Snipers, shelling and gunfire killed at least five people in the Yemeni capital yesterday, violating a truce reached a day earlier between state troops and defecting soldiers who joined protesters.
Civil war is looming in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country over Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s refusal to leave power after eight months of popular revolt. He is in neighbouring Saudi Arabia recovering from a June assassination attempt that left him with serious burns.
Chaos could offer fertile ground to al-Qaeda’s aggressive Yemen wing, which in the past few months has seized cities in a province just east of a key oil shipping channel.
One person was killed by snipers walking along the streets of Change Square, the name protesters have given their 4km (2.5-mile) encampment, where for eight months they have demanded an end to Mr Saleh’s autocratic 33-year rule.
Residents of Hayel Street, adjacent to the area where the victim was walking, say they believe it is full of snipers who have left them trapped inside their homes.
“We’re too afraid to go out even to go to the store,” said one resident.
Yesterday’s killings raised the death toll to 75 in four days of bloodshed, shattering a prolonged, uneasy stalemate that was set in place during fitful efforts to mediate the crisis.
Gulf Co-operation Council secretary general Abdbullatif al-Zayani left Sanaa empty-handed yesterday after two days striving to get a transfer of power pact signed to defuse the succession crisis.
State news agency Saba quoted him as saying he would have to wait until conditions were favourable to achieve this, suggesting that the two sides were no closer to agreement.
Under the deal brokered by wealthy Gulf neighbours anxious to restore calm in Yemen, Mr Saleh would hand over power in a matter of months. He has backed out of it three times.
US president Barack Obama told the UN General Assembly yesterday that Yemeni “women and children gather by the thousands in towns and city squares every day with the hope that their determination and spilled blood will prevail over a corrupt system”.
He added: “America supports their aspirations. We must work with Yemen’s neighbours and our partners around the world to seek a path that allows for a peaceful transition of power from President Saleh and a movement to free and fair elections as soon as possible.”
Government troops and forces loyal to a senior general who defected from Mr Saleh in March had effectively divided Sanaa between themselves recently.
However, protesters losing patience after months of political deadlock upset the balance on Sunday by marching into territory controlled by pro-Saleh troops. They were met with heavy gunfire that killed 26 protesters.