Yemeni President, Saudi King Meet as Dozens Die in Yemen Clashes
September 19, 2011, 12:58 PM EDTBy Mohammed Hatem and Vivian Salama
Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh met with King Abdullah of neighboring Saudi Arabia on the second day of clashes in Yemen between anti-government protesters and security forces that left almost 50 people dead.
The two Arab leaders met at the Saudi royal palace in the capital, Riyadh, to discuss developments in Yemen, the official Saudi Press Agency said today. It was the first time they’ve met since Saleh arrived in the kingdom in June to receive treatment for injuries he sustained in an attack on his compound.
In the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, 27 people were killed today as security forces and protesters clashed, the opposition Organizing Committee of the Popular Youth Revolution said in an e-mailed statement. In the southern city of Taiz, two died and at least seven were wounded as security forces fired on crowds. At least 20 people were killed in Sana’a yesterday when government forces and gunmen shot at thousands of demonstrators.
The rallies came after the Organizing Committee urged Yemenis to escalate the protests and remove the “remains of the regime.” Gulf Cooperation Council countries have failed in repeated efforts to get Saleh and the opposition to sign a power-transfer agreement and end months of unrest.
“Saleh has proven his obstinacy in the face of international and domestic pressure and continues to manipulate Yemen’s political scene from Saudi Arabia,” Gala Riani, a Middle East political analyst with IHS Global Insight in London, said in an e-mailed report today. “Without rapid political developments capable of placating an angry public, the situation in the capital risks escalating further.”
UN Envoy Arrives
The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, arrived in Sana’a today along with GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif Al Zayani for meetings, the state-run Saba news agency said. Saleh authorized Vice President Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi to begin a dialogue with the opposition aimed at implementing the Gulf- brokered power-transfer initiative, Saba said Sept. 12.
Both sides should “disengage forces immediately and avoid escalation,” U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said in an e- mailed statement today.
Saudi Arabia, holder of the world’s biggest oil reserves, funnels about $1 billion a year to Yemen in an attempt to keep the country “contained” and buy tribal support, according to Mustafa Alani, director of the security and terrorism program at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.
Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based wing tried to assassinate the top Saudi anti-terrorism official, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, in 2009. The same year, Shiite Muslim insurgents from the Houthi tribe in northern Yemen seized a sliver of Saudi territory, killing a Saudi soldier and prompting retaliatory airstrikes.
Al-Qaeda
Saleh, a U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaeda, became leader of North Yemen in 1978 and has ruled the Republic of Yemen since the north and south merged in 1990. Yemen is the ancestral home of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It was the site of the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors, and the breeding ground for plots including the attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner in December 2009.
In November, al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for two parcel bombs sent from Yemen to U.S. synagogues.
Saleh has repeatedly said that his departure could lead to civil strife and the resurgence of al-Qaeda.
--Editors: Ben Holland, Karl Maier, Heather Langan
To contact the reporters on this story: Mohammed Hatem in Dubai at mhatem1@bloomberg.net; Vivian Salama in Abu Dhabi at vsalama@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
