Yemen Times, Taiz: “We ask the security committee to deal with these problems promptly. They keep giving the armed men 48 hours to put down their guns…but after these periods, nothing changes.”

Hawdh Al-Ashraf’s main road was closed when local residents protested after not receiving water from the government for more than two months.

“We are a big family and we cannot afford to pay YR 12,000 monthly for water tanks. We will keep the road closed until the state fulfills its promise to provide us with water,” said Nabeel Ahmad of Hawdh Al-Ashraf.

Fekra Mahmoud, a writer from Taiz, said that life in Taiz has been worrying as some young people “are immature and might be pushed by the regime or revolution supporters to do things such as fire gunshots in the air and close roads. We should all work to return life to normalcy in Taiz.”

According to a source that asked not to be named, there are people who want rampant insecurity in the city and who pretend that water and electricity problems are the motives behind closing roads. According to well-informed sources from the Republican Guards, representatives of the military committee withdrew from Taiz as they were called on by higher-ups in Sana’a.

This occurred simultaneously with the arrival of the military commission headed by Major General Nasser Al-Tahiri in Taiz. The major came to solve issues regarding checkpoints, the removal of armed figures and the release of prisoners.

An official source from the military commission denied that the withdrawal of Republican Guard from Taiz took place. He said that all the Republican Guard units in Taiz are committed, are under the guidance of the military committee and that they returned to their camps. He added that the commission is living up to its responsibility to restore security and stability to Taiz.

Yemen Post: Yemen Human Rights Horia Mashhoor said on Wednesday that an independent commission will be formed with the aim of investigating violations committed against human rights since the outbreak of anti-regime protests in last February.

“Probes about killing of protesters in Sana’a , Taiz and Abyan lack transparency, and Yemen’s judiciary lack enough fairness,” she added.

In her meeting with Middle East and North Africa director of the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy(NED) Abdul Rahman Al-Jubouri, she made clear that Yemen needs special legalizations that cope with international laws.

Mashhoor revealed that the ministry seeks to hold a national dialogue conference to solve Yemen’s problems and come up with joint national views on human rights.

She revealed that Human Rights Ministry would be shifted to an independent supreme authority which enjoys impartiality.

For his part, Al-Jabouri stressed that NED seeks to help Yemen in the field of enacting legislations of the constitution and election laws, pointing out that NED would support and train the consultative body belonging to the Human Rights through Ministry.

In an interview with the state-run 26 September newspaper, Mashhoor made reference to the existence of a big gap between laws and their application on the ground.

Mashhoor has said she seeks to shut down private custodies (ed-private prisons) run by some officials and tribal leaders, stressing that the existence of such custodies contradicts Yemen laws and international conventions.
Mashhoor has vowed to release all political prisoners held in security forces.

Separately, Mashour stated that Yemen’s high-ranking officials take over 90 percent of allowances and benefits allocated to government ministries while low-ranking employees get nothing.

She affirmed that Yemen’s financial systems encourage corruption, demanding to carry out significant financial reforms.

Certainly AQAP bears the responsibility for sheltering in populated areas in the first place but people in the al Qaeda occupied territories of Yemen want to know where the refugee camps are. Seriously, where are they supposed to go? And it is a US problem when an al Qaeda presence means the potential of US drone strikes. The 120,000 who fled Zinjibar last May are still in the schools of Aden. I know Yemenis’ rights are very low on Obama’s priority list, but there must be a part of the plan to increase US drone use that will deal with the public panic and mass displacement that will occur as US drones follow AQ from province to province threatening people’s lives and homes. Over 15,000 fled Raada within days of Tariq al Dhahab’s (and al Wahishi’s) appearance. They were escaping both the al Qaeda fanaticism and the threat of US drones.

While the Obama administration may try to maintain the myth in the US that they know exactly who they are hitting, and its always a precise targeting, the non-lethal impact on civilians must be considered as well. The US is playing right into al Qaedas hands with nearly every policy from the re-imposition of a dictatorship through the GCC deal to Saleh’s visit to increased drones. The US is focused on vulnerable land when it should be focused on vulnerable people.

Basically, the US is going to bomb Yemen in order to pull off an uncontested election that nobody wants (except the US, the GPC and Islah elites) in the interest of “stability.” If the expired parliament gave Saleh immunity, it can appoint Hadi. The bogus show election isn’t worth more Yemeni lives or the displacement of tens of thousands, and it certainly wont confer legitimacy when there’s only one candidate that was selected by the US. The most politically disenfranchised are going to boycott anyway: civil minded protesters, southerners and Houthis.

The National: Yemen will increasingly rely on US drone strikes to target Islamist militants threatening to disrupt a transfer of power this month, Yemeni government officials said.

The president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, is meant to hand over power to his vice president, Abdurabu Mansur Hadi, on February 22.

The run up to the transfer is being overshadowed by growing protests, including within the military, which have grounded Yemen’s air force across much of the country.

Two aides in Mr Hadi’s office said they expected a rise in drone attacks against Al Qaeda militants.

The strikes will be intensified only if necessary, to ensure that militant groups do not expand in vulnerable areas, said one of the aides. Both asked to remain anonymous.

