Yemeni women burn veils to protest

Yemeni women defiantly burned their traditional veils Wednesday in protest of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

Thousands of women gathered in the capital, Sanaa, said witnesses. They carried banners that read: "Saleh the butcher is killing women and is proud of it" and "Women have no value in the eyes in Ali Saleh."

They collected their veils and scarves in a huge pile and set it ablaze -- an act that is highly symbolic in the conservative Islamic nation, where women use their veils to cover their faces and bodies. It's the first time in the nine months of Yemen's uprising that such an event has occurred.

Inspired by Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman's Nobel Peace Prize this month, more and more Yemeni women have taken to the streets and escalated their campaign for help from the international community.

More than 60 women were attacked in October alone by the government, said protester Ruqaiah Nasser. Government forces are raiding homes and also killing children, she said.
She said silence from tribal leaders on the matter is a "disgrace."

"We will not stay quiet and will defend ourselves if our men can't defend us," Nasser said. "Tribes must understand they will not be respected by Yemeni women if they stay quiet while their women are being attacked by the Saleh regime. Tribes who ignore our calls are cowards and have no dignity."

"Saleh is killing women and children and this is against tribal culture," she said. "Where are their voices when we need them? It's a disgrace if they stay quiet."

The women's protests came after the Yemeni government announced a cease-fire Tuesday. But that did not appear to be holding.

At least 10 people died and dozens were injured earlier Tuesday in clashes between Yemeni government security forces in the country's capital and the province of Taiz, medical officials reported.

Yemen's government has said that opposition-supported militants are responsible for the violence.

Saleh summoned the U.S. ambassador and reiterated a promise to sign an agreement brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council in which he would step aside in exchange for immunity from prosecution, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

However, Saleh has repeatedly promised to sign the council-backed deal and not done so. The embattled leader has clung to power through the protracted protests.

Saleh says he is ready to step down

Yemen’s embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Wednesday he was ready to sign a Gulf-brokered deal for him to quit office but demanded American and European guarantees on a timetable.
“I would sign. But provide guarantees to implement the Gulf initiative,” Saleh, reiterating his claimed willingness to leave power after 33 years in office, told a party meeting, Saba state news agency reported.

“We want, first, Gulf guarantees, second, European, and third, American. These three guarantees should accompany the Gulf initiative,” he added, standing defiant after nine months of deadly protests demanding his ouster.

“Part of the pressure being exerted now stems from demands that it (the deal) is signed without any conditions and that the time framework (for implementation) be discussed at a later stage,” he complained.

Under the terms of the Gulf initiative tabled earlier this year, Saleh would hand power to the vice president 30 days after the signing, and he and his aides would be granted immunity from prosecution by parliament.

A national unity government led by a prime minister from the opposition would be formed, and a presidential election would follow 60 days after Saleh’s departure.

“We have said that we are ready to endorse the (Gulf) initiative, but do you not want us to discuss the time framework for its mechanism,” added the veteran leader whose presidential term ends in 2013.

He did not elaborate on the timetable he wants.

The United Nations human rights office had said on Tuesday that any power transfer deal in Yemen should not include an amnesty for President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose security forces are accused of killing largely peaceful protesters and other crimes, as Yemeni Nobel peace laureate Tawakul Karman called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the actions of the Yemeni government.

Karman made an impassioned plea to the United Nations to repudiate a Gulf Arab plan that would grant immunity to her country’s “war criminal” president.

A proposed power transfer plan brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) would offer immunity to Saleh and those serving under him in exchange for his stepping down.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to make a decision this week on a resolution to “strongly condemn” the government’s human rights violations. The draft resolution, obtained by Reuters in New York, urges Saleh to “immediately sign and implement” the plan by the six-nation GCC, according to Reuters.

“We’ve not seen the details of the initiative put forth by the GCC so we can’t comment on the specifics of that proposed deal. However, international law is pretty clear on this issue. It prohibits the use of amnesties that prevent the prosecution of individuals for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity or gross violations of human rights,” U.N. rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva.

“So that’s the general position on amnesties which would apply in this situation, as in any other,” he added, speaking in response to a reporter’s question.

The office of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemns the killing of largely peaceful protesters in the cities of Sana’a and Taez by Yemeni security forces wielding indiscriminate force, Colville said.

Four days of violence

At least 34 people have been killed in the last four days, including six on Tuesday, in the intensifying crackdown.

“In addition to those killed, hundreds of people have been reportedly injured by the disproportionate use of force against unarmed protesters,” Colville said.

