Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Yemen today, protesting against the prospective return of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and demanding a transition to democratic elections.
The pro-democracy demonstrators in Sanaa alone were believed to number around a quarter of a million, and other major rallies were held along the coast. There was no word of protesting in the interior of the country, which is largely outside regime control at any rate.
One interesting twist however came in Taiz, where demonstrators also condemned Saudi Arabia alongside Saleh. Saleh has been in Saudi Arabia being treated for injuries sustained in an assassination attempt since early June.
Yet Saudi Arabia does not appear to be strongly behind the Saleh regime, as they have with other regimes in the region. Indeed, early on in the protest movement Saleh sought Saudi help and was rebuffed, with officials saying they didn’t particularly care if he was forced from power or not. Since then, the GCC, led by Saudi Arabia, has repeatedly, albeit unsuccessfully, attempted to negotiate his exit from power.
Those poor people! Whack Saleh already for crying out loud.
Lately, there is a narrative making circles "accusing" central government of "weakness' by allowing militants and al-qaeda to take over multiple towns in south. The message serves multiple purposes. First, central government supposedly has to be "strong" — completely against the will of the population. Second,Yemeni farmers are called "militants", be they in the north, center, coast or the south. Yemen does not have migrating, nomadic tribes, as this is a society that has strong agriculture and fishing. Third, the message is really to US to keep on striking anti-Saleh forces. Saleh is not longer the problem. He is not likely to come back, but the threat is used to force the opposion to cut the deal with his sons. At present, this is US plan A. I would not put much stock in this. Yemeni south, once called Hadramouth, has a strong financial support from some of the richest oligarchs from Saudi Arabia backing their independance. Those have the capacity of making Saudi royal life more like a royal pain. I hope some adults take over Yemen desk in State Department.