Salahi, sociologist professor at Sana’a university said “ There must have been a coordination between leaders of the Islamist party Islah, and Hashid tribe and the Saudi officials, this is a tragedy and it’s worse than killing the protesters.”
“Even the resignations were only a play to pave the way for that deal.” The professor added.
Arwa Othman, a writer and feminist activist said, “ We must continue the sit-in until the regime and all its members and aides collapse even if they were prophets.”
The protester Mohammed Al Makaleh, who is a writer and socialist leader said , “ Before the coalition of opposition was proclaimed more than 6 years ago, the Islamist party, Islah, was in an alliance with the same military and tribal leaders.”
“After they (military and tribal) stayed in a vacation during about 6 years, now the old allies are coming back for the harvest,” he said in a clear reference to the return of Ali Muhsen and Al Ahmar and Al Zandani.
The Islamists and Socialists and Nasserites proclaimed their coalition about six years ago amid objections from these tribal and military leaders for ideological reasons.
The protester Khalid Saeed, sai “ I left the sit-in and returned home when I saw protesters celebrate the joining of military and tribal leaders whom we have been complaining from.”
Fekri Qasem, editor-in-chief of Hadith Al Madina independent weekly newspaper ironically commenting on joining of these three men, said, “ What’s left now is Muamar Al Gaddafi,to join the Yemeni youth peaceful revolution.”
The declared support of the second most powerful military commander for the “Yemen’s popular revolution” was likely coordinated to find out a solution for a peaceful transfer of power and a secured and honored exit for the President Saleh. And it does not necessarily mean confrontations between the republican guards and armored forces.
The Yemeni supreme council of defense said Monday it is against any coup or overthrow on the constitutional legitimacy represented by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The foreign minister Abu Bakr Al Querbi flew late Monday to the Saudi king in Riyadh where Saudi-led regional mediation is going on.
Chaired by President Saleh, the council said it would be in a permanent meeting to follow up the military and security developments after important military commanders declared their support for the popular revolution against the President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.
Before this meeting, a military statement published by the state-run media said, the armed forces would remain with the constitutional legitimacy and its president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Earlier in the day, the president Saleh addressed a gathering of tribesmen from Safan and Mankha west of the capital by saying “ We are as steadfast as the mountains of Nukum and Ayban and the majority of the people is with the security and stability.” Nukum and Ayban the highest two mountains around the capital Sana’a from the east and west respectively.
Troops with tanks and armored vehicles from the republican guards which are led by President Saleh’s son, Ahmed, were deployed late Monday, after the troops of the armored forces which are led by general Ali Muhsen were deployed around the anti-Saleh protesters earlier Monday and Sunday.
Earlier in the day, in an big turning point in the Yemeni crisis, the military commander of the northern region, Ali Muhsen, declared his support for the peaceful revolution against the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The step came after the general Muhsen’s army (armored division1) was deployed around the sit-in camps nearby the university from Sunday 20 March 2011.
The troops of the armored division1 replaced the central security forces of the general Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, President’s Saleh’s nephew.
“On my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues in the armed forces, We are declaring our peaceful support for the peaceful revolution of the young people and their demands, and we will perform our duties fully in maintaining the security and stability in the capital and wherever our military units are, beside our brothers from the security forces,” The general said.
General Muhsen, one of the President Saleh's relatives (cousin not half brother as misreported by western media ) is considered the second most powerful military commander after Saleh. He was the main pillar of Saleh’s rule since Saleh took power in 1978.
General Muhsen has good reputation and good relations with most of Yemen’s tribal and religious leaders (he is religious himself).
His support to the popular revolution today, does not necessarily mean he has become an enemy of his longstanding commander and relative and does not mean armed confrontation between the two army divisions: armored forces of Ali Muhsen and republican guards of Saleh’s son Ahmed. At the same time, it does not mean conspiracy between the two powerful men against the protesters but it likely means, coordination for peaceful transfer of power and secure exist of Saleh.
Gas, Diesel and Electricity crisis continues in Yemen
By Ashwaq Arrabyee
Hundreds of drivers were seen lining up in front of fuel stations waiting to fill up their vehicles or barrels with diesel or gas during this week.
Most of Yemeni farmers, vehicles, truck drivers depend mainly on diesel to run their daily businesses. Moreover, houses and restaurants rely on gas and would be affected by the shortages of gas.
"I am here since early morning, but still there are a lot of people lining up in rows waiting to buy gas cylinders. I don't have gas to cook food for my family," a woman said while waiting her turn in front of one of Yemen Gas Company Branch in Sana'a.
In addition, as a result of the current crisis, citizens have been subjected to blackmailing and manipulation in the prices of gas.
Rashid Morshid, a citizen, said, "The gas crisis is on the rise especially when some gas shops monopolize it to sell it later at higher prices. The market price of gas cylinder is YR 1100 and now, its price ranges between YR 2000 to YR3000 in the black market."
Hundreds of drivers were seen lining up in front of fuel stations waiting to fill up their vehicles or barrels with diesel or gas during this week.
Most of Yemeni farmers, vehicles, truck drivers depend mainly on diesel to run their daily businesses. Moreover, houses and restaurants rely on gas and would be affected by the shortages of gas.
"I am here since early morning, but still there are a lot of people lining up in rows waiting to buy gas cylinders. I don't have gas to cook food for my family," a woman said while waiting her turn in front of one of Yemen Gas Company Branch in Sana'a.
In addition, as a result of the current crisis, citizens have been subjected to blackmailing and manipulation in the prices of gas.
Rashid Morshid, a citizen, said, "The gas crisis is on the rise especially when some gas shops monopolize it to sell it later at higher prices. The market price of gas cylinder is YR 1100 and now, its price ranges between YR 2000 to YR3000 in the black market."
Furthermore, the current situation in Yemen has also pushed many people to rush to fuel stations and gas stores to buy more quantities of diesel, oil and gas cylinders to keep in storage, fearing it might become unavailable on the market and that consequently deepens the crisis.
The governmental concerned authorities attributed the notable diesel and gas shortage to a blocking the roads leading to Sana'a and seizing gas and diesel trucks by some tribes in Mareb, east of Yemen.
The Director of Yemeni gas Company, Anwar Salem, said the reason behind the current crisis is blocking the roads leading to Sana'a by some tribes in Mareb.
In return, tribal sources denied, in a statement issued by some tribes in Mareb, the relation of Mareb tribes with gas and diesel crisis.
The statement confirmed that Mareb tribes had no relation with blocking Sana'a-Mareb road, pointing out that the regime had encouraged some tribal groups to create some problems in the roads.
Monday, 21 March 2011
Looking for secured and honored exit for President Saleh despite fiery statements in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee/21/03/2011
The declared support of the second most powerful military commander for the “Yemen’s popular revolution” was likely coordinated to find out a solution for a peaceful transfer of power and a secured and honored exit for the President Saleh. And it does not necessarily mean confrontations between the republican guards and armored forces.
The Yemeni supreme council of defense said Monday it is against any coup or overthrow on the constitutional legitimacy represented by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The foreign minister Abu Bakr Al Querbi flew late Monday to the Saudi king in Riyadh where Saudi-led regional mediation is going on.
Chaired by President Saleh, the council said it would be in a permanent meeting to follow up the military and security developments after important military commanders declared their support for what’s called the popular revolution against the President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.
Before this meeting, a military statement published by the state-run media said, the armed forces would remain with the constitutional legitimacy and its president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Earlier in the day, the president Saleh addressed a gathering of tribesmen from Safan and Mankha west of the capital by saying “ We are as steadfast as the mountains of Nukum and Ayban and the majority of the people is with the security and stability.” Nukum and Ayban the highest two mountains around the capital Sana’a from the east and west respectively.
Troops with tanks and armored vehicles from the republican guards which are led by President Saleh’s son, Ahmed, were deployed late Monday, after the troops of the armored forces which are led by general Ali Muhsen were deployed around the anti-Saleh protesters earlier Monday and Sunday.