An international, independent investigation was required to hold perpetrators accountable and render justice to victims.

“We are extremely concerned that security forces continue to use excessive force in a climate of impunity for crimes that are resulting in heavy loss of life and injury, despite repeated pledges by the government to the contrary,” he added.

Amnesty International has said that Saleh should not be immune from prosecution and those responsible for extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced disappearances should be brought to justice as part of any transition agreement.

Saleh, who says he is ready to step down but wants to ensure that control of the country is put in “safe hands,” has rejected the GCC plan three times.

Saleh, who has ruled the impoverished country for 33 years, has stayed in office despite 10 months of mass protests against his rule inspired by pro-democracy unrest across the Arab world.

Opposition to him has turned increasingly violent and organized, threatening to pitch Yemen into all-out civil war.

The U.N. rights office also called on armed opponents of Saleh’s government to remove weapons from public spaces being used by peaceful protesters and to “stop launching armed attacks from densely-populated areas.”

Karman leads protests outside U.N.

Karman joined about 100 protesters Tuesday outside the United Nations to call for Saleh to stand down.

“We came here to tell that Ali Abdullah Saleh and (Syrian leader) Bashar al-Assad are both criminals and they have to be held accountable and prosecuted,” Karman said.

“People are living on sidewalks and are being killed everyday... All because they asked for democracy and justice,” she said according to AFP.

“These regimes are a danger to international security,” she added, speaking through a translator.

Karman, who shared the 2011 Nobel prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and “peace warrior” Leymah Gbowee also from Liberia, has called on the United Nations to act immediately to halt the Yemeni government's crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

“As a Yemeni leader, as a Nobel Prize winner, as a leader of the Arab Spring, I came here to tell them to stand up for these rights,” Karman said.

“We’re calling on them to treat the revolutions in Yemen and Syria just like they did in Libya.”

“I feel ashamed that tonight I will be sleeping in a hotel and my people will be sleeping in the streets.”

Karman and tens of thousands of other pro-democracy activists have camped out in Sanaa’s Change Square for months, marching against Saleh despite a violent crackdown by government troops that has killed hundreds since the mass protest movement began in late January.

U.N. diplomats told Reuters that they hoped the draft resolution, which was penned by Britain in consultation with France, the United States, Russia and China, would be put to a vote and approved before the end of the week.

Russia and China, which vetoed a European-drafted resolution condemning Syria’s crackdown, are not planning to block the Yemen resolution, council diplomats say.

Syria, Yemen warn dictators: You're next

Dictators around the Middle East should pay close attention to the fate of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, opposition activists from Syria and Yemen said Thursday as reports of Gadhafi's death flashed across the world.

"This is a lesson for all dictatorships: The clear fate of all who kill his people is to end up under the feet of the nation," said Omar Al-Muqdad, a Syrian opposition activist in exile in Turkey.

The opposition Syrian National Assembly "blesses the Libyan people that got rid of an infamous dictator such as Gadhafi," he said.

He said it would give a push to efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, saying he would suffer "the same fate" if he fell.

Opponents of longtime Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh also drew inspiration from the reports about Gadhafi.

"Whether he was killed or not, I hope Saleh is watching the news closely," Yemeni blogger Afrah Nasser said before Gadhafi's death was confirmed by Libya's governing National Transition Council.

She said she hopes the Yemeni opposition will get international support -- if not necessarily the military intervention that NATO gave Libya's revolutionary fighters.

"The support we need is sanctions against Saleh and boycott of Saleh's regime and acknowledgment of Yemen's (opposition) national council," she said from Sweden, where she fled in the face of threats in Yemen.

"I hope that Ali Abdullah Saleh and his regime learn a lesson from what happened to Gadhafi and his government," said Mohammed Abulahoum, head of Yemen's opposition Justice and Development Party. "Saleh must understand that the only scenario left for him, other than stepping down, is what happened to Gadhafi."

Regional expert David Hartwell agreed that Gadhafi's death could have "ripple effects" in the region, spreading the way the Arab Spring did.

"I think what we've seen in the past is that Tunisia had the effect of emboldening the opposition in Egypt," he said. "That has ripple effects out to Yemen and Libya itself."

Yemen is closer to a change of power than Syria, he said.

"Saleh is already edging toward the door anyway. This could have the effect of pushing him through it," said Hartwell, senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at IHS Global Insight in London.

"Syrians may come to see that Libyans removed a dictator who was completely entrenched," he said, "(but) we're not at that point yet, though there have been defections from the army.

