Armies of Liberation

Update: As expected howls of dissent from southerners: the new leader is someone else, I hesitate to even write the name as bad things happen sometimes to emerging leaders, Nakhbi now is an Islah operative they say and there are no, repeat no, connections to Iran. But al Beidh has been talking about Iran for a long time, when he even bothers to talk at all, and I think its quite possible. For a run down on Aden TV and all Yemen private broadcasting, see this listing of who owns what at the Yemen Times.

Original: Bingo! I also do not agree with what is happening between al Beidh and Iran. The violence during the election boycott was an entirely new phenomenon which broke with the years long non-violence of the southern movement. As al Nakhbi says, it was likely due to Iranian influence through the al Beidh wing of the SM. Keep in mind Yemen Fox is affiliated with Ali Mohsen, who has his own motives for undermining the SM. But if this is an authentic interview, then that’s what it is.

While there’s noticeably a lot fewer al Beidh photos during the southern protests, its unclear the extent to which awareness of the alliance between al Beidh and Iran has filtered down to the street, although he himself has been threatening the west with Iran for years. General Nuba issued a warning to world about the danger of Iran’s growing influence in the south a few months ago. Many external former leaders are in favor of federalism as expressed at the Cairo conference. I think there’s a few more factions than the two broad ones described.

Al Nakhbi also remarks that the several corporation including the mega Yemeni Economic Military Corp remits its profits directly to Saleh. He notes elite support of al Qaeda and the symbiotic relationship between the including the recent massacre in Abyan. He concludes that Saleh must be excluded from politics. (Actually it necessary to fully depose the Saleh regime in order to integrate the Houthis as well as the southerners.) Its an interesting interview, worth a read:

Yemen Fox: Brigadier General Abdullah al-Nakhbi- Secretary-General of Southern Movement (SM) – said that many politicians believe that who stand behind recent terrorist attacks are remnants of the former regime and that Ali Abdullah Saleh has turned from president of republic to president of terrorism. Priorities of Yemenis whether in National Reconciliation Government or Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) in coordination with Gulf States and Europeans are to dismiss Ali Abdullah Saleh from practicing political action.

Nakhbi added in an interview with “Yemen Fox” that al-Qaeda is supported by Ali Abdullah Saleh, his aides and remnants of his regime, pointing out that supervisors of GCC Initiative should put pressure to implement the second term of the Initiative which is to restructure the army and Republican Guards within Ministry of Defense and Central Security within Ministry of Interior.

Interviewed with Hashem al-Toromah

Yemen Fox: How do you see Yemen after presidential elections?
Nakhbi: after presidential elections, we as Yemenis stand at change door. The new President Abdu Rabo Mansur Hadi should have a courage to start change process. Change process should first prevent Ali Abdullah Saleh from practicing politics because recent events took place after swearing oath starting from Mukalla continuing to Bayda and now in Abyan Province. Many politicians believe that who stand behind that are remnants of the former regime and that Ali Abdullah Saleh has turned from president of republic to president of terrorism. (Read on …)

The US continues to freeze out the most democracy minded of the Yemeni population (as the unity government and GCC plan re-establishes the status quo and empowers traditionalist elements of society) in order to retain its CT investment and permissions, as the Sana’a regime mobilizes its terrorist paramilitary in order to prove the need. Its a very dangerous game. I thought Def Sec Gates was being dramatic when he said the US had “no post Saleh planning” in March 2011, but apparently not. Why we are continuing to support a regime that overtly enables terrorists at the expense and against the will of 22 million people is beyond me.

The US always insists the National Security is the cleanest of the intel services. It may be but its not saying much when we are comparing it to the PSO. There’s such a long list of double crosses involving the National Security specifically, and they are doing it again in the AQAP takeover of al Beydah.

Alsahwah.net- Yemen opposition has accused the outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh of supporting Al-Qaeda and help it control Yemeni towns and areas.

