The Nigerian student Omer al-Farok's attempt to blow the passenger plane on Christmas eve in 2009, had been the straw that broke the camels' back regarding the American's vision towards former President Saleh rule.

From that point the American Administration started adopting new strategies in dealing with the regime, which appeared to be on the verge of collapse, requiring an efforts to rescue it or to embark on a surgical change measures, even if the alternative is to be the son of the president, among other options.

A call for Yemen friends' conference immediately started in agreement with the British Labor PM Gordon Brown, at Foreign Ministers' level in London at the end of 2010. Saleh's regime couldn't help but to attend, after heated debates within his corridors as a result of surprise, especially with the announcement of Brown that the regime in Yemen has become a failure.
It was decided to participate in the conference with a high level delegation led by Ali Mujawar the then Prime Minister, who gave a speech that revealed the economic, development and services gaps that Yemen is suffering, where the speeches of the participating foreign ministers focused mainly on the need for rescuing Yemen from its adverse economic and political situations, giving little attention to terrorism and al-Qaeda in Yemen, which was in itself a surprise.

However the conference came out with a decision to stop the sixth war with Houthis as well as the need for taking measures for agreement with the opposition and the southern movement, with focus on fighting al-Qaeda and terrorism as conditions for the flow of assistance.
It was agreed that a ministerial conference would be held in the Saudi capital Riyadh, within two months where the Yemeni government would have accomplished its commitments, and the Riyadh conference would form a fund for supporting development in Yemen.

What should have been achieved in two months, took Saleh's regime eight months, including an agreement with the JMP, regarding the new mechanisms for holding the parliamentary elections which were scheduled in April 2011.

The slow performance was annoying to the sponsoring countries of Yemen friends. They met again in New York on sidelines of the UN annual meetings, and set new items that should be implemented before a meeting for the establishment of the fund for development support, in Riyadh in early 2011. Among the new items is the one regarding transparency in the fight against corruption in the oil sector. It is one of the items that put the regime in a critical angle and it achieved little or nothing in that regard.

Meanwhile President Saleh insisted on Obama Administration to receive him, while the Administration kept on evading , because it knows that the reason behind the visit is to gain points of support against the internal opposition, as well as obtaining new American military assistance for a slack war against al-Qaeda.

In light of the insistence, the American Secretary of state, Hilary Clinton arrived in Sana'a in a surprise visit to pressure Saleh to meet the requirements for the holding of the next meeting of Yemen friends. She also urged him to converge with the opposition, especially after announcing his intention to amend the constitution by resetting the presidency meter so as to open the way for him for new presidential periods, in a move for the succession of his son.
She also invited Saleh to visit Washington so as meet President Obama in February 2011.

Saleh was annoyed at the allocation of Clinton to some of her time to meet with the JMP leaders and several of the civil society leaders, that are classified as opponents to the regime. It was then said that Clinton had discussed with the JMP the potential alternatives for Saleh.
Despite the occurrence of the visit amid the climax of the Tunisian revolution, however no one was expecting the boisterous fall of Bin Ali within days from the visit.

Before the advent of the early days of 2011, the American Administration apologized from receiving President Saleh because it didn't want to strengthen him in the face of the gathering uprising that increases day by day.

Obama administration knew that a valuable opportunity had come to it for getting rid of Saleh's rule through the support of the people's aspiration which coincided with their goals.
If the Yemen friends had come to a conclusion since late 2009 that the continuation of Saleh in power exposes the security, unity and stability of Yemen and the region to risks, the Yemeni peoples aspirations went in the same direction, and it was awaiting only the arrangement of his departure so as to avoid the likely side conflicts and the possibilities of civil war.
Since the Karama crime on March 18, 2011, the American Administration had taken its final decision to turn over Saleh's page in power, and to go ahead for arranging for it and prepare for the next. Washington had become the major international part in the change process, as well as Riyadh which was the regional major part, so as to guarantee the accomplishment of the goals of the peaceful popular Yemeni revolution.

The Americans knew that the desired change in Yemen should be radical, so as to be a model for the third world and not only the Arab world.

The change won't be radical unless a thorough change takes place, uprooting the ruling system that created anarchy and corruption, which are the two reasons for the spread of terror, the armed protesting movements, the collapse of the state's dignity and rule of law as well as taking Yemen to the verge of entire failure. This requires the departure of the ruling family and all the extraordinary influential figures, who led Saleh and the country to this difficult situation.
The Americans know that the process of army restructure will be articulate in power transfer, and the establishment of the power of the elected President Abu Rabo Mansur Hadi, whose position at the top of power together with the Reconciliation Government, the corner stone for future American relations with Yemen, after their perceived certainty that Saleh and his relatives in the armed forces are no longer able to provide the basic  security and stability elements for Yemen.
 

 

nasrtahamustafa@yahoo.com