Yemen Live Blog - March 22

Yemen Live Blog - March 22

As the Yemen uprising escalates, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe. Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

• Timestamp: 

  10:00pm

  Reuters - Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh, invites young people to join what is described as a "transparent and open dialogue".

  "President Ali Abdullah Saleh is truly sympathetic with the youth and is interested in their problems and causes," state media reports, citing an official source.

  "The president calls the youth to a transparent, sincere and open dialogue."

• Timestamp: 

  7:09pm

  Al Jazeera receives reports of clashes in the southern Yemeni town of Hadida, between members of the presidential guard and a military battalion which defected to support anti-government protesters.

  It is believed at least two people have been killed in the fighting.

• Timestamp: 

  6:16pm

  Arab League representatives meeting in the Egyptian capital condemn  "crimes against civilians" in Yemen and urge the government to deal with the people's demands in a "peaceful manner".

  The Arab League "strongly condemns the crimes committed against civilians, and calls for concerted efforts to safeguard national unity and the right to free expression," they said in a statement.

  They also called for "dialogue and democratic methods to deal with the demands of the Yemeni people in a peaceful manner"

• Timestamp: 

  5.33pm

  Reuters - Liquefied natural gas producer Yemen LNG tells customers that unrest in the country could lead to supply disruptions.

• Timestamp: 

  4:54pm

  Reuters - Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, says he is concerned about instability in Yemen but declined to say whether Yemen's leader should step down immediately.

  Asked whether the United States still supported Saleh or if it was time for him to go, Gates said: "I don't think it's my place to talk about internal affairs in Yemen."

  "We are obviously concerned about the instability in Yemen.

• Timestamp: 

  4:14pm

   

  Reuters - Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh told army commanders that the current crisis is being escalated by the media.

  ''The nation is facing a crisis and this crisis has been escalating for two years, which has caused congestion among different political forces and reached a climax and tension," he said on speech boradcast on state television.
  
  It also led to the creation of an internal and external agenda against the military institution. Media plays an important role. People only watch satellite channels, they only respond to information from them [and] they also take decisions based on what they see on these channels."

   

• Timestamp: 

  4:10pm

  Reuters - A coalition of Yemeni opposition groups reject Saleh's offer an offer to leave office after organising parliamentary elections by January 2012. 

  "The opposition rejects the offer as the coming hours will be decisive," said Mohammed al-Sabry, spokesman for the main umbrella opposition group

• Timestamp: 

  3.55pm

  Reuters - Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, will leave says he will leave office after organising parliamentary elections by January 2012, refusing to hand over power without knowing who would succeed him, an aide has said.

  "President Ali Abdullah Saleh said he will hand over power through [parliamentary] elections and the formation of democratic institutions at the end of 2011 or January 2012," Saleh's media secretary Ahmed al-Sufi said. 

  "Ali Abdullah Saleh does not seek power. Ali Abdullah Saleh will not leave without knowing who he is handing over to."

• Timestamp: 

  3:00pm

  Yassin Noman, rotating head of Yemen's opposition coalition, said Saleh should avoid a violent fight to remain in power that could tear the country apart and lead to more instability.

  "He shouldn't follow the style of (Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi by destroying the country and killing people. After this long term of governing, he should say: Thank you my people, I leave you peacefully," Noman said.

  I know the morality of Yemeni people. If he left peacefully, they will look at him as a real leader. He will be able to live wherever he likes. They will ensure him a very nice life. His dignity will be kept.

• Timestamp: 

  2:18am

  Two soldiers have died in clashes between Yemen's regular army and the Republican Guard, elite forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in the southeastern city of Mukalla, medics said.

  Witnesses said the two forces clashed near a presidential palace in Mukallah late on Monday.

  "The bodies of two soldiers, one of a soldier with the army and another of a member of the Republican Guard, were brought in" to a hospital in Mukalla, the medics said.

• Timestamp: 

  2:00pm

  In a speech to tribal leaders in Sanaa, many of whom say they back the protesters, Saleh repeated his civil war warning and added that the country could face distintegration.

  "You have an agenda to tear down the country, the country will be divided into three instead of two halfs. A southern part, northern part and a middle part. This is what is being sought by defectors against the unity," he said, referring to northern Shi'ite fighters and al Qaeda.

• Timestamp: 

  1:32pm

  Yemeni president Saleh says in a speech to army commanders that efforts to seize power via a "coup" will lead to civil war.

  Those who want to climb up to power through coups should know that this is out of the question. The homeland will not be stable, there will be a civil war, a bloody war. They should carefully consider this.

• Timestamp: 

  1:30pm

  Journalists at the 14 October state-run newspaper in the main southern city of Aden have joined anti-regime protesters and decided to cease publishing the paper, one of them said.

  The decision was taken to "protest against instructions from the Ministry of Information" determining the newspaper's editorial line, one journalist said.

  He added that Ahmed Hobayshi, the head of the publishing company that prints the paper, decided to stop printing and distribution operations as a sign of solidarity with the journalists.

