Monday, March 07, 2011

Hammoud Mounassar
Agence France Presse

SANAA: Yemen’s opposition movement vowed Sunday to intensify protests against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, after the embattled leader refused to resign by the end of the year.

Violence also flared in outlying provinces, where six security men were killed in attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda.
With violence gripping the strategic U.S. ally on multiple fronts, Washington and London advised their citizens to consider leaving the Arabian Peninsula nation.
Yemen’s opposition Common Forum called on protesters to step up demonstrations which have left at least 27 dead, according to rights group Amnesty International.

“We have called upon the people to widen demonstrations and escalate the peaceful struggle in all regions until [Saleh] is left with one option, that is to leave,” said Mohammad Sabri, a leading member of the forum.
The ultimatum came a day after Saleh dismissed opposition calls for his resignation by the end of the year and vowed to serve out his current mandate until 2013.

In a statement carried late Saturday on the state-run Saba news agency, an official close to Saleh said an opposition transition plan envisaging his departure before the end of this year was “vague and contradictory.”
“A peaceful transition of power cannot be done with chaos, but by having recourse to the people through elections, so that they can decide who they want to lead without acts of violence and trouble,” the statement said.
Analysts say the demonstrations may be reaching a point where it will be difficult for Saleh, an astute politician, to cling to power.

Sixty-one anti-regime protesters were wounded Sunday after supporters of the ruling General People’s Congress party armed with knives, rocks and batons stormed a protest in the city of Ibb, south of Sanaa, leading activist Abdel-Karim Mohammad Ali said.

“There were a large number who tried to storm the park carrying clubs and pelting us with stones and shouting: ‘No to destruction and chaos,’” said protester Ahmed Saleh, citing a slogan widely used by Saleh supporters.

Police fired in the air to disperse the protesters. At least 47 people were hurt in the melee, six critically, including a youth protest leader, an activist and witnesses said. Some 26 people have been killed since protests surged in early February.
The assailants targeted a 12-day sit-in at the Khaleej Sirt square, he said, adding that two of the wounded were shot, and three hit with sharp metal were in critical condition.

In other violence, suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen killed six soldiers, including two officers, in three separate attacks.
Four elite Republican Guard soldiers were shot dead as they delivered food near Marib, about 170 kilometers east of Sanaa, an official said.
In the south, Al-Qaeda gunmen shot and killed an army colonel who was shopping at a market in Zinjibar, Abyan Province, a security official said.

Another officer was later shot dead at a restaurant in the city of Sayun, in the southeastern province of Hadramut.
Sunday’s attacks were not known to be connected to the anti-government unrest but were a reminder of what is at stake if Saleh is ousted and a power vacuum ensues.

A State Department travel advisory issued Sunday said U.S. citizens in Yemen “should consider departing” and described the security threat as “extremely high due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.”
“The U.S. Embassy’s ability to assist U.S. citizens in the event of a crisis in Yemen is very limited,” it warned.
The British Foreign Office issued a similar advisory, warning of the “threat of terrorism, kidnapping and tribal violence.”

The demonstrations in Yemen echo political turmoil that has gripped many Arab nations this year, forcing the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt to quit and throwing Libya into conflict.
Opposition spokesman Sabri said Saleh’s refusal to quit by the end of the year “proves that the president is a political corpse” and the only option left for the opposition was the “street.”

Indirect talks between the opposition and the regime that were being conducted through clerics had ended, he added.
The opposition and clerics last week offered Saleh a smooth exit from power this year, even as protests calling for his immediate removal spread from south Yemen to the east.

The five-point proposal called for a “peaceful transition of power,” warned that demonstrations would go on and demanded a probe into a deadly crackdown by the authorities.
Security forces arrested 16 protesters in the main southern city of Aden Saturday, as thousands demonstrated over graft, poverty and high unemployment in the Arab world’s poorest nation.

Witnesses said police used tear gas and fired warning shots. Two demonstrators were wounded after being beaten with batons. Thousands of protesters also took to the streets in Ataq, in the eastern province of Shabwa, for a third consecutive day. – With Reuters