Changes in Change Square (Map shows the control of Islah Party)

The above map illustrates a divided Change Square with most territory now under the control of the Islah Party.

Orange lines: Campsites under the control of the Islah Party
Blue line: Campsites under the control of the Independent Youth Movement

Amira Al-Arasi

Published:30-06-2011
SANA’A, June 29 - Change Square in Sana’a, the square in front of Sana’a University which has been a center for anti-regime protests, has been witnessing a significant change recently. The number of protestors, especially those participating in 24-hour sit-ins, has decreased.

Many protestors, especially tribal ones, left to support Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ahmar in his armed conflict against the regime in late May. Others feared for their lives as they thought the conflict would extend to Change Square.

“I took my family and traveled to our village fearing a potential civil war. There are many like me and this is why our numbers have decreased,” said Saleem Allaw, a protestor from Rada’ district, located southeast of Sana’a.

Just before the attack on the president in his palace mosque on June 3rd, there would be at least 50,000 sit-in protestors, including women, in the square at any time. During peak times such as organized protests or after Friday prayers the number of protestors could exceed one million. Today there are fewer than 20,000 according to their own estimates.

“We are very much here and will not move until the regime with all its elements falls,” said Faris Al-Qadasi of the Socialist Party, a member of the Joint Meeting Parties opposition coalition. “It is just that people needed to go back to their personal businesses because the revolution has taken long.”

He added that the armed conflicts in Al-Hasaba and when the president was attacked might have scared them. “Also there are implanted elements who claim they are independent and try to spread divisions among the youth using the notion that the conflict in Al-Hasaba was personal and that their being in the square is not helpful for the revolution.”

Political divide

All protesting blocs, whether opposition parties or independent youth, admit that their revolution is still incomplete despite the president’s absence. However, many have started to question what they are doing there in terms of goals and expectations as the protests are now entering their sixth month.

Some of the independent activists who were there from the beginning when the protestors numbered no more than 500 people, the ones originally behind naming the area Change Square, have now left.

Moreover, while at times there were around 2000 women in the protest area, today their numbers have decreased to 50 women or fewer.

After the president’s speech against mixing women and men in the protests which is not accepted traditionally, many women refrained from joining the protests especially since the Islah party conservative men were also with this opinion.

“In the beginning of the revolution we felt stronger although we were just a few university students. Now we are much more but I feel we are weaker because of the practices of the political parties controlling the square,” said Afra Al-Habouri an independent female protester who had been with the revolution since the beginning. Although she insisted that she will remain in the square even if only few remain.

At the same time, however, other protestors have decided to “branch out” and create their own extension of the Change Square. The expansion includes an area of around 11,000 square meters starting from Sana’a University, the epicentre of the protests, and extending to several adjacent streets.

These independent youth realize that they would be losing significant logistical support from the parties, but have decided they will try to sustain themselves on their own. Some of the families in the area cooked for them and there were continuous donation collection programs in order to sustain the protests.

Firas Shamsan, an independent protestor in Change Square, explained this loss of support. He said that at the outset of the protests the parties worked to attract the youth in order to further strengthen their position as they gained power. “At times meal distribution was tied to your political affiliation, so if you were independent you would not get a meal,” he said.

“We [independent protestors] have been subjected to oppression and even beating by the opposition political parties, especially the Islah conservative party, even though we are all supposedly on the same team against the regime,” explained Adnan Al-Rajihi, another independent protestor. He added that while some protestors got bored and others decided the demonstrations over now that the president is gone, differences between the youth and the more experienced parties stands as the main reason for protestors leaving.

Walid Al-Ammari one of the young leaders of the Islah Party responded to these accusations that they were exaggerated through the media.

“There are rumours of donations, beating or deprivation of meals but I personally have not seen anything else,” he said. “But if there was any truth to these claims there should have been investigations and evidence, we should not waste our time on these issues. In the square we are all equal and have one demand which is toppling the regime.”

Al-Ammari denied there is any sort of divide between the protestors and that the “branching out” is only because of personal disagreements.