Earlier in the day, in an big turning point in the Yemeni crisis, the military commander of the northern region, Ali Muhsen, declared his support for the peaceful revolution against the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The step came after the general Muhsen’s army (armored division1) was deployed around the sit-in camps nearby the university from Sunday 20 March 2011.
The troops of the armored division1 replaced the central security forces of the general Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, President’s Saleh’s nephew.
“On my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues in the armed forces, We are declaring our peaceful support for the peaceful revolution of the young people and their demands, and we will perform our duties fully in maintaining the security and stability in the capital and wherever our military units are, beside our brothers from the security forces,” The general said.
General Muhsen, one of the President Saleh's relatives (cousin not half brother) is considered the second most powerful military commander after Saleh. He was the main pillar of Saleh’s rule since Saleh took power in 1978.
General Muhsen has good reputation and good relations with most of Yemen’s tribal and religious leaders (he is religious himself).
His support to the popular revolution today, does not necessarily mean he has become an enemy of his longstanding commander and relative and does not mean armed confrontation between the two army divisions: armored forces of Ali Muhsen and republican guards of Saleh’s son Ahmed. At the same time, it does not mean conspiracy between the two powerful men against the protesters but it likely means, coordination for peaceful transfer of power and secure exist of Saleh.
The declared support of the second most powerful military commander for the “Yemen’s popular revolution” was likely coordinated to find out a solution for a peaceful transfer of power and a secured and honored exit for the President Saleh. And it does not necessarily mean confrontations between the republican guards and armored forces.
The Yemeni supreme council of defense said Monday it is against any coup or overthrow on the constitutional legitimacy represented by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The foreign minister Abu Bakr Al Querbi flew late Monday to the Saudi king in Riyadh where Saudi-led regional mediation is going on.
Chaired by President Saleh, the council said it would be in a permanent meeting to follow up the military and security developments after important military commanders declared their support for what’s called the popular revolution against the President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.
Before this meeting, a military statement published by the state-run media said, the armed forces would remain with the constitutional legitimacy and its president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Earlier in the day, the president Saleh addressed a gathering of tribesmen from Safan and Mankha west of the capital by saying “ We are as steadfast as the mountains of Nukum and Ayban and the majority of the people is with the security and stability.” Nukum and Ayban the highest two mountains around the capital Sana’a from the east and west respectively.
Troops with tanks and armored vehicles from the republican guards which are led by President Saleh’s son, Ahmed, were deployed late Monday, after the troops of the armored forces which are led by general Ali Muhsen were deployed around the anti-Saleh protesters earlier Monday and Sunday.
Earlier in the day, in an big turning point in the Yemeni crisis, the military commander of the northern region, Ali Muhsen, declared his support for the peaceful revolution against the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The step came after the general Muhsen’s army (armored division1) was deployed around the sit-in camps nearby the university from Sunday 20 March 2011.
The troops of the armored division1 replaced the central security forces of the general Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, President’s Saleh’s nephew.
“On my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues in the armed forces, We are declaring our peaceful support for the peaceful revolution of the young people and their demands, and we will perform our duties fully in maintaining the security and stability in the capital and wherever our military units are, beside our brothers from the security forces,” The general said.
General Muhsen, one of the President Saleh's relatives (cousin not half brother) is considered the second most powerful military commander after Saleh. He was the main pillar of Saleh’s rule since Saleh took power in 1978.
General Muhsen has good reputation and good relations with most of Yemen’s tribal and religious leaders (he is religious himself).
His support to the popular revolution today, does not necessarily mean he has become an enemy of his longstanding commander and relative and does not mean armed confrontation between the two army divisions: armored forces of Ali Muhsen and republican guards of Saleh’s son Ahmed. At the same time, it does not mean conspiracy between the two powerful men against the protesters but it likely means, coordination for peaceful transfer of power and secure exist of Saleh.
The most influential military commander supports revolution against Saleh
Ali Muhsen has been one of Saleh’s rule pillars
By Nasser Arrabyee/21/03/2011
The military commander of the northern region, Ali Muhsen, declared his support Monday for the peaceful revolution against the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The step came after the general Muhsen’s army (armored division1) was deployed around the sit-in camps nearby the university from Sunday 20 March 2011.
The troops of the armored division1 replaced the central security forces of the general Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, President Saleh’s nephew.
“On my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues in the armed forces, We are declaring our peaceful support for the peaceful revolution of the young people and their demands, and we will perform our duties fully in maintaining the security and stability in the capital and wherever our military units are, beside our brothers from the security forces,” The general said.
The step is a turning point in the anti-Saleh protests.
General Mussen, one of the President Saleh's relatives , is considered the second most influential military commander after Saleh.
Brigadier Hameed A-Qushaibi, commander of Brigade 310 in Amran Province, the commander of eastern region Mohammed Ali Mohsen, the commander of the Central region in Sana'a Saif al-Boqri also joined the anti-regime protesters.
By Nasser Arrabyee/21/03/2011
The military commander of the northern region, Ali Muhsen, declared his support Monday for the peaceful revolution against the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The step came after the general Muhsen’s army (armored division1) was deployed around the sit-in camps nearby the university from Sunday 20 March 2011.
The troops of the armored division1 replaced the central security forces of the general Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, President Saleh’s nephew.
“On my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues in the armed forces, We are declaring our peaceful support for the peaceful revolution of the young people and their demands, and we will perform our duties fully in maintaining the security and stability in the capital and wherever our military units are, beside our brothers from the security forces,” The general said.
The step is a turning point in the anti-Saleh protests.
General Mussen, one of the President Saleh's relatives , is considered the second most influential military commander after Saleh.
Brigadier Hameed A-Qushaibi, commander of Brigade 310 in Amran Province, the commander of eastern region Mohammed Ali Mohsen, the commander of the Central region in Sana'a Saif al-Boqri also joined the anti-regime protesters.
Military plane crashed down in Al-Jawf Province
By Ashwaq Arrabyee
A military plane was crashed down in the north of Yemen in al-Jawf province late Sunday, a military source said.
The Ministry of Defense said the plane, which was in a training mission, hit a mountain in Al- Jawf. The pilot was killed in the collision.
Meanwhile, At least 15 people, including 10 soldiers, were killed in clashes between tribesmen and one of the military battalions in Brigade 115 in Baraqesh Area, near to the capital of Al-Jawf province, tribal sources said.
A military plane was crashed down in the north of Yemen in al-Jawf province late Sunday, a military source said.
The Ministry of Defense said the plane, which was in a training mission, hit a mountain in Al- Jawf. The pilot was killed in the collision.
Meanwhile, At least 15 people, including 10 soldiers, were killed in clashes between tribesmen and one of the military battalions in Brigade 115 in Baraqesh Area, near to the capital of Al-Jawf province, tribal sources said.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Tens of thousands mourn martyrs of democracy
By Ashwaq Arrabyee.20/03/2011
Tens of thousands of people gathered in the sit-in area, "Change Square", at Sana'a University to mourn the martyrs shot by snipers last Friday.
The organizers of the sit-in decided to mourn and bury the martyrs today, Sunday and to name this day as the "Day of Martyr". The martyrs will be buried in Sawad Hansh cemetery, in Sana'a.
According to the sources of the medical committee at the sit-in tents, about 52 people were killed and more than hundred were injured during last Friday protest demanding the ouster of the president. Further information later on.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in the sit-in area, "Change Square", at Sana'a University to mourn the martyrs shot by snipers last Friday.
The organizers of the sit-in decided to mourn and bury the martyrs today, Sunday and to name this day as the "Day of Martyr". The martyrs will be buried in Sawad Hansh cemetery, in Sana'a.
According to the sources of the medical committee at the sit-in tents, about 52 people were killed and more than hundred were injured during last Friday protest demanding the ouster of the president. Further information later on.
Resignations in rise
By Ashwaq Arrabyee
The Yemeni Minister of Human Rights resigned from her post in protest at killing about 42 people and injured more than 100 last Friday.
