Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, portrayed on Press TV News Analysis program discussing the political crisis in the Middle Eastern nation of Yemen. Azikiwe is a frequent guest on world satellite news networks., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
'US supported Yemen’s sham election'
Thu Mar 1, 2012 1:7PM GMT
To watch the brief interview with political commentator and Pan-African News Wire editor Abayomi Azikiwe on the Press TV News Analysis program from Feb. 29, 2012, just click on the URL below:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/229419.html
The United States has played a crucial role in Yemen’s sham election, giving “diplomatic cover and economic assistance” to the supposed alteration in Yemen leadership, an analyst tells Press TV.
The comment comes as Yemen has witnessed a one-man show election, in which the only candidate UK-trained army Field Marshal Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi won the votes and became the country’s new president.
The US-Saudi backed election was planned to keep Saleh’s regime in place and to put an end to the popular revolution of the country and avert it from spreading to the neighboring countries, such as Saudi Arabia.
Press TV has talked with political commentator, Abayomi Azikiwe from Detroit to further discuss the matter.
The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Abayomi Azikiwe, we talked about how Yemeni sovereignty perhaps is being violated and this is to remain so under US control. An example of this is represented by John O’Brennan, President Obama’s chief counter terrorism adviser on the US’s new plan in Yemen, where the administration is going to pay Yemeni troops directly rather than through their commanders since the current system has spawned corruption and shift its soldiers loyalty to individual commanders rather than to the government.
Spell that out for us, what does that mean? That the US is going to pay the ones that are in lesser positions of which the ones in higher positions are Saleh’s nephews, half brothers, etc.
Is not this a recipe for disaster and of course interference in another country’s affairs?
Azikiwe: Yes, it already is a disaster in terms of the US foreign policy not only towards Yemen but also towards the entire region. The Obama administration was heavily involved in this whole staged process of transition.
They of course gave diplomatic cover, economic assistance as well as political support to this purported transformation in the leadership in Yemen to replace Saleh with Hadi, who was the former field marshal for many years and vice president, and was trained by the British.
And also it’s very important to recognize that the Obama administration praised the so-called transition in Yemen where Hadi received almost a hundred percent of the votes in the national referendum.
At the same time as Lizzie Phelan [another speaker on the show] pointed out, in Syria there was a referendum a few days ago and it was automatically condemned by the US State Department.
So, I think that is the reason why people are standing outside the US embassy in Yemen; burning the US flag, condemning the US government for their involvement in the internal affairs of their country.
Also the whole question of oil, I think, is important too, because it is not just al-Qaeda that is in opposition to the government, we have had the strikes in the southern part of the country in the oil industry.
One of the oil fields; the state-owned Petro Masila that produces seven thousand barrels per day of oil, the workers have been on the strike there demanding higher pay and better working conditions. This company is linked to a Canadian-based oil firm.
So, we have to keep in mind the role of the international petroleum industry in this whole conflict which of course Saudi Arabia and the United Sates are heavily involved in, as well.
So, I believe it is a disastrous situation for the United States and there is no way out for them because they have not in fact taken an objective view towards Yemen or other countries in the region.
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