Sanaa summer

The protests in Yemen started off as they had done elsewhere in the Middle East: people called for the resignation of Ali Abdullah Saleh,an end to his 32-year presidency. Saleh has refused to budge and the complex mosaic of Yemeni politics has drawn in armed tribes and militias who now battle for power in Yemens streets. Street battles reached fever pitch with a rebel attack on Salehs presidential compound. The president and members of his cabinet have been injured and are undergoing medical treatment in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

The past four months have seen initiatives being launched by the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC. Saleh was offered an immunity deal for a peaceful transition of power. The opposition,the Joint Meeting Party,signed the deal three times but Saleh buckled each time. Now with the president out of the country,demand for a formal takeover of power by the acting president,Abed Rabbo Hadi,has become loud. This would pave the way for Salehs exit and for the GCC initiative to come into play. Calls have been sounded from Washington to Riyadh for Saleh to step down mediators are currently in Yemen working on a deal. But the power vacuum he has left behind has allowed for armed tribes to derail the revolution.

Saleh once said,Ruling Yemen is like dancing on snakes heads. For much of his tenure,he has battled an insurgency in the north,a secessionist movement in the south and the looming spectre of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula franchise. Now in the absence of a leader,powerful tribes are vying for power. In a country where one in every six men possesses a firearm,the number of dead has steadily increased. A power vacuum in Yemen is a dangerous development.