Continuing Tensions in Yemen

Clashes broke out in the Yemeni capital May 23, the day after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh refused for the third time to sign an accord mediated by the Gulf Cooperation Council that would require him to step down within 30 days. The opposition has an opportunity to escalate its campaign, but it lacks the overwhelming popular and military support needed to remove Saleh by force. Saudi Arabia, unable to mediate an orderly political transition yet unwilling to fully support a democratic uprising so close to its borders, lacks a clear strategy in resolving the Yemen problem.