Shadows on Yemen

9 February 2012 06:30 pm

This time around the presidential elections are likely to take a violent turn as the ousted head of state, Ali Abdullah Al Saleh, plans to return home. The presidential poll, which by and large is on the pattern of a referendum in the absence of any canddate contesting against Vice-President Mansur Hadi, might ignite a process of political revulsion and could engulf the civil-strife ridden country. This risk shouldn’t have come had Saleh’s party not announced that the fallen leader is interested in exercising his right to vote and might return into active politics. Such a new stance is in contravention to the principles of the deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council that looked ahead for a new dawn in Yemen by taking out the root cause of irritation. Yemen’s politics is poised to face a serious political upheaval, as the opposition might find it as an excuse to take to the streets — further crippling the already fragile law and order situation. The vice-president is right as he said that people are no longer able to be patient over the suffering that has lasted longer than it should have.   Political heads in Yemen have a task to deliver. Looking beyond the prism of presidency, the social stratum is in a very dilapidated mode. Almost four decades of autocratic rule has left the economy and civil society in shambles. Moreover, the global terror network in the guise of Al Qaeda has made the poor Arab country its operative base — thus injuring ties of the republic with almost all of its neighbours who suspect it as a security threat to their existence.
Khaleej Times