Yemen president says he wants to leave power

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — President Ali Abdullah Saleh made vague comments Saturday that he is willing to leave power in his first major speech since returning Yemen, but he gave no concrete plan for the future of the country. Yemen's opposition cast doubt that the embattled leader was serious.

It was not the first time Saleh has expressed a willingness to step down amid eight months of mass protests demanding his ouster. Still, he has repeatedly refused to resign immediately and rejected a U.S.-backed deal for him to hand over his authority.

In this image made from video, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks on Yemen State Television broadcast Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011. The TV broadcast showed Saleh talking to unidentified members of the Yemen parliament, railing against the opposition and calling the crisis a "conspiracy" against him. (AP Photo/Yemen State TV)

Saleh was gravely wounded in an explosion at his presidential palace in June, after which he left to Saudi Arabia for treatment. During his absence, mediators and opposition groups sought to convince him to stay away and transfer power to his deputy— a way to launch the regional power transfer deal. Saleh declined and returned abruptly to Yemen late last month.

A violent crackdown against Saleh's opponents followed, with outright street battles in the capital Sanaa between troops loyal to Saleh's son Ahmed and dissident military units and pro-opposition tribesmen. In the meantime, the longtime leader has come under a considerable pressure from the international community to step down.

His new declaration Saturday aired on state TV gave little clue to his intentions.

Saleh spoke to a gathering of lawmakers, his hands encased in beige medical gloves for the treatment of burns from the June bombing. He didn't shake hands with any of his guests, who instead, shook the hands of his deputy standing by his side.

"I never wanted power. I will reject power in the coming days. I will give it up," he said. "But there are men will take power. There are men who are true to their pledges, whether military or civilians, who will take power. They can never destroy the country."

He did not elaborate on whom he was referring to or give any firm commitment to resign. Saleh said he would meet with parliament in the coming days to "transparently discuss" the situation in Yemen.

Saleh railed against the opposition forces, which he accused of being behind the chaos on the country. He also said they failed to cooperate with his deputy, who took over some of his duties while he was away. He said the opposition groups are holders of a "dark and destructive project."

He ridiculed the opposition claims that he plans to transfer power to a member of his family. "How many are the president's sons? How big is the president's family? How many brothers or grandchildren? How many of those are in power?" Saleh said. Saleh's son Ahmed and several of the president's nephews control powerful military units, and Ahmed has long been seen as the heir apparent for the presidency.

Saleh said he returned from Saudi Arabia with "an olive branch and a dove of peace" but said his opponents failed to seize or understand his it or understand it. He also said that a major country had asked him to not to return to Yemen, a request he said he declined.

"I am not a 'transit' president," he said.

Opposition members were skeptical of Saleh's comments. Mohammed al-Sabri, an opposition spokesman, said Saleh's words were intended to generate headlines ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday that is to discuss the failed efforts to convince Saleh to sign the power transfer deal.

"If the president was serious and is convinced that the public no longer wants him, he should do it today and not tomorrow," al-Sabri said.

Al-Sabri also claimed Saleh's speech was addressed to the West because it was aired at a time when there was no electricity in Yemen, and no one would be watching. Electricity in Sanaa has been sporadic — sometimes off for as long as two days at a time — since fighting flared last month.

"The Yemeni people are used to his lies. He has often promised things and never lived up to them," he said. "This is turning into a rerun for a soap opera."

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Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Suicide bomber kills 9 Yemeni troops

ADEN — A suicide bomber Sunday detonated a truck packed with explosives at an army camp in Aden, killing nine soldiers, a military source said, amid raging battles between troops and Islamist militants.

The defence ministry blamed Al-Qaeda for the massive blast, which soldiers said tore through military vehicles as they were leaving the army camp.

The military source said that nine people were killed and 21 others wounded in the blast, and that some of the wounded were in serious condition, including four who were evacuated by helicopter to the capital Sanaa.

A text message from the defence ministry's news service received by AFP said that the bomber was from Al-Qaeda, but put the toll at four killed rather than nine.

The attack comes just days after another bombing in Aden, the main city in southern Yemen, in which British marine surveyor David Mockett was killed. A Yemeni intelligence officer said that bombing carried "the fingerprints of Al-Qaeda."

Yemen's volatile south has been wracked by fighting between troops and Islamist militants suspected of ties to Al-Qaeda, with at least 12 soldiers killed in the past week alone at Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, northwest of Aden.

Those killings came after Ayad al-Shabwani, a leader of the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, died during fighting near Zinjibar on Tuesday, a military official said, adding that dozens of soldiers had been wounded.

Soldiers told AFP that Sunday's blast occurred as troops prepared to leave the army camp for Abyan province.

One soldier said the attack was by a suicide bomber whose pickup truck exploded as two personnel carriers were exiting the facility, with the first military vehicle bearing the full brunt of the blast.

Another soldier said that troops were preparing to leave for Abyan when the vehicle had come "in front of the gate of the camp, and then there was a huge explosion".

A lieutenant colonel was among those killed, according to a medic.

Militants belonging to a group called the "Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), which has been linked to Al-Qaeda, took over much of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, in May.

