With 42 killed in Sanaa, regimes show they will keep power at any cost
By Patrick Cockburn
"Abrutal counter-revolution is sweeping through the Arabian Peninsula as Bahrain and Yemen both declare war on reform movements and ferociously try to suppress them with armed force.
In Yemen police and snipers on rooftops opened fire on Friday on a mass demonstration outside the main university, killing at least 42 people. The government has since declared martial law and set up checkpoints throughout the capital, Sanaa.
In Bahrain repression began a few days earlier, when King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa called for military support from other Gulf monarchs and 1,000 troops from Saudi Arabia crossed into the island kingdom. "This was the green light for our army to kill people," says Ali Salman, the leader of al-Wefaq, the main opposition party.
As decisively as in Yemen the Bahraini al-Khalifa royal family has rejected reform and showed that it intends to hold power by armed force.......
The crackdown in Bahrain and Yemen means that the Arabian Peninsula, where so much of the world's oil reserves are located, is becoming a zone of conflict. Mr Salam says that whatever the government does "it will not solve the political problems of Bahrain". Minority rule by the Sunni al-Khalifas means the little kingdom will remain unstable in the long term.
In Yemen even short-term stability is not likely. President Saleh faces a host of well-armed enemies in his impoverished country where 40 per cent of the population try to survive on $2 a day. In addition to pro-democracy reformers, there is a powerful independence movement in the south of the country and rebels barely restrained by a truce in the north.
The struggle in Arabia in future will be on several levels: between kleptocratic ruling elites and disenfranchised and impoverished masses; between Sunni and Shia; and between regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran and the US. The price for last week's counter-revolutions is long-term crisis and instability."
By Patrick Cockburn
"Abrutal counter-revolution is sweeping through the Arabian Peninsula as Bahrain and Yemen both declare war on reform movements and ferociously try to suppress them with armed force.
In Yemen police and snipers on rooftops opened fire on Friday on a mass demonstration outside the main university, killing at least 42 people. The government has since declared martial law and set up checkpoints throughout the capital, Sanaa.
In Bahrain repression began a few days earlier, when King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa called for military support from other Gulf monarchs and 1,000 troops from Saudi Arabia crossed into the island kingdom. "This was the green light for our army to kill people," says Ali Salman, the leader of al-Wefaq, the main opposition party.
As decisively as in Yemen the Bahraini al-Khalifa royal family has rejected reform and showed that it intends to hold power by armed force.......
The crackdown in Bahrain and Yemen means that the Arabian Peninsula, where so much of the world's oil reserves are located, is becoming a zone of conflict. Mr Salam says that whatever the government does "it will not solve the political problems of Bahrain". Minority rule by the Sunni al-Khalifas means the little kingdom will remain unstable in the long term.
In Yemen even short-term stability is not likely. President Saleh faces a host of well-armed enemies in his impoverished country where 40 per cent of the population try to survive on $2 a day. In addition to pro-democracy reformers, there is a powerful independence movement in the south of the country and rebels barely restrained by a truce in the north.
The struggle in Arabia in future will be on several levels: between kleptocratic ruling elites and disenfranchised and impoverished masses; between Sunni and Shia; and between regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran and the US. The price for last week's counter-revolutions is long-term crisis and instability."
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