Wounded Yemen Leader Flies Abroad; Future in Doubt

By AHMED AL-HAJ Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen June 5, 2011 (AP)

Embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh flew to Saudi Arabia for urgent medical care after a rocket attack on his palace, raising the specter of a violent power grab in this impoverished country shaken by months of protests calling for his ouster.
The abrupt departure of Saleh and much of his family Saturday followed intense pressure to step down from his powerful Gulf neighbors and longtime ally Washington, which fear the chaos could plunge the country into anarchy and undermine the U.S.-backed campaign against al-Qaida's most active branch. It was not immediately clear who was in charge.
Yemen's unrest was inspired by the uprisings across the Arab world, which have already led to the downfall of governments in Egypt and Tunisia. It already has cost the government control of some remote provinces, and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and other Islamist extremists have exploited the turmoil to bolster their position in the Arab world's poorest country.
"Saleh was an inconsistent partner in the war against al-Qaida," said Rick Nelson, a counterterrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "But at least he was partner part of the time."

AP

Yemeni doctors treat an elderly man who was... View Full Caption

Saleh, who is in his late 60s, had agreed to transfer power several times, only to step back at the last moment. Analysts said it appeared unlikely Saleh would return to Yemen: The Saudis have tried repeatedly to persuade him to step down and now he is in their care, large segments of the population oppose him, and a powerful tribal alliance took up arms against him.
A video posted on YouTube late Saturday showed hundreds of protesters in the Sanaa square where activists have camped out for months dancing and singing, some riding on each other's shoulders. The video's date could not be confirmed.
A Yemeni official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said Saleh had left with most of his family. The official said he and others had only learned about Saleh's plans after the president left.
A statement from the Saudi royal palace said a Saudi medical team traveled to Yemen to examine the president, then advised him to seek treatment in the kingdom. Saleh agreed and left Saturday night, the statement said.
Officials said Yemen's constitution calls for the vice president to take over in the absence of the president. Several other senior regime leaders, including the prime minister, also were in Saudi Arabia after being wounded in Friday's attack.
John Brennan, President Barack Obama's national security adviser, spoke with the Yemeni vice president by telephone on Saturday, a White House official said, but offered no details. Brennan had traveled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss the crisis during a three-day visit to the Gulf that ended Friday.
Other U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said they could not confirm that power had been transferred to Vice President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Saleh also has been widely believed to be grooming his son, Ahmed, as a successor. Ahmed was believed to have stayed behind in an apparent bid to hold on to power, raising concern the country could be pitted into a violent power struggle as the sides jockey to fill the vacuum in the president's absence.