An early indication of the escalation came on Monday, when at least 11 militants were killed in Yemen’s Abyan province by three separate strikes from drones, according to security officials in the province.

It was one of the biggest such strikes believed to have been carried out by the US in Yemen.

Yemeni officials and western diplomats fear suspected Al Qaeda militants, who control considerable territory in Abyan, may attempt to capitalise on the end of Mr Saleh’s rule.

Months of near civil war to topple Mr Saleh, along with lawlessness and tribal rebellions, have created a vacuum for the militants.

Three weeks ago, they took over the town of Radaa, 173 kilometres south-east of Sanaa, and declared it an Islamic state.

The militants pulled out a few days later after negotiations with tribal chiefs.

Yemen’s military capability to tackle the militants has been hampered by two weeks of protests against the air force chief, said General Mohammed Saleh Al Ahmar, the half-brother of the president.

Abdul Aziz Al Muhayya, the air force’s commander of operations, who joined the protests last week, told The National that air force runways are out of service in the provinces of Aden, Taiz, and partially Sanaa.

“The majority of the air force is out of [the] government’s hands now,” he said.

“Our bases are somewhat handicapped,” a senior Hadi aide said. “We cannot rule out using US drones if needed in an emergency situation when it comes to attacking Al Qaeda hideouts.”

Drone attacks by the US in Yemen require the approval of Washington, the US ambassador in Sanaa, the counterterror office in Yemen, and the green light from Mr Hadi, Yemeni officials said.

The US has repeatedly used drones in Yemen to attack militants from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which the US has said was behind the December 2009 plot to blow up a US airliner as it approached Detroit.

In one of most successful attacks for Washington’s drone programme, a strike in Al Jawf province in September killed Anwar Al Awlaki, the American-born cleric who became a senior figure in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Mr Saleh was viewed by Washington as an important ally against AQAP and his government usually provided the intelligence for the targets, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal in December.

The US hopes the transfer of power will not affect Yemen’s cooperation in targeting AQAP.

A US embassy official in Sanaa was optimistic that Mr Hadi, as the next president, would be cooperative in the fight against militancy and help build the security relations between all ethnic, tribal and regional groups.

Usually Yemeni government operatives are more discrete when spying on US citizens, not publishing photos of it. I know and don’t want to hear that its “just Basha.” Tell it to Fox New’s Katherine Harrage, she’ll buy it in a minute. This is entirely unacceptable behavior.

Also in his tweets Mohammed al Basha, Yemen embassy “media spokesman,” said he was in the lobby of the Ritz and invited some of the civil rights activists for a coffee. When is a coffee not a coffee? When a Saleh operative invites you.

Basha published the photo on twitter here (click here) with the caption, Picture of the anti #Yemen President #Saleh “event” in New York (No Comments)

Maybe if it was Mubarak or Qaddafi or Assad with immunity in the Ritz photographing the anti-regime activists, it might be clearer, but most Americans have no awareness that Saleh is technically a war criminal and mass murderer as well as a huge thief and a compulsive liar.

Update: While Basha has accused me of launching a personal attack on him, I beg to differ. I am criticizing his professional actions in his capacity as the Butcher Saleh’s spokesman here in the US, and likely he was with Saleh when he tweeted the picture of the (Yemeni-American) US citizens at the anti-Saleh press conference, considering he was later in the lobby.

Its really quite ungracious of the Yemeni mass murderer to start issuing implied threats via the Yemeni embassy personnel to US citizens immediately upon his arrival in the US. Lets recall what our current guest, Ali Abdullah Saleh and his cronies did on March 18, 2011: well trained Yemeni roof top snipers killed 54 unarmed protesters, largely with head shots:

Here a man calls his mother to inform her that his brother, her son is dead and the only words I understand are Ali Abdullah Saleh:

May 29, 2011 they burnt down a protests’ camp in Taiz at 2 am without warning and shot the fleeing people that weren’t burnt to death. Over 100 were killed (don’t watch this one, its gruesome but that’s Saleh.)

Then there’s the thousands of Yemeni citizens that Saleh, Basha’s boss, killed in his capacity as president prior to the outbreak of protests. There’s also an extensive history of the mass arrests, systemic torture, collective punishment (denial of food and medicine to entire provinces) and mass corruption and grand larceny. Saleh’s a multimillionaire and funds attacks in Yemen with money looted from the Yemeni treasury.

Yemenis protest Saleh presence in US, (AFP)

NEW YORK — Activists protested Thursday outside the luxury New York hotel where they believe Yemen’s embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh is staying while seeking medical treatment.

The Yemeni leader’s whereabouts have not been confirmed since he arrived in the United States Saturday on a chartered flight. US authorities let him in to receive treatment for wounds suffered in an assassination attempt.

Protesters and Yemeni opposition supporters say they have firm information that Saleh is staying at the Ritz-Carlton, a grand hotel overlooking Central Park in Manhattan.

Standing on the sidewalk opposite the hotel, about a dozen activists waved placards with slogans like “democracies should not host dictators,” as well as gory photographs of people apparently killed in Yemen’s year-long pro-democracy protests.

Yemen’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Tawakkol Karman, spoke to the protest via cellphone from Sanaa and denounced US President Barack Obama’s government for welcoming Saleh.

