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Yemeni president pledges not to seek another term
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Feb 02, 2011 11:16am |
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| Category | Announcement |
| Author | Ahmed Al-Haj |
| Media | Website - Yahoo News |
| News Date | Wednesday, February 2, 2011 05:15:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | SANAA, Yemen – Yemen's U.S.-backed president, in power for more than three decades, pledged Wednesday not to seek another term in office in an apparent attempt to defuse protests inspired by Tunisia's revolt and the turmoil in Egypt.
The concession by Ali Abdullah Saleh signaled that another autocratic Arab leader once thought immune to challenge was ceding ground to pent-up fury and demands for reform of the kind that have swept the region. It came one day after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, target of nine days of protest calling for his ouster, made a the same pledge gave a similar speech on television.
Yet Saleh's move posed questions about stability in a nation seen by the Obama administration as a key ally in its fight against Islamic militants. Al-Qaida's Yemeni offshoot claimed responsibility for a failed Christmas Day 2009 attempt to blow up a passenger jet over the United States, and the attempt late last year to ship parcel bombs to the U.S. through cargo planes.
"I won't seek to extend my presidency for another term or have my son inherit it," Saleh told parliament.
But the opposition greeted his announcement with skepticism, and there were no plans to cancel mass protests scheduled for Thursday in the capital, Sanaa, and across the country.
Saleh, 64, previously tried to defuse tensions in Yemen by raising salaries for the army. Yet tens of thousands gathered last month in demonstrations urging Saleh to step down — a red line that few dissenters had previously dared to cross.
Saleh's current term in office expires in 2013 but proposed amendments to the constitution could let him remain in power for two additional terms of ten years. |
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