Huda AlBan, the Human Rights Minister, said her resignation came after the massacre committed against the peaceful demonstrators demanding the ouster of the President Saleh.
"The current serious violations of human rights put us in critical situation and prevent us from continuing in our posts under a regime that does not respect human rights and liberties," the Minister said in her resignation letter.
Earlier, the Minister of Tourism Nabeel Al-Faqeeh and the Minister of Endowment have offered their resignation in protest against repressing the anti-regime protests.
In addition, the chief of the state news agency Saba, Nasr Taha Mustafa and the editor-in-chief of the official Al-Jumhooria Newspaper Sameer Al-Yousif have stepped down.
Yemen's ambassador to United Nations, Abdullah al-Sayadi, and Yemeni ambassador to Lebnon Faisal Ameen Abu Ras, have also resigned.
The Yemeni Minister of Human Rights resigned from her post in protest at killing about 42 people and injured more than 100 last Friday.
Huda AlBan, the Human Rights Minister, said her resignation came after the massacre committed against the peaceful demonstrators demanding the ouster of the President Saleh.
"The current serious violations of human rights put us in critical situation and prevent us from continuing in our posts under a regime that does not respect human rights and liberties," the Minister said in her resignation letter.
Earlier, the Minister of Tourism Nabeel Al-Faqeeh and the Minister of Endowment have offered their resignation in protest against repressing the anti-regime protests.
In addition, the chief of the state news agency Saba, Nasr Taha Mustafa and the editor-in-chief of the official Al-Jumhooria Newspaper Sameer Al-Yousif have stepped down.
Yemen's ambassador to United Nations, Abdullah al-Sayadi, and Yemeni ambassador to Lebnon Faisal Ameen Abu Ras, have also resigned.
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Yemen says it needs Saudi Arabia to help
By Nasser Arrabyee/19/03/2011
President Saleh declares Sunday as a mourning day on “Martyrs of Democracy”
President Saleh hints that protesters should move their sit-in camps to non-residential place.
Security authorities accuse a billionaire Islamist leader of being behind the bloody Friday.
Yemen is still welcoming a regional mediation led by Saudi Arabia to defuse the political crisis despite the bloody Friday which the stopped the mediation efforts.
A statement from the president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s office said late Saturday that the Saudi-led mediation is still “welcomed and will be always welcomed.”
The statement said those who were behind the massacre against anti-Saleh protesters on Friday March 18th, 2011, wanted to foil the efforts of that mediation.
“We are still contacting with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States about that mediation for the interest of Yemen,” the statement said.
Earlier in the day, an official statement attributed to security sources, said that the Islamist leader and famous businessman, Hamid Al Ahmar was behind the massacre of Friday in which more than 50 protesters were killed and about 200 injured some of them seriously.
“It is evident that the gambler Hamid Al Ahmar was behind the massacre. Since long time ago, he brought armed elements to the sit-in camps,” the statement said.
“Hamid Al Ahmar and his gang, which is stained with blood of innocents should bear all responsibility for that massacre.”
At least privately, you hear people everywhere you go here in Yemen, say what’s happening now is a fight on power between Saleh and the billionaire Hamid Al Ahmar who is grooming himself for presidency.
The President Saleh said those who were killed on Friday while demanding his ouster, are considered “martyrs of democracy” and that Sunday, March 20th, 2011, will be a mourning day for them.
“All those martyrs are our sons, and we regret for them falling victims in incidents committed by those who want to climb on them to take power through coups not through democracy,” Saleh addressed thousands of tribesmen who came Saturday to support him from Bani Matar of Sana’a province, where many of those protesters who were killed and injured on Friday came from.
President Saleh declared the state of emergency after the bloody Friday, and security and military measures were taken consequently. Saturday tanks and armored vehicles were deployed in the capital of Sana’a. About 10 tanks were deployed in the Parade Square of Al Sabeen which is around the presidential palace.
While the anti-Saleh protesters threaten from time to time to move their sit-in from the university to this huge square (Al Sabeen), President Saleh told his tribal supporters on Saturday, “the protesters can move to Sana’a Stadium, or any place they like far from residential places.”
What Saleh said can be understood that there is an intention or plan to force the protesters to move somewhere else or clear them by force especially under the state of emergency.
President Saleh declares Sunday as a mourning day on “Martyrs of Democracy”
President Saleh hints that protesters should move their sit-in camps to non-residential place.
Security authorities accuse a billionaire Islamist leader of being behind the bloody Friday.
Yemen is still welcoming a regional mediation led by Saudi Arabia to defuse the political crisis despite the bloody Friday which the stopped the mediation efforts.
A statement from the president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s office said late Saturday that the Saudi-led mediation is still “welcomed and will be always welcomed.”
The statement said those who were behind the massacre against anti-Saleh protesters on Friday March 18th, 2011, wanted to foil the efforts of that mediation.
“We are still contacting with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States about that mediation for the interest of Yemen,” the statement said.
Earlier in the day, an official statement attributed to security sources, said that the Islamist leader and famous businessman, Hamid Al Ahmar was behind the massacre of Friday in which more than 50 protesters were killed and about 200 injured some of them seriously.
“It is evident that the gambler Hamid Al Ahmar was behind the massacre. Since long time ago, he brought armed elements to the sit-in camps,” the statement said.
“Hamid Al Ahmar and his gang, which is stained with blood of innocents should bear all responsibility for that massacre.”
At least privately, you hear people everywhere you go here in Yemen, say what’s happening now is a fight on power between Saleh and the billionaire Hamid Al Ahmar who is grooming himself for presidency.
The President Saleh said those who were killed on Friday while demanding his ouster, are considered “martyrs of democracy” and that Sunday, March 20th, 2011, will be a mourning day for them.
“All those martyrs are our sons, and we regret for them falling victims in incidents committed by those who want to climb on them to take power through coups not through democracy,” Saleh addressed thousands of tribesmen who came Saturday to support him from Bani Matar of Sana’a province, where many of those protesters who were killed and injured on Friday came from.
President Saleh declared the state of emergency after the bloody Friday, and security and military measures were taken consequently. Saturday tanks and armored vehicles were deployed in the capital of Sana’a. About 10 tanks were deployed in the Parade Square of Al Sabeen which is around the presidential palace.
While the anti-Saleh protesters threaten from time to time to move their sit-in from the university to this huge square (Al Sabeen), President Saleh told his tribal supporters on Saturday, “the protesters can move to Sana’a Stadium, or any place they like far from residential places.”
What Saleh said can be understood that there is an intention or plan to force the protesters to move somewhere else or clear them by force especially under the state of emergency.
Legal Committee formed to investigate Friday's bloody shooting
By Ashwaq Arrabyee
A legal committee was formed to investigate the snipers who open fire on the anti-regime protesters, killing about 40 people and injuring more than 100, media sources at the sit-in tents near to Sana'a University said today Saturday.
The sources said the legal committee formed of judges, lawyers, and security men who have joined the protesters will investigate the snipers who are mostly carrying military ID cards.
A military source denied accusing the military and security forces, the Republican guards and Central Security Force in particular, of shooting the protesters yesterday.
It is not reasonable to go to murder people carrying an ID that shows your relationship with a certain body, the military sources said.
The sources added these are political news aiming to involve the armed and security forces in the political conflicts, despite the fact, the protesters themselves are demanding the army and security forces to protect them.
In the same context, the official media has demanded for independent investigation on Friday's bloody incident and accused Sheikh Hamid al Ahmer, a leading member of Yemen's Islamist political party, of being behind the incident.
The opposition media held the President and his family the whole responsibility for the incident.
"This is a serious crime against humanity and the president and his family must be imprisoned and put on trial," Mohammed Qahtan, the Opposition JMPs spokesman said.
On ground, the capital Sana'a city witnessed a noticeably spread of military vehicles and tanks especially in Al-Sabeen square and around the Presidential Palace in Sana'a.
