Armies of Liberation

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 …)

By National Yemen

He was born in 1935 in the city of Aden in south Yemen. He finished high school in Aden and then worked as an importer and exporter of dried fish to Sri Lanka. (Read on …)

Yemen 4 All: General Ali Mohsen: I admit that I personally, and a wide range of military men and politicians, bear great deal of responsibility for mistakes done during the rule of Saleh’s regime.

We are ready to stand before judiciary if we were requested to do so, as witnesses or under the law, and this is a vow from us to the youth of the revolution, to the Yemeni people, and to all those who suffered from the oppression of Saleh’s regime in the southern and the Northern provinces.

Also: #Yemen The pro-revolution army says they captured a car loaded with explosives and related by two phone cards to be blown over the connection call and it was entered to the headquarters of the First Armored Divisions through persons recruited by the National Security Guards for the purpose of the assassination of leaders in the pro- revolution army led by Major General Ali Mohsen.

Aha, full translation:

NYR | : YemenFox | This is the speech delivered by General Ali Mohsen on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha to Yemenis. (Read on …)

The protesters want a transitional council leading to a parliamentary system. The UN is backing the GCC plan which contains an immunity clause for Saleh and his cronies and re-entrenches the regime in under three months. Its astounding. With the ambiguity of neither endorsing or explicitly rejecting the immunity clause, and neither backing Saleh or calling for his departure, its a meaningless, toothless statement. And not only did Saleh renege on the GCC deal four times already, he ignored two UN SC resolutions in 1994. Speaking of which, the southerners are going to be so utterly disappointed that they were entirely overlooked as well.

CBS: The resolution was the first adopted by the U.N.’s most powerful body since the Arab Spring uprising in Yemen began eight months ago. It was clearly aimed at stepping up international pressure on Saleh, who was president of North Yemen from 1978 until 1990 when he became the first president of a unified Yemen….Philippe Bolopion, U.N. director for Human Rights Watch, said the organization welcomed “the long overdue condemnation of Yemeni government abuses,” but believed the council should have distanced itself from the council’s impunity deal.

“By signaling that there would be no consequence for the killing of Yemenis, the immunity deal has contributed to prolonging the bloodshed,” he said.

The White House said in a statement that the deal sends “a united and unambiguous signal to President Saleh that he must respond to the aspirations of the Yemeni people by transferring power immediately.”

The resolution calls for Saleh, or those authorized to act on his behalf, to immediately sign the Gulf Cooperation Council deal “to achieve a peaceful political transition of power … without further delay.”

Although the deal would give Saleh immunity, the resolution also underlines the need for an independent investigation into alleged human rights abuses “with a view to avoiding impunity.” — Unlike the resolution on Syria that was vetoed by Russia and China on Oct. 4, the Yemen resolution makes no mention of sanctions or any other measures.

With fighting intensifying, there are concerns that a civil war would significantly hurt efforts by the United States and Saudi Arabia to fight Yemen’s dangerous al Qaeda branch, and could turn the mountainous nation into a global haven for militants a short distance away from the vast oil fields of the Gulf and the key shipping lanes in the Arabian and Red seas.

Text below:

Security Council Condemns Human Rights Violations by Yemeni Authorities Abuses by ‘Other Actors’, after Months of Political Strife

Resolution 2014 (2011), Adopted Unanimously, Calls for End to Violence,

Acceptance of Gulf Cooperation Council Peace Plan, with Orderly Transfer of Power

Strongly condemning what it called human rights violations by authorities, and abuses by other actors, in Yemen following months of political strife, the Security Council this afternoon demanded that all sides immediately reject violence, and called on them to commit to a peaceful transition of power based on proposals by the major regional organization of the Arabian Gulf. (Read on …)

Yemen Post reports the demands are money and the release of imprisoned terrorists, but the demands themselves and the timing of the kidnapping, following a French call for Saleh to step down, the odd video without any al Qaeda characteristics, the tension with (if not expulsion of) the French ambassador for his remarks, the bombing of TOTAL’s pipeline and the pending UN resolution may all indicate the statement is yet another attempt by the Sana’a regime to spin the media away from the slaughter in the capital.