It said Saleh tries to persuade the global world that he is the only who can fight Al-Qaeda.

The Assistant Secretary General of the Yemeni Socialist Party, Yahya Abu Asboa, told an Emirati newspaper, Albyan, that he has information that Yemeni army and security forces loyal to Saleh facilitate the expansion of Al-Qaea.

” Saleh supports Al-Qaeda to disrupt the National Consensus government led by the opposition and make foreign states believe that Saleh’s ouster would strengthen Al-Qaeda” added he.

Al-Qaeda militants extensively expanded in Zinjbar of Abayn governorate, and nearly 5,000 Al-Qaeda militants and recruiters are currently existed at Azan of Shabow governorate.

It further said the main road linking between Shabwa and Abyan is completely controlled by the militants.

Political leaders of Al-Baidha governorate accused leaders of the General People Congress party headed by Saleh of complicity with the militants to capture the town of Rada’a.

A Yemeni journalist, Aref Al-Omari, affirmed that tribal leaders loyal to Saleh cooperated and coordinated with Al-Qaeda to take over Rada’a in attempt to shuffle the cards and hinder the holding of the early presidential election to be held on February 21.

He cited that the militants are led by Tareq Al-Dahab and Abdul-Salam Al-Nosairy, tribal leaders who are known as members of GPC.

Local sources told Alsahwah.net that Rada’a is not a fertile ground for Al-Qaeda, pointing out that the regime of Saleh previously attempted to bring militants to Rada’a, but they were faced and expelled by local residents.

The sources held military commanders of the Republican Guard existed in Rada’a responsible for allowing the militants to capture the town without any resistance.

So we have Mohammed al Nosairi in one article and Abd al Rhaman al Nosairi in another, and they could be the same person or related but GPC member Tariq al Dhahab is described as leading the al Qaeda forces in both.

More from the Yemen Post:

Armed groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda calling itself as “the Islamic Jihad Group” took over on Saturday night a archaeological town of Rada’a and captured the famous castle of Alamiria and its mosque, local sources affirmed.

Local sources said that armed clashes between the militants and residents are still going, pointing out that the number of casualties are unknown.
Flocks of militants flow to the town, some 150 km southeast of the capital, Sana’a, amid fears of residents who worry of turning their town to a conflict battlefield, added the sources.

Yemeni analysts said Al-Qaeda attempts to expand its control on Yemeni areas, pointing out that the capture on Rada’a will help Al-Qaeda reach other Yemeni strategic areas

Yemeni news reports said local residents led by the tribal leader, Mohmmad Al-Nosairi, are strongly fighting Al-Qaeda militants near the castle of Alamria.
They said that the militants are led by Tariq Al-Dahab, a relative of Anwar Al-Walaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who was killed in a American drone strike last fall.

A Yemeni senior opposition leader of the Yemeni Socialist Party, Yahya Abu Asboa, said Yemen’s security forces did not exert enough efforts to prevent Al-Qaeda militants from entering Rada’a.

He further cautioned against plans of Al-Qaeda to attack the oil-rich city of Marib located close to Sana’a.

Critics of the outgoing Ali Abdullah Saleh accused him of turning a blind eye to the expansion of Al-Qaeda to prove to the global world that his existence is vital to face terrorism and other Jihadi groups inside the state.

They also alleged that he used Al-Qaeda as a card to cling to power, use force against anti-regime porters and have American financial assistances.

Gold accused Sheikh Khalid, his brother, Tariq, who leads the gold jihadist groups affiliated with al Qaeda, the city of white Radaa province, in coordination with the National Security Agency, and with points of high and close to the presidential house in Sana’a, such as control of the city Radaa order declaring an Islamic emirate.

Gold said in a statement to «Marib Press» Tariq Hqih that gold is backed regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said that his brother with the coordinator and former interior minister, Rashad al-Masri disinfectant, and with the National Security Agency.

