Yemen leader says he will stand down

President’s warning he will not give in to ‘coup’ follows reports he agreed to quit within a month in exchange for immunity Yemen’s political crisis has reached a new peak with a defiant President Ali Abdullah Saleh warning that he will not give in to a “coup”, a day after reportedly agreeing to leave office within a month. Opposition activists claimed that Saleh, ready to step down in exchange for immunity from prosecution, was playing for time to avoid the fate of the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, both overthrown by unprecedented displays of people power that have changed the Middle East and north Africa in the last three months. With Libya engulfed in a bloody civil war and escalating violence in Syria apparently signalling a determination by President Bashar al-Assad to crush mounting protests, the Arab Spring appears to be taking another ominous turn. Reports from the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, described thousands of demonstrators out on the streets demanding Saleh give up power at once and chanting: “No negotiation, no dialogue – resign or flee.” Saleh had on Saturday reportedly accepted a Saudi-led Gulf states initiative under which he would stand down in 30 days in exchange for immunity – evidently fearing the fate of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. But he sent a different signal in an interview on Sunday , fuelling suspicions that the move was just another tactical manoeuvre. “I will not accept being overthrown in a coup,” the Yemeni president insisted to BBC Arabic. “To whom shall I hand over power? Those who are trying to make a coup? No. We will do it through ballot boxes and referendums. We’ll invite international observers to monitor – but a coup is not acceptable.” Saleh, like Gaddafi and more recently Assad, warned that in “the storm of recent events” in the Arab world, al-Qaida stands to gain from chaos in his country. He also blamed Arab satellite TV channels and the western media for misrepresenting the situation. “Al-Qaida is moving into army camps,” Saleh said. “It’s a very dangerous situation. Why is the west not looking at this terrorist activity and the dangers it holds for the future?” In Syria, opposition supporters said 120 people had been killed in the weekend’s violence, most of them on Friday. William Hague, the foreign secretary, urged Assad to “respond to the legitimate demands of the Syrian people” and warned that Britons should leave the country as soon as possible. Syrian troops and security forces set up checkpoints across the country on Sunday amid reports of new shootings and mass arrests by the secret police as funerals took place for people killed on Saturday. Calls for Assad’s overthrow were heard at a funeral attended by thousands in the southern town of Nawa, where four protesters and five members of the security forces were reported killed. “It’s starting to look like the West Bank,” warned Radwan Ziadeh, the US-based head of the Damascus Centre for Human Rights, who has contacts across the country. Yemen Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Ian Black guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 24, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.