Unrest in Yemen Spreading

In Jawf and Marib province tribal squabbles and revenge killings have the potential to escalate into localised tribal skirmishes.

In Sana'a protests continue. The lack of English news in the past days is due to foreign journalists being deported or hiding out. You may have notices Hisham Ahl-Bara absent from Al-Jazeera English despite the action in Yemen escalating and possibly reaching Libya-like levels.

Here is some cut and paste from Yemen Times Newspaper (in bold).

The US ambassador continued to urge Yemenis to give Saleh another chance and to sit with him at the negotiating table. He claimed that street protests will not achieve anything, as they are blocking dialogue and causing the deaths of innocent Yemenis.

Of course USA does not want de lose Ali Saleh despite the corruption and lack of human rights metted out by his regime. He is very cooperative in the fight against al-Qaeda. However, asking the people to sit and talk with him is very aggrevating to the anti-gov side. Saleh does not listen and implement. There is no trust for him, when he speaks he lies when he promises he breaks his promise.

Ambassador Feierstein believes that the potential for violence in Yemen is even worse than in Libya, considering that most Yemenis own weapons. Weak state institutions coupled with the risk of using arms is a significant concern.

This is true. Tribes in Yemen are very very well armed and not afraid to use it.

Moving on to Shaikh Zindani who has reportedly fled Sanaa to his tribal area. (Yemen Times)

 SANA’A, March 13 – A source close to Sheikh Abdul Majeed Al-Zindani told the Yemen Times that Al-Zindani moved from Sana’a to his hometown in Arhab district on Saturday as pro-democracy demonstrations grow nationwide. Arhab district is approximately 20 km to the north of the capital.

Hood Abu Ras, a spokesman at Al-Zindani’s office in Sana’a, said that this move was made in response to soldiers who have “started killing protesters to disperse them in the name of Al-Zindani.” A week ago, Al-Zindani also made a statement on state television describing demonstrations as “illegal”. His office claims that his statement was taken out of context.

On Saturday, the 26 September newspaper, a state-owned news service, sent out text messages quoting the US ambassador to Yemen, who has asserted that Al-Zindani is still considered a wanted terrorist by the US and UN.

The Yemeni government began this media campaign against Al-Zindani following a statement in which he announced his support for the pro-democracy demonstrations two weeks ago.

Al-Zindani remains a wanted terrorist by the US in spite of the fact that he leads the Islah Party Shura Council, a large wing within Yemen’s Islamist political party.

In a recent press conference, US ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein said that his government would have a problem with Yemen if Al-Zindani was elected as president or became involved in any new government.

“What we would like to see in Yemen are free and fair elections. In Palestine, we have a problem with Hamas because they are a terrorist organization. As you know, Abdul Majeed Al-Zindani is considered to be a terrorist by the United States and the United Nations. So would we have a problem if he were elected president? Absolutely,” said Feierstein.

A Yemeni political analyst has said that the Yemeni regime has exploited the US ambassador’s quote, which was taken from an interview conducted by the Saba News Agency and published on Saturday.

“When he [Al-Zindani] was in the presidential palace, they [the Yemeni government] gave him their full support. But when he sided with the anti-government protests, they began campaigning against him,” he said.

Al-Zindani is the one of the most powerful and vocal religious scholars in the country. He is also the rector and founder of Iman University, a religious school based in Sana’a that is attended by more than 5,000 students.

According to local Arabic press, social figures and tribal leaders in Arhab are now taking orders from Al-Zindani.
Some local comment on this include this from "Abdullah",

It is interesting to read the level of ignorance when people can associate Islamic caliphate/governance systems with failure and regression. Those who posit the idea of a top down system and those who criticize Islamic governance are from the same elk. The rely either on the knowledge and opinion of heretics or orientalists, all of whom have a concerted interest in seeing muslims leave their religion and preventing non-muslims from accessing accurate information on various matters of the religion.

To blame Islam of not being able to provide any solutions speaks volumes of your intellectual dishonesty. I guess by your perspective, and those who share your view, the free market, unrestricted capitalism, along with rampant corruption, lack of auditing and regulation, that has permeated throughout Yemen over the past 15 years can simply be alleviated by "giving people the vote"? I do not support the Islah party or Zindani for that matter. But blaming Islam for the socio-economic regression is an argument void of any truth and logic.

There is a famous saying in Arabic, translated "your are ruled according to your condition". The condition of nation is reflected in the ruler who is in charge of them. Not all Yemenis are corrupt nor all officials for that matter. I believe there are generally some who want a reformed system but removing one person does not solve this problem.

We need to work to build upon unification by making sure that wealth is not concentrated in the north but distributed to build the entire nation. I agree with Hussein that prior to the political riots Yemen does not feel unified. The people in south feel punished as if it was there choice to pick communism. Like a human body, Yemen is suffers many maladies. But chopping off the head is not the first step for recovery.