The situation echos that of the German hostages, a crime thought committed by Saleh loyalists linked to drug smugglers and al Qaeda. As the recent West Point paper pointed out, many of the security officials murdered by al Qaeda were in fact counter-narcotics agents, and that’s another area where the footprints of al Qaeda and the Sana’a regime overlap.

Obama should grab that sleazy slimy mass murderer rat Saleh by the throat and throttle him until he gives up these and all the Yemeni hostages. Dozens more severely wounded Yemenis were kidnapped by security forces in the last days, including women, but likely the Yemenis will get much less publicity. The regime has got to go.

Yemen Post: French Hostages in Yemen Face New Challenges

On May 28th, 2011, 3 French aid workers were kidnapped in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramaut as they were conducting a field trip near Sayyun. (Read on …)

Also if I might add, what they want is an empowered PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM not a new consensus president.

AI: YEMEN: NO IMMUNITY FOR SERIOUS VIOLATIONS UNDER PRESIDENT SALEH

17 October 2011 The international community must send a clear message that those responsible for extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced disappearances in Yemen will be brought to justice as part of any transition agreement, Amnesty International said today after at least 15 more people were reported killed by the security forces in the capital Sana’a since Saturday.

A power-transfer deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) appears to offer blanket immunity to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and some of those serving under him, and could prevent criminal investigations and prosecutions for hundreds of protester deaths in recent months, as well as a string of serious human rights violations in the past. (Read on …)

Lets hope it has more impact than 1994’s UN SC resolutions 928 and 931 which Saleh totally ignored to the great detriment of Yemen and unity.

111007:1600
Draft SCR on Yemen
The Security Council,
Expressing grave concern at the situation in Yemen,
Recalling its Press Statements of 25 September, 9 August and 23 June,
Welcoming the Secretary-General’s statement of 23 September urging all sides to engage in a constructive manner to achieve a peaceful resolution to the current crisis,
Welcoming the engagement of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Secretary-General’s Good Offices,

Welcoming the Human Rights Council Resolution on Yemenduring the 18th Session,
Welcoming the statement by the Ministerial Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council on 24 September which called for the immediate signing by President Saleh and implementation of the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative, condemned the use of force against unarmed demonstrators and called for restraint and a commitment to a full and immediate ceasefire and the formation of a commission to investigate the events that led to the killing of innocent Yemeni people, (Read on …)

There was a lot of popular support for Bin Shamlan, but I have no idea if this is true. Even the level of violations documented by the EU observers made their declaration of a “mostly free and fair” election a farce.

Mohsen also says that Muhammed Sudam was kidnapped not as a reporter but as Saleh’s translator, in order to press for the release of 400 kidnapped by the National Security; although this was the way things were done for decades, and it may be the only thing Saleh understands, its not what should be done, at all.

Mareb Press : NYR | MasdarOnline | Major General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, commander of the First Armored Division and commander of the North-West military said that President Saleh did not win the 2006 elections.

Major General Ali Mohsen revealed during a meeting on Monday with reporters in Sana’a that Saleh threatened “to use aircrafts and tanks to prevent Faisal Bin Shamlan from entering the Presidential Palace” adding “I was part of all of Saleh’s election campaighns and I was surprised when he told me that the computer made a mistake and showed Bin Shamlan’s win, and then the computer was checked and Saleh was declared to be the winner.” (Read on …)

See how well he does it, all the tickers say: Yemen’s president to step down. Saleh has been saying it since 1999, repeatedly through 2005/2006 and made similar announcements dozens of times since the rev began. The half truth was timed after Tawakkol’s Nobel and before the UN SC council meeting Tuesday.

I haven’t seen one report tying the three events together or noting that the dictator has never kept his word on anything, ever, literally. I can’t believe Saleh’s statement got any traction in the media at all, especially when gov’t spoxmen immediately clarified that he has no intention of stepping down anytime in the near future. Its like publishing Gadaffi’s rants without any skepticism.

INI Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced Saturday in a televised speech he will step down “in the coming days”.

