Yemen elections: End of the crisis?

Presidential elections are set to take place in Yemen, though there will only be one candidate. Meanwhile, Ali Abdullah Saleh will enjoy immunity from prosecution and will continue to be a force in the ruling party

On 21 February, a new president will be elected in Yemen and a new era will begin.
Everyone is looking forward to that historic date despite concerns of possible violence aimed at thwarting the internationally, regionally and nationally supported step to end Yemen's one-year political crisis.
Al-Qaeda is among the groups that refuse the elections and wil try to sustain the present chaos as a guarantee of their existence. But a current crackdown is reaching its highest levels.
The top leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP), Nasser Al-Wahayshi, only just survived US drone and missile attacks that killed at least 10 Al-Qaeda operatives in south Yemen, according to local residents Tuesday.
The missiles, which came from US ships in the Arabian Sea, shelled the school of Martyr Awadh Abd Al-Nabi in Amkhaidar, an area between Lawdar and Modya, in the southern province of Abyan where a group of Al-Qaeda operatives were hiding.
The drone attacks destroyed two cars with fighters inside, close to the same area of Amkhaidar.
Although the elections will be nominal, because only one consensus candidate will be running, the majority of Yemenis see the step as the only possible way to transfer power peacefully.
All political parties, without exception, are calling on everyone to go to the polls and elect the consensus candidate, current Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who was partly authorised by President Ali Abdullah Saleh to run the country until elections are held, according to an internationally and regionally supported deal sponsored mainly by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, except Qatar, which withdrew from mediation.
The US, EU, Russia, China and the Gulf Cooperation Council urged all parties and groups to ensure that the elections are held on time and successfully.
On 22 January, and before flying to United States for a short and private visit for medical treatment, President Saleh called on his party and supporters to vote for Mr Hadi in the 21 February elections.Saleh also insists on attending the inauguration ceremony of Mr Hadi.Saleh will return from US for this ceremony, and afterwards will remain at the top of his party, as he confirmed in a speech before heading to US late last month.
President Saleh attempted to clear the air with his own tribe's leaders, to guarantee their protection when he becomes a regular citizen after 21 February.The step, however, did not remove tensions in Saleh's Sanhan tribe, between those loyal to Saleh and those loyal to defected General Ali Muhsen,Saleh's cousin and one of the most important pillars of Saleh's rule over the last 33 years.
Officers and soldiers from the air defence are demanding the ouster of Commander Mohammed Saleh, the half-brother of President Saleh. Those demanding his ouster are believed to be supported by General Muhsen.
Earlier this week, at night, three explosions were heard inside Muhsen's defected division, which is close to the square that has been the focus of protests in the capital Sanaa.The three explosions, which harmed no one, were interpreted by many Yemenis as a warning message for Muhsen to stop making problems among army units.
Meanwhile, Sanhan tribal leaders, both loyal and opposed to President Saleh, held a meeting 22 January aimed at reachingreconciliation between Saleh and his opponents in the same tribe, especially those following General Muhsen.Although Muhsen did not attend the meeting, he was included in the tribal reconciliation through leaders loyal to him, like General Saleh Al-Dhani and tribal leader Abdul Elah Al-Qadi.
President Saleh was in attendance as one of the leaders of the Sanhan tribe. The meeting was chaired by General Ahmed Ismail Abu Huriah, one of the most respected Sanhan leaders. Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi attended the meeting as a national sponsor.Abdul Qader Helal, another Sanhan leader, was also present.Helal and Abu Huriah are seen as neutral leaders who have maintained connections with Saleh and Muhsen during the year-long crisis.
"With the help of Allah Almighty, all brothers from Sanhan tribe, including opponents, met and pardoned each other completely and let bygones be bygones," said a document signed by tribal leaders at the end of the meeting.
Later on the same day, and only hours before his trip to the United States, Saleh told the media: "I will go to the United States for treatment and return to Sanaa as head of the People's General Congress and will install Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi as president after 21 February."