“We are so disappointed that Saleh is staying in one of New York city’s hotels,” Karman said in comments relayed to the gathering by New York-based Yemeni activist Ibraham Qatabi. “Saleh should be held accountable and referred to the International Criminal Court.”

The protesters looked and gestured up at the facade of the Ritz-Carlton, where occasional glimpses could be had of cleaning staff piling white pillows on window ledges.

A half dozen police officers stood outside the main entrance. Two more could be seen in the lobby.

However, the hotel would not comment on claims that Saleh was staying there.

“It’s our policy not to comment on any guest we might have staying with us,” David Taylor, director of sales for the hotel, told AFP.

At the reception desk, a clerk smiled, saying: “We wouldn’t comment even if it was a Mr Jones.”

Michelle Kissenkoetter, from the International Federation for Human Rights, said the protest wanted “to draw attention that he’s in the city, that he’s been welcomed in the United States, whether he’s in that hotel enjoying champagne or not.”

Activists later spotted what they said were Yemeni officials entering the hotel.

SOHR report Dec 2011

On Monday, December ,5 Sheikh Tawfiq Ali Mansour Juneidi ,nicknamed
“Hawas “the leader of the People’s Committees in the town of Lauder of
Abyan province ,died as a result of wounds sustained by a blast of an
explosive package targeted him on Friday, December ,2 and which also
caused the death of his colleague ,Ali Nasser Houshan .The Web site” ,Taj
South Arabia “reported that the People’s Committees protect the district
from the al-Qaeda operatives ,since it is believe that the al-Qaeda is behind
this assassination….

“Al Qaeda “operatives on the evening of Monday, December , ambushed
two vehicles to target a number of people from Almayaser Tribe from the
Farajs when they were passing in” Ekd “area between the districts of Lauder
and Wadiea .Aden News Agency said that the ambush caused injuries
among three people ,they are :Ahmed Hussein Ashal ,Hussein Ali Ashal and
Ahmed Mohammed al-Ghairi.

Both of the citizens Haaj Obeid and Adel Amari were seriously injured on
Friday, December ,2 by an armed group opened fire on a security leader in
the city of Ghail Bawazir of Hadramout province .The Aden News Agency
said that the unknown gunmen were riding a Hilux car ,passed in front of the
Abu Saba’a Cafe and opened heavy fire on the security leader and those
around him…

The group calling itself” Ansar al-Sharia “,on Saturday, Dec ,31 .fired in the
air to suppress the march of dignity ,which started from Aden province
toward the city of Zanzibar, demanding an end to the war in the city between
the Yemeni army and the group .The march was attended by thousands from
the South ,in particular from Abyan province .The website” ,Sada Aden ”
quoted from Mohammed Ahmed Qais ,the Chairman of the Organizing
Committee of the March of Dignity, that the peaceful march aimed at
demanding the departure of the militants of” Al Qaeda “,as well as the
Yemeni army troops from their city, but the militants of” Ansar Al-Sharia ”
stopped the march in the village of Alkod that is located five kilometers
away from the city of Zinjibar, firing in the air to prevent their progress…

The main road linking the provinces of Aden and Abyan has been closed
since the events of the city of Zinjibar of the incursion of armed elements
“Ansar Al-Sharia “to the neighborhoods until now .There have been several
attempts to open it and to allow travelers to pass through it ,but they all fail
because of the tense military situation between the forces of the Yemeni
army and the armed groups .Following the closure of that road, citizens from
both sides are affected and suffer from traveling from one province as an
alternative way make them spend a lot of time and efforts ,as well as
depriving the citizens of the cities of Zanzibar and Jaar from returning to
their homes which they had abandoned fearing for their lives….

On the morning of Tuesday, December ,6 warplanes flew at low height over
Abyan province ,in the city of Wadiea ,breaking the sound barrier ,and
triggering fear and terror among the children and women.
The Aden News Agency said that the people of the city fear of possible
bombing maybe exposed to innocent civilians, especially of the flights of the
U.S. drones hovering constantly over the cities and villages of the region for
long periods. (The fear comes after)
The U.S. aircraft on December ,2009 17 ,launched several Cruz rockets from
American battleships in the Gulf of Aden to strike Al- Majala village in the
district of Al-Mahfed in Abyan province that killed dozens of innocent
children, women and elders.

Its absurd that US officials are using al Fathani’s connection to the USS Cole bombing as justification for the drone attack when Fahd al Quso and Jamal al Badawi walked out of Yemeni prison in 2007, pardoned by Saleh after less than three years in jail, and the US knew where they were- at home. In 2009, Al Quso was put on the Most Wanted Terrorist list.

BBC: However, tribal leaders told the AFP news agency that a control post and a school hosting a midnight meeting of local al-Qaeda chiefs and fighters were targeted in four overnight raids.

Abdul Munim al-Fathani, who was reportedly wanted by the US for alleged links to the attacks on the USS Cole in 2000 and a French oil tanker in 2002, was among the dead, they said.

“We think they were carried out by American planes,” one tribal source told AFP, on condition of anonymity and without elaborating.

al Shawa: Alsahwah.net- US drones killed on Monday night nine Al-Qaeda suspects in the southern city of Abyan.