But Saleh has made the same speech more than once before in the past year during protests that have rocked Yemen.

“I reject power and I will continue to reject it, and I will leave power in the coming days,” Saleh told the nation in a speech on state television.

A France 24 interview with Sadiq al Ahmar is here on Youtube. Sheik AlAhmar on the vid says, “Ali Abdullah Saleh inserted AlQeada, to ’suck milk from the American cow.’ The biggest evidence of this relationship is that of those who escaped from prison in Hadramout, 16 of them have been at villas that belong to the presidential palace in Alsafiyah for more than two weeks.” (A google search says Alsafiyah is a district in Sanaa.)

Gee, it sounds a lot less crazy when Sadiq al Ahmar and Hamoud al Hittar say it, doesn’t it? (For al Hittar, see Al Hittar says Saleh regime pays al Qaeda in Abyan through security chiefs .) My article at PMJ covers the same topic, Yemen’s Theater of the Absurd.

I think I first used the term “false flag attack” to describe Yemeni foreign policy in 2007 and noted the regime deploying Al Qaeda as mercenaries in 2005. I’ve seen nothing that disputes the general premise since. Someone should tell General Mr. Patraeus that Saleh did not miraculously reform after hearing about the “assassination plot.” They probably knew the phone was wired.

Time

Ali Abdullah Saleh, the President of Yemen, can do little to disguise the wounds he suffered in a June attack on his palace, but he has nevertheless decided to grant his first interview with the Western press since returning from medical treatment in Saudi Arabia on Sept. 23. He spoke with TIME’s Aryn Baker and the Washington Post’s Sudarsan Raghavan on Thursday, Sept. 29. (Read on …)

Yahya Saleh also makes a range of charges against the protesters. “Accused that al-Qaeda supports the demonstrators and the opposition kills them. Yahya Saleh describes the rebels to «meanness», and the revolution as boring, and stresses that the Gulf initiative conflicts with the Constitution, and that his uncle would not sign it as long as the sit-ins continues.” The realization is dawning in the diplomatic community that Saleh will never sign it and never had any intention of signing.

Yemen Post: In a recent interview with France 24, General Yehia Mohamed Saleh, who is president’s Saleh’s nephew and Head to the Central Security Forces as well as prominent businessman opened up on Yemen’s uprising.

He made clear that as long as protesters would continue to take the streets of Yemen hostage, staging sit-ins and marches, his “uncle” would never agree to step down, let alone negotiate. (Read on …)

Yemen’s problem: The president and ‘al-Qaeda’
By ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED at AJE

It is almost certain that the Yemeni government was not serious in fighting al-Qaeda within the past years. But, has Yemen been using al-Qaeda in its political purposes or was the regime afraid of the organization? This worrying questioned would probably remain unanswered. Within the current crisis that President Saleh has been facing, al-Qaeda managed to seize the city of Zinjibar and thus creating the fear that it might imitate what al- Qaeda in Iraq has been doing; namely seizing cities under its control. It took the Yemeni forced 90 days to evacuate the city of Zinjibar from al-Qaeda, with the help of the Americans in breaking the siege of an a Yemeni army battalion. Two weeks later, one of the most important leaders of al-Qaeda in Yemen—the U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki—was killed.

Both parts, the government and the opposition, exchange accusations over supporting terrorism. The opposition accuses Saleh that he supports terrorism and that he masterminded the fall of the city of Zinjibar. In the meantime, some government figures claim that al-Qaeda is being protected by opposition., For the Yemeni citizen the problem lies President Saleh’s refusal to step down and his transfer of power to his sons and relatives. For world powers, however, the problem is al-Qaeda.

I think that both are right; al-Qaeda is a problem and so is Saleh. Saleh has been walking on a tight rope and accordingly Yemen remained undeveloped for more than 30 years. He only cared about remaining in power by achieving tribal and regional balance, once with Saddam Hussein, another with Qaddafi and now probably with al-Qaeda when it is time for him to leave. The world will not accept a regime that is rejected domestically and internationally.

(The writer is the General Manager of Al Arabiya. The article was published by the London-based Asharq al-Awsat on Oct. 3, 2011 and was translated from Arabic by Abeer Tayel.)