“The branch-out is only an extension of the square and its revolution and anyone who demands toppling the regime is a part of the revolution regardless of his or her orientation,” he said. Explaining that the people who left the square have not abandoned it but are working for the revolution on different levels now elsewhere.

He explained that many youth had to go out in order to bring fuel or cooking gas for their families now that there is a crisis in these basic needs and that Yemenis work to support their families is only another part of the revolution not abandoning it.

“Those who really abandoned the square did not believe in our revolution in the first place,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the Escalation Committee, responsible for taking the protests to higher levels, of the independent youth, Ameen Dabwan said members felt that the youth are dissatisfied with the appeasement strategy of the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), which is based on dialogue and agreements with the regime. “It seems that these parties [the JMP] are still part of the old regime or its remnants…I guarantee that if there were true elections, the Islah party would not win because of their behaviour in Change Square,” he said.

How it started

University protests began in January 2011 when a number of students went to the Tunisian embassy to support the Tunisian revolution. They were shouting “Congratulations Tunis, we are next.”

Then on Wednesday, February 2nd, independent youth on Facebook decided to dub the following Thursday the ‘Day of Rage’. Following what had taken place in Cairo, they wanted to hold a sit-in in Tahreer Square near the city center.

Protestors loyal to the state beat them to the square, and when the ‘Day of Rage’ protestors reached the area they found others already camping in it and displaying pictures of the president. The ‘Day of Rage’ protestors moved their location to Change Square in front of Sana’a University, which became the hub for protests against the regime.

One week after former President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt resigned from power, the opposition political parties’ coalition joined the protestors in their sit-in.

The protestors had been attacked by state security before the opposition parties joined them on Feb. 22, 2011. However, the newcomers brought food, tents, medical supplies and a real sense of organization. It was only when the opposition parties joined the protesters that the area became secured. Then, the number of protesters surged from a few thousand to tens of thousands.

* Yemen Times

Profile: Who is Ali Abdullah Saleh?

Saleh has ruled Yemen for 33 years despite CIA's initial prediction he will not last more than six months [EPA]

It is unclear whether Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, will try to return to his country - and to power - after leaving to receive medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. Either way, his departure is a major milestone for Yemen; Saleh, after all, is the only man to ever serve as president of the unified Republic of Yemen.

Saleh took over the presidency of North Yemen in 1978, and became president of Yemen after its two halves were united in 1990. He proved to be a wily political operator, manipulating Yemen's tribal system and fending off sustained insurrections in the north and south.

He often portrayed himself as the only man who could hold together a united Yemen. In February, in the early days of the months-long popular campaign to drive him from office, Saleh portrayed the opposition as a conspiracy to destroy the country - a theme he has struck often during his decades in power.

"There is a conspiracy against Yemen's unity and territorial integrity," he told a group of senior military officers. "We have served to preserve the republican regime with every drop of blood we have."

But his reign was also defined by charges of corruption and mismanagement: Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world, with widespread unemployment and persistent inflation; and billions of dollars in oil revenues have been embezzled or wasted. 40 per cent of Yemen's population lives on less than $2 per day.

No negotiated exit

Saleh's failures as president fuelled months of popular protests which began in January, shortly after the ouster of Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Protesters have spent months camped in front of Sanaa University, where they erected tents and chanted for his resignation. Demonstrations also spread to several other Yemeni cities, with the southern city of Taiz emerging as an epicentre: Turnout at some rallies reached hundreds of thousands of people.

The protests were at first led by students and young people, but they eventually grew to include much of Yemen's fractious opposition. The Houthis, Shia rebels in the north who have fought a long-running war with Sanaa, endorsed the protest movement; so did the Southern Movement, the secessionist group in the south.

Several high-ranking military officers deserted Saleh after a particularly brutal crackdown on March 18, when at least 50 protesters in Sanaa were killed by snipers. General Ali Mohsen Saleh was the first to go: He ordered the troops under his command to protect protesters.

The protests also emboldened the Ahmar family, fellow members of Saleh's Hashed tribal confederation who have emerged as his chief political opponents. Hamid al-Ahmar, a prominent businessman, is seen as a possible successor to Saleh; his brother, Hussein al-Ahmar, quit the ruling party in February and publicly rebuked Saleh.

