Obama, Clinton wait stupidly in US foreign policy melt-down

Heavy clashes erupt in Yemen
Posted on » 2011-05-25

Sanaa
Yemeni loyalist forces fought street battles with guards from a powerful tribal federation whose leader has sided with protesters demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule, witnesses said yesterday.

At least four gunmen were killed in the clashes, which dimmed prospects for a political solution to a transition of power tussle following a nearly four-month-old revolt inspired by protests that swept aside the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.
“The clashes were violent. The sound of machinegun and mortar fire could be heard everywhere. I saw smoke rising from the entrance of the interior ministry,” one witness said.

The shooting, in the sandbagged streets surrounding a fortified mansion belonging to the wealthy and politically powerful Al Ahmar clan, pitted loyalist forces against guards of Sadiq Al Ahmar, head of the Hashed tribal federation from which Saleh also hails.
Four tribal guards were killed, and six other people were wounded, an opposition leader said. Fighting in the same area of the capital on Monday killed seven people, among them a bystander, a police officer and five tribal gunmen.

The government accused Ahmar’s men of igniting the clashes on Monday by firing on a school and the headquarters of state news agency Saba. Ahmar’s office said government forces opened fire when his guards prevented them from entering a school where Ahmar said Saleh loyalists were stockpiling weapons.

Early on Tuesday, tribal mediators were holding talks in the Ahmar house to try to bring an end to the fighting, a source in Sadeq al-Ahmar’s office said. But the government said the mediation had not brought a resolution. …more