Armies of Liberation

Today, Yemeni protesters held banners calling for US ambassador to be expelled. Even an apology is no longer enough.

http://youtu.be/2u6W-Tov7OQ

The CCYRC issued a letter reminding the US President that the Yemeni protesters oppose and are not a signatory to the GCC deal. the group calls for an official apology from the US as they say Ambassador Feierstein uniformly rude, disrespectful and insulting to the Yemeni people and has acted as the Saleh regime’s advocate and protector and with flagerant disregard for democratic principles. In particular the CCYRC condemn Feierstein’s most recent inflammatory statement wherein the Ambassador said the Life March was not a inherently peaceful as it was designed to provoke violence. Within hours, state forces killed 12 marchers.

The ambassador’s statement is below and I was waiting for an English transcript issued by the embassy but there doesn’t appear to be one coming. I find it unbelievable that the US Ambassador would demand political passivity from the Yemeni public. He blamed the peaceful marchers for any violence and chaos that the march triggers, which is akin to calling Dr. Martin Luther King an instigator of chaos and implying that the US civil rights marchers should have stayed home or that Medger Evans was responsible for his own murder because of his activism.

Al-Ariky Al-Mohammed By: توكل كرمان Tawakkol Karman
// translated from Arabic

The U.S. Ambassador in Sana’a is a devil’s advocate and friend of the criminal thugs!!
—–
Online social and news networks lately have been talking about the comments made by the U.S ambassador in Yemen on the violence that accompanied the march of life that came from the city of Taiz on foot which led to the killing of more than thirteen and injuring hundreds. The U.S ambassador said that the march of life « was not peaceful »; He added “the protester had no intention of a peaceful march and they intended to reach Sana’a and cause trouble which would provoke and lead the security forces to respond with violence”. (Read on …)

35 hurt in Yemen protester clashes AFP

SANAA — Clashes between Yemeni youths divided over a power transfer deal that grants President Ali Abdullah Saleh immunity from prosecution left 35 people injured on Tuesday, witnesses and medics said.

“Some 2,000 members of the Islamist Sunni Al-Islah (reform) party, among them dissident soldiers, attacked our camp at dawn, injuring 35 people,” Khalid al-Madani, head of the camp backed by supporters of Shiite Zaidi rebels, told AFP. (Read on …)

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a href=”http://www.bar-kulan.com/2011/12/27/al-shabaab-militants-killed-in-yemen/”> Bar-kulan: An air strike in Yemen’s Ebyen province has killed three Al-Shabaab militants fighting along side Al-Qaeda network, sources say. (Read on …)

Path Is Cleared for Yemeni Leader to Get Care in U.S.
By MARK LANDLER and ERIC SCHMITT

HONOLULU — The Obama administration has decided in principle to allow the embattled president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to enter the United States for medical treatment, subject to certain assurances, two administration officials said Monday.

But those conditions — including a proposed itinerary — have not yet been submitted to the American Embassy in Yemen, these officials said, and no visa has yet been issued to Mr. Saleh.

The decision of whether to admit Yemen’s longtime leader has stirred a vigorous debate within the administration, with some officials fearing sharp criticism for appearing to provide a safe haven for a reviled Arab figure accused of responsibility for the death of hundreds of antigovernment protesters.

The complex negotiations over Mr. Saleh’s visa request attest to the high stakes for the administration, which urgently wants to secure room for political progress in Yemen but does not want to allow Mr. Saleh to use a medical visit as a way to shore up his political position. Nor do they want to play into Mr. Saleh’s penchant for keeping people off kilter.

If allowed to enter, Mr. Saleh would be the first Arab leader to request, and to be granted, an extended stay in the United States since political unrest began convulsing the region a year ago.

One administration official said that there was no further “impediment” to issuing Mr. Saleh a visa, and that he could arrive at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital as soon as the end of this week for additional treatment of medical problems stemming from a near-fatal bomb blast in June at the mosque in his presidential complex.

Though the administration had been concerned that approval would anger the many Yemenis eager to see Mr. Saleh prosecuted for the killing of protesters by his security forces, some believe that giving him a way out of Yemen, even temporarily, could help smooth the way to elections next year and perhaps end a political crisis that has brought the government of the impoverished nation to the brink of collapse.

Wow he’s lost control of his faculties apparently. This makes no sense.

: With the imminent arrival of the life march to its goal of Sanaa, moments before their exposure to lead and tear gas, the U.S. Ambassador Gerald Firestein expresses an explicit position opposed to the march, noting that the international community is waiting for the issuance and activation of the law of immunity under the initiative Gulf.