A legal committee was formed to investigate the snipers who open fire on the anti-regime protesters, killing about 40 people and injuring more than 100, media sources at the sit-in tents near to Sana'a University said today Saturday.
The sources said the legal committee formed of judges, lawyers, and security men who have joined the protesters will investigate the snipers who are mostly carrying military ID cards.
A military source denied accusing the military and security forces, the Republican guards and Central Security Force in particular, of shooting the protesters yesterday.
It is not reasonable to go to murder people carrying an ID that shows your relationship with a certain body, the military sources said.
The sources added these are political news aiming to involve the armed and security forces in the political conflicts, despite the fact, the protesters themselves are demanding the army and security forces to protect them.
In the same context, the official media has demanded for independent investigation on Friday's bloody incident and accused Sheikh Hamid al Ahmer, a leading member of Yemen's Islamist political party, of being behind the incident.
The opposition media held the President and his family the whole responsibility for the incident.
"This is a serious crime against humanity and the president and his family must be imprisoned and put on trial," Mohammed Qahtan, the Opposition JMPs spokesman said.
On ground, the capital Sana'a city witnessed a noticeably spread of military vehicles and tanks especially in Al-Sabeen square and around the Presidential Palace in Sana'a.
Friday, 18 March 2011
Bloody Friday foiled regional mediation to end Yemen crisis , President Saleh says
Committee with three from opposition to investigate the bloody Friday in Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee 18/03/2011
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered formation of an independent committee to investigate into the incident that killed and injured hundreds of protesters in Sana’a on Friday and also those that happened in Taiz, and Hodeida over the last few days.
The committee would include minister of justice, minister of human rights and general prosecutor and three from the opposition coalition JMP.
President Saleh said that the Friday incident foiled a Saudi-led gulf mediation to end the crisis in his country.
“We were in contact with our brothers in Saudi Arabia and Gulf Sates about mediation to end the crisis between Yemenis, but unfortunately, we feel that what happened today has foiled that mediation for saving the Yemeni bold,” Saleh said in press conference in his palace in Sana’a late Friday.
After the bloody Friday, President Saleh declared a state of emergency and curfew for 30 days in the capitals of all provinces.
Earlier Friday, clashes between Saleh’s supporters and protesters killed more than 30 and injured more than 100.
Armed men from roofs of the houses started to shoot at the protesters who started to destroy walls built to stop their expansion in the in the streets immediately after the Friday’s sermons in which tens of thousands of worshipers participated.
After President Saleh declared the emergency state and curfew, he said if the protesters can continue their sit-in but in non-residential places.
“If they want to continue, they can but they should find somewhere else far from the residential places to avoid more clashes ,” Saleh said a short press conference in which he declared the state of emergency throughout his country.
“There were no police in this incident at all, no single bullet was fired by them, but between residents of these places and armed people in these tents, it was clear there were armed elements in these tents who were firing.” Saleh said.
Over the last week, more than 15 walls were built by the local residents in the streets around the anti-regime sit-in place at the gate of Sana’a university including a huge one in the main street of Al Wahda between the old and new universities. Almost all of those walls were destroyed Friday by the protesters.
“We gave early instructions to protect the pro-and anti demonstrations and separate them, but this group at the university, unfortunately, was expanding every day, bothering the local residents in their natural life, and this is what happened today, some houses were stormed and there were reactions.” President Saleh said
President Saleh expressed regret for the deaths and injuries saying “the dead and injured” will be considered as martyrs of democracy and the State will take care of them and their families.
The American President in a statement sent by the US embassy in Sana’a to local media, condemned the violence against protesters and called Saleh to stick to his commitments for protection of the protesters.
By Nasser Arrabyee 18/03/2011
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered formation of an independent committee to investigate into the incident that killed and injured hundreds of protesters in Sana’a on Friday and also those that happened in Taiz, and Hodeida over the last few days.
The committee would include minister of justice, minister of human rights and general prosecutor and three from the opposition coalition JMP.
President Saleh said that the Friday incident foiled a Saudi-led gulf mediation to end the crisis in his country.
“We were in contact with our brothers in Saudi Arabia and Gulf Sates about mediation to end the crisis between Yemenis, but unfortunately, we feel that what happened today has foiled that mediation for saving the Yemeni bold,” Saleh said in press conference in his palace in Sana’a late Friday.
After the bloody Friday, President Saleh declared a state of emergency and curfew for 30 days in the capitals of all provinces.
Earlier Friday, clashes between Saleh’s supporters and protesters killed more than 30 and injured more than 100.
Armed men from roofs of the houses started to shoot at the protesters who started to destroy walls built to stop their expansion in the in the streets immediately after the Friday’s sermons in which tens of thousands of worshipers participated.
After President Saleh declared the emergency state and curfew, he said if the protesters can continue their sit-in but in non-residential places.
“If they want to continue, they can but they should find somewhere else far from the residential places to avoid more clashes ,” Saleh said a short press conference in which he declared the state of emergency throughout his country.
“There were no police in this incident at all, no single bullet was fired by them, but between residents of these places and armed people in these tents, it was clear there were armed elements in these tents who were firing.” Saleh said.
Over the last week, more than 15 walls were built by the local residents in the streets around the anti-regime sit-in place at the gate of Sana’a university including a huge one in the main street of Al Wahda between the old and new universities. Almost all of those walls were destroyed Friday by the protesters.
“We gave early instructions to protect the pro-and anti demonstrations and separate them, but this group at the university, unfortunately, was expanding every day, bothering the local residents in their natural life, and this is what happened today, some houses were stormed and there were reactions.” President Saleh said
President Saleh expressed regret for the deaths and injuries saying “the dead and injured” will be considered as martyrs of democracy and the State will take care of them and their families.
The American President in a statement sent by the US embassy in Sana’a to local media, condemned the violence against protesters and called Saleh to stick to his commitments for protection of the protesters.
The Yemeni President has declared the state of emergency
18/03/2011, 6 pm
The Yemeni President has declared the state of emergency after tens were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between secuirty forces and protesters demanding his ouster.
More details later
The Yemeni President has declared the state of emergency after tens were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between secuirty forces and protesters demanding his ouster.
More details later
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Three Al Qaeda operatives killed and two arrested in two operations
By Nasser Arrabyee/17/03/2011
Three Al Qaeda operatives were killed and three others injured after a group of Al Qaeda fighters attacked a security check point killing three soldiers and injuring three others in the eastern province of Marib, official and local sources said late Thursday.
The attack came only two days after disgruntled local tribesmen stabbed and seriously injured the governor of this semi-lawless province, Naji Al Zaydi in protest over an unclear murder of a relative who was mediating between the government and Al Qaeda operatives last year.
Al Qaeda group, who were riding two cars, attacked the check point of Al Makhtoom, Rawaik area, eastern of the city of Marib, killing three soldiers and injuring three others before security forces fired back and killing three of them and injuring three others, according to an official statement carried by the state-run news agency Saba.
The local sources said that the remaining members of group were able to take one of the injured with them before they ran away in one of the two cars.
The group, about 10 in the two cars, left one of the cars behind them with weapons and explosives inside, the local sources said.
Last Monday, disgruntled tribesmen were staging a demonstration at the gate of the Marib local government demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and asking the governor Al Zaydi, to give them the killer of Jaber Al Shabwani, the deputy governor who was mistakenly killed by an air strike which targeted a group of Al Qaeda last year in this wide and desert province where Al Qaeda operatives are believed to be hiding.
The tribesmen, from Al Shabwani tribe, exploded an oil pipe line on Tuesday after the injured governor was taken to a hostpial in Sana’a.
Meanwhile, two Al Qaeda operatives were arrested in a check point in the central province of Taiz where big anti-regime protests started about 40 days ago.
The two men were identified by the security officials in a statement, as Khalid Saeed Ba Tarfi, alias Abu Mekdad Al Kanadi, and Ahmed Omar Abdul Jalil, alias, Al Lahji.
They were described as dangerous operatives.
Ba Tarfi was known as one of the spokesmen of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) and he is the local Emir of AQAP in the southern province of Abyan. Ba Tarfi succeeded Jamil Al Ambari, who was killed in an air strike on March 14th, 2010, in Mudiyah of Abyan province.
Three Al Qaeda operatives were killed and three others injured after a group of Al Qaeda fighters attacked a security check point killing three soldiers and injuring three others in the eastern province of Marib, official and local sources said late Thursday.
The attack came only two days after disgruntled local tribesmen stabbed and seriously injured the governor of this semi-lawless province, Naji Al Zaydi in protest over an unclear murder of a relative who was mediating between the government and Al Qaeda operatives last year.
Al Qaeda group, who were riding two cars, attacked the check point of Al Makhtoom, Rawaik area, eastern of the city of Marib, killing three soldiers and injuring three others before security forces fired back and killing three of them and injuring three others, according to an official statement carried by the state-run news agency Saba.
The local sources said that the remaining members of group were able to take one of the injured with them before they ran away in one of the two cars.
The group, about 10 in the two cars, left one of the cars behind them with weapons and explosives inside, the local sources said.
Last Monday, disgruntled tribesmen were staging a demonstration at the gate of the Marib local government demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and asking the governor Al Zaydi, to give them the killer of Jaber Al Shabwani, the deputy governor who was mistakenly killed by an air strike which targeted a group of Al Qaeda last year in this wide and desert province where Al Qaeda operatives are believed to be hiding.
The tribesmen, from Al Shabwani tribe, exploded an oil pipe line on Tuesday after the injured governor was taken to a hostpial in Sana’a.
Meanwhile, two Al Qaeda operatives were arrested in a check point in the central province of Taiz where big anti-regime protests started about 40 days ago.
The two men were identified by the security officials in a statement, as Khalid Saeed Ba Tarfi, alias Abu Mekdad Al Kanadi, and Ahmed Omar Abdul Jalil, alias, Al Lahji.
They were described as dangerous operatives.
Ba Tarfi was known as one of the spokesmen of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) and he is the local Emir of AQAP in the southern province of Abyan. Ba Tarfi succeeded Jamil Al Ambari, who was killed in an air strike on March 14th, 2010, in Mudiyah of Abyan province.
Two people wounded in clashes between Gov supporters and anti-gov protestors
By Ashwaq Arrabyee
Two people were injured in clashes with hands and sticks between government supporters and anti-regime protesters near to the sit-in tents in Sana'a University, said protesters early Thursday.
The eyewitnesses said the government supporters hurled the anti-regime protestors with stones and they retaliated and then the security forces used rubber and live bullets and tear gas to break up clashes which continued for few minutes.
About two were injured by live pullets in their hands and 5 other by tear gas, but they were stable, the medical sources said
On the other hand, the Opposition Joint Meeting Parties condemned in a press release using force against the peaceful demonstrations and tracing and threatening local and international journalists and TV channel correspondents.
The press release also demanded the president to respond to the demands of the people and to hand over the power to the people who are the source and owner of the power.
Two people were injured in clashes with hands and sticks between government supporters and anti-regime protesters near to the sit-in tents in Sana'a University, said protesters early Thursday.
The eyewitnesses said the government supporters hurled the anti-regime protestors with stones and they retaliated and then the security forces used rubber and live bullets and tear gas to break up clashes which continued for few minutes.
About two were injured by live pullets in their hands and 5 other by tear gas, but they were stable, the medical sources said
On the other hand, the Opposition Joint Meeting Parties condemned in a press release using force against the peaceful demonstrations and tracing and threatening local and international journalists and TV channel correspondents.
The press release also demanded the president to respond to the demands of the people and to hand over the power to the people who are the source and owner of the power.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
300 injured in clashes between anti-and pro-regime protesters in western Yemen
By Nasser Arrabyee/16/03/2011
About 300 Yemenis were injured when security forces used rubber and live bullets and tear gas to break up clashes with hands, sticks, daggers, and rocks, between anti-and pro-regime demonstrators in the western coastal city of Hodieda, medics and local sources from both sides said Wednesday.
About 240 were injured by tear gas , 30 by rocks, 5 by live billets, and 20 by daggers, according to the medics sources.
The clashes happened after the ruling party supporters held a big rally in which tens of thousands of people from all over the province came to support the embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his initiatives for dialogue and reforms.
Despite the fact that the anti-Saleh protesters were in their sit-in square about 4 km away, some of the ruling party supporters passed through the same place and the clashes happened.
The two sides have different and conflicting interpretations for what happened.
The anti-regime protesters say the “thugs” of the ruling party in cooperation with the security forces, while going home from their rally, hurled them with rocks and they(anti-regime protesters) retaliated and then the clashes expanded more and more.
The pro-regime protesters say, the “thugs” of the Islah, the Islamist largest opposition party that leads the coalition of the opposition, started to hurl them with stones injuring about 20, and then the clashes started.
The medics sources said that one of the injured protesters died of his injury immediately after he was admitted. But the ruling party supporters said in a statement later that the one who died from his injuries was a member of the ruling party and he was injured only in a car accident in the city and not in the clashes.
About 300 Yemenis were injured when security forces used rubber and live bullets and tear gas to break up clashes with hands, sticks, daggers, and rocks, between anti-and pro-regime demonstrators in the western coastal city of Hodieda, medics and local sources from both sides said Wednesday.
About 240 were injured by tear gas , 30 by rocks, 5 by live billets, and 20 by daggers, according to the medics sources.
The clashes happened after the ruling party supporters held a big rally in which tens of thousands of people from all over the province came to support the embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his initiatives for dialogue and reforms.
Despite the fact that the anti-Saleh protesters were in their sit-in square about 4 km away, some of the ruling party supporters passed through the same place and the clashes happened.
The two sides have different and conflicting interpretations for what happened.
The anti-regime protesters say the “thugs” of the ruling party in cooperation with the security forces, while going home from their rally, hurled them with rocks and they(anti-regime protesters) retaliated and then the clashes expanded more and more.
The pro-regime protesters say, the “thugs” of the Islah, the Islamist largest opposition party that leads the coalition of the opposition, started to hurl them with stones injuring about 20, and then the clashes started.
The medics sources said that one of the injured protesters died of his injury immediately after he was admitted. But the ruling party supporters said in a statement later that the one who died from his injuries was a member of the ruling party and he was injured only in a car accident in the city and not in the clashes.
One dead, 200 wounded in Yemen clashes
Source: Reuters, By Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed Ghobari
16/03/2011
SANAA- One person was killed and 200 wounded when Yemen security forces attacked protesters in the Red Sea city of Hudaida with live and rubber bullets, tear gas, clubs and daggers, a doctor who treated victims said.
The impoverished Arabian Peninsula state has been hit by weeks of protests against the 32-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Both pro and anti-government factions appear to have increasingly resorted to violence in the struggle.
A doctor treating protesters in Hudaida said hundreds of security forces and plainclothes police had attacked a sit-in.
"We received around 200 wounded, 10 were hit by gunfire and 40 suffered stab wounds. One died from his gunshot wounds after reaching the hospital," he said.
Demonstrators contacted by Reuters said they were calling on private hospitals to send ambulances and asked Yemenis to donate blood to help treat the wounded. The city's main hospital had been filled to capacity, they said.
Shouting over the rising clamour and chanting of protesters who regrouped after the attack, one demonstrator told Reuters by phone that security forces, most in civilian clothes, had surrounded the sit-in but later retreated.
"The thugs have left, the wounded are getting treatment and our sit-in continues," Abdulhafid al-Nihari said.
Two protesters told Reuters some of the wounded demonstrators had been chased down by security forces and then beaten in the hospital, but this could not be verified.
DONOR MEETING CANCELLED
The United States, which has long seen Saleh as a bulwark against an aggressive al Qaeda wing based in Yemen, has condemned the bloodshed and backed the right to peaceful protest. It says only dialogue can end the crisis.