The sources said that two drones shelled several positions in Loder and Al-Wodaia districts of Abyan.

Three of the raids targeted a school in which Al Qaeda fighters and chiefs of a local militant network were meeting around midnight.

Among the people killed was regional Al Qaeda leader Abdul Monem al Fahtani, who has long been sought by the Yemeni authorities, and other local chiefs.

Obama tries to pretend they know who they are targeting. How careful can you be when you rely on the thoroughly compromised Yemeni CT intel? Have the strikes really killed more terrorists than civilians in Yemen? We’d have to start with the 43 civilians killed in Abyan 2009 and count from there, but the US doesn’t know exactly who they are targeting and killing, for example Sheikh Shabwani in May.

USA Today: President Obama is defending his use of unmanned drone attacks in Pakistan and elsewhere, saying they have been used to kill more terrorists than civilians.

“I want to make sure that people understand actually drones have not caused a huge number of civilian casualties,” Obama said during a forum with YouTube and Google-plus. “For the most part, they have been very precise, precision strikes against al- Qaeda and their affiliates. And we are very careful in terms of how it’s been applied.”

In his most extended public comments on drones, Obama disputed the “perception” that “we’re just sending in a whole bunch of strikes willy-nilly.”

“This is a targeted, focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists, who are trying to go in and harm Americans, hit American facilities, American bases and so on,” Obama said.

Obama added: “It is important for everybody to understand that this thing is kept on a very tight leash. It’s not a bunch of folks in a room somewhere just making decisions. And it is also part and parcel of our overall authority when it comes to battling al-Qaeda. It is not something that’s being used beyond that.”

” Well, you know, I think that we have to be judicious in how we use drones.

But understand that probably our ability to respect the sovereignty of other countries and to limit our incursions into somebody else’s territory is enhanced by the fact that we are able to pinpoint strike on al-Qaeda operative in a place where the capacities of that military in that country may not be able to get them.

So, obviously, a lot of these strikes have been in the Fattah and going after al-Qaeda suspects, who are up in very tough terrain along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. For us to be able to get them in another way would involve probably a lot more intrusive military actions than the one that we’re already engaging in.

That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be careful about how we proceed on this. And you know, obviously, I’m looking forward to a time where al-Qaeda is no longer operative network and, you know, we can refocus a lot of our assets and attention on other issues.

But this is something that we’re still having to deal with, there’s still active plots that are directed against the United States, and I think we are on the offense now. Al-Qaeda’s been really weakened, but we’ve still got a little more work to do, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re using all our capacities in order to deal with it.”

The South and the Northern Government: A Persistently Troubled Dialogue
By Nedhal Moqbel

A recent episode of “Agenda Maftouha” (Open Agenda) program, broadcast by BBC Arabic TV, discussed Yemen’s security situation. Among the program’s guests were the Southern activist Saleh Al-Jabwani and Colonel Abdullah Al-Hadri who represented President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s opposition. Mr. Al-Hadri dilated on Saleh’s crimes against protesters in Sanaa and Taiz squares and the destruction he left behind. However, Mr. Al-Hadri obviously got nervous and impatient when the issue of Southern secession was raised. As he responded to Mr. Al-Jabwani’s comments, Colonel Al-Hadri used an emotional speech and a sharp tone, contending that the current situation is the cause of the entire “Yemeni nation.”

“Our cause is one . . . why do you want to divide us amidst this continuous uprising?” added Mr. Al-Hadri. Wait a minute! Wasn’t it a “one Yemeni nation” when Southerners began their own uprising after 1994, demanding their right to a merely dignified life? Wasn’t it a “one Yemeni nation” when you and your boss (Saleh) brutally persecuted them? Weren’t those protesters your fellow citizens and, therefore, part of this “Yemeni nation”? Moreover, Mr. Al-Hadri stated that General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar was an honest military man who refused to stand by a dictator, and so did Colonel Al-Hadri and many others in the military. He said, “Yes, we used to be Saleh’s partners before. But when he stained his hands with blood and began to distort the country and foster Al-Qaeda, we decided to stay away and choose the homeland and the nation.” How devious! How provocative!

In a sympathetic tone, Mr. Al-Hadri spoke of Saleh’s crimes during the recent protests in North Yemen, stressing that this bloodshed was the reason he (Al-Hadri) and others like General Al-Ahmar seceded from Saleh. As if Saleh’s hands were clean until before these protests! What about the blood he has shed in the South since 1994? What about the thousands of Southerners whom he and his allies killed and wounded in that short-term civil war with military tanks and rockets? What about many extra thousands of Southerners whom they have killed, detained, tortured, and wounded since the outset of the Southern Peaceful Hirak? Why did Mr. Al-Hadri and his fellow military men not distance themselves from Saleh while he was shedding those bloods in the South? Why did they continue to support him, to represent his iron fist over the South? Why did they turn against Saleh only when his victims were Northern citizens?

