Yemen in flames: Saleh returns amid gunfire
by Michael Orfanos
After spending 3 months in Saudi Arabia -recovering from an assassination attempt €" Saleh, returned to Sana'a with a hidden agenda. Yemen state television announced his return saying: €Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of the Republic, returned this morning to the land of the nation, safely after a trip for treatment in Riyadh that lasted more than three months€ €" no other details were given. However, his return announcement by the media was followed by gunfire, explosions and shelling between the Republican Guard (headed by Saleh's son) and the combined forces of local tribesmen opposing Saleh, military units that have defected and protestors. Not the kind of welcome that anyone would expect, but hey! Saleh must have suspected already that he's not welcomed in Yemen anymore: since his departure (8 months ago), the public revolted and about 450 people have been killed, while civil war is raging the country.
Foreign diplomats and government officials fear that Saleh's return will trigger more violence and deaths: €We're definitely going to have an escalation of violence, but let him come back. We want him to come back and be tried for his crimes!€ said to Reuters, Mohammed al €" Asl, a prominent anti-Saleh figure and protest organizer.
But why the Saudi's and the US agreed to Saleh's return to Yemen knowing beforehand that this decision would ignite public uprising and open revolt in Yemen? We can only make assumptions on this matter. Perhaps Saleh manage to persuade them that his return would bring stability in Yemen (we mustn't forget that for Saudi Arabia, securing their southern borders with Yemen is an issue of the outmost importance, and most of the times even considered to be a matter of interior politics for the Saudi's). Another assumption that can be made is that Saleh's secret agenda is to announce that he's stepping down from power (even though he has made such-void- declarations 3 times during the past), and name as his successor his son. This way, he will try to appease the enraged protesters and still remain at the power (through his son). Finally, we must also not exclude the fact that Saleh played the €Al Qaida€ card, meaning he managed to persuade Saudi Arabia and US that his removal from power would create a power vacuum that Al Qaida could take advantage and manage to control parts of Yemen. Such a hypothesis could turn out to be a €nightmare scenario€ for the fragile status quo of the wider Arabian Peninsula and especially for Saudi Arabia.
For further updates regarding the crisis in Yemen, you can visit http://www.myarticles.co
Michael Orfanos is Marketing Manager and SEO Expert for naro.gr
After spending 3 months in Saudi Arabia -recovering from an assassination attempt €" Saleh, returned to Sana'a with a hidden agenda. Yemen state television announced his return saying: €Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of the Republic, returned this morning to the land of the nation, safely after a trip for treatment in Riyadh that lasted more than three months€ €" no other details were given. However, his return announcement by the media was followed by gunfire, explosions and shelling between the Republican Guard (headed by Saleh's son) and the combined forces of local tribesmen opposing Saleh, military units that have defected and protestors. Not the kind of welcome that anyone would expect, but hey! Saleh must have suspected already that he's not welcomed in Yemen anymore: since his departure (8 months ago), the public revolted and about 450 people have been killed, while civil war is raging the country.
Foreign diplomats and government officials fear that Saleh's return will trigger more violence and deaths: €We're definitely going to have an escalation of violence, but let him come back. We want him to come back and be tried for his crimes!€ said to Reuters, Mohammed al €" Asl, a prominent anti-Saleh figure and protest organizer.
But why the Saudi's and the US agreed to Saleh's return to Yemen knowing beforehand that this decision would ignite public uprising and open revolt in Yemen? We can only make assumptions on this matter. Perhaps Saleh manage to persuade them that his return would bring stability in Yemen (we mustn't forget that for Saudi Arabia, securing their southern borders with Yemen is an issue of the outmost importance, and most of the times even considered to be a matter of interior politics for the Saudi's). Another assumption that can be made is that Saleh's secret agenda is to announce that he's stepping down from power (even though he has made such-void- declarations 3 times during the past), and name as his successor his son. This way, he will try to appease the enraged protesters and still remain at the power (through his son). Finally, we must also not exclude the fact that Saleh played the €Al Qaida€ card, meaning he managed to persuade Saudi Arabia and US that his removal from power would create a power vacuum that Al Qaida could take advantage and manage to control parts of Yemen. Such a hypothesis could turn out to be a €nightmare scenario€ for the fragile status quo of the wider Arabian Peninsula and especially for Saudi Arabia.
For further updates regarding the crisis in Yemen, you can visit http://www.myarticles.co
Michael Orfanos is Marketing Manager and SEO Expert for naro.gr
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