Sanaa, June 03: Yemeni gunmen stand guard in Sana’a, the country’s capital, on Thursday June 2, 2011, as tribesmen continue to battle forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Thousands of Yemeni tribesmen have threatened to flood into the capital Sana’a to join the battle against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s forces.
The tribesmen on Thursday warned the government that if the country slides deeper into an all-out fight for power, they will join hands with other tribesmen who have been battling with Saleh forces for the past two-weeks, AP reported.
Government forces in Sana’a have unleashed some of the heaviest shelling yet against the tribal forces vowing to topple Saleh, who has ruled with an iron-fist for almost 33 years.
For months, youth-led protesters have tried to drive out Saleh peacefully, but he has refused to cede power.
Opposition leaders have accused the Yemeni leader of attempting to ignite a civil war in a last-ditch effort to hang on to power.
Saleh has backed out of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council [(P)GCC] transition deal three times, despite the fact that his own party and members of the opposition have signed it.
Opposition spokesman Mohammed Qahtan said on Wednesday that the [P]GCC has ended its mediation efforts and that the “agreement is terminated.”
The [P]GCC brokered the deal on May 23 and called on President Saleh to cede power to the Yemeni vice president within 30 days after signing the agreement in exchange for immunity from prosecution by parliament.
The protests have been transformed into an armed showdown between Yemen’s two most powerful families, the president’s and the Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar clan, which heads the country’s strongest tribal confederation.
On Thursday, tribesman attacked security forces in the city of Taizz, south of the capital, killing at least 15 people.
——–Agencies