Thousands of people have been displaced by fighting in Zinjibar between security forces and the militants.

Yemen's Deputy Information Minister Abdo al-Janadi said on Thursday that the United States had provided logistical support to the Yemen military's 25th Mechanised Brigade, which was until recently besieged by the militants in Zinjibar.

US commanders have repeatedly expressed concern that the jihadists have been taking advantage of a protracted power vacuum in Sanaa to expand their operations.

Since January, protesters have been demanding the ouster of veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in hospital in Saudi Arabia since early June for wounds sustained in a blast at his palace.

Source: The RAW Story

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Yemeni leader says he'll step down by year's end

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's embattled U.S.-backed president pledged to step down more than a year early but refused to immediately resign on Tuesday, infuriating tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding his ouster.

The opposition said it would not accept President Ali Abdullah Saleh's offer to resign by year's end in response to nationwide anti-government protests, which have swelled dramatically since security forces opened fatally shot more than 40 demonstrators on Friday.

"The president's statements are just another political maneuver," said chief opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabri. "What was acceptable yesterday is not acceptable for us today."

Anti-government protestors shout slogans and raise banners during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa, Yemen, Tuesday, March 22, 2011. Yemen's embattled U.S.-backed president said Tuesday that a military coup would lead to civil war and pledged to step down by year's end but not hand power to army commanders who have joined the opposition. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

The standoff pushed Yemen closer to open confrontation between the two sides, fueling Western fears that Saleh's 32-year-old regime could be replaced by chaos, or a leadership less likely to cooperate with U.S. military operations against the local branch of al-Qaida.

Anger at Friday's shootings splintered Saleh's remaining support among the country's most powerful institutions, and influential clerics, tribal leaders and military commanders all began calling for his departure. Some of the country's most senior army officials declared their loyalty to the opposition on Monday.

Saleh responded with a concession, pledging in a meeting with senior officials, military commanders and tribal leaders on Monday evening that he would to step down by the end of the year. He tried to placate demonstrators by promising this month not to run again, or let his son replace him, when his term ends in September 2013.

A presidential spokesman, Ahmed al-Sufi, said Salah also pledged not to hand power to the military.

The president hardened his position on Tuesday, saying the defection of commanders including his chief military adviser, Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, was a "mutiny and a coup against constitutional legitimacy."

"Any dissent within the military institution will negatively affect the whole nation," Saleh said in a nationally televised warning to a meeting of Yemen's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. "The nation is far greater than the ambition of individuals who want to seize power."

Protesters massed by the tens of thousands Tuesday afternoon in the downtown Sanaa plaza they have dubbed "Taghyeer," or "Change" square. Crowds ululated, chanted and painted each other's faces in the red, white and black colors of the national flag. Conservative tribesmen bought their wives to the protest, and the women bought their children, all basking in a carnival atmosphere.

"The revolution has crossed its most difficult period," said activist Bashir al-Sid, smiling. "All that remains is the easy part."

Demonstrators began demanding Saleh's ouster more than a month ago, inspired by the wave of people power sweeping through the Middle East. His troops and loyalists have killed more than 80 demonstrators throughout Yemeni cities, according to an Associated Press tally of eyewitness, opposition and official accounts.

Al-Ahmar's defection was followed by a flurry of resignations by army commanders, ambassadors, lawmakers and provincial governors.

Al-Ahmar, commander of the army's powerful 1st Armored Division, deployed tanks and armored vehicles at the Defense Ministry, the TV building, the Central Bank and Taghyeer square, the demonstrator's epicenter.

In response, the Republican Guards, an elite force led by one of Saleh's sons, deployed troops backed by armor outside the presidential palace on the capital's southern outskirts.

Calling Al-Ahmar's defection "a turning point," Edmund J. Hull, U.S. ambassador to Yemen from 2001 to 2004, said it showed "the military overall ... no longer ties its fate to that of the president."

"I'd say he's going sooner rather than later," Hull said.

The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network said its Yemen offices were broken into late Monday by 20 armed men who used a mechanical drill to open the door before seizing its main satellite uplink equipment, computers, TV cameras and closed-circuit surveillance cameras.

Jazeera said it had asked the Yemeni interior ministry three days ago to protect the bureau and its staff the network's journalists were threatened. The ministry did not respond, the network said.

In a sign of the Obama administration's growing alarm over the regime's crackdown on demonstrators, State Department spokesman Mark Toner called for "a cessation of all violence against demonstrators," saying Saleh should "take the necessary steps to promote a meaningful dialogue that addresses the concerns of his people."

The 65-year-old president and his government have faced down many serious challenges in the past, often forging fragile alliances with restive tribes to extend power beyond the capital. Most recently, he has battled a seven-year armed rebellion in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and an al-Qaida offshoot that is of great concern to the U.S.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, formed in 2009, has moved beyond regional aims and attacked the West, including sending a suicide bomber who tried to down a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day with a bomb sewn into his underwear. The device failed to detonate properly.

Yemen is also home to U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have offered inspiration to those attacking the U.S., including Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people and wounding dozens in a 2009 shootout at Fort Hood, Texas.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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