Yemen Post Saleh to Use Terror File to Stay in Power; World Must not be Tricked

President Saleh has been using the terror card for well over a decade now, almost blackmailing western powers into financing his efforts against al-Qaeda and supporting his regime as he claimed to be the only entity in Yemen able to will enough power to carry through America’s requests in Yemen. (Read on …)

translation via NYR | MasdarOnline | Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations said that the political process seeking to resolve the crisis in Yemen reached a “dead end” but he expressed optimism that Yemenis will find out a solution that guarantee entry in the transitional stage and transfer of power in the country. (Read on …)

I’m starting to think that claim of three weeks of surveillance is likely propaganda. It would be a typical Saleh move.

CNN: Saleh returns to Yemen as al-Awlaki was killed

But several analysts consulted by CNN said the Saudis were concerned that the growing unrest in Yemen could morph into outright civil war — in a country that shares a long and porous desert border with the kingdom.

The rationale in Riyadh, according to these analysts, was that only Saleh had the guile and stature to pull his country back from the brink, despite his injuries and his array of enemies. And at the same time, Saleh would be best placed to turn up the heat on al Qaeda, now established in at least two eastern provinces and in parts of southern Yemen.

Diplomatic sources in the Gulf say that far from being surprised by Saleh’s return, the Saudi authorities sanctioned and assisted in it, providing a jet that flew him to the southern city of Aden in the early hours of Friday last week. They say Saleh did not fly directly to Sanaa, the capital, because the airport and the route into the city are not reliably under government control. In fact, the capital is now a patchwork of pro- and anti-Saleh enclaves.

A helicopter was waiting at the Aden airport to fly Saleh 200 miles to the presidential palace in Sanaa before dawn. Again, arriving by air was probably preferable to negotiating the chaotic streets of the capital.

Just like al Khaiwani beat himself up in 2007, and “saboteurs in military uniforms” opened fire during the 2005 fuel riots, and a journalist kidnapped himself in 2008 to embarrass the state, and like Ahmed Darwish shot himself inside an Aden prison in 2010, Saleh now says its really the defected military who is killing the protesters:

wapo When asked why government security forces were violently suppressing protesters with heavy machine guns, mortars and snipers, he blamed Mohsen and the Ahmars.

“They are the ones who attack the military bases, the civilians and the protesters — the protesters that are moving around the city with the protection of Ali Mohsen and the Ahmars, using armed people. And they assassinate protesters from behind so they can blame the state,” Saleh said.

It doesn’t matter that there is video. If he says it enough, it becomes true.

Another funny, he’s not stalling on signing the GCC plan: “This is a misunderstanding. We are willing within the next hours and next days to sign it, if the JMP comes closer” to reaching an agreement, Saleh said. “We don’t want to prolong it. And we don’t want this crisis to continue. We want this country to get out of this crisis.”

He says Islah is al Qaeda: “Still, Saleh branded the opposition, especially Islah, Yemen’s largest opposition party, which includes members of the Muslim Brotherhood, as Islamists who support the al-Qaeda-linked militants. JMP officials have denied the allegations….“If Washington is still with the international community in fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda, who have disturbed the world peace, that will be good. But what we see is that we are pressed by America and the international community to speed up the process of handing over power. And we know where power is going to go. It is going to al-Qaeda, which is directly and completely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.”

And he’s not going until Ali Mohsen and Hameed al Ahmar do, both have already agreed I believe: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared Thursday that he would not step down as long as his key rivals — a defected general and a billionaire tribal leader and his family — remain in influential positions, throwing a potential wrench into hopes for a peaceful transition of power. Saleh also said the United States was playing a role in assisting Yemeni forces fight off al-Qaeda-linked militants in southern Yemen.

