SANA'A: Amid more alarmist reports on al-Qaeda's advances against Yemen's armed forces and the risk of yet more territories to fall under the control of the terror group, members of the parliament are starting to think they should engage al-Qaeda into a dialogue, trying to negotiate the terms of a truce. Ever since the departure from power of Yemen's former strongman, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the southern provinces of this poorest country of the Arabian Peninsula has been battling out Ansar al-Sharia ever-bolder outings – and losing a great many soldiers and much military equipment in the process. With now scores of soldiers in the hands of the terror militants, with al-Qaeda leaders warning that they execute them at a “ten per week rate,” if their men are not freed from the Central Security jails, the Yemeni government stands at a crossroads. Crippled by an economic, humanitarian and political crisis, Yemen's new coalition government feels it cannot afford to lose more lives to al-Qaeda, draining its people's confidence in its ability to regain control over the situation. Demoralized and fearful, Yemeni soldiers are already demanding that General Ahmed Ali Saleh, the Head of the Republican Guards be appointed Commander of the Armed Forces as to unite under one command Yemen's military effort against al-Qaeda.
