Thursday, March 31, 2011

SANAA: Yemen’s president has made a new offer to protesters demanding his ouster, proposing he stays in office until elections are held but transferring his powers to a caretaker government, an opposition source said Wednesday.

Ali Abdullah Saleh made his offer at a meeting Tuesday night with Mohammed al-Yadoumi, head of the Islamist Islah party.
“The opposition could pick a head of government of its own choosing and there would be parliamentary elections by the end of the year,” an opposition source said of Saleh’s offer.

He said the opposition was still considering its response.
Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters packed the streets of several Yemeni cities Wednesday, including Sanaa, Saada and Marib to demand the president’s ouster and denounce a munitions factory blast that left at least 100 people dead.

Any agreement between Saleh and the parties could run into trouble from another party – the protesters.
A coalition of protester groups calling themselves the Youth Revolution issued a statement Wednesday saying they would not leave the large public space near Sanaa University until Saleh and his allies are removed from power.
“A temporary presidential council of five individuals known for experience and integrity should run the country for an interim period [of six months],” it said, adding the council should appoint a technocrat to form a caretaker government.
It also called for corruption trials, return of “stolen public and private property,” release of political detainees, dissolving state security forces and closing the Information Ministry.

They called for dialogue over the complaints of northern Shiites and southerners who lean toward secession.
Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a key tribal figure who belongs to the Islah party, told Reuters Tuesday that Islah and the opposition could handle the militant issue better than Saleh, whose government he said was not serious in confronting them.

“I think Yemenis would be capable to free Yemen of terror within months,” Ahmar said, adding that the United States and European countries should call directly for Saleh’s departure.
“They should do what they did in Egypt. We don’t need what is going on in Libya. We don’t need that much support. But support like what was done in Egypt would be enough to finish things,” he said.

Protesters and opposition parties suspect incidents of lax security over the past week are government ploys to demonstrate to foreign powers that Saleh is the strongman who can hold Yemen together.
Islamists took control of a town in the central province of Abyan after government security deserted it, and the governors of Saada and Jawf provinces in the north also quit, prompting “popular committees” who back the protest movement to step in.

The opposition says Saleh is to blame for the presence of militants, including Al-Qaeda, in the Abyan city of Jaar, where an explosion at a bullet factory killed 140 people Monday.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have long regarded Saleh as a bulwark of stability who can keep Al-Qaeda from extending its foothold in an Arabian Peninsula country that many see as close to disintegration.

Opposition spokesman Mohammad al-Sabri criticized remarks made by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on ABC News’ “This Week” Wednesday in which he said the fall of Saleh could pose a “real problem” for America.
“The remarks are clear indications that the U.S. administration stands by Saleh who gave Al-Qaeda elements a green light to create chaos in the south to scare the Americans,” Gates said. – Reuters, AP