Fighting between Saleh and the Ahmar family has paralysed the capital for weeks. Fighters loyal to Saleh shelled the Ahmar compound in Sanaa and several businesses owned by the family; al-Ahmar's men have been blamed for the rocket attack against the presidential palace this week, though the government has yet to prove that allegation.

Saleh tried to negotiate his way out of the protests, offering to form a "unity government" and proposing a committee to overhaul the constitution. Opposition groups dismissed Saleh's offer as a "waste of time."

Weeks later, he went a little further, offering to step down by the end of the year and promising to hand power to a civilian government. The opposition rejected that offer, too, holding out for a more immediate resignation.

The president also tried to buy his way out of trouble, offering tens of thousands of dollars (and new cars) to groups of tribal elders. But his tribal support, which constitutes his main power base, has been eroding for weeks.

Neighbouring countries tried to broker a peaceful exit for Saleh: A proposal negotiated by the Gulf Cooperation Council would have granted Saleh immunity from prosecution in exchange for stepping down. But he refused - on three different occasions - to sign the deal.

Early years

Saleh was born in 1946 in the town of Bayt al-Ahmar, a member of the Sanhan tribe, a small member of the Hashed tribal confederation. His early career was spent in the military; he fought for the republican government in North Yemen's civil war, which pitted the Saudi-backed remnants of the monarchy against the Egyptian-sponsored republicans.

He would remain in the army until 1978, when he made a move into politics: He took power after the president was assassinated, and never relinquished the post.

Expectations for his presidency were low: An estimate from the US Central Intelligence Agency predicted that he wouldn't last six months in office. But he held on, consolidating power within the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) and buying the support of the country's fractious tribes. He was re-elected in 1982, and again in 1988.

Saleh then presided over the unification of north Yemen with the Communist south, which lost its main patron when the Soviet Union collapsed. The marriage quickly soured, though, with the south frustrated by what it saw as its economic marginalisation at the hands of the northern-dominated government.

Civil war broke out in mid-1994, and the south seceded in May of that year. Its separation would last only two months, though, before its military was crushed by the north, placing Saleh once again at the helm of a unified Yemen.

Saleh was an ally of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, and his decision to back Iraq during the first Gulf War would have serious consequences for Yemen's economy: Saudi Arabia responded by expelling more than a million Yemeni workers from the kingdom, depriving countless Yemeni families of vital remittances.

After the September 11 attacks, Saleh tried to position himself as a vital ally to the United States. He made an official visit to Washington in 2007, where he met with then-president George Bush at the White House. And he allowed American drone aircraft to kill alleged al-Qaeda targets on Yemeni soil. Yemen, in return, has been the recipient of tens of millions of dollars in American aid.

A questionable legacy

Saleh leaves behind a government that seems ill-equipped to handle the set of interlocking challenges confronting Yemen, including dwindling oil and water reserves and a rapidly growing population of unemployed youth.

His government is generally ranked as one of the most corrupt in the world. "A system of grand corruption has emerged over the last several decades thriving on the combination of weak state institutions and a fragmented elite structure," the US embassy in Sanaa said in a 2010 report. "Allies are rewarded and other elites pacified by grand patronage payoffs in exchange for political quiescence."

But Saleh's patronage network began to shrink as Yemen's oil reserves began to dry up. The country's oil production peaked in 2001, and has been declining ever since; some of the tribal unrest Saleh faced in recent weeks owes to his inability to "spread the wealth" as he once did.

He also failed to resolve ongoing conflicts with both the Houthis and the Southern Movement. The southerners have temporarily dropped their demand for secession - calling instead only for Saleh's ouster - but their longstanding economic grievances remain unaddressed.

* Aljazeera International

Yemen Press

Osama Bin Laden is killed!!

Osama Bin Laden is killed

Yemen, KSA sign $46 mln agreement in energy

SANA'A, Dec. 20 (Saba) - Yemen and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed here on Monday an agreement of importing wooden poles for electricity and a part of air electric grid equipment of the fifth energy project-first phase with a governmental funding worth $ 46 million.

