The GCC deal was first offered to Yemen's president Saleh, in April as a plan for a peaceful transfer of power and was endorsed by the US and EU. For the past 10 months we have been living with the GCC initiative 'saga'. I and many Yemenis were against such a deal because it only benefits Saleh, his regime, and some of the opposition, but not the youth who were the backbone of the revolution. I blogged in Arabic stating my opinion regarding this matter, back in April.
"The GCC plan called for President Saleh to hand over power to a deputy and resign within 30 days of signing the initiative. It would establish a unity government that would include opposition members. A presidential election would take place two months after Mr. Saleh leaves office." (VOA)
The GCC deal offered Saleh, his family and his regime immunity. Yet instead of just signing it, Saleh kept laying his terms and conditions and it was changed at least three times to fit his demands. Nevertheless, Saleh always managed to come up with an excuse not to sign it, and it doesn't seem like he ever will. The GCC, US, EU, UN and the world were so patient with Saleh which gave him time to violently try to quell the protests and allowed him to kill and injure many in the process.
We have all become weary of statements and headlines: "Yemen's Saleh vows to step down as President", "Yemen's Saleh refuses to sign GCC deal" and "Yemen's president agrees to sign GCC deal".
According to this video, five years ago in 2006, Saleh had said he is ready to step down. It is already 2011, people have been relentlessly and resiliently marching in the streets for the past 10 months demanding him to do exactly that, yet he is still holding on!
Ironically in a France24 interview Saleh said that "anyone that hangs to power is a madman" and just yesterday, Saturday 19th of Nov. he declared "he would hand the country over to the military if he were to step down as demanded by the opposition".
It is a promise rather than a threat, that power will remain in his household. His son, Ahmed is the head of the Republican Guard that has been behind the brutal attacks on the city of Taiz for the past months.
Yemenis in millions across Yemen have marched on the streets rejecting the GCC deal and chanted
"We want the world to pass a resolution which defends the blood of the revolutionaries". They demanded "there will be no immunity... Saleh and his cronies must face trial"
The GCC deal has only stalled the revolution and cost Yemen an economic and humanitarian crisis which keeps deteriorating by the day. Yemenis are suffering from shortages in electricity, cooking gas, fuel and water. More than 800 protesters have been killed since January and around 2500 have been wounded. According to government sources, 1480 have been killed. In short, the "bloody" GCC deal simply bought Saleh time on the expense of the Yemeni people. It didn't call for reconstructing the army, removing Saleh's family from power nor removing the corrupt regime. It only allows their survival and is therefore REJECTED!
We demand a swift and firm UN resolution that stops the bloodshed in Yemen by freezing Saleh's assets and referring him to the International Criminal Court.
We are starting an online campaign to express our rejection and say #No2GCCdeal.
Support us by using the hashtag on twitter, like our FB page and read the storify
Related link:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/11/22/yemen-will-saleh-sign-the-gcc-deal-youth-oppose/
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