Of course, my intention is not to attack anyone. I simply reject the twisted language Mr. Al-Hadri used to obscure the Southern cause. He went on, using the same emotional appeal: “It’s shameful to talk about South and North now . . . our cause now is that of a homeland and a nation.” Well! What is really shameful is that Colonel Al-Hadri does not consider the Southern issue itself a cause of an entire homeland whose lands and natural resources and jobs have been robbed, an entire people that used to exist independently but now is under a real occupation. What is really shameful is that Mr. Al-Hadri’s words echoed Saleh’s attitudes toward the South even though the former was presented in the program as an anti-Saleh figure. The same old regime being reproduced! No wonder that most of the oppositional figures affiliated with the “new” government participated in various ways in the 1994 war against the South. No wonder that they still unjustly and irrationally compare the Southern cause (a cause of a homeland) with the Huthi issue (a cause of a sectarian group).

Northern military figures like Colonel Al-Hadri know well the many injustices from which Southerners have suffered too long. Therefore, it is unacceptable that he accuse them of having “ruptured the country.” The country has been torn apart since the 1994 civil war. I wonder if Mr. Al-Hadri still remembers when his citizens in the North celebrated their “victory’ over the South on 7/7/1994; the Sanaa official TV then displayed Northern women uttering trilling cries of joy and Northern men chanting on streets, “Allah Akbar! Long live our leader Ali Abdullah Saleh!” On the other side of the country, Southerners were collecting the dead bodies of their loved ones in order to bury them. This black day, with all the sad memories it carries to Southerners, was made an official holiday and a national day to celebrate annually. Technically, unification ended in 1994 and was replaced by an occupation of the South and a robbery of its natural resource revenues, history, culture, and dignity. Who, then, tore up the previously unified Yemen?

The General People’s Congress and the Joint Meeting Parties are two faces of the same coin. The talk about having given Saleh immunity from prosecution is only half the truth. This “new” government has, in fact, given immunity to itself, too, since the majority of its officials were yesterday’s strong allies of Saleh’s. What we see now in the Sanaa government is the same old regime, and what we hear is the same old language, especially when it comes to the Southern problem. This government’s officials may undergo internal conflicts, but the Southern issue is always the thing that eventually brings them together due to their shared fear of losing the South with all its many treasures. Until Southerners achieve their goal of liberation, we will continue to hear the same rhetoric from Northern officials (and from Northern ordinary citizens) who often argue fearfully and impatiently, “there’s only one Yemen . . . unity is a red line . . . we’re ready to die for it . . . we’ll protect it with our own blood . . . unity or death.”

Comment by Jane: It is true that the atrocities toward the southern protesters (2007-2010) provoked little if any outrage in other parts of Yemen. During the Saada War, civil groups aligned themselves with the concept of civilian immunity without taking a stand on either side of conflict itself. Conversely during the southern protests, the arrests, torture and cold blooded killings elicited little sympathy. Beyond the absence of media attention, some in Sanaa expressed the opinion that southern protesters deserved it. In 2007/8, Southerners were really expecting that their counterparts in the north would join their uprising against the regime.

The lack of domestic solidarity against the state’s systematic attacks on unarmed southern protesters that in part caused the shift in demands from equal civil rights to independence. Remarkably, some of the current revolutionaries (who are seeking to overthrow the regime) deny that southerners have the right to seek independence although both movements deny the legitimacy of the state. From the outset of the current revolution, few efforts were made to reach out to the southern secessionists. And many southerners viewed the year long protests in Sanaa and other parts of the country in a disconnected way, not wholly unsympathetic, but as if the bloody events were occurring in another county. As I’ve said before, many view the unity government as an re-branding of northern power. some also view all northerners as privileged and part of the oppressive structure, when in fact disenfranchised northerners are very poverty stricken and thoroughly without basic services.

In terms of raw numbers, Saleh’s trail of blood, more southern protesters were killed than “northern” protester fatalities over the last year of the rev, and it occurred week after week in an atmosphere of domestic and international silence.

At the same time, the southern leaders have failed to implement any structures or mechanisms of legitimacy and representation or to permit a transfer of executive power within the movement. There is a step that comes after marches, rallies and protests, and they haven’t taken it since 2007. A disconnect (and sometimes a hostility) among the publics remains in place, largely a result of media repression and extremely low infrastructure penetration.
في الوقت نفسه ، فشل قادة الجنوب في تنفيذ أي هياكل أو آليات للشرعية والتمثيل ، أو للسماح بنقل السلطة التنفيذية داخل الحراك. فهنالك خطوة تأتي بعد المسيرات والتجمعات والاحتجاجات ، وهم لم يتخذوها منذ عام 2007. انقطاع الاتصال (وأحيانا العداء) بين الجماهير باق في مكانه ، إلى حد كبير نتيجة لقمع وسائل الإعلام واختراق البنية التحتية المنخفض للغاية.

