In an effort to maintain himself in power Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, resorted to extreme violence on Friday when over 50 anti-government protesters were killed by snipers in the capital, Sanaa.
Denying he was responsible for the murders, Saleh then stated, “The great majority of the Yemeni people are with security, stability and constitutional law [bizarrely, meaning himself].”
The protest movement in the capital has been organised by a coalition of nationalist, Islamist and self-styled leftist parties. Much of the movement’s membership is made up of young people who – as in Tunisia and Egypt — are generally pro-democracy and forward looking, who want jobs and better lives.
Elsewhere in Yemen other movements are in conflict with the central state — in the south the demand is for secession; a Shia sect in the north has an on-off war with the government in Sanaa; al-Qaeda is also active. Saleh has ruled the desperately poor area for decades by deftly manipulating tribal groups, bribing and cajoling, and dispensing patronage. All that is now unravelling.
The political fall-out from the killings continues. On Sunday, President Saleh sacked his entire cabinet (typically, he then had to stay in place in a “caretaker capacity”), and declared a state of emergency.
The deputy speaker of parliament, the governor of the southern province of Aden, and a number of ambassadors have resigned in protest at the mass murder.
Three senior military figures have also announced their resignations. This group are from President Saleh’s own Hashid tribe. Sadiq al-Ahmar, head of the Hashid, told al-Jazeera that it was time for Mr Saleh to make a “quiet exit”.
The US has been supplying military aid and training to elite security and intelligence units under the command of Saleh’s son and nephews. The US is nervous about losing these relationships with people it can ‘do business with’.
Saleh’s son now commands the tanks that are in central Sanaa, guarding key buildings. Units from the US-backed Central Security Forces, commanded by one of Saleh’s nephews, have played a prominent role in cracking down on opposition protests, and US-made CS gas canisters — allegedly intended for counter-terrorism — have also been used in actions against pro-democracy protesters.
The US and army may be on the verge of replacing Saleh. And various stark and unpleasant possibilities face the country: military repression as the army attempts to hold the state together; civil war and the disintegration of the central state; the break-up of the country.
