Ta'ez Under Fire by Saleh's Forces and No End in Sight

Courtesy of New York Times Photo by Associated Press




By Hassan Al-Haifi
2 December 2011



It is not clear how long the remaining forces of the supposedly deposed President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, will continue to indiscriminately and randomly shell the City of Ta'ez, in a frantic effort to quell the brave peaceful protest there against the diehard Saleh regime. This suppression of the people of Ta'ez (and elsewhere in Yemen) has not let up even with the signing of the GCC Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 24, 2011. They certainly are not leading to anything closer to reducing the aura of hell that the shelling of the city has brought on to the inhabitants of Ta'ez. Last week Human Rights Watch pointed out that 35 unarmed residents of the city were killed since the United Nations issued Security Council Resolution 2014 calling for a cessation of the use of excessive force by the Saleh regime against legitimate peaceful protests. Even after the signing of the GCC Initiative, and the entry of Yemen into the transitionary period, the bloodletting in Ta'ez has not abated. During this period, Saleh was to hand over all powers to his Vice President, and remain as a "ceremonial President" (whatever that means is not clear, and he certainly is not being ceremonial now) and then to implement the procedures for the power sharing scheme between the ruling party, the General People's Congress (GPC) with the formal opposition factions (including the Joint Meeting Parties of official opposition parties and other loose but nevertheless powerful factions) that co-signed the multi-faceted and still unclear transition deal as set out in the "mechanism for implementation" appended to the GCC Initiative. The latter was worked out by Jamal Ben Omar, UN Special Envoy sent to Yemen to get the political deal signed and implemented. Whatever the case, although there are some other political activities called for by the transition deal (such as the naming of a temporary caretaker government (comprising agreed division of ministerial portfolios between the signing parties said to come to 34 ministries!). But for the people of Ta'ez, Arhab (north of Sana'a, Nehm and other Saleh hotspots, the regime continues to see force as the only way to deal with protesters against the President, who has ruled Yemen now for 33 years.
For the last three days alone, the number of casualties have surpassed 25 fatalities, 12 of them on Thursday alone and the number of wounded has surpassed 100. The objective of the shelling of Ta'ez in this almost sadistic manner is not seen by many observers except as an obvious desire to forcefully end all protests against the regime. Others believe that the Saleh regime is pursuing to provoke anti regime protesters to take up arms against the Saleh regime and thus bring an all out war in Yemen, so that the regime can escape from meeting its commitments in the GCC Initiative and thus forfeit the need to abdicate by President Saleh altogether. The revolutionary youth of Yemen have issued an appeal to the "brokers" of the GCC Initiative and the international community to take measures to stop Saleh's continuous persecution of Yemeni protesters in general and the people of Ta'ez in particular (http://pdfcast.org/pdf/an-appeal-to-the-regional-neighbors-and-international-community). Today, the world must reconsider its position towards the Saleh regime. The latter is not even grateful to the sponsors of the GCC Initiative and its international guarantors for granting Saleh and his supporters immunity against being held accountable for all their violations of human rights and the corruption of regime officials over the last third of a century. All international human rights advocacy groups (HRW and Amnesty International among others) have rejected such stipulations as being conducive to international law and set a dangerous precedent for future efforts to deal with repressive and corrupt regimes.

Deadly attack on Yemeni protesters undermines reform plans | Amnesty International

Deadly attack on Yemeni protesters undermines reform plans | Amnesty International

COMMON SENSE: Why it must be Over?

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:18-04-2011
Yemen Times

One would that think that with so many millions of Yemenis, who have gone into the streets from Sa'ada to Hadhramaut, screaming as loud as their voices could shout, LEAVE, LEAVE, the President of the Republic of Yemen would say, like Zein Al-Abidein, the dethroned former President of Tunisia, said three months ago, "I understand"; i.e., I got the message. There is nothing that could show President Ali Abdullah that there is really justification for continuing to hold on to the Presidency with most of the institutions in Government, which really matter to the people of Yemen, hardly functioning by any means.

The Central Bank of Yemen and a considerable portion of the Republican Guards and Central Security are the only elements that the President insists give him the right to carry on his already untangling stranglehold on the Yemeni people, who he has been more than lucky to be able to rule now for nearly a third of a century. There is, no doubt, considerable pride that the President might be able to feel in being able to hold the record of all the Presidents, who have ruled Yemen, since the Revolution of September 26, 1962 and October 14, 1963. There are even some achievements that the President might also consider as worth some note in history, mainly the unification of Yemen (which was partly stimulated by a rapidly changing global arrangement spurned by the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union). But, the President did take the initiative that eventually removed the border barrels at Habilayn and other border outposts as well as the unnecessary fortifications that worked to bar entry and exit of Yemenis on both sides of the former border that superficially divided the Northern Governorates and the Southern Governorates.

The unification of Yemen could not have been surpassed by any other event by which Yemen enters the 21st Century or the Third Millennium. However, after Mr. Saleh transformed the once commendable unification agreement into a private enterprise, in addition to the other maladies brought on by the regime, in both north and south, the threat of fragmentation reappeared. Regrettably speaking, the disagreeable practices of Mr. Saleh, his relatives and the other icons of the regime, in the Southern and Eastern Governorates, especially after 1994 and the breakdown of all hopes of saving the positive spirit that was evoked by the Unification Agreement did rightfully produce much discontent amongst our fellow Yemenis in the South. There have been even recent calls for "breaking the ties" of unity mainly by elements of the regime that used to manage the state of affairs in the South before unification and a considerable number of other fellow Yemenis in the South. Without a doubt, such calls are understandable, as indeed President Saleh has reneged on the unification agreement, but they certainly could never be acceptable, because the Constitution of the Republic of Yemen was put to a national referendum and the overwhelming majority of Yemenis in both the Governorates that made up the former "People's Democratic Republic of Yemen" and those that made up the former Yemen Arab Republic voted yes for termination of the fragmented status of Yemen and the beginning of a new era that conforms to the natural and historical legacy of Yemen from ancient times to our age.

