More killings in Sana’a clashes; U.N. rights council criticizes Yemen violations

Two tribesmen were killed in fierce clashes on Thursday in Yemen’s capital between troops loyal to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh and rival tribesmen and military forces that have defected as the U.N. Human Rights Council slammed violations in the poor country.

The firefights erupted in north Sana’a between the elite Republican Guard, led by Saleh’s son Ahmed, and soldiers of the First Armoured Division, which is led by dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and provides protection for anti-Saleh protesters, witnesses said.

Republican Guard forces based in Amran Street were locked in a heavy exchange of fire with dissident troops deployed in Thalathine Street near Change Square where protesters demanding Saleh’s ouster have camped for months, witnesses said.

They said heavy shelling believed to be coming from Republican Guard bases north of the capital was targeting a residential neighborhood near state television, with residents pleading for help and to be spared.

Earlier on Thursday, loyalist troops clashed with Ahmar tribesmen in Al-Hasaba, in renewed fighting with the influential tribe whose leader Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar has sided with the protesters.

Two tribesmen were killed and five others wounded, tribal sources said.

The gun battle erupted a day after other tribesmen fighting the Republican Guard north of Sanaa shot down a fighter jet.

The military held opposition leaders responsible for downing the Sukhoi SU-22 near Arhab, 40 kilometers (26 miles) north of Sanaa, a region that is the northern gateway into the capital.

It also follows a large protest on Wednesday when hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated near Change Square, demanding Saleh’s ouster and trial.

More escalation

Youth groups had said on Wednesday they planned to march from Change Square in north Sana’a to the south of the city where Saleh’s residence is located.

“There will be an escalation during the coming two days. The youths will march... to Hedda Street, where the president’s residence is,” Walid al-Amari, a leading activist from the youth revolution committee, told AFP.

He said protesters want a peaceful march and have asked the leadership of the defected First Armored Division not to provide any armed protection that could provoke Saleh loyalists.

But the groups appear to have backed off, as demonstrations on Thursday were confined to areas controlled by Ahmar’s first division.

Tens of thousands of people marched from Change Square through neighboring streets before returning to their camp.

“Peaceful. Peaceful. No to civil war,” they chanted, an AFP correspondent reported.

Saleh, who is under international pressure to relinquish power and allow new elections, returned to the country on Friday, sparking violence in which scores have been killed.

The 69-year-old president has repeatedly refused to sign a power transfer deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) under which he would hand over to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution.

Hadi warned on Wednesday of civil war in the troubled country, in a meeting with the ambassadors of the permanent member states of the U.N. Security Council, the European Union and the GCC.

He said the current high level of tension “poses a direct threat to the general situation” in Yemen, the state news agency Saba reported.

“If the situation explodes, the (GCC) initiative would end, as well as all (proposed) peaceful solutions, and Yemen would enter the danger zone of descending into civil war,” Hadi said.

In other unrest, one civilian was killed and five others were wounded in overnight bombing in Taez, Yemen’s second largest city that is also the scene of continuing massive anti-Saleh protests.

Slamming Yemen violations

The U.N. Human Rights Council Thursday slammed violations in Yemen but did not say if they were committed by troops loyal to Saleh or rival tribesmen and renegade troops.

The resolution, proposed by Yemen itself and adopted by consensus, asked the office of the U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay to present a progress report on the situation in the country during the next sitting of the council in 2012.

It also noted the Yemeni authorities’ pledge to launch “transparent and independent investigations, which will adhere to international standards” on the alleged abuses.

Saleh, who is under international pressure to relinquish power and allow new elections, returned to the country on Friday, sparking violence in which scores have been killed.

The 69-year-old president has repeatedly refused to sign a power transfer deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council under which he would hand over to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution.

However, rights campaigners and the European Union said that the resolution did not go far enough.

Brussels “had hoped that ... international oversight of the investigations could have been included in the resolution,” said Poland’s envoy, speaking on behalf of the EU.

He also noted that the resolution “could have been strengthened in light of events on the ground.”

Earlier this week, eight international NGOs including Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organization Against Torture also issued a statement calling on the council to order an independent probe.

They slammed the measures discussed by the rights body as “indecisive” and said that the “failure of political will among states, including the United States, members of the European Union and League of Arab States, to respond appropriately through the Human Rights Council is unacceptable.”