Monday Papers: or today’s bad news

Two deaths today during a funeral procession in Lahj for demonstrators that were killed last week. Al-Sahawa has the names of the deceased and some rather gruesome pictures.

The bad news does not stop there. ‘Abd al-Karim al-Iryani is warning of a severe drought:

“Poverty is a twin brother of terrorism in Yemen, where being a member of al Qaeda is an attractive paying job,” he declared, adding that unemployment now exceeded 30 percent.”

Despite allegations brought out in court over the weekend, Yemen’s FM, al-Qirbi, is still claiming that Yemen has a good relationship with Iran, in this wide-ranging if shallow interview with al-Sharq al-Awsat. It is unclear exactly who al-Qirbi thinks the regime is going to have a dialogue with if it insists on having it in the way he suggests in the interview.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat does pull off a minor coup with this story, which is datelined from Sa’dah. The first such piece I have seen in quite a while. I don’t think anyone is holding their breath that the government’s call for the Huthi’s to exchange their guns for pencils and their mines for trees is really going to take. Disarming the population is not really a solution to the problem, nor is it really feasible and both sides are well aware of this.

The GCC is pledging support for Yemen’s security, but it is far from clear what form that support will take. Meanwhile, Khaled al-Hammadi heads south to report from the frontlines in Radfan, although his story was written before today’s clashes.

Finally, anyone know what happened to al-Ghad?