Yemeni President Open to Handing Over Power to His Supporters
Mass Rallies Continue in Sanaa on 'Day of Departure'
Massive anti-regime protests took place across the nation again today, but Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh addressed one of the few major pro-regime protests. In his comments, he suggested a handover of power, but once again defied the protesters calling for democracy.
“We need to hand power over to safe hands, not to sick, resentful or corrupt hands,” insisted Saleh. He suggested again that he didn’t really want to be president anymore, and was open to handing over control of the regime to his supporters.
Which of course doesn’t set well with the protesters, who continue to defy the new “emergency laws” that gave Saleh the power to ban public gatherings. Top Yemeni cleric Abdel-Raqib Abad chastised the regime for the laws, and urged protesters to continue their demonstrations.
Saleh has been contending with mostly student protesters for weeks. This has grown, however, with separatist movements joining in against him, and eventually tribesmen. Now, much of Saleh’s own military is on the side of the protesters and despite his vows to either remain in office or hand-pick a sympathetic successor, it seems that his influence is waning.
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Carpenter
March 26th, 2011 at 5:50 am
This is another heavy blow against the Neocon World Order in the Middle East. They thought they could take out Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Syria and thereby finish off the last M.E. countries that dared give financial or diplomatic support to Palestinian resistance groups. But with the uprisings against pro-neocon dictators this year, pro-Iranian Shia leaders in Iraq, and continued Pashtun resistance in Afghanistan, it is clear the Middle Eastern map won't be so easily controlled after all. With Saleh gone eventually, Yemen will be even more important in fighting the neocons. And this on the porch to Saudi Arabia, the most important neocon-allied Arab state.