al-Awlaki's death - a winning card for Yemeni president Saleh?

The death of Anwar al-Awlaki plays into the hands of PresidentAli Abdullah Saleh, writes Afrah Nasser, freelance journalist and blogger fromYemen. As Saleh grasps the opportunity to present himself as the best fighteragainst al-Qaeda, he uses the fight against terrorism as an excuse for notresigning.

Embattled president Saleh returned to Yemen on 24th ofSeptember aftermore than three months of medical treatment in Saudi Arabia where he recoveredfrom injuries he endured when he was attacked at his presidential palace onJune 1st. Before and after his return bloodshed swept the country leaving morethan one thousand people killed and thousands wounded over clashes by hisforces; the Republican Guards headed by his son Ahmed Saleh, against peacefulanti-government protesters who have been rallying; protesting and demanding totopple Saleh’s regime since the end of February 2011. His problematic returnsparked nothing but more political and security turmoil whereas it could havebeen a chance for him to end his rule and resign.

For the past couple days, a massive media attention wasgiven to the death of the Yemeni-American, Anwar al-Awlaki; the so-called leaderof al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Yemen. On September 30th, al-Awlaki was killed by Joint Special OperationsCommand between the CIA and Yemen’s government at Yemen’s soil. According to the US, al-Awlaki was a majorrecruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the al-Qaeda.Interestingly enough, al-Awlaki’s death came in a very interesting timing. Onthe same day, a recent interview of Saleh made with the Washington Post and theTimes was published and Saleh put emphasis on his fight against terrorism withthe US. Certainly, that was not a coincidence. It held a number ofsignifications.

But first; here is a brief summary of Saleh’s history withfighting terror along with the US. The US-Saleh relation with fighting al-Qaedagoes back to the early years of the George Bush administration when Saleh vowedto diminish terrorism; thus he annually received 150 million dollars from theUS to enhance the government's ability in fighting terror; and he welcomed theUS to have military bases on Yemen’s soil. This was very important for the twocountry’s relationship after it was deteriorating when Saleh became an ally toSaddam Hussein, Iraq’s late president, during the Gulf war.

Returning to the significations of the timing of al-Awlaki’sdeath; the question rising is; does Saleh use al-Awlaki's death as a winningcard over his opponents and the uprising? Definitely, yes! He has been workingcontinuously since the beginning of the uprising on the notion that he’s thebest fighter against al-Qaeda and whoever comes next would never live up to hisjob. In addition, he is persuading the world that only chaos would take placeafter his resignation. This is not the first time that he uses his fightagainst terrorism as an excuse for not resigning. On September 11th, hisgovernment announced seizing back a Yemeni province that was allegedly beentrapped in terrorist groups’ hands.

The fundamental signification of al-Awlaki death’s timing isthat; Saleh is sending a message that the people’s uprising against him willfail because the country and the region needs such a great terrorism-fightersimilar to him! Saleh has always been taking advantage of this fault propagandaof al-Qaeda in Yemen. He used it to receive massive aid. And now he’s using itto put an obstacle against his opponents and the protest against him.

Though, that’s not the real reason of why Yemenis uprisingis taking a great amount of time. The real obstacle against Yemen’s uprising isthe KSA (Kingdomof Saudi Arabia) andthe US’s engagement with Saleh. The KSA would never accept and facilitate anyrevolutionary act in the region since it could extremely jeopardize its royal status. In March 2011, Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain to oppressBahraini protesters. In Yemen, they have been catering to Saleh and nevercondemning Saleh’s savage killing machine against peaceful protesters aroundthe country.

Yemen's uprising is still taking place and it needs aclosure; similar to the scenarios that happened in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.Yemen will make it eventually – the uprisings in Yemenand the whole Arab region have reached the point of no return.

Afrah Nasser is a freelance journalist and blogger fromYemen, now living in Sweden. Read her blogg here.