With denounced the gold entering the jihadist groups to Radaa, under the silence of the camps located in the vicinity of Radaa, said that security forces handed over his brother Tariq gold castle and the city, pointing out that if the cessation of a soldier and a one-stop machine gun rounds fiftieth is able of these groups to take control of the castle and the city.

Gold revealed that his brother met the elements of the national security apparatus, such as control of the Radaa days, and said that he had spoken with his brother and told him that he coordinated with the government.

Mareb Press

I wonder if these are some of the `16 al Qaeda escapees that Saleh was hiding in one of his palaces near Sanaa, as Sadiq al Ahmar told France 24 . Everyday in Yemen is a carbon copy of the last and after a while, its just absurd.

And yet another a jail break:

Al-Qaida free 250 prisoners in Yemen

16-01-12

Hundreds of al-Qaida militants broke into a central jail in Yemen’s southeastern province of al-Bayda on Monday, setting free about 250 prisoners, a provincial security official said, a day after the terrorist group seized the province’s Radda town.

“Hundreds of al-Qaida bearded men wearing security uniform onboard pickup trucks stormed the central prison in Radda this morning, killing several security soldiers and releasing 250 prisoners,” the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The militants also took over all security checkpoints around and inside the city, as well as several government facilities, including the post office and the telecommunications center, the official said, adding that the militants were surrounding the building of the Central Bank of Yemen.

“More militants were still flooding into Radda from nearby provinces of Marib, Abyan, Shabwa, Hadramout, Aden, Lahj and Saada,” said the official.

On Sunday,the militants seized Radda town of al-Bayda province, which borders the restive province of Abyan, a key stronghold of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The AQAP group has seized several cities and towns across the restive southern provinces, as the Yemeni government forces engaged in fierce clashes with militants over past months, leaving hundreds of people killed.

(Xinhua)

Maybe they are trying to weaken the Houthis by opening another front

Yemen Times: 20 or 80?

SANA’A, Jan. 15 — At least 80 militants believed to be from Al-Qaeda entered Rada’, the capital of Al-Baidah, 170 km south-east the capital Sana’a, on Saturday, according to Yahiya Al-Nusairi, head of the governorate’s Architecture Office.

Al-Nusairi told the Yemen Times that they first entered the Al-Ameria Mosque at 3 p.m., and proceeded to perform the afternoon prayer.

“They performed two prayers there and then delivered a lecture. After that, they seized Al-Ameria Castle,” said Al-Nusairi. He added that people cannot stop anyone who wishes to pray in a mosque. He said, however, that he does not “really know how they passed the checkpoints with their weapons and rocket propelled grenades”.

Al-Nusairi continued: “After we asked them not to do any harm to the mosque, nor to break the branch of a single tree, their leader, Tariq Al-Dhahab, promised to comply.”

However, according to the district-based RDA Press website, the militants’ number didn’t exceed 20 and that they left the mosque to stay at an old fort overlooking the district.

The Al-Ameria Mosque and school was built 500 years ago in the Islamic architectural style. Al-Nusairi said that it is currently open only for prayer, but that use of the bathrooms has been suspended because of financial difficulties. People in groups have not prayed together there for 15 years, as it has been under renovation.

Al-Nusairi said that the militants may have been urged on by Islah Party followers from Rada’. Members of the conservative opposition party, he continued, may have pushed the militants to help them open the mosque.

“We do not know what their intention is,” he concluded.

According to Majed Karrod, a reporter from Marib Press, the militants passed through checkpoints and “soldiers might have even greeted them.” He said that Tariq Al-Dhahab was accused a couple of months ago of killing seven government soldiers.

“Al-Dhahab was among the militants who seized Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan governorate, in May. He has a battalion of 400 to 500 warriors,” said Karrod.

This article says Anwar was living in Sanaa in the house of a GPC member when the National Security transfered him to al Jawf for his own security, but put a transmitter in his car… Anyway this article contradicts the Ahram article, unless the National Security transferred him to Afrag’s house and then he went to visit Okaimi. Update : al Zindani does have a huge farm in Al-Jawf .. it’s about 10 kilometers x 10 kilometers.

Aden Press

The leader of the al-Qaeda al-Awlaki Anwar Al-Nasser after he left the United States of America live in the hometown of Shabwa South Yemen. However, knowing the United States exact location of his residence made ​​the life of Anwar al-Awlaki is in danger.

This situation made ​​the authorities of Sanaa, which was used and the presence on its territory to blackmail the United States of America for their financial and political feeling that his life is in danger, and that the killing may lead to loss of a chicken that lays Bayada dollars. He was secretly transferred to Sana’a, lived in a house, an official in the ruling party and a family close to him for five months. (Read on …)

This weeks compendium of ridiculous US statements about Yemen, including during the Brennan visits to Saleh in SA and with Prince Ahmed and the JMP in Sanaa, comes on the same day the US and the international community recognized the Libyan rebels as the legitimate authority in Libya. In Yemen though the US continues to blame the protesters for the uptick in al Qaeda activity, instead of the illogical and unprincipled US policy fostering the stalemate. The Obama administration also threatened the JMP that the international community would not to recognize a transitional council, should one be formed as the protesters have been demanding. Such a transitional council would be “meaningless” said another western diplo because of the presence of a parliament, VP and government. The reality is that the current parliament’s term expired two years ago and prior to that, it functioned as a rubber stamp for Saleh and an instrument of grand corruption. The parliament is another rigged institution of GPC hegemony, comprised of loyalist Sheikhs, businessmen and active duty generals. Most of the reformists within the GPC resigned in March.

In Saudi Arabia Brennan asked Saleh “to fulfill expeditiously his pledge to sign the GCC-brokered agreement for peaceful and constitutional political transition in Yemen,” according to a White House statement. How could Brennan even say it with a straight face? The US is just stalling.

Al Masdar 7/6/11: JMP opposition leader Yahya Abu-Osbu’a.spoke of threats from some Arab and foreign countries not to recognize the Transitional Council, which the opposition intends to form to manage the affairs of the country which is living under a vacuum for a month. Abu Osuba at a political forum Monday evening in Change Square that the countries that had threatened to do so are Saudi Arabia and the United States and European Union countries. (Read on …)

Sahwa Net – A Yemeni opposition leader in Marib, Mabkhot Al-Shareef, has said that most those people involved in a 43- person blacklist published by the interior Ministry are members of the ruling party in Marib .

Al-Shareef affirmed that most of those included in the list accused of bombing oil pipelines and destructing electricity stations are the ruling party’s members of local councils in Marib. (Read on …)

Ruling Party: No Dialogue Until Saleh is Back, Yemen Post:

The ruling General People Congress party insists that no negotiations can take place in the absence of President Saleh. “The ruling party will wait until its leader, President Saleh, is back to Yemen. He will be back soon and it will not harm the opposition to wait a couple of days,” said Abdu Ganadi, the deputy minister of information.

The youth organizing committee said that protesters will not sit and watch as both government and opposition stall the revolution and negotiate. “Our steps will be quick and vital. The revolution will succeed and anyone standing in front of the youth will be held accountable,” said Ridwan Masood, a member of the committee.

There’s so many leaks coming out of Yemen lately, documents and verbal. The following published by Marib Press is another. I wasn’t there so I can’t say its true, only that it’s less likely to be propaganda than the lies that come out of SABA on a daily basis. The only other people who will know absolutely if its true are the US officials, if they indeed called Saleh several times last night.

Saleh agreeing to the transition with the US while planning for a street uprising to derail it is entirely in character, as we saw from the ease of his lies as revealed in Wikileaks and from the years and years of lies before. This is the way he operates, these are the types of schemes he comes up with to juggle expectations and perceptions and blame. So I’m tired, I’m cranky, he besieged my ambassador and went back on his promise, so I’m publishing an unverified leak that has no document.

