Only two and half weeks remain in the duration given by the UN resolution for President Saleh to hand over power. Yet not much has been happening, on the contrary any sign of peaceful transition is overshadowed by the continuous bombarding here and there.

Both the regime and armed opposition are engaged in combat killing mostly civilians and taking us further from a deal that would allow Yemen to transition into peace.

Our vice president who was supposed to be the agreed-on hero by all to save the country is gone to the US for medical treatment. I wonder if there is more to this than a medical check-up and I wonder if he is coming back soon. His departure regardless of the reasons makes another dent into the proposed transition deal making it yet more fragile.

There is talk that the Gulf Countries representative and the UN envoy are on their way to Yemen. What for?

Moreover, considering how almost nothing takes place during Eid holidays which are starting in a week’s time, I wonder if there is a point having them here now.

But then again, this holiday takes away from the time given to Saleh to sort out his plans. So he will need all the help he can get to sort figure out what he wants to do with his kids and supporters.

Knowing Saleh, I would not be surprised if he creates miracles just to prolong his stay in power one way or the other up to 2013. As it is we are weeks away from 2012, so he will just stall and create plans that need discussions.

The problem is that these plans are designed in such a violent way that while they buy him time, cost us lives and money. Not to mention the wasted months in education, industry and social cohesion that we will need to spend years to make up for.

The clock is ticking and much work remains to be done. What will happen if the 30 days pass by without any deal? Will Saleh get another 30 days then another?

Here is something more to think about, some governorates in Yemen are doing just fine like Aden, Hadramout and Sa’ada. There is more to Yemen than its capital Sana’a, can’t we think of ways to help the communities in those regions start the rebuilding process while we are waiting for the big bosses in the capital to make up their minds? It in fact would be a good idea to have some recovery modules being developed so that we copy the examples in the currently under conflict zones of the country.

It is all about using time for development, although time is a concept much undervalued in Yemen. Here are some issues to keep your eyes on as indicators for what will be happening in the next three weeks: The result of Tawakul Karman’s tour in Europe lobbying support for the revolution, Vice President’s Hadi whereabouts in the States, the GCC representative  and the UN envoy’s visits to Yemen.

One more thing, the next protests on Friday November 4 may hold some very interesting developments.