Yemen, reflections on last Thursday

Quello che è successo giovedi scorso è stata una tragedia. Il terrorismo in sé e per sé è un enorme problema, ma la brutalità e la barbarie di questo attacco sono - come hanno dichiarato diversi commentatori -  senza precedenti in Yemen. Al-Qaeda ha rilasciato una dichiarazione negando la sua partecipazione all'azione.
L'attacco è stato inizialmente progettato per assassinare il presidente Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDCZ3vEt2Dg
 

Little did he know that the criminals would carry out their plan anyway. If they couldn’t get the president, they would create as much damage as possible—taking innocent lives.

The terrorists went from floor to floor, opening fire at patients, doctors, visitors and anyone in their way. They even went into operating rooms and killed the medical staff performing surgeries and the patients under the knife.

People who survived the tragedy said the debris came from below and above and they thought it was judgment day.

President Hadi visited the scene and commanded the defense operations first hand from the site of the attack. He stayed until the early hours of the next day. He proved to be courageous, albeit reckless, and sent a reassuring message to all Yemenis: when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

As a military man, he did the right thing. But if something had happened to him, I don’t know what we would have done. According to the constitution, if there is no deputy president, as is the case today, the speaker of parliament becomes president. I would hate for that to happen, he would be the worst leader for Yemen.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, when the dust had settled, I was shocked to learn that—unlike their male colleagues, the two female doctors who were killed in the attack were denied the honor of being buried in the Martyrs Cemetery. I knew women in Yemen were discriminated against but never imagined that the discrimination would follow us to our grave, literally.

Investigations are ongoing and new security measures are in place at key places. We lost many Yemeni lives and lost many of our international friends, who risked their lives to come to Yemen to help us. The silver lining is that what does not kill us as a nation, only makes us stronger. The country survived last Thursday and will come out stronger against terrorism and those who use it.

Last Thursday’s event shocked Yemenis and made them reconsider their attitudes toward jihadists as well as violence in general. It has also provided Hadi with more domestic and international support and has made Yemenis love him more.

However, it has also quickened the urgency to end this transitional period and get to the real business of building our new Yemen. God have mercy on those whom we lost, and God have mercy on the living, that we may see these changes accomplished.

Source Yemen Times