Update on Yemen’s Revolution

A full briefing of Yemen’s latest and future developments will be posted shortly. The following events must be recorded without further delay:

Foreign media spinning in Saleh’s mud

World headlines cannot decide whether Ali Abdullah Saleh has accepted or rejected UN resolution 2014. After claiming to accept, the AFP writes that, “in a new apparent maneuver, Saleh's government said on Saturday that it is ready to "positively deal with the UN resolution" and “reiterated its offer for dialogue with the opposition as Yemen's exit from its crisis."

This scam was perpetrated throughout the process of resolution 2014.

AFP also reports that Saleh is “seemingly oblivious to domestic and international pressure,” when this pressure is fundamentally weak and its sources have cooperated with his regime.

Security forces raid Taiz

Violence usually accompanies Saleh’s rhetorical duplicity and this weekend was no different in Sana’a or Taiz. An unconfirmed number of protesters were killed and many wounded in clashes with security forces, while anti-government tribesmen were targeted in a vain attempt to create civil strife. Of imminent importance, Taiz came under heavy assault throughout Tuesday; women are included in the preliminary casualty figures.

Yemeni protesters are acutely aware of the world’s silence and demand immediate media attention to cover their brave marches.

Washington grants self-immunity

Failure to condemn Taiz’s assault will reinforce the international community’s dwindling credibility. Confidence is already low and UN resolution 2014 has been rejected up and down, from Nobel laureate Tawakel Karman to the protesters camped in Change Square. Yemen's Coordinating Council of the Youth Revolution of Change (CCYRC) summarized the local reaction:

It is with deep regrets and disappointment that the Yemeni people received the news of the insulting United Nations Security Resolution 2014, regarding the current political dilemma now unfolding in Yemen. The people of Yemen in 20 Governorates and the Capital Secretariat of Sana'a City could not help but read, listen and view with astonishment the obvious contempt for the sacrifices made by the Yemeni people in their honorable and legitimate quest to achieve liberty and freedom from the oppressive regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh. Surely, the United Nations is not in the business of legitimizing oppression, persecution and legitimized state terror, but on October 21, 2011, it was evident to the Yemeni people that the international community went even further by actually rewarding the culprits of a political crime that has been ensuing in Yemen for over a third of a century now.

UN resolution 2014 is an international scandal and should be reported as such. Its flawed basis in the GCC initiative - crowned by built-in immunity - encourages Saleh’s family to spill Yemeni blood, and covers up Western, Russian and Gulf support for his illegitimate regime.