The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Initiative - Revisit

About two months ago, I wrote an article about the Gulf Coordination Council (GCC) initiaitive and here we're revisiting the GCC deal that we got stuck with since April of 2011.

I don't know about you, with all due respect to the citizens of Saudi Arabia, I call the GCC initiative, "KSA Royal Family Initiative". The initiative/deal was proposed by the KSA Royal Family and the rest of Gulf Countries were dragged into it. Either way, let's take closer look at it... 

On Thursday, November 10th, the United Nations envoy Jamal Benomar arrived in the capital of Yemen, Sanaa, to negotiate a handover of power in hopes of ending the ongoing protests calling for immediate step-down of President Saleh. Now, you are probably thinking, it's great if Saleh and the Ruling Party, GPC, sign the GCC initiative, problem solved!!! You might want to think about it twice because signing the GCC initiative works in favor of Saleh's regime. What about the Youth and their demands? The term "Youth" shall mean the brave men and women camping in the sit-ins and those supporting the peaceful revolution to bring down the corrupt regime.

Aljazeera reported, Yemeni government officials told the Associated Press that if Benomar's trip is successful, Saleh would issue a decree handing over all powers to Vice President Hadi who would then sign an April Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative to name an opposition politician to form a new national unity government to prepare for early elections.

Analysis:

On May 20th, two days after the largest massacre committed by Saleh's security forces and snipers against peaceful protesters, leaving at least 52 people dead, Commander of First Armored Division, General Ali Moshen Al-Ahmar defected. Things were moving fast and in favor of the revolution. Saudi Arabia realized Saleh's regime was about to fall. 

On April 6th, a proposed initiative, lead by Saudi Arabia, was introduced to end Yemen's crisis. Even though it was in favor of President Saleh and the Ruling Party, General People's Congress (GPC), the opposition (JMP) agreed to it and signed it.   

Many of us know that the government of Saudi Arabia has influence on Yemen government as well as some tribe leaders. Having stability and civil state in Yemen is considered a great danger to the Kingdom next door! So our neighbor, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), will do everything they can to insure, the person to rule Yemen is puppet to them, not necessarily President Saleh. Basically, the GCC initiative from day one was a trap to slow down Youth efforts and help Saleh remain in power. 

Considering Saleh, the Ruling Party (GPC) and the opposition (JMP), all signed the GCC initiative, it would only mean ONE-DEMAND has been met, which is removal of Saleh from power. In my opinion, signing the GCC deal will make it more challenging for the Yemeni people to get their demands met, why? Simply, by having a unity government, it means instead of just dealing with Saleh's regime, we'll be faced with the opposition (JMP) and Saleh's regime.

My guess, Saleh is willing to sign the GCC deal and step down if the GCC initiative guarantees at least the followings: 

• Immunity from prosecution for him, his family and relatives
• Maintaining his son Ahmed and nephews in charge of the Armed Forces

To me, agreeing to the above conditions mean a failure to the revolution because Saleh's relatives were the ones who ordered the killings of hundreds of innocent yemeni civilians and should be accountable for their brutal actions. How could today's killers be tomorrow's heroes!  

It's time to put our efforts together for better tomorrow and think not about oneself but Yemen as a whole!     

#SupportYemen