Security forces open fire on protesting students in Saana University in Yemen; Egypt: New Prime Minister and Cabinet sworn in; Gaddafi forces regain control over the rebel stronghold
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    • Reports noted that security forces opened fire and used tear gas to disperse anti government protesters in Sana’a University campus in Yemen on March 13 where around 110 students were injured because of direct gun shots and inhaling tear gas used by the forces. Protesters claim that the reason behind the attack was that the security forces did not allow protesters to enter the square of the protest, and harassed protesters as they leave the area. The governmental sources claim that anti government protesters are causing problems for residents living in the Sana’a University area, and locals were fed up with all the road blocks and were demanding that the protesters find a different location to protest.1 Earlier on March 8, 98 students were injured when soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas at students in the same university. The army stormed the University campus hours after thousands of inmates rioted at the central prison in the capital, taking a dozen guards hostage and calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. At least one prisoner was killed and 80 people were wounded as the guards fought to control the situation. 2

    However, Egypt’s military rulers swore in a new Cabinet on March 7 that includes new faces in key ministries, in response to protesters’ demands that the new government be free of stalwarts of ousted president Hosni Mubarak. The new Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, is expected get the approval of the pro-reform groups. The main task of the government will be to help steer the country through reforms and toward free elections. Among the most significant changes in the Cabinet designed to meet with protesters’ demands, Sharaf named a new Interior Minister. Major General Mansour El-Essawy, a former Cairo security chief, replaces Mahmoud Wagdi, who held the post for less than a month. The Interior Ministry is in charge of the security forces. Among the other new faces in Egypt’s Cabinet was Nabil El-Arabi the new Foreign Minister and Mohammed Al-Jundi, the new Justice Minister.3

    While in Libya, Gaddafi’s forces have regained control over the eastern Libyan town of Bin Jawad from rebel forces. The Libyan rebels retreated from another key town under heavy shelling from government forces as Gaddafi’s forces swept closer towards the main opposition-held city of Benghazi. But following the fall of Brega, the commander of the vastly outgunned rebels, Gaddafi's former Interior Minister, vowed to defend the next town in the path of Gaddafi's forces, Ajdabiya. A lightning counter-offensive over the past week has pushed the rebels out of Mediterranean coastal towns, allowing Gaddafi to wrest back the momentum against the uprising. Dozens of rebels fled east out of Brega towards Ajdabiya, the last rebel-held town before Benghazi which the opposition has made its de facto capital just 100 miles away.4

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