Thursday, 20 October 2011
Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh has managed to cling to power despite eight months of mass protests calling for his ouster. (Photo by Reuters)
The United States on Thursday rejected Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s new condition to have guarantees from the U.S., European Union and Gulf nations if he is to step down, while the Yemeni opposition dismissed the President’s request as a sham.
U.S. foreign ministry’s spokesman, Mark Toner, said that Washington does not see the guarantees requested by Saleh as necessary and that the real problem is with the Yemeni president’s continuous rejection to sign the Gulf-brokered deal to transfer power in the embattled country.
Saleh did not specify Wednesday what guarantees he wants from them.
U.S. foreign ministry’s spokesman, Mark Toner, said that Washington does not see the guarantees requested by Saleh as necessary and that the real problem is with the Yemeni president’s continuous rejection to sign the Gulf-brokered deal to transfer power in the embattled country.
Saleh did not specify Wednesday what guarantees he wants from them.
The Yemeni leader said early this month that he is willing to cede power within days but gave no concrete plans for the country’s future or a timetable for his departure.
The Yemeni opposition called on the United Nations on Thursday to force Saleh to step down unconditionally, rejecting his request for international guarantees.
The opposition Common Forum dismissed as a sham Saleh’s announcement on Wednesday that he was ready to sign a Gulf-brokered deal for him to quit office in return for a promise of immunity from prosecution if it was backed up by European and US guarantees.
“It is clear he absolutely refuses to resign and hand power to his vice president,” Mohammed Qahtan, the spokesman for the opposition coalition Common Forum told AFP.
“Unfortunately, his statements are in effect a declaration of war,” he added.
He has already agreed several times to a U.S-backed deal to transfer power, only to refuse to sign the agreement at the last minute.
Saleh has managed to cling to power despite eight months of mass protests calling for his ouster.
Meanwhile, Saleh said that opposition powers’ demands for him to leave power was an imitation of popular revolts abroad.
“They don’t have a culture of their own,” Saleh said in a televised address, referring to his opponents.
He accused the country’s opposition of using young people as human shields in anti-government protests to “attract media and to say that Saleh’s regime is autocratic.”
“In the beginning, they wanted to uproot Saleh’s family. Now, they want to uproot the whole regime,” he added.
“Where do they want me to go? It is here in this country where I was born, grew up, became a soldier and came to power,” he told his ruling party.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to make a decision this week on a resolution to “strongly condemn” the government’s human rights violations. The draft resolution, obtained by Reuters in New York, urges Saleh to “immediately sign and implement” the plan by the six-nation GCC, according to Reuters.
At least 34 people have been killed in the last four days, including six on Tuesday, in the intensifying crackdown. In addition to that, at least 861 people have been killed and 25,000 wounded since protests first erupted, according to a letter from Yemen's youth movement sent to the United Nations earlier this month.
Meanwhile, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday welcomed Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman, and underscored the worsening economic and humanitarian situation in her country.
Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky said the U.N. chief “shared her concern that the protracted political stalemate had led to a deterioration of the economic and humanitarian situation as well as an escalation of violence causing great suffering for the Yemeni people.”
And Ban said the world body “was doing everything possible to help the Yemeni people resolve the current political standoff.”
On Tuesday, Karman joined about 100 protesters outside the U.N. headquarters to call for Saleh to step down.
Karman − who shared the 2011 peace prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and “peace warrior” Leymah Gbowee, also from Liberia − has called on the United Nations to act immediately to halt the Yemeni government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
The Yemeni opposition called on the United Nations on Thursday to force Saleh to step down unconditionally, rejecting his request for international guarantees.
The opposition Common Forum dismissed as a sham Saleh’s announcement on Wednesday that he was ready to sign a Gulf-brokered deal for him to quit office in return for a promise of immunity from prosecution if it was backed up by European and US guarantees.
“It is clear he absolutely refuses to resign and hand power to his vice president,” Mohammed Qahtan, the spokesman for the opposition coalition Common Forum told AFP.
“Unfortunately, his statements are in effect a declaration of war,” he added.
He has already agreed several times to a U.S-backed deal to transfer power, only to refuse to sign the agreement at the last minute.
Saleh has managed to cling to power despite eight months of mass protests calling for his ouster.
Meanwhile, Saleh said that opposition powers’ demands for him to leave power was an imitation of popular revolts abroad.
“They don’t have a culture of their own,” Saleh said in a televised address, referring to his opponents.
He accused the country’s opposition of using young people as human shields in anti-government protests to “attract media and to say that Saleh’s regime is autocratic.”
“In the beginning, they wanted to uproot Saleh’s family. Now, they want to uproot the whole regime,” he added.
“Where do they want me to go? It is here in this country where I was born, grew up, became a soldier and came to power,” he told his ruling party.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to make a decision this week on a resolution to “strongly condemn” the government’s human rights violations. The draft resolution, obtained by Reuters in New York, urges Saleh to “immediately sign and implement” the plan by the six-nation GCC, according to Reuters.
At least 34 people have been killed in the last four days, including six on Tuesday, in the intensifying crackdown. In addition to that, at least 861 people have been killed and 25,000 wounded since protests first erupted, according to a letter from Yemen's youth movement sent to the United Nations earlier this month.
Meanwhile, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday welcomed Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman, and underscored the worsening economic and humanitarian situation in her country.
Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky said the U.N. chief “shared her concern that the protracted political stalemate had led to a deterioration of the economic and humanitarian situation as well as an escalation of violence causing great suffering for the Yemeni people.”
And Ban said the world body “was doing everything possible to help the Yemeni people resolve the current political standoff.”
On Tuesday, Karman joined about 100 protesters outside the U.N. headquarters to call for Saleh to step down.
Karman − who shared the 2011 peace prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and “peace warrior” Leymah Gbowee, also from Liberia − has called on the United Nations to act immediately to halt the Yemeni government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
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