Yeah, man, Yemen

Laura Kasinof has an article in The New York Times about the situation in Yemen:

Fighting broke out between rival military factions in Sana'a, leaving at least two people dead, Yemeni officials said. It was the first clash between government forces and those commanded by Major General Ali Mohsin al-Ahmar, who announced his support for the country’s antigovernment protest movement three weeks ago.
An official from General Ahmar’s First Armored Division, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with reporters, said that about one hundred members of the Republican Guards and the Central Security Forces, elite military units commanded by President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s son and nephew, seized control of a checkpoint from General Ahmar’s troops in the northern part of Sana'a, the capital. During the attack, one rebel soldier was shot dead and six were wounded. A government official said at least one person on the government’s side was also killed. But he denied that the Republican Guards and the Central Security Forces were involved in the clash, saying the fighting was between General Ahmar’s soldiers and the police. The “police clashed with the First Armored Division; their forces drew back, and then attacked again,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the episode.
Residents near the attack said that they heard heavy gunfire and explosions for about half an hour around midnight.
General Ahmar, who belongs to the same tribe as Mr. Saleh, announced on 21 March that his soldiers would protect antigovernment demonstrators in Sana'a and called for Mr. Saleh to step down after snipers linked to the government killed over fifty protesters. Several other commanders joined General Ahmar that day. An exchange of gunfire between demonstrators and security forces in the southern port city of Aden resulted in the death of one protester, according to a local journalist. Protests then erupted in neighborhoods throughout Aden.
Yemen’s opposition is formulating its response to a plan laid out by the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation regional coalition, for a transfer of power. The proposal called for presidential powers to be transferred to the vice president, though it did not include a demand for Mr. Saleh to resign.
According to Yemeni officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because a resolution was still pending, the United States and the European Union are pressing for a plan in conjunction with the Gulf Cooperation Council that would have Mr. Saleh hand over his official powers to his vice president, and then leave office after a set period of time.