It also should be clear to southerners that there is going to be no international support for an independent state, no matter how righteous their cause or how many bloody photos they publish. The idea that the UN will care that Saleh violated UN resolutions 924 and 931 in 1994 is unlikely in light of the fact the Security Council did nothing when Saleh recently violated res 2014 and kept openly murdering Yemeni protesters.
ينبغي أن يكون واضحا أيضا للجنوبيين أنه لن يكون هناك دعم دولي لإقامة دولة مستقلة ، مهما كانت قضيتهم عادلة أو مهما كان عدد الصور الدامية التي ينشرونها. فكرة أن الأمم المتحدة سوف تهتم إذا ما كان صالح قد انتهك قرارات الأمم المتحدة 924 و 931 في عام 1994 غير مرجحة في ضوء حقيقة أن مجلس الأمن لم يفعل شيئا عندما انتهك صالح مؤخرا قرار2014 وأستمر علنا بقتل المتظاهرين اليمنيين.

Saleh’s immunity covers all his war crimes in the south, as well as against the protesters and in Saada. International efforts in Yemen remain focused on perpetuating “stability” and maintaining a pliable client-state. But at least there is some attention now, and it might be a good idea to take advantage of it while things are still in flux.
حصانة صالح تغطي جميع جرائم الحرب خاصته في الجنوب ، وكذلك ضد المتظاهرين في محافظة صعدة. و لا تزال الجهود الدولية في اليمن تركز على حفظ “الاستقرار” والحفاظ على دولة تابعة طيعة. ولكن على الأقل هناك بعض الاهتمام الآن ، و قد تكون فكرة جيدة للاستفادة من ذلك في حين لا تزال الأمور في تغير مستمر.

The following is from an article on the topic from the Washington Post:
وفيما يلي من مقال حول الموضوع من واشنطن بوست :

Yemen’s secessionists emboldened by turmoil
الانفصاليين في اليمن جرأة بسبب الاضطرابات
WaPo: Southerners say Saleh and his northern tribesmen have denied them their share of oil revenue; about 80 percent of Yemen’s oil production is located in the south. They say the government dismissed many southerners from military and government jobs, denying them access to even local power, and point out that the governors of all seven southern provinces are from the north. Southerners also accuse influential northerners of grabbing land in the south for personal gain.
واشنطن بوست: يقول الجنوبيون صالح ورجاله من القبائل الشمالية قد قاموا بحرمانهم من حصتهم من عائدات النفط ، حوالي 80 في المائة من إنتاج النفط في اليمن يقع في الجنوب. يقولون أن الحكومة قد سرحت العديد من الجنوبيين من الجيش والوظائف الحكومية، حارمة إياهم حتى من الوصول إلى السلطة المحلية ، وأشاروا إلى أن جميع محافظي المحافظات السبع الجنوبية هم من الشمال. الجنوبيون يتهمون أيضا شماليين نافذين بالاستيلاء على الأراضي في الجنوب لتحقيق مكاسب شخصية.

The movement’s more radical leaders want an immediate separation from the north, returning to the pre-1990 geography. Moderate leaders seek a federal system, where more power is devolved to the south. After five years, a referendum for self-determination would decide whether the south would remain part of a united Yemen or secede, much like what took place in southern Sudan last year.
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قادة الحراك الأكثر راديكالية يريدون انفصالا فوريا عن الشمال ، والعودة إلى جغرافيا ما قبل عام 1990.بينما القادة المعتدلين ينشدون نظاماً فدراليا، حيث تنقل المزيد من السلطة إلى الجنوب. ليجرى بعد خمس سنوات، استفتاء لتقرير المصير يقرر ما إذا كان الجنوب سيبقى جزءا من اليمن الموحد أو ينفصل ، فيما يشبه إلى حد كبير ما حدث في جنوب السودان العام الماضي.

With Saleh agreeing to cede power, Arab and Western diplomats worry that a failure to address the south’s grievances could handcuff Yemen’s transition, the worst-case scenario being another civil war.

مع صالح الموافق على التنازل عن السلطة ، الدبلوماسيون العرب والغربيين يشعرون بالقلق من أن الفشل في معالجة المظالم في الجنوب يمكن أن يكبل المرحلة الانتقالية في اليمن، وأسوأ سيناريو في تلك الحالة سيكون حربا أهلية أخرى

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- Altagheer squares seemed to have changed a lot, which rises concerns regarding differences among constituents of these squares. Do you think that the change squares of 2012 is different from that of 2011, what are the reasons?

There has been no difference, the change square still under control of Islah opposing party that is actually heavily saturated with tribal ideology and fundamentalism. The party, with its influential powers, is the major reason behind constant tensions and violations committed against revolutionaries. These powers cause the anti-saleh regime revolution and its goals to become weak and unable to achieve brilliant success. They are hindering the silent society segment from joining the revolution, and had this party not steered the revolution since its first day, it would have been succeeded since months, if not within one or two months. It is the influential regime-affiliates Islah who conspired against an abortive revolution and let many opportunities missing, starting with Dignity Friday, then the Taiz holocaust of the change square, and finally the life rally. They changed the Sana’a square into a jail for revolutionaries. Unfortunately this is the truth that should be known.

- What are the latest developments of the committee formed to tackle disputes occurred last month between Houthi and Islah affiliates?