After signing the agreement, Minister of Electricity and Energy Awadh al-Suqatry affirmed the importance of the project in creating a comprehensive development in rural areas aiming at to reduce the electricity shortfall.

The minister said that the project's first phase worth $ 120 million has been endorsed by the High Tender Board, adding that the implementation of the first phase covering seven governorates will start next year.

For his part, Executive Director of General Authority for Rural Electricity Ahmed al-Sabri expected that the other group of agreements will be signed next week, hoping that such projects will assist in increasing the electricity coverage with about 60 – 70 percent in the rural areas.

For his part, the General Director of the fifth energy project Hesham al-Abaasi said the project- with both phases - costs totally $272 million, of which $120 million for the first phase and $152 million for the second phase.

He added that the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) will contribute $ 100 million to the two phases as a commodity loan.

It is worth to mention that about 84 districts will benefit from the fifth energy project in seven governorates: Mahrah, Shabwa, Sa'ada, Jawf, Dhamar, Raymah and Taiz.

HA/AF

www.yemen-press.com

President Saleh inaugurates 1st Young Inventors Exhibition

ADEN, Dec. 20 (Saba) - President Ali Abdullah Saleh inaugurated Monday in Aden governorate the First Young Inventors Exhibition with a participation of 40 inventors won gold medals in international events.

Saleh made a tour in the exhibition that included paintings and models of the Youths' inventions in various scientific and technological areas.

The President saluted the Youths' creativity, affirming the State's care on the inventors in different fields.

He also urged the concerned authorities to pay more attention to inventors and to organize competitions and events to shed lights to their inventions.

FJ/AF

www.yemen-press.com

Information Minister meets Ethiopian outgoing ambassador

Minister of Information Hassan al-Lawzi met here on Monday with the Ethiopian outgoing ambassador to Yemen Tawfiq Abdullah.

The two officials' meeting dealt with cooperation aspects between Yemen and Ethiopia as well as means of promoting them.

They also talked about issues relating to developing the components of media agreements signed between the two sides, including the mutual cooperation between Yemen News Agency (Saba) and the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).

The meeting reviewed the cooperation possibilities, especially after the establishment the Yemeni media attaché at Yemen Embassy in Ethiopia aiming to create more joint media activity.

The Ethiopian envoy hailed the interaction of all mass media in Yemen with developments in Ethiopia.

In return, the minister presented a vision on ways of developing media relations between Yemen and Ethiopia as well as Sana'a Forum countries.

He also noted to the need of drawing up a media agreement organizes relations in overall media means.

FJ/AF

www.yemen-press.com

Al-Arhabi reveals preparations for fast-track to reach MDGs

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi revealed on Monday the launch of preparations for a fast-track to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

He also disclosed about preparations for the development of a medium-term strategy for reforms extending to the end of 2015.

Opening a workshop held in Sana'a on the assessment of the MDGs' achievement by 2015, al-Arhabi pointed that the government represented by the Planning Ministry has made, in cooperation with the UNDP and other relevant authorities, a significant progress in the preparations of a fast-track to achieve the MDGs by 2015.

The fast-track is based on a set of programs and integrated interventions of priority, which would make significant impact in addressing the main difficulties that face the MDGs' achievement, al-Arhabi added.

He pointed out that the Ministry would continue to mobilize and coordinate efforts of the governmental organizations and Yemen's partners in development to develop specific programs at the level of each goal to include them in the fourth five-year plan for socioeconomic development and poverty alleviation in 2011-2015 and its general investment program in the State's budget.

In this regard, al-Arhabi confirmed the government's keenness to improve the environment that supports reaching the MDGs by 2015, noting that over the past years the government carried out a wide range of reforms. He stressed the need for an optimal use of the available resources to achieve this purpose.

At the workshop, a number of interventions were presented. The interventions focused on the nature of the achievements and difficulties related to achieving the MDGs by 2015 in the health and education sectors, as well as a presentation on the study prepared by the World Bank (WB) and the UNDP.

The Study has resulted in a number of conclusions, the most notably that the achievement of all MDGs by 2015 is an unrealistic due to the large and required increases in the governmental services and necessary finances.

BA

www.yemen-press.com