Mareb Press: On Saturday evening in Sana’a, the General Committee of the General People’s Congress (GPC) and parties of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Yemen held a meeting chaired by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Chairman of the GPC. Below is some leaks from this meeting’s conversations between Saleh and GPC members loyal to him.

· About the GCC brokered initiative , Saleh said that he had received yesterday evening seven calls from the U.S. administration to urge him to sign the GCC initiative, saying “I will sign the initiative, I do not want to be a stumbling block before the international community, but I’m going to sign, and you guys, you have to fail it, take into the streets. (Read on …)

Its going to be a long day. Qahtan says if Saleh signs, the JMP will re-sign at the location of his choosing.

Saleh supporters are blocking many roads and baltagiyya swarming. One killed in Sanaa, 18 wounded in Taiz, 2 critical. US, EU ambassadors and GCC rep blocked from traveling to ceremony.

Dayum: Saleh supporters openly declaring they wont let him sign.

Saleh has to sign by 4 pm (9 am EST) or GCC rep is leaving. And all hell breaks loose. 3:50 now (8:50)

Internet getting very flaky in Sanaa, never a good sign. Deadline passed, no signature reported.

US ambassador still surrounded in a certain embassy, not ours, besieged by a mob of Saleh thugs. Zayani (GCC rep) also prevented from leaving country.

4:15 I think the transfer deal is dead. Its extremely worrisome.

Yemen Post: Yemen’s ruling party rejected the opposition Joint Meeting Parties, JMP, signing on the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, and demanded that is be signed again at the presidential palace with the presence of hundreds of officials and not behind closed doors.
Yemen’s ruling General People Congress, GPC, spokesperson Tareq Shami said that “President Saleh invited the JMP to sign the GCC proposal at the presidential palace at 3pm today. The JMP signed the GCC agreement in closed doors and this is not accepted.”
He added that It must be signed in a huge gathering and create an historical day of the GCC signing.
The JMP refused to resign the GCC proposal again and consider this as a tactic in running away from the GCC proposal signing.

Yemen Post: The Joint Meeting Parties, the opposition bloc in Yemen, signed on Saturday a GCC-brokered power-sharing deal yet to bear the signature of President Saleh who insisted on concluding that early tomorrow morning.
The GCC Secretary General, Abdul Latif Al-Zayani, arrived in Yemen late today for a fourth visit to push the West-backed deal, which was unveiled in April.
Al-Zayani failed on his previous visits to secure the plan as Saleh backed twice from signing at the last minute.
President Saleh will ink it later tonight or tomorrow morning to resign in a month after 33 years in office.

As usual an excellent analysis and overview in The Trench:

Saleh’s rhetoric also portends to conflict rather than a “peaceful transition.” Rather than demonstrate any semblance of rational thought, Yemen’s embattled president proceeded to contradict himself with his normal slander. Hitting the JMP first, Saleh declared that the opposition could never defeat him through “the ballot box.” Instead, the “Joint Conspiracy Parties want to reach power through rivers of blood.”

He then blamed the JMP and AQAP for every death and injury. Why, then, does he need an immunity clause if nothing is his fault?

Read it all here for a thorough A-Z overview.

Saleh regularly deploys deniable proxies to do his dirty work.

Leaked document reveals that the regime is planning to blow up civil war.

A secret document issued by the People’s Committee for Defending the Constitutional Legitimacy and the President in Dalii city revealed the distribution of weapons to citizens through the President of the GCP in preparation for civil war.

The document is to direct to governor of Dali city, President of the People’s Committe, Major General. Ali Qassim Talib to the cheif of security of Dalii to give out 325 pieces of Kalashnikov to Qataba directorate and handing it to President of GCP in that directorate Sheikh. Abdulrab Al-Marah according to the plan that was submitted to him as it is shown in the document.

