Abdullah Saleh: Yemen's Unsackable Leader
by Vivian Salama
<
http://www.thedailybeast.com/contributors/vivian-salama.html> Feb 25, 2013
4:45 AM EST
Of all the Arab Spring dictators who met their match in popular uprisings,
only one came out a winner. Vivian Salama on why Yemenis can't shake their
clingy ex-president.
When the sun goes down on the ancient city of Sana, the capital of Yemen,
the pillars and domes on the country's largest mosque shine tall and bright
in a sea of near darkness. The massive complex, known simply as Saleh's
Mosque, was commissioned by Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country's former
dictator, then named in his honor.
In one of the mosque's backrooms, a new, rather
<
http://elbashayeronline.com/news-244691.html> peculiar exhibit is set to
open, filled with items seemingly out of place in a house of God. It
includes a pair of eyeglasses, engraved guns, golden swords, and-the most
unusual item of all-a pair of charred pants torn to bits in a shrapnel
attack. These items belong to none other than Saleh himself, and the
exhibit-described by one local paper as a "journey into a land of
dreams"-was envisioned by him, too.
Of all the Arab Spring dictators who met their match in popular uprisings,
only one came out a winner. Egypt's Hosni Mubarak is serving a life
sentence. Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is in exile. Syria's President
Bashar al-Assad is cut off from most of the international community. Libya's
Muammar Gaddafi is dead. Yet Saleh, who narrowly escaped death during an
attack on his palace in 2011, has managed to avoid the worst of fates and
is, instead, living peacefully in Sana, opening museums and brash
self-tributes in what many fear is the early groundwork for a political
comeback.
"Saleh is just like this guy Putin in Russia," said Yahya Al-Hajj, an
apolitical Sana resident. "We wish he goes away, but the more we wish, the
more he is sticking to us."
Saleh's determination to keep his name engrained in the minds of Yemenis
stretches far beyond the walls of his new museum. The ex-president is
scheduled on Tuesday to give a speech to his supporters in one of Sana's
public squares marking the anniversary of his own removal. Yet many Yemenis
do not take his antics lightly and are demanding an end to his political
career once and for all. Under a power-transfer deal, drafted by the
six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council at the height of Yemen's uprising, Saleh
was
<
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/28/hold-yemen-officials-who-s
anctioned-civilian-attacks-accountable.html> granted immunity for violations
committed during his time in power, including the deaths of at least 45
protesters in 2011. But he was not barred from political involvement. Even
today, one year after his forced resignation, Saleh, and not his successor,
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, remains the leader of Yemen's largest
political party, the General People Congress, which he founded in 1982.
"The jury is still out whether we will see significant change in Yemen or a
whitewash of just enough reform to keep the public more or less content and
a continuation of status quo," said Letta Tayler, a Yemen expert with Human
Rights Watch. "Most of the elites who were in power at the time of the
uprising remain in power-just that they played a game of musical chairs."
"Change is being driven backwards by the reproduction of the same
traditional powers from the past."
The Al-Hasabah section of the capital remains a tangible reminder of its
latest bout with violence during the 2011 uprising. Buildings surrounding
the main square are tattered by thousands of bullet holes, and the
likelihood of compensation to repair or rebuild is uncertain. Here, in the
Arab world's poorest nation, many are frustrated with the lack of change and
insist that the injustices tied to the former regime have gone ignored for
long enough. Tensions are rising among various factions in the country. The
southern city of Aden, Yemen's second largest, was the scene of deadly
clashes this week as Southern independence separatists feuded with security
forces and demonstrators supporting the central government in the north.
Residents say men attacked, looted, and burned government buildings while
security forces vanished.
"Change is being driven backwards by the reproduction of the same
traditional powers from the past," said Sarah Jamal, a Yemeni sociologist
and co-founder of Support Yemen, a nonprofit organization that promotes the
establishment of a democratic state. "Those traditional powers stopped Yemen
from becoming a civil state, and now they are getting reorganized to make
sure they find a place in the new state."
But Saleh, who ruled over Yemen for 33 years and presided over the
unification of North Yemen and South Yemen in 1990, still has his share of
supporters. The General People's Congress is divided, with some members
showing support to President Hadi, while others remain staunchly loyal to
Saleh. His family accuses the Islamist Islah Party, the
<
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/yemen/2011/02/201122814145398633
7.html> largest opposition group, of planning a coup against them, as well
as of the June 2011 assassination attempt on Saleh's compound that left him
and a number of aides seriously injured.
The United Nations Security Council issued a stern warning last week to
Saleh and other "spoilers" of possible sanctions if he attempts to derail a
national dialogue conference, geared toward drafting a new constitution.
Opposition leaders have refused to take part in the talks on March 18 unless
Saleh's relatives and loyalists who hold key military and security posts are
removed. President Hadi has dissolved the country's powerful U.S.-trained
Republican Guard, which was led by Saleh's eldest son, Ahmed. He also
removed Yahya Mohammed Saleh, the president's nephew, who led the
counterterrorism unit and central security forces. But many analysts say the
move was more of a reshuffle than a restructuring, and it will take years to
fully purge the military of Saleh's footprint-a reality that could
jeopardize any cross-party reconciliation.
Stakes are high for these talks-not just for Yemen but also for countries in
the region and beyond. The economy, already in shambles before the uprising,
has deteriorated to the brink of collapse, and a humanitarian crisis the
likes of that in the Horn of Africa is now an unavoidable reality. A
faltering economy and a breakdown of law and order leave many around the
world fearful that growing extremist elements, like Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, will seize this opportunity to grow in size and strength.
"Some places in my country became too dangerous to visit," said Ali Hamed, a
university student from Aden. "But the people in the government are too busy
fighting with each other that they don't notice what's going on around
them."
Former president of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh gives a speech in Sana, Yemen,
on September 3, 2012. (Hani Mohammed/AP)
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Received on Mon Feb 25 2013 - 12:26:20 EST