"There are local factors in Syria that are going to make it much more difficult to have an effect -- the middle classes in Syria have yet to really throw their lot in with the opposition," he said.

"The situation is going to go along for the foreseeable future," he said.

Radiating out from countries already in turmoil, more changes could be in store for the Middle East in the next few years, he said.

"Further down the line you may see disturbances in other countries," he said, adding that "Bahrain has been postponed rather than resolved ... Iran, when there are presidential elections in two years -- but for the moment it's Syria and Yemen."

Women march in Yemen

Thousands of women demonstrated Monday in front of Yemen's foreign ministry in the capital, Sanaa, demanding U.N. intervention in the ongoing unrest in the Persian Gulf nation, residents and eyewitnesses said.
The protest comes a day after the first woman was killed in a demonstration against the government, according to opposition activists.
The women called for sanctions against President Ali Abdullah Saleh and asked that he be tried by the International Criminal Court.


They also alleged that snipers were on the rooftop of the foreign ministry Sunday.
The protests came hours after gunfire and loud explosions reverberated throughout the capital early Monday.
Medics in Change Square said at least four people were killed and another 26 injured after government forces raided parts of the capital. Another eight people died and 20 were injured in government raids on civilian property, said Abdulqawi al-Qaisi, a prominent opposition leader and head of the Sadeq Ahmar media office.


"The death toll is expected to rise as a number of the injured are in critical condition," he said.
According to eyewitnesses, government security forces clashed with tribesmen loyal to Hashid tribal leader Sadeq Al-Ahmar in the Hasabah neighborhood in northern Sanaa. Government forces attacked the tribal leader's family residences, al-Qaisi said.
"The government attacks against innocent civilians and the Ahmar family continued for hours and hundreds of explosions were heard throughout the morning, causing fear throughout the capital," he said.
Residents and witnesses also reported that the Republican Guard was bombarding the headquarters of the 1st Armored Division, loyal to Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, who withdrew his support for Saleh in March.


The embattled Saleh said Sunday that "strong documentation of the cooperation" between al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood indicate a military coup that is destabilizing the country. He described the opposition as "insane people, who can't sleep and only want to take power."
"The international community must stop Saleh from killing his own people," al-Qaisi said Monday. "If no intervention takes place, he will continue killing and the casualties will rise."
On Sunday night, three people died in Sanaa when a rocket-propelled grenade hit bystanders, medics said.
Earlier Sunday, Yemeni security forces opened fired on demonstrators gathering for a planned march in the capital, killing five people and injuring 54 others, according to a medic on the scene.


In a separate demonstration in the city of Taiz, a government sniper killed a woman with a shot to the head, medics and eyewitnesses said.
Medics identified the woman as Aziza Othman Kaleb. Snipers also injured four others who were next to the woman in the march, the sources said.


Opposition activists said the slain woman was 20 and said she was the first female to be killed while marching against the government. CNN could not independently confirm that claim.
Activist Atiaf Alwazir called the shooting of a woman "a sign that the government security forces will not really stop shooting, even if there are women."
"Women may have been beaten, arrested at times -- but never directly shot at and this is a scary escalation," she said.

The crackdown in Sanaa was also bloody, doctors said.
"The injured are entering the hospital by the minute. We need help. We call on people to donate blood for the injured," said Mohammed Al-Qubati, who works at a field hospital in Change Square.
Five of the wounded are in critical condition, he said from the square that has become the center of protests against Saleh.
Protesters carried signs with slogans including: "Saleh kills and the world watches. Is this the justice the West preaches?" according to witnesses and activists.
Others carried flowers or signs that said: "We are not armed, Don't attack us with gunfire," witnesses said Sunday.
CNN has not independently confirmed the details of casualties in Sanaa or Taiz, and the government has not yet responded to requests for comment.
Saleh, meeting Sunday with Yemeni leaders, said members of the U.N. Security Council don't understand the true picture in his country, the state news agency Saba reported.
He also said those who participate in "heavily armed marches" are killing soldiers. "Are these peaceful acts?" he asked, according to the news agency.


Last week, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Sanaa, marching, chanting and calling for the United Nations to come out with a firm resolution in support for change in the country.
For its part, the government said it is trying to come up with a solution to end the political stalemate.
"The ruling party is serious on finding a solution to the political crisis from its roots to ensure they don't erupt in the future," said Tareq Shami, spokesman for the General People's Congress, the ruling party.