Saana,April 20: Yemeni security forces have opened fire on anti-government protesters, killing at least three amid rising international concern over the strategically-located nation.
The United Nations Security Council met late on Tuesday for a briefing and discussion about the deteriorating situation in Yemen, where rights groups say two months of protests calling for the president to step down have claimed 120 lives.
But the UN’s most powerful body could not agree on a statement proposed by Lebanon and Germany expressing concern at the political crisis, calling on the parties “to exercise restraint and to enter into a comprehensive dialogue to realise the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni people”, and supporting the mediation role of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The Security Council met as a Yemeni government delegation headed to nearby Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, for talks with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council over a proposal for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer power to his deputy to end the crisis. The opposition held similar talks in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters after the closed Security Council meeting that “there were several delegations that wanted instruction from (their) capitals”.
Other council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were private, identified the countries as Russia and China.
Ms Rice said “several themes emerged, including a call for restraint and an end to the violence” and concerns that the events in Yemen not only have implications for the country’s security and stability but for regional and international peace and security. Diplomats said some members raised al Qaida and piracy in this discussion.
The country’s opposition, inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, says nothing short of Mr Saleh’s immediate departure would end the unrest. Tens of thousands took to the streets in the capital Sanaa and thousands demonstrated in Aden, Ibb, al-Hudaydah, Taiz and other cities where most of the shops were closed in support of the protesters.
The Sanaa protest turned violent when security forces opened fire, lobbed tear gas canisters and stun grenades at the protesters as they tried to make their way to the capital’s main thoroughfare, with the protesters replying by throwing stones.
Thousands of protesters also marched in the southern city of Taiz, a hotbed of anti-government activism, demanding the president’s resignation when security forces opened fire.
—Agencies