Protesters, frustrated by rampant corruption and soaring unemployment, have been increasingly strident in their demand that Saleh step down. Some 40 percent of Yemen's 23 million people live on $2 a day or less and a third face chronic hunger.
As widespread protests continue despite rising violence and Saleh's promises of reform, Yemen delayed a meeting with a group of Western and Gulf Arab donors, known as "Friends of Yemen," in Riyadh later this month, state news agency Saba said.
"Yemen proposed delaying the group's coming meeting to give a chance for more preparation and coordination and will announce a new date soon," Saba said.
In further violence Wednesday, a leading activist in Taiz said plainclothes police targeted and beat women at a rally in the city, 200 km (125 miles) south of capital Sanaa, where tens of thousands have camped out for weeks. At least eleven there were wounded, Bushra al-Maqtari said.
Even before protests, Yemen had been teetering on the brink of failed statehood. Saleh's cash strapped government has been struggling to cement a truce with Shi'ite rebels in the north and quell a separatist rebellion in the once independent south.
(Writing by Erika Solomon; Editing by Peter Graff)
16/03/2011
SANAA- One person was killed and 200 wounded when Yemen security forces attacked protesters in the Red Sea city of Hudaida with live and rubber bullets, tear gas, clubs and daggers, a doctor who treated victims said.
The impoverished Arabian Peninsula state has been hit by weeks of protests against the 32-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Both pro and anti-government factions appear to have increasingly resorted to violence in the struggle.
A doctor treating protesters in Hudaida said hundreds of security forces and plainclothes police had attacked a sit-in.
"We received around 200 wounded, 10 were hit by gunfire and 40 suffered stab wounds. One died from his gunshot wounds after reaching the hospital," he said.
Demonstrators contacted by Reuters said they were calling on private hospitals to send ambulances and asked Yemenis to donate blood to help treat the wounded. The city's main hospital had been filled to capacity, they said.
Shouting over the rising clamour and chanting of protesters who regrouped after the attack, one demonstrator told Reuters by phone that security forces, most in civilian clothes, had surrounded the sit-in but later retreated.
"The thugs have left, the wounded are getting treatment and our sit-in continues," Abdulhafid al-Nihari said.
Two protesters told Reuters some of the wounded demonstrators had been chased down by security forces and then beaten in the hospital, but this could not be verified.
DONOR MEETING CANCELLED
The United States, which has long seen Saleh as a bulwark against an aggressive al Qaeda wing based in Yemen, has condemned the bloodshed and backed the right to peaceful protest. It says only dialogue can end the crisis.
Protesters, frustrated by rampant corruption and soaring unemployment, have been increasingly strident in their demand that Saleh step down. Some 40 percent of Yemen's 23 million people live on $2 a day or less and a third face chronic hunger.
As widespread protests continue despite rising violence and Saleh's promises of reform, Yemen delayed a meeting with a group of Western and Gulf Arab donors, known as "Friends of Yemen," in Riyadh later this month, state news agency Saba said.
"Yemen proposed delaying the group's coming meeting to give a chance for more preparation and coordination and will announce a new date soon," Saba said.
In further violence Wednesday, a leading activist in Taiz said plainclothes police targeted and beat women at a rally in the city, 200 km (125 miles) south of capital Sanaa, where tens of thousands have camped out for weeks. At least eleven there were wounded, Bushra al-Maqtari said.
Even before protests, Yemen had been teetering on the brink of failed statehood. Saleh's cash strapped government has been struggling to cement a truce with Shi'ite rebels in the north and quell a separatist rebellion in the once independent south.
(Writing by Erika Solomon; Editing by Peter Graff)
Government and opposition leaders meet to solve crisis in Yemen
By Ashwaq Arrabyee
Some Government officials have held recently a meeting with some opposition leaders to try to resolve the current crisis in Yemen, the Independent Al-Waset Newspaper said Wednesday.
The government officials presented offers from the President Saleh to the opposition leaders in order to come out with a solution for current situation, the newspaper quoted the sources as saying.
The source said both parties did not come to an agreement but they have agreed to hold another meeting today Wednesday.
The meeting gathered the Head of the JMP Dr. Yassin Saeed No'man and JMP spkesman Mohammed Qahtan with Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs Dr. Rashad al-Alimi, Commander of the north western military zone Brigadier General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, and Foreign Affairs Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qerbi and Minister of High Education Dr. Saleh Ba-Sora.
Some Government officials have held recently a meeting with some opposition leaders to try to resolve the current crisis in Yemen, the Independent Al-Waset Newspaper said Wednesday.
The government officials presented offers from the President Saleh to the opposition leaders in order to come out with a solution for current situation, the newspaper quoted the sources as saying.
The source said both parties did not come to an agreement but they have agreed to hold another meeting today Wednesday.
The meeting gathered the Head of the JMP Dr. Yassin Saeed No'man and JMP spkesman Mohammed Qahtan with Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs Dr. Rashad al-Alimi, Commander of the north western military zone Brigadier General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, and Foreign Affairs Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qerbi and Minister of High Education Dr. Saleh Ba-Sora.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
All bet on tribesmen in Yemen’s unrest
By Nasser Arrabyee/15/03/2011
The tribesmen are still a real power in the current unrest of Yemen. The embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh bets on them , the opposition uses them, the young people who protest in the streets boast of the increasing groups of tribesmen who join them in the sit-in squares almost every day.
The religious leaders seek protection from powerful tribes. The famous cleric, Abdul Majid Al Zandani left the capital Sana’a this week to his powerful tribe in Arhab, after he told the protesters the Islamic Caliphate will be established in 2025 if they keep their revolutionary enthusiasm as high as it is now.
The armed tribesmen in the almost lawless provinces of Marib and Al Jawf decided to occupy the headquarters of their local governments on Monday March 14th, 2011.
The governor of Marib, Naji Al Zaydi escaped to Sana’a on the same day after being seriously stabbed by one of the tribesmen who were demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the governor Al Zaydi who is also from Marib but from a different tribe.
The tribesmen explode an oil pipeline after failed to occupy the headquarters of the local government. They wanted the governor and President to tell them who killed Jaber Al Shabwani, the deputy governor who was mistakenly killed in an air strike which targeted Al Qaeda operatives last year in Marib.
The governor of Al Jawf, Yahya Ghawdal,was dismissed from his office on the same day by the tribesmen who occupied the local government buildings.
Three security men were killed in another area of the province by armed tribesmen who took revenge for three tribesmen who were injured by the bodyguards of the governor Ghawdal before the government headquarters was occupied.
Tuesday, the tribal leader, Naji Nasm, was killed by tribesmen loyal to the government who came to liberate the occupied headquarters.
“We do not want the governor, we want someone from us not from another province,” said the local tribal leader, Abdullah Al Jamili who supports anti-government protests but refuses the violence. “We refuse this violence, but warned from it, we told the President we want another governor.”
The President Saleh has been mobilizing the tribesmen from all over the country since the beginning of the protests that demand his ouster more than one month ago.
On Thursday March 10th, 2011, President Saleh’s party paid about 10 million dollars to more than 40,000 tribesmen and religious leaders who came from all over the country to the capital Sana’a to support him and listen to his third initiative.
The tribesmen are still a real power in the current unrest of Yemen. The embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh bets on them , the opposition uses them, the young people who protest in the streets boast of the increasing groups of tribesmen who join them in the sit-in squares almost every day.
The religious leaders seek protection from powerful tribes. The famous cleric, Abdul Majid Al Zandani left the capital Sana’a this week to his powerful tribe in Arhab, after he told the protesters the Islamic Caliphate will be established in 2025 if they keep their revolutionary enthusiasm as high as it is now.
The armed tribesmen in the almost lawless provinces of Marib and Al Jawf decided to occupy the headquarters of their local governments on Monday March 14th, 2011.
The governor of Marib, Naji Al Zaydi escaped to Sana’a on the same day after being seriously stabbed by one of the tribesmen who were demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the governor Al Zaydi who is also from Marib but from a different tribe.