The other joint meeting parties (JMPs) actually played a secondary role in relation to the Islah party, which plays, represented by its influential powers, the most crucial role at change square of Sana’a. The role of the other parties is no more than decoration of an alleged partnership that is much more pitiful than be condemned, and had there been minimum of independence of those parties, a mutual decision making process, there would not have been such a difficult situation. The violated rights of revolutionaries would be stopped as well as the unilateral decision making process since first day, yet these violations continued and became more intense recently. In fact, the other (JMPs) can neither take decisions nor can they stop any violations, but are only a decoration of the leaderships’ influencing in Islah. I call these parties to revolt against all of Islah unilateralism and the crimes committed against revolutionaries. What add insult to injury is the daily violations committed by revolution-defaming Islah party, which is more atrocious than the regime we all demand its step-down.

The full dependence of these parties on Islah can cause great damage, feeling incredible before members of these parties and others. The silence practiced towards these violations make these parties only partners of criminal acts and later on, no excuses shall be accepted. These acts unveil to how extent Islah is dictatorial and awful.

- You and a number of activists are accused of being behind problems occurring in the change square, and of causing Huthis to rebel against Islah members?

The attempt to depict these problems as conflict between Huthis and Islah is exercised by Islah, to bring ambiguity and deception. The Huthis are part of the society and a component of revolution and of Sana’a change square. Like us, they face the same attacks committed by Islah militia. We both share pain, yet we respect several members affiliating to this party. The conflict within Sana’a change square occurs between revolutionaries’ will and that of influencing powers. Islah want to cause the society to hate Huthis, depending on behavior of elimination resulted throughout years including six wars shared between the regime and influential Islah forces. The party, with its scandals and propaganda against its rivals, makes no difference compared with the regime, if not much more worse.

- Can you explain about the so-called revolution salvation front you declared?

The front in question is a long queue dictated by necessity for bringing the revolution out of attempts of burial. It is a new center of forces trying to revive lost political balance and to break the existing monopolized political representation. The front came to fill in a big political gap, having the so-called opposition parties become a copy of the regime. It came also to reactivate revolutionaries after powers of the people congress and Islah parties collaborated against them, and to resist the corrupted forces precluding achieving goals of revolution.

- Some people ridicule your front considering it as a coalition to sell the revolution, this is posted on the Facebook?

The people who sold the revolution are those who sold the homeland; Najeran, Gaizan and Aseer, and conspired against both Sept and Oct revolutions. These people still dependent on Saudi Arabia and cannot live without it. They receive millions of dollars against a constant backward and corrupted Yemen. It is those people whose interests mixed with the regime, sharing all profits together since 33 years and would continue in future. The coalition with the Huthis aims only at resisting dictatorship, elimination and repression practiced by the regime’s Islah and people congress parties.

- What do you think about the political compromise in Yemen, would the national reconciliation government meet the demands and goals of the interim period, how do you assess its progress?

I think the compromise in its existing shape has looted a half of the revolution, if not all of it, especially that is based on sharing interests, not for achieving goals of the revolution. It was not only marginalized three major agents; Huthis, squares youth and the south movement, but also goals of the revolution, fortified the world and Saudi national security interests at expense of revolutionaries’ demands, so this government is worthless.

- We can conclude some concerns from your previous interviews, what are they and to how extent you are afraid of tribal religious presence, in future?

These concerns are real ones and supported by many evidences that unveiled extent of Islah awfulness. It is governed by its fundamentalist, tribal and military forces, and such a party with these constituents can never build a modern civil democratic and stable country that can rectify errors of the past and fulfill needs of the present and future.

As there are calls to an escalating program that may contradicts existing government, that called to avoiding exaggeration regarding the regime stepping down.

- what are the plans you intend to achieve through the interim period?

The civil coalition of revolutionary youth was born from womb of the revolution, not from religious, tribal doctrine or foreign agendas. It is a true expression of goals achieving ambition, modern and prosperous future, and it shall defend the revolution forever as long as it tackles dreams of the poor who look forward to an end to the remains of the regime. It shall not deviate its course of resisting corrupted back warded forces striving to abort our revolution.

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Issued by the national conference, “the Yemen that we desire”

Beirut

January 21, 2012

Organized by al-Tagheer for Defending Rights and Freedoms, a national conference entitled as “The Yemen that we desire” was held during 18-19 January, 2012.

It was participated by several young activists of the youth revolution squares, politicians, journalists and academicians with various backgrounds.

During the 2 day-conference, the major issues related current situation in Yemen, specially the peaceful youth revolution, the southern case and Sada’a cases, were discussed. As well as, latest developments on the national arena.

The major topics were as follows:

- The reality of people youth revolution, prospects and achievements

- The civil state

- The political participation of youth and woman

- The transitional justice

The participants asserted the following:

1- Continuation of the revolution

The conference welcomed the legendary steadfastness of the Yemeni people in squares and streets of the great revolution all over Yemen, recommending it to go ahead in the revolution course and steadfastness on the face of suppression, terrifying, fraud and conspiracy. It concluded that the only option before Yemenis is to reach the aimed civil state, to get rid of all the affects of the state-absence era, sovereignty abuse, looting, economic collapse and waste resources. That will be achieved through continuing revolution and maintaining its flame burning until fully regime overthrow in all of its tyrannical staff and foundations. The continuity of revolution protests regarded as the only guarantee to achieve the revolution goals and toppling the regime that summed most of the crimes left Yemen and Yemenis to the miserable reality threatened to destroy the future of the nation.

