By BRADLEY KLAPPER
WASHINGTON (AP) The Obama administration sought Wednesday to avoid undermining an embattled ally in Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, offering no prediction whether Saleh could ride out spirited street protests to remain in power and refusing to acknowledge any contingency plans in case he is removed.
The caution from top officials such as Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton represented a careful balancing act for the administration. The U.S. does not want to add pressure on Saleh, who has proven himself a key partner in the fight against al-Qaida, even as American officials have become increasingly perturbed by the harshness of his government's crackdown on peaceful protesters.
In Cairo for meetings, Gates said that while things are unsettled in Yemen, it was too early to know the outcome. He stressed that the United States had a good relationship with Saleh, whose offer to step down at year-end after more than three decades in power has been rejected by the opposition. And, Gates said, the administration had not formulated an approach to the country for when the aged president leaves office.
That message was echoed in Washington by Clinton, however unlikely it seemed that the U.S. government had conducted no planning for how it might react to Saleh's departure from Yemen, a main counterterrorism battleground.
"We're not going to make predictions about what will happen in Yemen," Clinton said after meeting Morocco's foreign minister. "We support dialogue as a path to a peaceful solution to Yemen's current political situation that includes genuine participation by all sides."
That dialogue has yet to begin in the country on the Arabian Peninsula. The crisis intensified Wednesday as Yemen's parliament granted Saleh's request for sweeping emergency laws that include new powers of arrest, detention and censorship to quash the popular uprising demanding his removal. The move escalated the showdown between Saleh and a movement that now includes top military commanders, religious leaders and protesting youth.
Rival factions of the military have deployed tanks in the capital, Sanaa. In the most brutal show of force against anti-government demonstrators, security forces shot dead more than 40 protesters on Friday.
The violence and instability are causing unease in Washington. For two years, the Obama administration had a relationship of convenience with Yemen, keeping its government armed and flush with cash in return for assistance against al-Qaida. And after seeing longtime allies in Tunisia and Egypt chased from power in popular revolts, the U.S. has sought to cajole Saleh into promising the types of reforms that might appease frustrated youths and others in the Arab world's most impoverished country, while maintaining stability and continuity in the fight against Islamic extremists.
Asked if the administration had a strategy in place in case Saleh was ousted, State Department spokesman Mark Toner was careful not to contradict his superiors. But he stressed that "our interests in Yemen go beyond specific individuals."
"We along with the people and the government of Yemen have a strong interest in combating terrorism," Toner told reporters. U.S.-Yemen relations "go beyond one individual; they are government-to-government."
The Obama administration considers the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula offshoot to be the most serious terror threat to the United States. The group nearly succeeded in bombing U.S. cargo jets last year and a passenger airliner on Christmas 2009.
___
Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Cairo contributed to this report.
6 comments:
cambodia is not libya, you know! please don't ignorant!
To be honest If there is no 7 January I and my families are death by Khmer Rough already. I know Hun Sen is not perfect Prime Minister Of Cambodia but I have to give him this credit. Under khmer rough I and my families worked extremely hard and no food to eat because all the rice that we grown khmer rough gave all to China.
I would like to thanks Hun Sen for saving my life and my families.
Because of Hun Sen that's why I could send all my 6 children to Harvard Universith at America for their bright education in economic, finance, Actuary study, law and software engineering develoment courses at Harvard University. Thanks to my children that they study very hard. One of my child is getting his PhD in Autuary study at Harvard university this year. Another one of my second older child is doing his PhD in economic at Harvard Uni too. the last four are closing to graduate.
I am a CPP member and I proud of it.
If you look at King families, relative they are brainless in education. Our CPP member don't have bright education in university because at that time we have no chance but today we support our children to get PhD from all most every famous university around the world.
Cheers guys!
Dear 7:33 AM
I applaud you for your success and your sensible plan to send your children abroad to achieve PhD's. I do not disagree with you about the second chance at life because H.E. Hun Sen had garnered military aid from Vietnam to topple Pol Pot.
However, we, Khmer, should not ignore the fact that Vietnam is advancing its plan to swallow Cambodia completely. It sounds like you are very wealthy. Thus, you could have the benefit of the privileged life. But, this does not mean we should turn a blind eye on millions of the Khmer poor who have been victimized repeatedly by corruption, abuse of power, injustice, etc...
Please remember we Khmer should not make enemy with one another regardless of our political affiliations. Our real enemy is Yuon or Vietnam who is very clever in manipulating us to destroy each other.
Again, congratulation on your success, your children's achievement, and your liberty.
Sincere regards,
Damaged Soul.
of course not, everybody starts from somewhere, somehow, really! how else can we help others, if we are not strong, and educated ourselves first, you know! they say help yourself first, before you can help others in need, ok! if that's not the case, then you can't help others if you are weak and incapable, really! all common sense, too, you know!
stop using dictatorship to abuse and attack cambodia, ok! for your information, cambodia is no longer a dictator country, ok! get educated already, ok!
dictator is a dirty word now, it used to be communist. it's just an excuse to hate or attack somebody they don't like, really! i think smart people know better than this!
Post a Comment