The tribesmen explode an oil pipeline after failed to occupy the headquarters of the local government. They wanted the governor and President to tell them who killed Jaber Al Shabwani, the deputy governor who was mistakenly killed in an air strike which targeted Al Qaeda operatives last year in Marib.
The governor of Al Jawf, Yahya Ghawdal,was dismissed from his office on the same day by the tribesmen who occupied the local government buildings.
Three security men were killed in another area of the province by armed tribesmen who took revenge for three tribesmen who were injured by the bodyguards of the governor Ghawdal before the government headquarters was occupied.
Tuesday, the tribal leader, Naji Nasm, was killed by tribesmen loyal to the government who came to liberate the occupied headquarters.
“We do not want the governor, we want someone from us not from another province,” said the local tribal leader, Abdullah Al Jamili who supports anti-government protests but refuses the violence. “We refuse this violence, but warned from it, we told the President we want another governor.”
The President Saleh has been mobilizing the tribesmen from all over the country since the beginning of the protests that demand his ouster more than one month ago.
On Thursday March 10th, 2011, President Saleh’s party paid about 10 million dollars to more than 40,000 tribesmen and religious leaders who came from all over the country to the capital Sana’a to support him and listen to his third initiative.
Yemen tribesmen prevent repairs on blazing pipeline
Source: Reuters, 15/03/2011
SANAA-Tribesmen prevented technicians on Tuesday from repairing an oil pipeline in Yemen's central Maarib province that was damaged by explosives a day earlier, officials told Reuters.
The pipeline, which has been repeatedly blown up in recent months, was still ablaze, the officials said.
Tribal sources said kinsmen of a Yemeni mediator, who was killed last year in an errant airstrike targeting al Qaeda, were behind the attack.
Jaber al-Shabwani, who had been trying to persuade members of al Qaeda to surrender, died when his car blew up in a strike blamed on a U.S. drone.
Several oil and gas fields operated by international companies are located in the mountainous province. Tribesmen have previously attacked pipelines that ferry crude from Maarib, east of the capital Sanaa, to the Red Sea coast.
Yemen, which borders the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been hit by weeks of increasingly violent unrest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule.
The pipeline attack did not appear to be directly related to the anti-government demonstrations. (Reporting by Mohammed Sudam; editing by Crispian Balmer)
SANAA-Tribesmen prevented technicians on Tuesday from repairing an oil pipeline in Yemen's central Maarib province that was damaged by explosives a day earlier, officials told Reuters.
The pipeline, which has been repeatedly blown up in recent months, was still ablaze, the officials said.
Tribal sources said kinsmen of a Yemeni mediator, who was killed last year in an errant airstrike targeting al Qaeda, were behind the attack.
Jaber al-Shabwani, who had been trying to persuade members of al Qaeda to surrender, died when his car blew up in a strike blamed on a U.S. drone.
Several oil and gas fields operated by international companies are located in the mountainous province. Tribesmen have previously attacked pipelines that ferry crude from Maarib, east of the capital Sanaa, to the Red Sea coast.
Yemen, which borders the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has been hit by weeks of increasingly violent unrest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule.
The pipeline attack did not appear to be directly related to the anti-government demonstrations. (Reporting by Mohammed Sudam; editing by Crispian Balmer)
Monday, 14 March 2011
Tribesmen killed 3 security men and dismissed governor after protests dispersed in remote province
By Nasser Arrabyee/15/03/2011
A security commander and two soldiers were killed by armed tribesmen angry with the security forces who injured three tribesmen while dispersing a group of anti-government demonstrators in the city of Al Hazam, the capital of Al Jawf province east of the country, official and local sources said Monday.
The tribesmen who killed the security men were taking revenge for the tribesmen who were injured at the gate of the local government compound of Al Jawf where a group of tribesmen were demanding the ouster of the newly appointed governor who is not from the same province, according to the local tribal leader Abdullah Al Jamili.
After the security forces dispersed the demonstrators and injured three of them, more tribesmen came over to help and some of them called the tribesmen of Al Maslob district telling them to kill any security men they find.
“The commander of Al Maslob district in Al Jawf, Abdul Ghani Ahmed Olyan, and two other soldiers were killed cold-bloodedly while on their duty by rash young people at a moment of rage,” said Al Jamili who supports the anti-government protests but refuses the violence.
The ministry of interior said that armed men from the opposition Islamist party Islah killed the soldiers and their commander.
At the beginning, the tribesmen were demanding the ouster of the governor and after clashes with the security forces they were demanding the ouster of the whole regime inspired by the current protests in many cities which demand the ouster of President Saleh.
Al Jamili said the tribesmen occupied the local government buildings compound and forced the governor, Yahya Ghawdal, to leave very late Monday to a military camp, about 5 km away.
“Four tribal leaders accompanied the governor Ghawdal to the camp, and we and all the tribesmen in Al Jawf are insisting on changing him with one from the us,” said Al Jamili.
The governor Ghawdal, who is not from Al Jawf, was appointed only last month. While these thing were happening in Al Jawf on Monday, one of the prominent tribal leader who is leading member in the opposition Islamist party Islah, in the same province, Shiekh Amin Al Okaimi, was in the capital Sana’a declaring his support for the anti-regime protests.
In the neighboring province of Mareb, almost the same thing happened, where tribesmen tried to storm the building compound of the local government . The governor of Marib, Naji Al Zaydi(from Marib) was injured when one of the tribesmen stabbed him at his neck.
The security forces dispersed the angry tribesmen who were demanding the ouster of the regime and accusing the governor of killing Jaber Al Shabwani, the deputy governor who was mistakenly killed by a US drone last year while mediating with Al Qaeda people.
Al Jawf and Marib are known as safe haven places for Al Qaeda operatives who find support and protection from the uneducated and simple tribesmen.
Four Journalists Deported From Yemen
Source: New York Times
14\03\2011
Armed security forces in Yemen burst into an apartment shared by four Western journalists early Monday morning and expelled them from the country, the journalists said.
The expulsions ratcheted up the government’s effort to control coverage of the widening uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Yemeni government stopped issuing journalist visas when the political unrest began last month and no major news organizations keep bureaus in Yemen, leaving the country largely covered by a handful of freelance correspondents.
The four journalists, all young freelancers for American newspapers, included two United States citizens — Haley Sweetland Edwards, who writes for the Los Angeles Times, and Joshua Maricich, a photographer — and two Britons — Portia Walker, who writes for the Washington Post, and Oliver Holmes, who writes for the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine.
The State Department had warned Yemen against deporting reporters in a statement earlier this month: “The United States Embassy in Sana has watched with concern recent infringements of press freedom in Yemen,” the statement read, including “threats of deporting correspondents, and mistreatment of journalists covering protests.”
A spokesman for the Yemen embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.
Journalists in Yemen typically enjoy greater freedoms than those in most other Arab countries, with many independent news outlets freely criticizing government policies.
The four expelled journalists had extensively covered the violence used against anti-government protesters over the past three weeks, including video documentation.
But since antigovernment protests began to spread, local journalists have reported facing scores of threats, intimidation and attacks by supporters of Mr. Saleh.
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said it had received alerts on more than 50 cases of harassment, including threatening phone calls and serious physical attacks.
One of the foreign reporters, Ms. Edwards, said five armed security men came to the apartment they shared in the old city of Sana and took the four to the immigration authority.
Ms. Edwards, who spoke by phone from the Sana International Airport as she waited for a flight to Istanbul, said she was not certain how the men had entered the apartment.
In the car on the way to immigration , they had time to call several journalist friends and their respective embassies.
They were detained for several hours at the immigration authority, where their phones and passports were taken, before being told by a man who identified himself as Colonel Mohsin that they would be expelled from Yemen for “national security reasons.”
The four were allowed back in their apartment to gather their belongs before heading to the airport, but with an escort of about six armed soldiers.
“We’ve all been to the ministry of information, and they know us, and they said it’s all right to work as journalists here,” said Oliver Holmes, 24, speaking by phone from the airport.
