Affrontements meurtriers à صنعاء Sanaa – 23 septembre 2011

Violence intensifies after president returns to Yemen

miamiherald.com

BY ADAM BARON

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

Friday, 09.23.11

SANAA, Yemen — Security forces opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in downtown Sanaa early Saturday, just hours after President Ali Abdullah Saleh surprised his supporters and shocked his opponents by returning here unexpectedly after more than three months of medical treatment and convalescence in Saudi Arabia.

At least five demonstrators were injured, medical authorities said, in the outbreak of violence, which seemed to cement widespread concern that Saleh’s apparent resumption of power would place this country on a path certain to mean widespread violence and even civil war.

Shelling also intensified in the Hasaba district of central Sanaa as government forces and rival militias resumed battles that since Sunday have claimed more than 100 lives. One witness described the neighborhood as « on fire. »

Saleh called for more negotiations and an end to the current round of fighting on his return, state media said.

But the quick resumption of combat just hours after Saleh’s arrival in the capital bolstered the belief of many that Saleh did not come home to resign – something the United States and Yemen’s oil-rich gulf allies have tried to broker, unsuccessfully, for months.

« Saleh’s return is like gasoline on a raging fire, » wrote Gregory Johnsen, a Princeton-based Yemen analyst, warning that the president’s arrival in Sanaa could herald Yemen’s disintegration into chaos. Read more…