Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Editorial

In the year of Arab revolutions, events in each country are moving at a certain pace.
Facing chaos in the streets, some leaders have fled fairly quickly, while others have taken pro-active steps to quell public discontent. Others are vowing to fight to the bitter end, and have been morbidly enthusiastic about spilling the blood of their own people.

In the case of the bloody tug-of-war between civilian protestors and government forces in Yemen, the embattled leader has put his foot down: Ali Abdullah Saleh has vowed to remain in power until January 2012, when parliamentary elections are scheduled.

Saleh has argued that his latest demand should be accepted, because the majority of Yemenis support him. It was an offer made in the knowledge that it would be rejected, since the opposition has already made it clear it sees Saleh and his regime as the problem.
In case Saleh hasn’t noticed, conditions in Yemen have spiraled out of control because of his regime’s heavy-handed response to public unrest.

In the last several days, there have been mass demonstrations throughout the country; most spectacularly, and regrettably, more than 50 people lost their lives Friday in these clashes when security forces used force against unarmed civilian protestors. Moreover, the massacre, as people are referring to it in Yemen, has sparked the defection of regime officials, whether they are in the ruling party, the diplomatic corps, or the army.

If an offer of “I’m staying until a successor is chosen” is the best that Saleh can do, he should remember how futile this course of action was for Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak.

If Saleh believes that he is proving a point by being this stubborn, he should be aware that this decision will cost lives, as the unrest continues. If he is so sure that he enjoys public support, he should call for elections right away, to gauge this backing.
If he is this keen on respecting the will of the people, a regionally or internationally supervised poll would indicate the degree of his popularity in Yemen.

The country is in dire need of reducing the level of casualties to the minimum, since Yemen suffers from several explosive faultlines: there is tribal conflict, north-south rivalry, and the lurking presence of Al-Qaeda.

The political solutions that are feasible now won’t be feasible later; Saleh has tried concessions in the past, such as his earlier pledge to not run for another term. The people, and more and more members of the regime itself, have spoken, in the form of the escalation that everyone is witnessing.
The more a real solution is delayed, the more the county will suffer.