Opposition in Yemen Supports Protesters
By LAURA KASINOF
SANA, Yemen — Yemen’s political opposition rejected an invitation from President Ali Abdullah Saleh to form a national unity government and instead threw its support for the first time behind street protests calling for an immediate end to his authoritarian rule.
The proposal — and its immediate rejection — came ahead of what organizers have dubbed a “day of rage” on Tuesday, a title chosen for its resonance with protests in Egypt that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
“I stress that this invitation comes too late and is no longer feasible,” said Mohammed al-Qubati, a spokesman for the Joint Meetings Parties, a umbrella coalition of opposition parties. “What is required now to meet the people’s demands is the regime leaving and for authority to meet the will of the people.”
Mr. Saleh suggested including opposition party members in main leadership positions in an effort to quell weeks of sustained protests in several major cities, but the details were left vague and open to negotiation.
Directly calling for Mr. Saleh to step down is a shift in the official rhetoric of the opposition, which had focused on extracting concessions and reforms. Mr. Saleh has promised not to run for president again when his term expires in 2013, but the protesters who have taken to the streets day after day — mostly students and other young Yemenis — have continued to demand his immediate departure.
If opposition parties join the street protests on Tuesday, as they have indicated, it would signal a more permanent shift in the nature of the protests.
The strength of the Yemeni youth movement that began after the Egyptian revolution put the established opposition parties in a tough place, said Abdul Karim al-Eryani, a former prime minister and presidential adviser.
“If they start producing a series of logical steps that will lead the country peacefully during the transition, they think that the youth will not accept,” he said in an interview. “At the same time, they carry on with the youth while knowing they are carrying the country practically to nowhere. The only place they are leading the country to is civil war.”
Further deepening Yemen’s political crisis, 13 members of Parliament from both opposition and ruling parties announced Monday that they would not attend parliamentary activities in order to “hold accountable those responsible for these abuses and bring them to trial” for attacks against protesters in the south, where clashes with security forces have been more violent than those in the capital, Sana.
At least 20 protesters have been killed in the southern port city of Aden since mid-February, including eight on Friday when, according to reports, snipers fired on demonstrators.
At least 10 other members of Parliament have resigned from the ruling party over the past week, and on Saturday, a main tribal leader, Hussein al-Ahmar, left the party and advocated a change in government in front of thousands of tribesmen in the northern Amran Province.