• Timestamp: 

  1:25pm

  Bulgaria's foreign ministry has condemned attacks against civilians in Yemen, urging swift elections and constitutional changes to stave off looming "lawlessness."

  "We insist on an immediate cessation of all acts of violence against civilians," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Vesela Cherneva said in a statement.

  The chances for dialogue towards reconciliation and reforms between the government and the opposition are growing weaker by the hour and Yemen is quickly falling into lawlessness.

• Timestamp: 

  1:02pm

  Yemen's leader says he is ready to step down by year-end, vows not to hand power to military.

• Timestamp: 

  12:30pm

  Yemeni ambassadors to Pakistan, Qatar, Oman and Spain as well as the Yemeni consul in Dubai have decided to back anti-regime protesters, Gulf News daily reported.

  After our long waiting for our homeland's voice and interest to win, we declare our total support to the youth and their demands

• Timestamp: 

  12:20pm

  High profile members of Yemen's military have defected to support the anti-government protesters. Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher has the latest in this report:

• Timestamp: 

  11:29am

  Yemeni and Saudi leaders are engaged in mediation efforts to hold early presidential elections in Yemen. Media source in Riyadh said that the Yemeni foreign minister in the care-taker government has returned to Sanaa after delivering a message from the Yemeni president to the Saudi king last night.

  Diplomatic sources said the Yemeni president requested Saudi help in reaching out to the leaders of the opposition. There were reports that the Yemeni president may offer to step down in six month in return for a “period of calm” agreed upon by all sides.

• Timestamp: 

  11:01am

  BBC Arabic radio says that the clashes took place between Republican guard units loyal to president’s son and military units loyal to resigned Major General, Ali Mohsen.

  They says at least 3 soldiers were injured in the attacks, and that military units were seen today in Sanaa around major sites, such as central bank and the department of defence building.

• Timestamp: 

  10:35am

  An army officer and three soliders were injured in clashes between a military unit and a republican guard unit in the city of Al Mukalla, in Yemen's Hadramaut province. A number of tanks gave been deployed to the entrance and main roads of the city.

• Timestamp: 

  9:56am

  Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh met with defence force officials in Sanaa yesterday:

  

• Timestamp: 

  8:16am

  Gunmen attacked Al Jazeera's offices in the capital Sanaa and fled with some of the equipment. 

• Timestamp: 

  7:31am

  Anti-government protesters wear helmets to protect themselves from rocks during clashes with supporters of Yemen's President's Ali Abdullah Saleh near a rally square in Sanaa.

  

• Timestamp: 

  6:01am

  Four out of the six staff members at the Yemeni embassy in Washington are saying they no longer support President Saleh and are siding with the people. 

   But one political officer, Khaled M Alkathiri,  told Al Jazeera that doesn't necessarily mean he backs the opposition movement.

  What's going on in Yemen is not about opposition parties. It's about those young people in the university, militants, and a lot of people so the opposition is not the one who's leading this. It's a national movement, it's everybody protesting and we've joined that.

  I'm still in my office, I'm doing my job because we're serving the Yemeni people. Yes, we are representing the government but at the same time we're representing Yemeni people. The government of Yemen changes from time to time but the diplomatic corps are still there." 

• Timestamp: 

  3:39pm

  Khaled Ismail al-Akwa'a, Yemen's ambassador to France, is one of several to sign a letter to President Saleh, urging him to resign. He says that unless there is a quick and peaceful transition of power, Yemen will go into a "very serious situation".

• Timestamp: 

  2:52am

  Gunmen have stormed the offices of Al Jazeera in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, seizing broadcasting equipment. More information soon.

• Timestamp: 

  12:50am

  Our correspondent John Terrett, reporting from Washington, said Al Jazeera has learned in the last few hours that four out of six diplomats at the Yemen embassy in DC have "sided with the people":

  I want to make this clear: I spoke to the political officer at the embassy this morning - Khaled Al Kathiri - and he said that what he and his four colleagues are doing is: they are not resigning their jobs, they are not joining the opposition, but they are siding with the Yemeni people in their call for Saleh to stand aside and for the reforms to be allowed to go ahead."

• Timestamp: 

  12:45am

  The White House has told the Yemeni government that the crackdown on protesters is quote "unacceptable".

  The Obama administration has issued a number of statements in the past month condemning the violence.  But it has also called for the opposition to enter into dialogue with the government - and it has not called for president Saleh to step down.

  Speaking earlier Mark Toner, a US state department spokesman, said Washington has given a clear message to Yemeni officials:

  We are obviously very concerned about the violence in Yemen. The president condemned it on Friday. 

  "We've made it quite clear that any Yemeni government needs to refrain from violence against nonviolent peaceful protesters. And any government has to support political change that meets the aspirations of the Yemeni people."

• Timestamp: 

  12:29am

  Our live blog on Yemen continues here for March 22. To look back on the events of yesterday, check out our March 21st blog here.