Friday, March 25, 2011

SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh vowed Thursday to defend himself by “all possible means” against protesters seeking to unseat him and urged army officers who defected to the opposition to return to the fold.

Tensions ratcheted higher a day ahead of a planned rally that protesters have dubbed “Friday of Departure,” and presidential guards loyal to Saleh clashed with army units backing opposition groups demanding his ouster.
“We are determined to preserve the security, independence and stability of Yemen by all possible means,” he told army and police officers at a meeting broadcast on state television.
He urged military officers and soldiers who defected and joined the growing anti-regime campaign to “return to reason,” saying their action was “stupid.”

Saleh also launched a virulent attack against the parliamentary opposition, rejecting any dialogue with MPs opposed to his three-decade rule. “Even if we engage in an arrangement with them [opposition leaders] the situation will be worse than now,” he said.
Saleh’s remarks came after the opposition stepped up efforts to remove him, dismissing his offer to stand down after a presidential election at the end of the year.

In an additional pressure on Saleh, the leader of Yemen’s largest tribe sided with Saleh’s opponents, calling on him to resign immediately and refrain from violence against protesters.
The decision by the widely respected Sheikh Sinan Abu Lohoum, 80, was announced in a statement issued from the United States, where he is receiving medical treatment.

Yassin Noman, head of Yemen’s opposition coalition, dismissed Saleh’s offer as “empty words” and a spokesman said the umbrella coalition would not respond.
“No dialogue and no initiatives for this dead regime,” opposition spokesman Mohammad al-Sabry said.

Britain said Thursday it had drawn up plans for a possible military evacuation of its citizens who remain in Yemen. “There are very detailed contingency plans, at very short notice to go into operation, for the evacuation of those British nationals that remain,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

“But that would have to be, if we have to trigger that, a military-only evacuation, possibly in very difficult circumstances so it would be difficult to be assured that we would be able to bring out everybody from remote parts of Yemen,” he told Parliament.

Hague said he had reports that oil firms were withdrawing their staff. Britain said Wednesday it was temporarily withdrawing part of its embassy team from Sanaa ahead of protests expected Friday.
Saleh and opposition groups have both made proposals for reform. On Wednesday, Saleh offered new presidential elections by January 2012 instead of September 2013, when his term ends.

An umbrella group of civil society organizations called for a transitional council of nine figures “not involved with the corruption of the old regime” to draw up a new constitution over a six-month period ahead of elections.

The leaders of the “Civil Bloc” told a news conference they wanted the dissolution of Parliament, local councils and Yemen’s notorious security agencies. They also want to limit future presidents to two, four-year terms in office.
But the issue of what happens to Saleh, who came power in the north in 1978 and oversaw unity with the south in 1990, was left untouched in the proposal from the ‘Civil Bloc.’

Opposition parties said Thursday they were tired of the drip-feed of concessions. “This talk is aimed at delaying the announcement of the death of the regime. The opposition does not need to respond,” said spokesman Sabry.
“The political tide in Yemen has turned decisively against President Ali Abdullah Saleh,” an International Crisis Group report said. “His choices are limited: he can fight his own military or negotiate a rapid and dignified transfer of power.”

Protesters who have been encamped in their thousands outside Sanaa University for some six weeks have hardened in their attitude toward Saleh. They hope the “Day of Departure” after Friday  prayers could bring hundreds of thousands onto the streets.
Around 10,000 people joined the protest Thursday morning, chanting slogans such as “Go, go, you coward; you are an American agent.” – Agencies