Yemen truce ends, stoking civil war worries

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Source: Agencies

SANAA: Street fighting raged in Yemen’s capital Tuesday after a tenuous ceasefire between tribal groups and forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh broke down, edging the impoverished Arab state closer to civil war.

Global powers have been pressing Saleh to sign a Gulf-mediated deal to hand over power to stem spreading chaos in Yemen, a haven for Al-Qaeda militants and neighbor to the world’s biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia. The turmoil was a factor keeping up oil prices Tuesday, traders said.
“The cease-fire agreement has ended,” a government official said Tuesday, adding that tribal groups had seized a government building.

There were three main flashpoints in the country Tuesday – fighting in the capital, government troops gunning down protesters in Taiz in the south and a battle with Al-Qaeda and Islamic militants in the coastal city of Zinjibar.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Jun-01/Yemen-truce-ends-stoking-civil-war-worries.ashx

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1. Tribesmen seize government buildings in Sanaa

Tribal fighters in Yemen have taken over government buildings in the capital, Sanaa, including the headquarters of the ruling party, sources tell Al Jazeera.

Fighters were also said to be surrounding the building of the interior ministry, our correspondents reported on Tuesday.

"The buildings are very close to the house of the (Hashed) tribal leader (Sadiq al-Ahmar) that was almost damaged by the shelling of the last few days," Mohamed al-Qadhi, the correspondent for the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National, told Al Jazeera.

"People of the tribal leader have said they control it but we are getting reports that it was taken by another military brigade, and they said they will prevent fighters from attacking the house of al-Ahmar from this building."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/201153122286448722.html

[Alamuti Lotus]

2. In a way, good -- throw the bum out, keep the GCC-Saudi bums out

The "deals" being plotted out by the Gulf monarchy's club are troubling, it is good to see that neither Saleh nor the resistance takes them seriously. Any "transfer with dignity" nonsense would just ensure that every aspect of the regime is kept, but with enough window-dressing to send the resistance back home (see the Tantawi Republic in Egypt for an example of what Saudi Arabia wants to happen in Yemen); well, thankfully they're having none of that, and Saleh has enough blood on his hands that I don't see him leaving his palace in Sanaa in anything but a pine box.