Both the fatwa and the UN HRC council statement will be interpreted by Saleh as a free hand to put down the protests. Saleh followed a similar pattern of obtaining a fatwa prior to launching major assaults on Houthis. The southern independence movement was also fatwa’d if memory serves and of course there was the infamous fatwa issued during the 1994 civil war.Update: also attended by The Commander of the Special Forces Tariq Mohamed Abdullha Saleh

Better: English translation from Yemen Fox:

NYR | YemenFox | A gathering of hundreds of pro-government clerics issued a controversial fatwa backing the regime and lashing out the opposition on Thursday . The clerics labeled the protests that demand the ouster of the regime as “sinful”, calling them to repent or classified as “aggressors”, whom should be fought against according to Islamic law.

After three days of discussion, the clerics issued communiqué clarifying their opinion on the current situation in Yemen.

“Revolting against the {Muslim} rulers either by words or actions is forbidden under the Holy Quran and Sunnah (the teachings of the Prophet). (Read on …)

Saleh asks for a fatwa and he’ll probably get it too. Formal fatwas were issued in the 1994 civil war, and repeatedly against the Houthis. In addition Saleh has the capacity to send out talking points to the state Imams to talk up (or taqfir) the excommunication of his enemies, which makes them legitimate targets for death. Several journalists have also been singled out as enemies of Islam by the Yemeni government through the years. Saleh also has distributed talking points to the state’s preachers through the years that were incorporated into Friday sermons, legitimizing, and even encouraging as a duty, the death of both Houthis and Southerners on Islamic grounds.

This is only a small part of what I mean when I say the Sanaa regime legitimizes and perpetuates the al Qaeda philosophy. As the Salafi interpretation of Islam holds that to revolt against a Muslim ruler is haram, even if he is unjust, during the 2006 presidential election, Saleh brought Egyptian Sheikh al Masri (al Maribi), who runs the Dar al Hadeith Salifii school in Marib, to the stage in a rally that was broadcast nationally. Al Masiri issued a fatwa that voting against Saleh is prohibited by Islam. These are the same loyalist group of clerics that threatened a jihad against the US in the event of UN intervention; they are the mouthpiece of Saleh.

Update : Al Zindani says the Scholars Association is run by an intelligence officer, like we didnt know that already, and its suddenly a problem for him although he was a leader within the association for years? He said, “So why hold our ourselves with the Association of Yemen, which is managed in this way, by an officer in the intelligence, it is the door {and help one another in righteousness and piety and do not cooperate in sin and aggression}, and {interpretation of the meaning}”, was the meeting of the scholars of Yemen. Sheikh Zindani, has called for all officers and soldiers to refuse orders that sanction the killing of the Yemenis,

The National: SANAA // Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday urged loyal clerics to issue a fatwa against those calling for his removal from power.

In a speech to religious figures, Mr Saleh attempted to build a religious base to confront rivals insisting on his resignation.

“You have to state the ruling of God and His prophet on those who reject the extended hand for peace and dialogue and insist on revolting against constitutional legitimacy,” Mr Saleh said.

He returned last week to Yemen where clashes have been taking place between forces loyal to the president and defected troops protecting the protest camp in Sanaa where anti-government demonstrations have been under way for months.

The three-day conference attended by 500 clerics is expected to issue a statement tomorrow on the turmoil. Several leading clerics have already backed the protesters’ demands and urged Mr Saleh to step down.

Judge Mohammed Al Hajji, the chief of the Yemeni Clerics Association and an ally of Mr Saleh, said that those who refused dialogue with the government were seeking “sedition”. “There is nothing after sedition but chaos, destruction. There is no doubt that those who seek or call for sedition should bear the burden of that,” Mr Al Hajji told delegates.

There is a reason I call him “The lunatic dictator of Yemen,” and “The king of spin”.

Its a difficult story to swallow, and neither the US or SA has a good track record of credibility. Sad to say, there’s just too many times Saleh lied and the Obama administration swore to it.

FT: Yemen’s president appears to have tricked his Saudi hosts when he unexpectedly returned home last week, exacerbating the stand-off between his regime and the country’s pro-democracy protest movement.

According to a senior US official, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had been undergoing medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, “bolted the kingdom under the pretence of going to the airport for something else”.

Neither the US nor the Saudis were aware of his planned departure, said the official, calling it a “clever, canny” trick by the president. “We are not happy at all.” he added.

