Yemen: Protesters Call for Reform and Ouster of President Saleh

Protests began on Sunday as hundreds of students marched from Sana’a University to the Tunisian Embassy in solidarity with Tunisian protesters. The protests have since shifted focus to internal issues: ”The country is a failing state. We protesters are trying to rescue it. The current situation is so bleak, but Tunisia reassures people of their own power.” On Thursday, amid protests, the government announced amendments limiting presidential terms, an issue which the country has long been debating. Mohammed al-Sabry, head of the opposition coalition and the Islamist party Islah, has said that the proposal doesn’t go far enough and vowed to liberate the country “from the hands of the corrupt.” Protests in the south, where people are calling for secession due to discrimination by the Sana’a government in the distribution of resources,  have been larger,  more widespread and have led to dozens of arrests. Nikolas Gvosdev, writing in World Politics Review, argues that the United States can help Yemen move towards political liberalization by helping maintain stability during the transition period or organizing a gradual transition based on the “Chilean model,” where Pinochet was offered concrete incentives to move the process forward.