Incidentally, even the British recognized that Yemen was indeed one country and allowed the Imam of Yemen before the September Revolution to keep a Viceroy in Aden and a Viceroy in Mukalla. The fact that President Saleh did not even try to solve the grievances of our southern brothers has done much to tarnish his record as the initiator of unification and all that was required is that the southern elements of the government that used to run the PDRY should not have been ignored and literally abandoned by the Government of the Republic of Yemen, in both the military side and the civil service side. There were some really outstanding military and civil service personnel that were in the Government of PDRY and they should have really been allowed to maintain their positions, which they held before the unfortunate War of 1994. Perhaps the only entity that seemed to have kept the management intact, with the personnel that came with the unification to Sana'a and the other way around to Aden that I am aware of was the Public Electricity Corporation. The credit of this goes to no other than Engineer Ahmed Hassan Al-Aini (Managing Director at the time of the Public Electricity Corporation), who indeed instilled the spirit of unity and brotherhood amongst all the staff and there was never any feeling of aloofness or detachment among the PEC staff from both north and south of the Mikeiras line even after the 1994 War.

Thus, it can be seen that if we are to be able to maintain the unity of the country without further raising the discontent of our southern fellow Yemenis, it goes without saying that maintaining the Presidency of Ali Saleh will never alleviate the aura of despair and hope amongst our southern brothers and sisters. Therefore, for this very important reason, the President should understand that the continuation of his Presidency brings with it the risk of forcing many of our southern brothers to seek a secession. One of course does not really see any reason yet that such a drastic step should be taken and for all intents and purposes, such irrational course would be tantamount to distorting the sovereignty of Yemen to the unholy state it was in before unification. Such a state was certainly not favorable for any Yemenis on both sides of the fictitious border that then divided them. Both sides lost many lives and much of the scarce resources of the country as each side sought to instill their version of a united Yemen. It was impossible for a Marxist agenda to be imposed on all of Yemen and the ultra conservative north also did not present a commendable formula for application on both sides of Yemen. That is why, we are today facing the risk of fragmentation and it is therefore the first task of the Post Saleh democratic Government to ensure that the issues that have bothered our southern brothers be dealt with justly, equitably and with an emphasis on restoring the dignity and pride of our southern brothers. This, along with the consequences of the Sa'ada Wars should be sufficient reasons to convince the President that it is all over for him, otherwise Yemen faces the threat of becoming fragmented beyond repair.

Amidst this depressing note, it is inspiring to see how Yemenis from every corner of Yemen have found an almost utopian era in Change Square, where no one is ever discriminated against or even recognized as being from that region or this governorate. All insist only that they are Yemenis and all have come to the Square ready to risk their lives in order to bring about a readjustment of the unhealthy course, which the long standing regime of Saleh has set the country on without regards to the interests of the Yemeni people at large. Instead the Saleh regime has focused all its efforts and directed all the resources of the country to maintaining the domination of the President's family and cronies over all aspects of Government, business and of course social affairs, while leaving the vast majority of the Yemeni people, in the North and the South with very little to look forward to if the Saleh regime is not removed once and for all. There simply is no other course left for Yemen to take.

Is the End of the Yemeni Political Crisis Over?

Throughout the evening I followed the local, regional and international media for any reports of shootings in Yemen against the peaceful protesters against President of Everything that moves, speaks or talks, dead or alive substances, etc. To my delight there were no incidents of the security apparatus commanded by his sons and nephews or hired thugs unleashing their deadly weapons on the peaceful youth and protesters against the tyranny of the long-standing regime mainly dominated by his close of kin and fellow tribesmen. It appears that this could be a sign that the President has accepted the Gulf Cooperation Council formula to settle the Yemeni political crisis: 1) Ali Saleh to abdicate all his authorities to his Vice President Abdu Rabbu Hadi 2) A caretaker government to be formed to manage affairs pending elections and the redrawing of Yemen's Constitution. This leads one to suggest that either the wily Saleh may be palnning for something desperate or that Saleh and his cronies are packing to leave the country.

Amnesty International Praises Yemeni Women Participating in Revolt

April 1, 2011 During recent Yemen protests, an increasing number of women have been taking part in recent protests in different cities including Sana’a, Ta’izz and Aden, and Amnesty International voices its support of women’s increased visibility in Yemen and women’s right to join in the calls for government reform. But Amnesty International remains concerned that many Yemeni women are treated as second-class citizens in law and tribal custom, including forced marriages, unequal protection under the law, and gender-targeted threats to their safety and security. Moreover, women in Yemen remain inadequately protected against domestic and other violence. Amnesty International calls for an end to discriminatory laws and violence against women in Yemen, and stands with the women in Yemen for full and equal access to their human rights. During this time of government protest, we especially highlight the need for women to have equal access to participate fully in government. Women should have full and equal rights and access to participation in Yemeni government and cultural life, and we call on the Yemen government to ensure women are represented equally and are granted equal protection under the law. Amnesty International continues to call on the Yemeni government to protect civilian protestors and ensure that the right to peaceful protest and freedom of assembly is protected for the men and women of Yemen. Sincerely, Tarah Demant, Women’s Human Rights Group, Amnesty International, USA Alireza Azizi, Yemen Country Specialist, Amnesty International, USA