Tag: Yemen

SANAA - Abdullah Alsaidi, Yemen's ambassador to the United Nations, has resigned in protest over violence against demonstrators, a Yemeni Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday.
"Mr. Alsaidi has sent his resignation to the president's office and the Foreign Ministry," the official said.
The resignation came after two prominent members of Yemen's ruling party also resigned in protest against the killing of dozens of anti-government protesters during a rally on Friday.

TRIPOLI/SANAA - Muammar Gaddafi's government said it was declaring a unilateral ceasefire in its offensive to crush Libya's revolt on Friday, while Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced a state of emergency after medics said 46 people were killed when pro-regime loyalists and police opened fire on protesters in Sanaa.
Libyan government troops pounded the rebel-held western city of Misrata, killing at least 25 people including children and injuring at least 200, a doctor

SANAA - At least 150 people were wounded as Yemeni security forces tried to break up a rally in the Red Sea city of Hudaida demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule, a doctor and witnesses said on Wednesday.
The impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, neighbour to oil giant Saudi Arabia, has been hit by weeks of protests trying to shake loose Saleh's 32-year grip on power. Both pro and anti-government factions appear to have increasingly resorted to violence in the

SANAA - Heavy gunfire was heard south of the Yemen capital on Monday and soldiers deployed in force in Sanaa itself, with a new wave of rallies reported across the country demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh quit.
The impoverished Arabian Peninsula state has been shaken by weeks of protests that have undermined Saleh's 32-year grip on power, with the president appearing increasingly willing to deal more violently with his many opponents. Seven demonstrators have died in

SANAA - A Yemeni protester died on Sunday from gunshot wounds sustained in clashes with police in the southern port of Aden, and demonstrators gathered in the capital Sanaa for a new round of anti-government rallies. Four people, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed in various protests around Yemen on Saturday as an opposition drive to end President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year-rule was met with increasing violence.
The United States, which sees Saleh as an important ally in

SANAA - Yemeni protests demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule spread to a tribal area considered his political stronghold on Tuesday, and military vehicles deployed in the capital. Around 10,000 protesters marched in the city of Dhamar, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Sanaa, residents said by telephone.
Dhamar is known for its ties to Saleh and is the hometown of Yemen's prime minister, interior minister and head judge. "Leave! leave!" the protesters

SANAA - The Yemeni opposition has called for an escalation in anti-regime demonstrations to force President Ali Abdullah Saleh to leave after the embattled leader refused to quit, a spokeman said on Sunday. "We have called upon the people to widen demonstrations, and escalate the peaceful struggle in all regions until he (Saleh) is left with one option, that is to leave," said Mohammed Sabri, a leading member of the Common Forum opposition alliance.
The veteran leader, who has

SANAA - Yemen's opposition and clerics have offered President Ali Abdullah Saleh a smooth exit from power this year, but protesters staged a new demonstration Thursday to demand his immediate ouster. The proposal calls for a "peaceful transition of power" from Saleh, insists anti-regime demonstrations that broke out over two weeks ago will go on, and demands a probe be launched into a deadly crackdown on the protests.
"We've agreed on a settlement proposal including a roadmap for

SANAA - Huge crowds poured onto the streets of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday in what the opposition hailed as the biggest protest yet against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three-decade rule.
The veteran leader, whose supporters staged a large counter-demonstration, dismissed the opposition rally as a copycat action mimicking protests in other Arab countries that he charged had been fanned by Israel and the US. Saleh then sacked the governors of five provinces where

GENEVA - The UN human rights chief on Tuesday warned Yemeni authorities against the violent repression of peaceful protests, saying that people have the right to express their grievances.
"People have the legitimate right to express their grievances and demands to their government," Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. "We have seen over and over again in the past few weeks that violent responses, in breach of international law, do not make the

SANAA - Yemen's opposition said it will not join a unity government, expected to be offered by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, saying on Monday it was sticking with popular demands that he end his three-decade rule. Saleh had expressed willingness to form a unity government within hours during a meeting with religious leaders on Monday, a government source present at the meeting told Reuters.
The source quoted Saleh as saying: "I am ready to offer a national unity government

ADEN - Gunmen killed two soldiers in the southern Yemen town of Zinjibar on Monday in separate shootings which a local official blamed on Al Qaeda.
The attacks came in different neighbourhoods of Zinjibar, the capital of restive Abyan province, the official said on condition of anonymity. "They bear the hallmark of Al Qaeda, which often attacks soldiers," he added.
A hospital source confirmed the deaths of the two soldiers.
Militants of Al Qaeda have been increasingly

KARACHI - Concerned over the half-hearted efforts of government for bringing back stranded Pakistani fisherfolk in Yemen, the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the government to take necessary action in this regard.
Human Rights activist Nisar A Mujahid in his petition had prayed the court to issue directions to the federal government to take necessary steps for the release of Pakistani fisherfolk imprisoned in Yemen. Citing the Interior secretary and the foreign affairs

LAHORE - Anti-government protesters in Yemen have resumed demonstrations to try to force Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, to quit, burning a car belonging to his supporters in the capital Sanaa, Al Jazeera reported. Tuesday's protests broke out a day after a teenager was killed and four people wounded in a clash with soldiers in the country's southern port of Aden, according to witnesses, the channel said.
Demonstrators, inspired by revolts in Tunisia and Egypt that have forced

SANAA - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power since 1978, on Monday said only defeat at the ballot box will make him quit, even as MPs joined thousands of protesters in Sanaa calling for his departure. In the country's south, police shot dead a protester in the regional capital, Aden, where protests have raged killing 12 people and wounding dozens since February 16, medics and witnesses said.
"If they want me to quit, I will only leave through the ballot box," Saleh told

ADEN/SANAA - The leader of Yemen's secessionist Southern Movement was arrested in Aden and shots were fired at a demonstration in Sanaa on Sunday as unrest hit the impoverished Arab country for a ninth consecutive day. Thousands of people also staged sit-ins in the cities of Ibb and Taiz, demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who renewed his call for opposition parties to pursue a dialogue with the government.
Saleh, a US ally battling a resurgent al Qaeda wing

CAIRO/SANAA - Unrest swept across the Middle East on Saturday with reports from Libya saying more than 80 people had been killed in a bloody crackdown, as an anti-government protester was killed in clashes in the Yemeni capital. On the fifth day of an unprecedented challenge to his four-decade regime, Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi had still made no public comment, although he reportedly appeared at a mass rally of supporters in the capital on Thursday.
After regime opponents used