The United States, which long supported Yemen’s president, even in the face of widespread protests, has now quietly shifted positions and has concluded that he is unlikely to bring about the required reforms and must be eased out of office, according to U.S. and Yemeni officials.
The Obama administration had maintained its support of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in private and refrained from directly criticizing him in public, even as his supporters fired on peaceful demonstrators, because he was considered a crucial ally in fighting the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda. A Yemeni official said the U.S. position changed when the negotiations with Saleh on the terms of his potential departure began a little over a week ago.
Those negotiations now center on a proposal for Saleh to hand over power to a provisional government led by his vice president until new elections are held. That principle “is not in dispute,” the Yemeni official said, only the timing.
It does remain in dispute among the student-led protesters, however, who have rejected any proposal that would give power to a leading official of the Saleh government.
On Sunday, hundreds were hurt by tear gas, rocks and gunfire, and there were conflicting reports as to whether a protester had been killed. Witnesses said security forces fired at protesters and into the air.
SYRIA: Hundreds march to honor slain demonstrators.
Hundreds marched Sunday in a suburb of Damascus to honor demonstrators killed while protesting against the government. President Bashar Assad appointed a former agriculture minister, a respected academic, to form a new government in an effort to satisfy the protesters.
OMAN: 57 dissidents freed.
Authorities released 57 demonstrators detained during the last week in an attempt to calm protesters, out of more than 100 who were detained in demonstrations around the country pushing for more job opportunities and greater political freedom.
BAHRAIN: Ban on opposition newspaper lifted.
The government lifted its ban on the main opposition newspaper after the editor resigned. The one-day ban was the latest step in a crackdown against protests rocking the tiny, strategic island kingdom. The paper, Al-Wasat, was expected to appear again today. Majority Shiite Muslims are leading the protests against a Sunni dynasty that has ruled for two centuries.
CHINA: Leading artist, government critic taken into custody.
Ai Weiwei, China’s most prominent artist and an outspoken critic of the Communist regime, was taken from Bei jing’s airport by security agents Sunday as he was about to board a flight to Hong Kong. His studio was later raided by police. Ai is the highest- profile activist detained so far in a comprehensive government crackdown that has swept up dozens of bloggers, human-rights lawyers and writers.
The arrests seem related to official concern about the popular uprisings roiling autocratic governments in the Middle East and fears that activists in China want to launch a similar “jasmine revolution.”
Some of those detained have been accused of “inciting subversion of state power,” a catch-all term used to jail anyone critical of Communist Party rule.
Denver Post wire services
