From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Aug 20 2009 - 15:36:41 EDT
Yemeni President Vows to Crush Sedition At Any Cost - Nation to Buy New
Weapons 'Instead of Building Schools'
by Jason Ditz, August 20, 2009
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, facing growing unrest among the
nation's Shi'ite population, has vowed to crush all sedition in the country
and destroy all rebels, no matter what the cost domestically in doing so.
"They have pushed us to use force," Saleh insisted. "
<http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090820/FOREIGN/70819
9846/1135> We will buy all the new weapons needed instead of building
schools; yes, we will build fortified military positions to uproot them from
earth and hit them in their alleys. We will continue the operation." He
added that the days of dealing with the opposition "with responsibility and
mercy" had come to an end.
Yemen was ruled by a Shi'ite monarchy for over a millenia, and since the
North Yemen Civil War in the 1960's the Shi'ite-majority north has seen very
little economic development. Fighters from the region have become
increasingly opposed to the government over what they claim is an i
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/200981294214604934.htm
l> nappropriate level of power given to the nation's Wahhabist minority
following Saudi aid in the 1990's civil war in the nation's south.
Yemen's military insists it is making progress in reconquering the north,
which has long seen little government presence, but the militant Houthi
faction disputes the claim, insisting instead that it had repelled the
invasion just hours after Saleh's news conference.
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