The American ambassador at a press conference mini-attended three media including “source online” (al masdar) at the US embassy in Sanaa on Saturday that the march of life «is not peaceful,» and added «seem to have the intention not to carry out a peaceful march, but access to Sana’a in order to generate chaos and provoke a violent response by the security ».

He Gerald Firestein this «is not legal .. Thus, the government has the right to maintain law ». And «If people said they want to reach the presidential palace and parliament to Mhasrthma, this is not a legitimate»

The march of life that started from Taiz last Tuesday (Dec. 20) and reached the outskirts of Sana’a this day, has been exposed to the central security forces which launched by the bullets and tear gas, and caused the killing of at least seven people and wounded dozen, as stated by Online source earlier.

The capital, Sana’a during the last few hours is the busiest in the great altar of St. sixty and awaiting the arrival of the march of life, which has received wide coverage by the various means of local and international media.

The ambassador said in response to a question by the source of online in this regard «the peace is not only to not take up arms. if 2000 people decided, for example, to demonstration at the White House, we do not consider it a peaceful and will not allow it». (ed-Liar.! Tens of thousands surrounded White House 11/7/11, the first of thousands of results for large protest at White House.)

The US ambassador said the provocations could lead to further reaction and violence, this does not benefit the country and the new government initiative and the implementation of the Gulf and operational mechanism.

Thousands of bare foot, bare chested Yemeni youth terrify the barbaric Sana’a regime and the international community with their bleeding feet: Livestream.

The Life March from Taiz was attacked by Central Security forces in Sanaa with live fire and tear gas. Nine wounded marchers were transported to the field hospital in Sana’a Change Square. One fatality has been reported, Abeer AlFaten, murdered for walking. As is standard practice for a decade, security forces are preventing ambulances from reaching the wounded pedestrians. NYR

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. By re-branding the Sana’a dictatorship and shoving down the citizenry’s throat. the UN, US, EU and SA are publicly treating the entire Yemeni population like petulant children who don’t know what good for them.

The UN SC statement fails to acknowledge, much less take into account, the demand for political empowerment by both the revolutionaries and the southerners. Ironically, while the international community seeks to secure its own goals, these nations are in fact damaging their own mid-term security and national interests, at a time of opportunity, in facilitating the continued imprisonment of a millions determined for freedom.

From my article: The Obama administration’s insistence in retaining elements of the Saleh administration and security forces has thwarted the regime change demanded by millions and allowed al Qaeda to flourish in southern towns. Although US counter-terror efforts have had more latitude to operate since protests began, the Saleh regime and al Qaeda have long had a symbiotic relationship.

Read Noon’s article at Global Voices here: “These GCC states are not at all competent to deal with popular requests for liberty and freedom, not to mention democratic government, because they themselves are mostly despotic regimes,” observed Yemen’s Coordinating Council of the Youth Revolution of Change (CCYRC). “They themselves would never welcome such requests from their own people, let alone be ready to accommodate such demands by people in neighboring states.”

from the UN press office

PRESS STATEMENT ON THE SITUATION IN YEMEN
22 December 2011
On 21 December, the members of the Security Council heard a briefing on the situation in Yemen from the United Nations Special Adviser, Jamal Benomar.
The members of the Security Council welcomed the progress that had been made on implementing the political transition, on the basis of the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative, as well as the implementation mechanism, which is resulting in a peaceful transition of power, as called for in Security Council resolution 2014 (2011). They welcomed the formation of the Government of National Unity.
The members of the Security Council reiterated their call that the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative and implementation mechanism must be implemented in a transparent and timely manner, and in a spirit of inclusion and reconciliation. They noted the Security Council’s support for Yemen in its efforts to reach key milestones in the implementation plan, and expected the parties to continue to honour the timetable set out in the agreement, including the presidential elections on 21 February, the national dialogue, the constitutional review and the programme of reforms to tackle the profound security, humanitarian, and economic challenges that Yemen faces.
The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their commitment to the territorial integrity and unity of Yemen. They urged all the parties to reject violence, refrain from any further provocations and to fully implement Security Council resolution 2014 (2011). The members of the Security Council reiterated that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable. The members of the Security Council emphasized the need for unimpeded humanitarian access to address the growing crisis. The members of the Security Council also called on all the Yemeni parties to work with the increasing support of the United Nations, international community and the GCC countries, immediately towards achieving peace, stability and reconciliation, as well as alleviating tholitical and humanitarian situation in Yemen and the implementation of Security Council resolution 2014 (2011). They looked forward to further timely updates on the situation, including on the status of the implementation of the political transie humanitarian and economic situation in Yemen.
The members of the Security Council welcomed the efforts of the good offices of the Secretary-General and his Special Adviser, Jamal Benomar. They reaffirmed their intention to continue to actively monitor the security, ption agreements.