“I’m positive that this is related to the fact that all four of us have been reporting about the upswing of violence against protesters,” he said.While Ms. Edwards, like most freelance reporters here, entered the country on a tourist visa, she said the Yemen embassy in Washington was aware that she had come as a reporter.
Ms. Edwards lived in Yemen for a year in late 2009 through 2010.
”Deporting us is an indication that the crackdown is going to increase,” said Ms. Edwards, “and there’s no one here who’s going to see it.”
14\03\2011
Armed security forces in Yemen burst into an apartment shared by four Western journalists early Monday morning and expelled them from the country, the journalists said.
The expulsions ratcheted up the government’s effort to control coverage of the widening uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Yemeni government stopped issuing journalist visas when the political unrest began last month and no major news organizations keep bureaus in Yemen, leaving the country largely covered by a handful of freelance correspondents.
The four journalists, all young freelancers for American newspapers, included two United States citizens — Haley Sweetland Edwards, who writes for the Los Angeles Times, and Joshua Maricich, a photographer — and two Britons — Portia Walker, who writes for the Washington Post, and Oliver Holmes, who writes for the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine.
The State Department had warned Yemen against deporting reporters in a statement earlier this month: “The United States Embassy in Sana has watched with concern recent infringements of press freedom in Yemen,” the statement read, including “threats of deporting correspondents, and mistreatment of journalists covering protests.”
A spokesman for the Yemen embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.
Journalists in Yemen typically enjoy greater freedoms than those in most other Arab countries, with many independent news outlets freely criticizing government policies.
The four expelled journalists had extensively covered the violence used against anti-government protesters over the past three weeks, including video documentation.
But since antigovernment protests began to spread, local journalists have reported facing scores of threats, intimidation and attacks by supporters of Mr. Saleh.
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said it had received alerts on more than 50 cases of harassment, including threatening phone calls and serious physical attacks.
One of the foreign reporters, Ms. Edwards, said five armed security men came to the apartment they shared in the old city of Sana and took the four to the immigration authority.
Ms. Edwards, who spoke by phone from the Sana International Airport as she waited for a flight to Istanbul, said she was not certain how the men had entered the apartment.
In the car on the way to immigration , they had time to call several journalist friends and their respective embassies.
They were detained for several hours at the immigration authority, where their phones and passports were taken, before being told by a man who identified himself as Colonel Mohsin that they would be expelled from Yemen for “national security reasons.”
The four were allowed back in their apartment to gather their belongs before heading to the airport, but with an escort of about six armed soldiers.
“We’ve all been to the ministry of information, and they know us, and they said it’s all right to work as journalists here,” said Oliver Holmes, 24, speaking by phone from the airport.
“I’m positive that this is related to the fact that all four of us have been reporting about the upswing of violence against protesters,” he said.While Ms. Edwards, like most freelance reporters here, entered the country on a tourist visa, she said the Yemen embassy in Washington was aware that she had come as a reporter.
Ms. Edwards lived in Yemen for a year in late 2009 through 2010.
”Deporting us is an indication that the crackdown is going to increase,” said Ms. Edwards, “and there’s no one here who’s going to see it.”
‘US wants new reality in Yemen but not by war’
By Nasser Arrabyee/14/03/2011
The American ambassador to Yemen said he wants to see a new reality in Yemen but through a peaceful transition of power not chaos, violence or civil war.
“ We want to see a peaceful transition, we want to see Yemen moving forward to a new reality but it got to be done in a way that maintains some kind of peaceful transition,” the ambassador, Gerald Feierstein, five Yemeni journalists, including the Gulf News reporter, in the embassy in Sana’a on March 12th, 2011.
“Those who want President Saleh to leave, they have a responsibility to say if President Saleh leaves, this is what we’re going to do, and until today, nobody has come forward, at least as far as we know.” He said.
“We oppose simply saying that Ali Abdullah Saleh should go, without saying anything about what you think is going to happen next. We oppose the idea of chaos. We oppose the idea that this will lead to civil war or to violence.”
“The problem is that people are demanding something without any idea of how they will manage it, and how they will prevent a disaster for the Yemeni people.”
The opposition leaders, who refused Saleh’s initiatives that almost met all their demands, say they are with the street and the street does not want any talks or dialogue now.
“If the Joint Meeting Parties (opposition) is not the representative of the people on the street then the people on the street need to say who are their representatives,” said the ambassador Feierstein.
He said the opposition needs to bring protesters in the street into a process of dialogue if they (opposition) want to be the leaders.
“ We think if the JMP wants to be the leader of the opposition they need to bring the street into the process,” said Feierstein.
When asked whether US wants President Saleh to finish his term in 2013 or leave now, the ambassador said, “ We do not think that it is up to us what we want is something acceptable to the Yemeni people whether he stays till 2013 or leaves in 2011 or he goes on 2012.”
About allegations that toxic gases were used to disperse the protesters in Yemen the ambassador said, “ We are reasonably confident that the allegations that there are sirens or mustard gas used are not correct.”
“If mustard gas was used there would have been 500 people dead and not one person.”
When asked what Saleh can do more to convince the opposition to sit for dialogue , the ambassador said, President Saleh should “ to remove some ministers who are known to be corrupt, to remove some of the senior security officials who were involved in some of these violent or forced confrontations with demonstrators particularly in Aden.”
When asked if US is concerned about the Islamist dominance over the Yemeni opposition and if an Islamist leader was elected as President like Al Zandani the ambassador said, “ Abdul Majid Al Zandani is on the terrorism list for the US and the United Nations, so we have a problem if he were elected a president.”
The American ambassador to Yemen said he wants to see a new reality in Yemen but through a peaceful transition of power not chaos, violence or civil war.
“ We want to see a peaceful transition, we want to see Yemen moving forward to a new reality but it got to be done in a way that maintains some kind of peaceful transition,” the ambassador, Gerald Feierstein, five Yemeni journalists, including the Gulf News reporter, in the embassy in Sana’a on March 12th, 2011.
“Those who want President Saleh to leave, they have a responsibility to say if President Saleh leaves, this is what we’re going to do, and until today, nobody has come forward, at least as far as we know.” He said.
“We oppose simply saying that Ali Abdullah Saleh should go, without saying anything about what you think is going to happen next. We oppose the idea of chaos. We oppose the idea that this will lead to civil war or to violence.”
“The problem is that people are demanding something without any idea of how they will manage it, and how they will prevent a disaster for the Yemeni people.”
The opposition leaders, who refused Saleh’s initiatives that almost met all their demands, say they are with the street and the street does not want any talks or dialogue now.
“If the Joint Meeting Parties (opposition) is not the representative of the people on the street then the people on the street need to say who are their representatives,” said the ambassador Feierstein.
He said the opposition needs to bring protesters in the street into a process of dialogue if they (opposition) want to be the leaders.
“ We think if the JMP wants to be the leader of the opposition they need to bring the street into the process,” said Feierstein.
When asked whether US wants President Saleh to finish his term in 2013 or leave now, the ambassador said, “ We do not think that it is up to us what we want is something acceptable to the Yemeni people whether he stays till 2013 or leaves in 2011 or he goes on 2012.”
About allegations that toxic gases were used to disperse the protesters in Yemen the ambassador said, “ We are reasonably confident that the allegations that there are sirens or mustard gas used are not correct.”
“If mustard gas was used there would have been 500 people dead and not one person.”
When asked what Saleh can do more to convince the opposition to sit for dialogue , the ambassador said, President Saleh should “ to remove some ministers who are known to be corrupt, to remove some of the senior security officials who were involved in some of these violent or forced confrontations with demonstrators particularly in Aden.”
When asked if US is concerned about the Islamist dominance over the Yemeni opposition and if an Islamist leader was elected as President like Al Zandani the ambassador said, “ Abdul Majid Al Zandani is on the terrorism list for the US and the United Nations, so we have a problem if he were elected a president.”