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Emergency declared in Yemen amid mounting protests

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Death toll rises to 45 as emergency declared in Yemen amid mounting protests

SANAA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared on Friday a 30-day nationwide state of emergency as the death toll for clashes in the capital Sanaa on Friday rose to at least 45 and around 617 others injured, state media and the protest's organizers said.

Official Saba news agency quoted President Saleh's remarks in a press conference as saying that "Friday's events aimed to foil mediation efforts by some Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, to conciliate Yemeni rival political forces."

Saleh ordered the security authorities to impose a curfew only on people who carry arms and ordered authorities to confiscate their weapons. Sources at the interior Ministry said a comprehensive curfew is being discussed.

Meanwhile, the Interior Minister Mutahar Rashad al-Masri in a press conference denied that police were behind the shooting, saying that residents near the sit-in exchanged fire with the protesters.

Hassan Lukman, a protest organizer told Xinhua that four more protesters died from gunshot wounds later Friday, including Yemeni journalist Jamal al-Sharabi who was at the scene to cover the news, raising the death toll to 45.

"Some 270 anti-government protesters were wounded by live bullets immediately after Friday's prayers and 347 others were wounded by gas tear and water cannons later the day when a backup of police forces came to the scene to prevent further casualties," Lukman said.

As a response, Minister of Tourism Nabil al-Fakih, former Minister of Culture Abdulwahab al-Rawhani and former Minister of Agriculture Jalal Faqirah quit the ruling party in protests against what they called "the ruling party's armed violence against the protesters," according to a Xinhua correspondent.

Protest organizers estimated the number of protesters who attended the Friday's prayer outside Sanaa University Friday at more than 200,000. They said after the shooting, another thousands of protesters flooded the square outside the campus where the sit- in took place.

Mohamed al-Sabri, a spokesman of the opposition coalition, told Xinhua that "after Friday's massacre, there will be definitely no future conciliation talks with President Saleh."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. President Barak Obama on Friday condemned the use of live ammunition by Yemen security forces against demonstrators in Sanaa and issued calls for "utmost restraint."

Tens of thousands of protesters reportedly took to the streets of the southern provinces of Ibb, Taiz, Aden, Hodayda and Hadramout to condemn what they described "bloodbath by the security authorities against Sanaa's peaceful protesters" and show support to the families of victims, as dozens of protesters were injured by police and government supporters' tear gas, batons and live ammunition in Hodayda.

Warning: Pictures are graphic.

Death toll rises to 45 as emergency declared in Yemen amid mounting protests
 
More bad news for Obama.
His Presidency will go down as the one that lost so many allies, regardless of whether it's his fault or not.
 
More bad news for Obama.
His Presidency will go down as the one that lost so many allies, regardless of whether it's his fault or not.

You are right brother, this man may be Harvard educated, but he sure is really really bad at management. Ah well, in part he is also carrying the burden of the Texan that preceded him.
 
Arab world decided not to loose but to control situation. It is good sign. At this moment instability worth nothing for them & for neighbours.
 
4486063.bin

Streets of Aden, Yemen, March 22, 2011

President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power for three decades, has allowed U.S. forces to conduct clandestine operations, including unmanned aerial drone strikes, against a Yemeni offshoot of al Qaeda that American officials say poses a profound threat to U.S. national security.

Now, after weeks of unrelenting anti-government protests, violent crackdowns and defections among the ruling elite, Saleh is under pressure to step down now and there are fears Yemen could break apart.

Libya may be dominating headlines but it is not a strategic priority for Obama in the war against terrorism, as Yemen is. One of his greatest fears is another Sept. 11-style al Qaeda attack on U.S. soil, and Yemen is a possible launchpad.


Obama is seen by many Yemenis to have supported Saleh through weeks of pro-democracy protests. Obama made his strongest statement on the crisis only on Friday, when he condemned shootings by snipers that killed 52 protesters.

Analysts said Obama’s team may have miscalculated in not adopting a tougher stance toward Saleh earlier on, relying instead on cautious statements that sought to balance concern about the violence with calls to the protesters to negotiate.

With Saleh’s government now breaking apart, the expansion of secret U.S. operations against the militants will become even more problematic.

U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday there was already evidence of this as it appeared Yemen’s anti-terrorism forces had been diverted to deal with the unrest in Sanaa.

A U.S. national security official familiar with Yemen said while intelligence agencies see “no obvious successor” to Saleh, there may be some hope of future partners among senior Yemeni officials who have defected to anti-Saleh groups.

It is an Analysis of the present situation of Yemen.

Yemen conflict a fresh conundrum for Obama



With Saleh’s government now breaking apart, the expansion of secret U.S. operations against the militants will become even more problematic. U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday there was already evidence of this as it appeared Yemen’s anti-terrorism forces had been diverted to deal with the unrest in Sanaa. A U.S. national security official familiar with Yemen said while intelligence agencies see “no obvious successor” to Saleh, there may be some hope of future partners among senior Yemeni officials who have defected to anti-Saleh groups.
 
Fire from Yemen is mentioned in Islam.

Let's be open; present day political unrest in Arab states can very well be the greater fitna mentioned in ahadees.
Guess what next?
 
