Comedy of Elections in Yemen | ||
Comedy of Elections in Yemen Compiled by Abbas Kesharz Shokri Ali Abdullah Saleh's deputy, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, is the sole candidate in the election to succeed the veteran strongman who is standing down after more than three decades in power in Yemenn. In a bid to neutralize Islamic awakening in Yemen, the United States and some Persian Gulf Arab countries are trying to hold a comic presidential election in Yemen to elect the succor of Saleh. The attempts to replace Saleh with a likeminded colleague are going on at a time when an international crime spree is being committed in the country, where casualties mount into the thousands, and millions of pro-democracy protesters have no one to turn to other than themselves. Rather than paving the way for a true representative government, international actors have pursued cooperation in order to maintain regional influence across the Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa. Beyond its patronage of various tribal figures, Saudi Arabia operates an intelligence apparatus in conjunction with the CIA’s expanding grid. Washington seeks to duplicate Pakistan’s quasi-unilateral network inside Yemen. People’s Fate Whom does one report to when national and international law has been corrupted? On Yemen’s political front, the Arab League never checked in as the Saudi-bankrolled Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) dipped into a non-member. Saleh’s foreign allies - all five veto-wielding members in the United Nations - then ordered the Security Council to legitimize a “unity government” through resolution 2014. In the middle of these maneuvers sits the Obama administration, a stubborn defender of Saleh’s regime. After months of stalling, Yemen’s strongman finally yielded to a “power transfer” organized by the PGCC and Western capitals. Rejected by youth and civil protesters since its introduction in April, the PGCC’s initiative extends Saleh’s rule by 90 days and grants his family immunity from a twisted legacy of human rights abuses. After signing the PGCC’s initiative in Riyadh, an overt symbol of imperialism, Saleh promptly returned to Sana’a as President Barack Obama and UN officials praised his “decision.” Yemen's Coordinating Council of the Youth Revolution of Change (CCYRC) responded, “The people of Yemen, and revolutionary youth, have no illusion about the consequence of the internationally celebrated signing of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) Initiative and its Implementation Mechanism by President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the Saudi capital. The young Yemenis who voluntarily and peacefully took to the streets in pursuit of change and a better life have warned all those engaged in the PGCC initiative negotiations that Saleh never keeps his word or honors agreements.” The PGCC’s proposal originally called for Saleh to transfer executive authority to his vice president of 17 years, Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi, until an election could be held within three months. This unrealistic time-line has since been superseded by the impending charade of a single-candidate “election” - starring Hadi. Not only does Yemen’s vice president continue to take orders from Saleh, Western and Persian Persian Gulf powers expect him to lead a two-year transitional period and oversee a “unity” military council. Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC) has redundantly received a portfolio that includes the Foreign and Defense Ministries; his son, Ahmed, and numerous relatives remain at their security posts. Conversely, Washington has decided to “move on” from Saleh because the Pentagon, according to The Wall Street Journal, expanded ties with “a wider range of military commanders who could remain in positions of influence after Mr. Saleh's exit.” Apparently Ahmed, commander of Saleh’s Republican Guard and a Pentagon liaison, has run out of uses. The Youth Meanwhile the youth and civil protesters demonstrating across Yemen’s urban centers continue to vent their disapproval at the JMP. Widely viewed as self-interested “old politics,” the JMP has leveraged the PGCC’s initiative to acquire Yemen’s premiership and half of the government’s cabinet. In addition to the international community’s apathy in Yemen, mainstream media and analysts have generally shut their eyes to Washington's tailspin. Most reports center around Saleh’s notorious duplicity, defected general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, interplay within the JMP's Islah party, tribal divisions, the threat of civil war or AQAP. All of these factors deserve healthy doses of attention - particularly because two weighty blocs, the Houthi sect and Southern Movement, weren’t consulted within the PGCC’s proposal - but not at the expense of Yemen’s pro-democracy movement. Furthermore, these issues are burying the narrative of international suppression to the point that many Americans subconsciously approve of U.S. policy. Instead of relieving Yemen’s longstanding tensions, political divisions and general instability will be further compounded by a sham election. The PGCC initiative's likely outcome is continual fighting at the political and military levels, generating a potential collapse. Over 100 people have been killed since the passage of UN resolution 2017, including at least two dozen in Taiz’s recent outbreak of violence. Mohammed Basindwa, the JMP’s nominee for Prime Minster, denounced the government's assault as "an intentional act to wreck the agreement.” Foreign powers will eventually scramble to patch Yemen’s revolution again, once more boosting its downward spiral. This situation, dire from a political and humanitarian viewpoint, also marks an embarrassing episode of U.S. diplomacy. The Obama administration’s (and Europe’s) response displays no evidence of the “smart power” espoused by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Yemen’s improvement isn’t guaranteed by removing Saleh from the equation, but the country cannot move forward so long as he remains an ally of America and so along as the big powers do not respect people’s will. Nationwide protests erupted against Saleh's regime in January last year, triggering months of bloodshed. Saleh himself arrived in New York on January 28 to receive medical treatment for blast wounds suffered in a June bombing at the presidential palace. US officials have said he will not return to Yemen until after the election. Meanwhile, on February 1, armed clashes between supporters and opponents of presidential election in Yemen left dozens of people wounded in the main southern city of Aden. More than 30 demonstrators were injured, some by gunfire, analyst believe that Saleh’s intrigue is the main cause of clashes. The unfolding of developments in the coming days may shed light on the course of Islamic awaking in Yemen. Abbas Kesharz Shokri is an assistant professor at Shahed University, Tehran. | ||
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