Al-Wahdawi website published the document quoting other confirmed sources that the governor had distributed weapons to security personnel. More sources pointed that the ruler has already distributed some weapons to its members confidentially.

A few days ago the Yemeni Defense Ministry urged soldiers not to hesitate when shooting pro-democracy protesters (see (Xinhua) ) and now Tariq al Shamy, Yemen’s official liar in chief, is scolding the JMP for describing the statement as a declaration of war. Al Shamy is quite the propagandist and normally says the opposite of what is true.

Almotamar.net – Sana’a- Head of the Information Office at the General People’s Congress (GPC), the ruling party in Yemen, Tareq al-Shamy has Saturday disapproved interpretations by the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) of what was mentioned in the speech of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the massive gathering on the Friday of Unity at Sabeen Square in the capital Sana’a.

Al-Shamy queried does the JMP view the call for dialogue as a call for war? Does the rejection of law-violating acts and acts of violence and sabotage, and facing them is considered by the JMP as a call for war?

The GCC initiative is doomed to failure because, and for the umpteenth time, is a stall tactic for Saleh to consolidate and regroup his forces and support. Update: Opposition parties set two day deadline for Saleh to accept. AFP: “We renew our commitment to the Gulf plan but the other party (the president) must also demonstrate its seriousness within the next two days,” the Common Forum said. “Any further delay or procrastination on the part of the president to sign the agreement will force us to back the ‘choice of the people,’ opposing the plan,” it said in a statement.

Almotamar.net – Sana’a-Assistant Secretary General of the General People’s Congress (GPC) Dr Ahmed Ubeid bin Daghr has affirmed Sunday, “No one can predict of what matters will go to if the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) remained on the same irresponsible stands towards the homeland.”
(Read on …)

Bickering over weapons, al Sahwa publishes another official document. This one is written by Rashad AL-Alimi to the governor of Hajja instructing him of Saleh’s order to stop (fire, arrest?) the secretary general of the local council. There is a conflict between the governor and LC SG on how to divide the weapons and money (100M SR) that Saleh distributed to his loyalists, GPC members and thugs in Hajja. As Saleh is giving out guns, some are selling them for food money.

If Saleh is arming the GPC, then its unlikely he intends to resign.

The latest load of garbage: Saleh isn’t rejecting the agreement but is insisting the steps be implemented in order including an end to the protests and the rebellion by military units and the temporary exile of those causing tension and a whole range of steps before he steps down. Its a no go, especially since the protesters themselves reject the deal wholesale. This is just more stalling and dancing. its important to keep in mind that the Saada War re-ignited six times primarily because the state reneged on the terms of its own cease fire agreement.

The most important development over the week-end was the destruction of the protesters camp in Aden using tanks and artillery.

AAl-Shamy denies President’s not to sign the GCC initiative
Monday, 02-May-2011
Almotamar.net – Sana’a-The Head of the Information Office at the General People’s Congress (GPC) Tareq al-Shamy demised Sunday what was reported by some media outlets that President Ali Abdullah saleh refuses to sign the Gulf Cooperation council (GCC) inititiative for resolving the political crisis in Yemen.

Al-Shamy affirmed President Saleh displayed full readiness to sign the GCC initiative , whether after signing it by representative of the GPC and the Nations Democratic Alliance Parties (NDAP) and the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) or that the JMP goes to Riyadh and Secretary General of the GC returns to Sana’a with a document to be signed by all in Sana’a , attended by chairman of the GCC states Foreign Ministers Sheikh Abdullah bi Zayed and President Saleh will sign with the JMP for the GPC and its allies and chairman of the JMP Dr Yassin Saeed Nouman to sign for the JMP and its partners. (Read on …)

From the Carnegie Endowment, an excellent piece by Nadia al Saqqaf, Editor of the Yemen Times. Worth a full read but here’s a piece:

Youth Excluded from Gulf Initiatives

Although the youth were the ones to start Yemen’s revolution, they have been absent from high-level talks in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to address the crisis. Politicians on both sides say that this is because the youth are divided and do not have a unified leadership to invite. Indeed, today there are some 72 activist groups represented in Change Square, many of which are active online, particularly on Facebook. There are attempts to merge them into larger groups, but these efforts are taking longer than anticipated.

