Yemeni security forces shot dead at least 17 protesters on Monday as Gulf states offered their mediation and Washington reportedly pulled the plug on embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh. "The death toll has gone up to 17," said Sadeq al-Shujaa, head of a makeshift field hospital at a square in central Taez after security forces opened fire on demonstrators marching on the local governorate headquarters.
Witnesses said the demonstrators stormed the courtyard of the governorate and that plainclothes gunmen and rooftop snipers also took part in the gunfire to push them back. The bloodshed, a day after another protester was shot dead in Taez, 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital, sent the death toll to more than 100 in a crackdown on protests in the impoverished state since late January.
Saleh, a long-time US ally in Washington's fight against al Qaeda, appears to be losing American support. The US government is taking part in efforts to negotiate the president's departure and a transitional handover of power, according to a report in the New York Times on Sunday. US officials have told allies they see Saleh's position as untenable due to the widespread protests, and believe he should leave office, the paper said. Negotiations on his departure had been launched more than a week ago. The talks centred on a proposal for Saleh to hand over to a provisional government under his vice-president until new polls. The principle is "not in dispute", an unnamed Yemeni official told the paper.
With the timing still to be worked out, the focus for Washington remains on keeping its Saleh-backed counter-terrorism operation in Yemen unaffected, the Times reported. The opposition Common Forum on Saturday offered its "vision for a peaceful and secure transition of power", calling on Saleh to hand power to Vice-President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who would be a caretaker president. But the president, who has adopted a defiant tone over the past week, on Sunday told the opposition to end protests and remove roadblocks, offering a "peaceful transition of power through constitutional ways".
Youth protesters staging sit-in protests, however, said they would accept nothing short of an end to Saleh's autocratic rule along with the departure of top figures in his regime. Oil-rich Gulf states also said late on Sunday that they are seeking to mediate between Saleh and the opposition. "The countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council have agreed to begin contacts with the Yemeni government and opposition with ideas to overcome the current situation," it said after a meeting of foreign ministers in Riyadh.
Comments
Comments are closed.