I don't know much about religion man, but if this is the way it is going to be, then let us brace for a slower economy and higher fuel prices. The largest economies are going to get the biggest blow. And no country in the world is immune to them.
 
U.S. Lacks Plan for Dealing With Chaos in Yemen Despite Dire Warnings


Catherine Herridge

The Obama administration, after helping to orchestrate a U.N.-backed military intervention in Libya, is facing pressure to do more to prepare for the potential collapse of the government in another Mideast country, Yemen -- but U.S. officials admit they are doing little more than watching at this point.

Yemen is a central ally of the U.S. government against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The group, along with its operational planner, the American Anwar al-Awlaki (a relative of the Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Mujawar), the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list, is now considered a greater threat than Usama bin Laden's network in Pakistan. And one U.S. lawmaker suggests that chaos in Yemen could result in a worse terrorist breeding ground than Afghanistan.


“Clearly there's a lot of unhappiness inside Yemen. And I think we will basically just continue to watch the situation. We haven't done any post-Saleh planning,” Gates said.


Asked to explain why there is apparently no formal back-up plan for what seems to be the inevitable departure of Yemen's president, State Department spokesman Mark Toner seemed caught off guard, saying the U.S. fight against Al Qaeda was more than Saleh.

“If the Yemeni government collapses, it could be a tremendous setback for counterterrorism strategy,” Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois said. “If the Yemeni government falls as I expect it will, we might have to fall back to bases like we have in Djoubouti to run counter-terror operations.”


Sources say the hunt for the American cleric will continue, but clearly the Yemeni president who has been front and center in helping the U.S. find him is now focused on his own survival and not U.S. problems.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/23/yemen-afghanistan-steroids/
 
You are right brother, this man may be Harvard educated, but he sure is really really bad at management. Ah well, in part he is also carrying the burden of the Texan that preceded him.


still much better than others in White house..
 
still much better than others in White house..

Well, I would say GWB was anytime better than Obama, when it came to management. I know a lot of people here would pounce on me without giving a thought to why I said so. But the fact is, despite the extreme unpopularity, GWB managed another term, got all done that he wanted, and safely retired. All this while the Sr. Bush kept favoring Jeb over W. He never bowed to any pressure, and rarely entangled himself in trivial stuff like commenting on the row between a professor and a cop and stuff like that. But well, he couldn't get Nobel Peace Prize!

By the way, what are your thoughts on this:

President+Obama+Honors+Medal+Freedom+Recipients+9JPOBbyXlFQl.jpg
 
Yemen security forces brace for mass protest

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yemen-300-rtr2k2eb.jpg


Security forces in Yemen's capital Sanaa are gathering in force ahead of what anti-government protesters say will be their biggest rally yet.

They also want constitutional changes, the resignation of the government and the dissolution of the internal security services.

A BBC correspondent in Yemen says flights out of Sanaa are full as embassies evacuate staff. Britain has warned against all travel to Yemen.

Both the government and the opposition have set up checkpoints in Sanaa, the streets are full of armed men and fears of confrontation are strong and real, says our correspondent.

------------------------------

A BBC correspondent in Yemen says flights out of Sanaa are full as embassies evacuate staff. Britain has warned against all travel to Yemen.

It took 3 weeks, after similar hasty evacuation of the embassies in Libya, to launch the attack.

WTI Crude Oil today: 105

52 week range: 68-105

1 Year Forecast: 121

Figures to change sharply after the release of the aforementioned news.
 
Leader offers to go if Yemen's in 'safe hands'

SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Facing growing calls for his resignation, Yemen's longtime ruler, Saleh, told tens of thousands of supporters Friday that he's ready to step down but only if he can leave the country in "safe hands," while anti-government protesters massed for a rival rally. President Ali Abdullah Saleh spoke in a rare appearance before a cheering crowd outside his presidential palace in the Yemeni capital.



*Sorry for not posting the link. It came in my newsletter.

The 'leaving country in safe hands' means a lot, and it may very much mean he is ready to leave with a negotiation, upon the insistence of powers outside of Yemen.
 
(Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah said on Friday he was ready to cede power, the third Arab ruler who may be forced out by popular protests which began in North Africa and have now spread into the Gulf, Syria and Jordan.


Saleh said he would cede power only into "safe hands" and Yemeni political sources said talks were under way to work out the details of a peaceful transition.

But in Syria, protests challenging the rule of President Bashar al-Assad spread across the country after security forces killed dozens of demonstrators in the south.

"The barrier of fear is broken. This is a first step on the road to toppling the regime," said Ibrahim, a middle-aged lawyer in the southern Syrian city of Deraa. "We have reached the point of no return."

Saleh's departure would present a new challenge to Western countries already embroiled in a week-old military intervention in Libya, amid fears that instability in Saudi Arabian neighbor Yemen could open the way for al Qaeda to expand its power there.

A source close to Mohsen said he and Saleh had discussed a deal in which both men and their families would leave Yemen, while political sources said broader talks were underway on a political transition.

In a central square, a Reuters correspondent saw protesters haul down a statue of Assad's father, late president Hafez al-Assad, before security men in plain clothes opened fire with automatic rifles from buildings.

The crowd of some 3,000 scattered under volleys of bullets and tear gas. The reporter saw some wounded helped into cars and ambulances. It was unclear how many, if any, were killed.
 

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