Yemen army division backs protesters

Head of north western military zone deploys units to protect protesters in Yemen calling for president''s resignation. Last Modified: 21 Mar 2011 01:44

At least 52 people were killed in a bloody crackdown on protesters on Friday [AFP] A division of the Yemeni army has announced its resolve to protect protesters who have been calling for the resignation of the country''s president, signalling its split from the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh. Brigadier Ali Mohsen Saleh, the head of the north western military zone and the head of the first armoured division, said on Monday that he had deployed army units to protect the protesters. The announcement came days after dozens died when armed men fired at an anti-government protest in the capital Sanaa. Several ministers resigned from the government after Friday's violence. Abdullah Alsaidi, Yemen's ambassador to the United Nations, also quit in protest over the killings. Saleh had declared Sunday a national day of mourning for the "martyrs for democracy," while blaming the opposition for "incitement and chaos" that had led to the killings. On Sunday, Saleh fired his entire cabinet, which came after a month-long popular uprising calling for political reform and his resignation. The president asked the cabinet to serve as caretaker government until he forms a new one. Adding even more pressure on Saleh, the country's most powerful tribal confederation on Sunday called on him to step down. Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, the leader of Hashed, which includes Saleh's tribe, issued a statement asking the president to respond to the people's demands and leave peacefully. It was co-signed by several religious leaders. Violence condemned Saleh has been in power since 1978, and is facing one of the toughest challenges during his tenure. The violence used against demonstrators has prompted condemnation from the UN and the US, which backs Yemen''s government with hundreds of millions in military aid to battle an al-Qaeda offshoot. Muslim clerics have called on Yemeni soldiers to disobey orders to shoot at demonstrators, and blamed Saleh for the slaughter on Friday. Protesters are calling on president Saleh, in power since 1978, to step down [AFP] "The defections are on all sides and this is just the beginning," Abdul Ghani Al Iryani, a political analyst in the capital, Sanaa, told Al Jazeera. "I think if we don't come to some kind of national reconciliation, the defections will continue until the regime falls. "The president is talking to various political groups but he''s not talking to the main group, which is the youth in the square. "If he wants to get out of this, he will have to address their concerns, he''ll have to include them in any national dialogue and he will have to accept the fact that much of his power needs to be transferred to a government of national unity." Twenty-four parliamentarians have left the ruling party. Huda al-Baan, Yemen''s human rights minister, said she had resigned from the government and the ruling party in protest over the sniper attack on demonstrators. She said in a statement late on Saturday that her resignation was to protest the "massacre" of demonstrators. The undersecretary at the ministry, Ali Taysir, also resigned. Nabil al-Faqih, the minister of tourism, resigned on Friday over the "unjustifiable use of force" against protesters, while the minister of religious endowments Hamoud al-Hattar resigned earlier in the week. The chief of the state news agency has also stepped down, along with Yemen's ambassador to Lebanon. Witnesses said pro-government "thugs" on Friday rained bullets from rooftops near a square close to Sanaa University, which for weeks has been the centre of demonstrations calling for the end of Saleh's rule.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies