Residents in Aden (for a while I tried to hide where I live but then realized that it must be pretty obvious from what I say. Anyway,) have been breaking out their sidewalk chalk recently. However, more than doodling rainbows and sunsets on the sidewalk, they have been staking claims to undeveloped plots of land, land that they claim northerners unlawfully took and sold after the civil war. Chalk lines and rock outline of plots can been seen all over Aden, even up the sides of some hills. The ground looks a bit like an unused color by numbers.
I see this as a remarkable statement about the situation in Yemen. Southerns seem to not be afraid of northern retribution and must have the sense that the time is coming when they can reclaim their land from those in the regime that took it.
In general, I think Yemen has a difficult time ahead of it. There are sustained protests in Taiz and Sana'a that are increasingly clashing with the police. The sense is that Yemen has passed a tipping point - there is no going back to life as usual without change. It is not clear still however, what that change will look like. The protesters and opposition have rejected all proposals for dialogue, demanding the resignation of the president and a removal of his family from positions of power.
Given the degree to which Yemenis possess firearms, I doubt the regime will try to use the army to suppress the people on a full scale as in Libya. The advantages that Qaddafi enjoys in Libya such as tanks could be matched by the possessed fire power of the people. That's a scary thought. Perhaps though it means Yemen will be spared the horror being committed in Libya.
This will likely be my last post from Yemen as I will be leaving soon. I will do my best to keep writing about Yemen related issues but I can't make any promises.
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