Therefore, the conference recommends to continue the revolution activities and adoption all the demands and aims of revolutionary youth to be achieved.

It totally refuses any deal, either foreign or local, dealing with the revolution as a political “crisis”, nor as a people youth “revolution” as it is in real, trying to fragment the revolution demands or neglecting its core, for being not conformed with the purposes of the great Yemeni people in their revolution, for its sake they gave thousands of martyrs, wounded and prisoners.

The participants hold the Yemeni political forces the responsibility to protect the great sacrifices of the people, asking it to live up to the level of those sacrifices and holding its historical responsibility towards the most honest and biggest revolution experienced by the nation over its history.

The conference calls on the ruling government coalition to reply on the legitimate questions of the citizens regarding circumstances relevant to the GCC initiative and the accompanied confidential concessions.

2- The civil state

The major objective of the peaceful people youth revolution is to establish a “civil” modern democratic state backed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Therefore, the conference considers that all revolutionary options should be led to this outcome. All political courses have to take into accounts the condition of “civil” state through its approaches and backed on the revolution legitimacy.

The conference emphasized on establishing an independent and honest judiciary authority based on justice, equality, law dominance.

It calls for holding a primary national conference participated by all the revolution forces and political parties, with the priority of youth representation, to achieve the citizenship state.

The participants asserted the necessity to re-structure the army and security leading to re-accounting the military and security institution as an independent national institution that not a subject of fiefdoms and territorial representations and classes.

3- Transitional Justice:

The participants accounts that the transitional justice as one of the important principles which can be applied on the Yemeni situation in regards to the past political conflict. Therefore, relevant clear measures should be determined in this respect including the following points:

- Official recognition of the crimes committed.

- Granting of compensation and reparation.

- The establishment of national reconciliation for all victims of political conflicts in the former homeland.

- Commemorating the martyrs of the peaceful revolution.

- Rejection of the immunity granted to Saleh and his officials according to the GCC initiative.

The Conference believes that the law of immunity and a black stain on the conscience of humanity and a slap in the face of justice undermine the principle of legality, as it touches not only a group of people to escape from punishment, but to fortify the culture of corruption.

The conference regarded the Law of Immunity as a shameful stain on the human memory and a painful slap on the face of justice being undermine the legitimacy principle that it abuses not only a group of people to escape from punishment, but to fortify the culture of crime and corruption.

4- Southern Case

The conference welcomes the revolution of peaceful movement in the south erupted in 2007 previous to the Arab revolts. It considered the fair solution would not be outside options of southerners themselves. So, the conference recommends that the final word has to be entrusted to the various representations of the south.

The conference affirmed that the affects of tyrannical and barbarous war in 1994 against the southerners demands political and social representations in the north, especially that implicated or involved, to quickly apologize clearly and frankly the former. A brave apology is the first step in re-formulating the national participation between the south and north being a fair political case, reaching to re-produce the national unity as a “choice” raising on popular consciousness, not on imposing the unity by force and tyranny.

5- Sada’a Case:

One of the revolution priorities is to fairly and inclusively address Sada’a case including dealing with the war affects, beginning in the re-building, engaging Sada’a people in the political process and stopping sectarian incitement campaigns against them.

The conference retains to the serious threats of co-existence and interfaith among Yemenis with their different backgrounds, entrusted the awareness of Yemeni people to realize the consequences of such threats on security and safety of Yemen society.

6- Al-Qaeda and Terrorism:

- Conference calls for finding a judicial alternative to combat terrorism, regarding current mechanisms to counter-terrorism, like killing in contrary to the law, leads terrorism to exacerbated rather than addressed.

- Participants announced their solidarity with the people of the affected province of Abyan due to the ongoing battles with the armed groups, resulting in enforced displacement of more than one hundred thousand citizens, killing and injuring thousands, destroying hundreds of homes and the burning of dozens of farms.

- Conference calls on all neighboring countries to assist Yemen in eliminating the sources of terrorism, stop funding it, and condemns campaigns of blasphemy and treason against political opponents and opinion-makers.

7- State form:

The conference recommends the adoption of the federal option as a form of government that the nature of the federalism during the Assembly National Conference and respect the choice of the southerners.

Conference calls for action on re-drafting of the electoral system and the relative adoption of the list as the most appropriate system of the state.

8- Women’s participation:

Conference welcomes the great national struggle of Yemeni women and appreciates their real participation in revolutionary action, as well as their contribution to the public life: politically, economically, socially and culturally.

The Conference recommends to widely expand women opportunities in real partnership and their role in decision-making centers.

9- Youth participation:

The Conference recommends that to fairly represent youth in the institutions of political decision-making being the hard core of the revolution, change and reform.

- The Conference recommends the formation of a supreme body to take care of the families of the martyrs and wounded of the youth revolution, including victims of political conflict.

- The Conference recommends to support the coordination efforts and alliances between the components of the revolution, up to represent all the active configurations and coalitions, without exclusion of any active component.

· The Conference recommends to print all conference documents and provided speeches to be issued in a book and circulated to all the revolution squares and fields.

Issued in Beirut

January 21, 2012

Names of the participants in the conference—87 person, See the Arabic source