The problem for Yemen’s youth is that they had never exercised democracy in any true organizational sense before now. Except for a few activists, who are still divided among themselves on ideological and intellectual levels, the rest of the revolution’s youth have no idea how to organize themselves or how to draft a political program. Thus they remain easy prey for experienced politicians, whether they are pro-regime or opposition.

Saleh was never going to honor the GCC plan anyway, and his balking at leaving the country is reasonable (there very well could be a coup) and another tactic to encourage yet more concessions and reset the clock.

CNN: Yemen’s president says he won’t leave the country to sign a hard-fought political deal because he fears his departure could spark a coup, a senior ruling party official told CNN on Saturday.

The stance threatens to collapse an agreement brokered by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to end the violent political standoff across Yemen, still reeling this week from one of the deadliest days in months of protests that have pitted demonstrators against President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Read on …)

Yemen Post

President Ali Abduallh Saleh dismissed on Tuesday governors of five provinces in Yemen’s southern and eastern provinces.
New decrees were issued appointing three of them members in Shura Council, and appointing the two others vices of two ministries. (Read on …)

The ambassador escaped the embassy again, this time to Taiz where he said something about the importance of consensus. I have no idea of whether the earlier statement urging negotiations was empty posturing or an actual policy statement. (After Ambassador Seche’s visit with al Ayyam in 2009, the paper was raided, shot up and Mr. Bashraheel locked up for months.) The GPC disregarded and condemned the earlier US statement that urged negotiation with the JMP instead of unilateral action. Instead they held a pro-regime rally in Taiz, after state employees were bussed in and threatened if they failed to attend. I’m sure some of the attendees were heartily pro-GPC.

US Ambassador: We will support fair and credible elections Sahwa Net – The Untied States ambassador to Sana’a Gerald Feierstein has affirmed that US support in Yemen is aimed at those provinces affected by terror and radicalization, and that they were trying to expand relief programs in order to address the state problems. (Read on …)

Well that solves the al Alimi conundrum in a standard manner. Many government officials who are facing accusations are transferred to another government post. At the same time, many GPC MP’s hold multiple government posts including serving in the military at the same time as the serve in the Parliament. Usually its just a pay check as opposed to actual work.

Yemen Observer: Several Ministers have resigned from Mujawar’s government in preparation for running in the next parliamentary elections in April 27, 2011.

Ministers Rashad al-Alimi, Deputy Minister for Security Affairs, Sadeq Ameen Abu Rass, the General People’s Congress’ (GPC) Assistant General Secretary, Deputy Prime Minister for Internal Affairs, Engineer Awadh al-Soqatri, Minister of Electricity, Yahya al-Shuaibi, Minister of Civil Service and Insurance and Abdul-Rahman, al-Akwa Minister of State, Mayor of Sana’a, Hamoud Ubad, Minister of Youth, Nabil al-Faqih, Minister of Tourism, Mansour al-Hawshabi, Minister of Agriculture, and Ahmed al-kuhlani, Minister of State are the first ministers to announce their resignation from their positions hours after the declaration of the Supreme Elections Commission “HEC” demanding that those who occupy constitutional positions and wish to nominate themselves in the elections should leave their posts three months before the election date as provided by law.

I think every detail of the 2006 and 2009 agreements between the JMP and GPC has been violated.

Yemen Post The ruling party voted the new controversial election law amid the refusal of other parliamentary blocs to the vote, in a move that was described as a coup against all agreements between the General People’s Congress and the opposition topped by February 2009 deal. (Read on …)