Tuesday, April 05, 2011

EDITORIAL

Yemeni security forces continued to kill anti-government protesters indiscriminately Monday, and the only way to stop the massacre is for the tyrant Ali Abdallah Saleh to leave – and the world should help to get rid of him.

Reports count at least 15 murdered on Saleh’s orders Monday in Taiz; the day before, the regime’s thugs killed 13 in Hudaideh. Of course, dozens more have been wounded in the clashes, and scores have suffered from the inhalation of tear gas. Saleh’s henchmen apparently used the same tactic in Taiz they employed on March 18 in Sanaa to kill more than 50 demonstrators: posting snipers on rooftops, as if taking target practice, to pick off those calling for freedom and democracy.

Saleh is putting on a show of criminal defiance; his blinkered view prevents him from seeing that the people of Yemen have proven that they will not be intimidated, and even noxious violence will not allow his misrule to persist. They are merely asking for the same things as those who have been shaking criminally repressive regimes during the unexpected bloom of the Arab spring – the people want reform, an end to corruption, competitive elections and a democratic and free regime. 

The bloody standoff in Yemen is analogous to what happened in Libya, with the difference being the level of tolerance exhibited by the Arab world and the West for Saleh’s bloodthirstiness. Fortunately, it seems as though even these allies are finally leaving him – the GCC is trying to mediate his departure, and the U.S. in recent days decided that their despotic partner cannot remain in control.

Even though the protesters in Yemen have yet to create a leadership council or formally petition for outside assistance, the international community must step in. Last week the emir of Qatar correctly observed that the traditional inability of Arab states to take collective action forced the West to intervene in Libya; in Yemen, then, a perfect opportunity to make amends presents itself. Saudi Arabia, which has long helped prop up Saleh’s illegitimate regime, should with its partners in the GCC lead the negotiations to arrive at a speedy political solution to the crisis; absent a diplomatic settlement, other means must be considered.

The U.S., meanwhile, has offered the unsatisfactory rationale that its refusal to abandon Saleh was based on his steadfast efforts to stamp out Al-Qaeda’s growing presence in Yemen. Such justification, however, rings hollow –Saleh’s authority barely exceeded his presidential palace, and his promises of fighting terror were offset by his deft and shifting alliances with Yemen’s myriad power centers, including with irreconcilable U.S. enemies. Any regime that replaces Saleh could easily match or surpass his success in fighting Al-Qaeda..

Absent greater spine on the part of Arab and Western powers to hurry Saleh’s exit, however, all the world will witness in Yemen is the continuation of a crime against humanity: the slaughter of its citizens by their disgraced head of state.