Other western officials have also expressed frustration at Mr Saleh’s return to Yemen, with two different versions of his flight circulating in diplomatic circles. One says he told the Saudis he had decided to move to Ethiopia; the other suggests he went to the airport on the pretence of seeing off other Yemeni officials. Saudi officials could not be reached for comment. They have previously described Mr Saleh as a “guest” whose movements were not restricted. A Yemeni government official strongly denied that Mr Saleh had evaded the Saudis at the airport, describing the claim as “baseless”.

“Comprehensive Agreement” Within Reach says VP Hadi The next phase of stall tactics begins.

President calls for presidential, parliamentary and local elections Its nearly funny, but lives are at stake. The GPC stalled on the electoral reforms they agreed to after the not free or fair election in 2006, delaying the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2009. The voter rolls are a mess, and Obama’s statement at the UN calling for quick elections is either uniquely uninformed or just plain duplicitous.

King of Peace resumes shelling Arhab villages.

Protesters Committee CCYRC Daily Report 9/26, protesters reject all deals with Saleh, and demand his trial, as is their right since they are his vicitms.

Lie #32,836,

Yemen Post: Only a day after his surprise return to the capital, president Saleh announced through the state news agency that he had ordered his troops to retreat from the streets of the capital, as well as the dismantlement of the many military manned checkpoints. ….Despite the government claims that it had sent out the withdrawal orders, nothing has changed. If anything, there are more Central Security forces out of on the streets, machine guns at the ready.”This is typical Saleh, he says one thing and does the opposite” said a resident in Beit Buss, a popular district of the capital. “In Yemen, nothing is as it seems” he added.

The “dove of peace” line, as soldiers opened fire on the protesters, really should be enough for anyone to catch on.

Mr Democracy can’t stand free speech; its been an ongoing problem:

Yemen: The freedom of opinion and expression still under security attack
ANHRI condemns blocking “Yemen Nation” news website, Cairo, 26 September 2011

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned today the publicly ongoing repression of the Yemeni authorities against the Freedoms of press and media. Yemeni security forces blocked the independent news website “Yemen Nation” yesterday, without providing any reasons or justifications for this repressive behavior.

It is worth noting that this is the second time for “Yemen Nation” website to be blocked, the first time being last March following the massacre of “Friday of Dignity” in Al-Taghyeer square, in front of San’a University.

Freedom of expression in Yemen is seriously deteriorating since the public protests and demonstrations began last February, demanding ousting the regime of president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been dominating the country for over 33 years. However, all border chick points changed into a machine for confiscating newspapers and preventing its distribution. Simultaneously, news websites are not in a better condition, for many of these websites were blocked and hacked.

“The repressive practices of the Yemeni authorities such as: confiscation, blocking, targeting journalist and media professionals will lead to nowhere and will not kill the dream of freedom of the Yemeni people” said ANHRI

“The Yemeni regime is still not aware that it is facing a public movement and is still behaving the same old way which is based on repression, suppression and confiscation of freedoms” ANHRI added

Saleh meets with Salafi clerics and asks for fatwa against protesters. Lately official TV channels have aired a number of shows with Salafi clerics who are asking people to side with Saleh. Yemen Tribune. YAATC: Saleh said in at the “scientific conference of the Association of Yemen, “opponents have conduct inconsistent with our religion of the Islamic Sharia, which has made ​​the sanctity of Muslim blood, more privacy and provided to ward off evil to bring the interests and there is no evil greater than the payment the country into civil war, destroy crops and cattle and eat everything and everybody.”

Its an Orwellian nightmare

UNITED NATIONS—Yemen’s foreign minister says the opposition movement’s refusal to accept the results of the 2006 presidential elections are to blame for the country’s current crisis—one that could escalate into a civil war.
Abu Bakr al-Qirbi also told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh is committed to a U.S.-backed Gulf Cooperation Council initiative as a means to ending the crisis in the beleaguered nation that has left hundreds dead.

Al-Qirbi says Saleh’s government is committed to democracy and reform, but the opposition has co-opted the youth-driven protests as a way of trying to oust Saleh after he won a resounding victory in the 2006 elections.

A bright spot, women protest