"The national anthem will be played and all senior officials in the palace will be attending. Then Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi will take the presidency, and Ali Abdullah Saleh will take his bag and say to all goodbye, and will then go to his house, and this is the protocol that is followed everywhere in the world," President Saleh added.
Saleh also promoted Vice President Hadi to the rank of marshal, the highest rank in the Yemeni armed forces, as a sign of respect and appreciation.
On Saturday, 21 January, members of parliament from both the opposition and ruling party unanimously voted for an immunity law that would block any prosecution of President Saleh."The immunity law includes Ali Abdullah Saleh and those who worked with him during the 33 years, from civil, military and security agencies," said Saleh.
In related developments, two leading Yemeni women activists are coming under fire by extremist Islamists as being "not good Muslims," atheists and apostates.The activists helped lead the one-year protests for change and establishing a modern and civil state, a dream for a lot of Yemenis.
Influential Islamists are now campaigning against these activists as kafers (infidels), agents and traitors, words that might endanger the lives of these activists in a conservative and deeply religious country like Yemen.
On top of the list of activists targeted is Tawakul Karman, the Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2011, and Bushra Al-Maktari, another woman activist and one of the leaders of anti-regime protests in the southern central city of Taiz.
Campaigns are being launched against them squares, mosques, schools and on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
The most moderate of these campaigns talk about putting the activists on trial for blasphemy.The least moderate talk about killing the activists as enemies of Allah without need for a trial.
Sheikh Ali Abdul Majid Al-Zandani, one of the sons of Sheikh Abdul Majid Al-Zandani, wanted by US and UN on terror charges, said 23 January that Tawakul Karman had converted to a new religion other than Islam, which is very dangerous accusation."Today I have not any doubt that she is calling for overturning Islam and replacing it with a new religion," he said in a statement published in the local media.
Earlier in the week, Karman said in a televised interview that "Islam is a source of inspiration, not a source of legislation."Commenting on this, Al-Zandani, the son, said: "I was extremely shocked to hear her saying this." "She is making the Muslim equal to the kafer," he added.
Al-Zandani, the father, who is an influential spiritual leader in the Islamist Islah Party, last March went to the square of protests at the gate of Sanaa University and delivered an impassioned speech in which he told the protesters that they had discovered the thing that he did not discover in his life — to establish the Islamic Caliphate.He said the protesters deserved a patent for the discovery of protesting to overthrow the regime.
For Bushra Al-Maktari, the campaign against her is localised in Taiz, where she is based.Islah MP Abdullah Ahmed Ali is leading the campaign against Al-Maktari and other activists, like writer Fekri Kasem.Ali, who is also a mosque speaker in Taiz, led on 23 January tens of extremists outside his mosque, Al-Noor, with some of them carrying banners condemning the activists as atheists and infidels.
"Yemen of wisdom and faith will never be a country for atheism," one of the banners read."Our country will be a cemetery for blasphemists," another banner read.
Ali was using a loudspeaker, shouting to the people to come and join the protest, saying "Allah is here, Allah is here!""Be with the scholars and do not be with the agents," he added.
Earlier, Bushra Al-Maktari wrote a lengthy article entitled, "First year of revolution," in which she strongly criticised Islamists for stealing the revolution and conspiring with traditional forces, tribesmen and the military, against the project of establishing a civil and modern state.
In the article, Al-Maktari talked about Allah as the helper of the protesters, adding that when there is no help, Allah is not there.
For example, she said Allah was not present in Khedar, referring to a place outside Sanaa where Bushra and hundreds of demonstrators spent one night during their march from Taiz to the capital last December.No one helped them at all in the villages of Khedar, she said. They could not even get in the mosque to sleep. So, she said Allah was not in Khedar, something extremist Islamists consider blasphemy.
Political analyst Najeeb Ghallab defended Al-Maktari as a freedom fighter more believing in Allah than those who accuse her of blasphemy."Bushra was believing in Allah much more than those [others], when she wrote that article," said Ghallab
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