President of Yemen Offers to Leave, With Conditions
Reuters
Police officers were confronted by a large crowd of antigovernment demonstrators in the Yemeni city of Taiz on Friday.
By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: April 23, 2011
CAIRO — Yemen’s embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, said Saturday that he accepted a proposal by Arab mediators that would shift power to his deputy 30 days from the signing of a formal agreement and grant him and his family, who occupy key positions in Yemen’s security apparatus, immunity from prosecution.
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European Pressphoto Agency
President Ali Abdullah Saleh at a pro-government rally in Sana on Saturday.
The president’s announcement set off a flurry of political maneuvering and meetings, but by the end of the night, it was far from clear that it would end the deadlock and ease him from power after 32 years of autocratic rule.
The agreement would require the opposition to halt the street protests and to take part in a coalition with Mr. Saleh’s ruling party. The opposition’s leader, Yassin Saeed Noman, said his coalition accepted the agreement in principle, but rejected those conditions, preferring to allow Mr. Saleh’s party to govern until he resigns and then join a power-sharing government. Mr. Noman also said the opposition lacked the power to force protesters from the streets.
The opposition continued to meet into the night, past a midnight deadline that had been set for an agreement.
Government officials derided the opposition’s counterproposal, saying that the deal was crafted by the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council and had the backing of the United States and the European Union. “This will be good for the president, because now it’s clear that the opposition has refused everything,” said one presidential adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “The opposition has shown that they fear going into a coalition, and they are not ready to deal with international initiatives. They are divided and weak.”
A standoff leaves open the possibility of more clashes in Yemen, where tens of thousands of street protesters — who have occupied central areas in Yemen’s largest cities and clashed repeatedly with government forces — made clear that they were deeply unhappy with the terms of the deal.
Still, it is not clear how long Mr. Saleh can hold on, and Saturday’s announcement marked the first time that he has suggested he was open to leaving office relatively quickly. He had earlier agreed to step down in 2013, when his current terms ends. When that failed to mollify protesters, he said he would leave at the end of this year, but after demonstrators rejected that plan, he quickly backtracked.
Popular anger at Mr. Saleh, who is widely perceived as corrupt, has only grown in recent weeks. United States officials have become increasingly alarmed about the breakdown of order in Yemen, which is host to one of the most active and deadly branches of Al Qaeda. Yemeni counterterrorism units, financed and trained by the United States, have been largely grounded during the recent unrest, and jihadists appear to be moving more freely in some areas.
The State Department reacted somewhat cautiously to Mr. Saleh’s announcement Saturday. Its acting deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, said officials had seen news reports about his acceptance of an agreement with the opposition, which he said would be welcome. But, Mr. Toner added, “The participation of all sides in this dialogue is urgently needed to reach a solution supported by the Yemeni people.” He specified that the nation’s youth, who have formed the core of the protests, should be brought into the process.
Although United States officials have long held up Mr. Saleh as a crucial partner on counterterrorism, they signaled earlier this month that they would like to see him go. Saudi Arabia and other Arab states have quietly made similar gestures. The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, met with his Yemeni counterpart on Saturday and urged him to accept the Gulf Cooperation Council’s proposal for Mr. Saleh’s departure.
The protest movement has drawn strength from high-level defections, including diplomats, ministers and the country’s top military officer. As in other protests across the Arab world, bloody clashes with street protesters have fueled popular anger. In Yemen, at least 130 people have been killed in confrontations with the police, soldiers and irregular forces.
Leaders of the street protest movement issued a statement on Saturday making clear that they would hold fast to their demands, including Mr. Saleh’s unconditional and immediate resignation. There is a gulf between the grass-roots protest movement and Yemen’s formal political opposition, an unwieldy coalition of Islamists, Socialists and other smaller groups who are widely viewed as compromised because of earlier deals many of them have made with Mr. Saleh.
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Other opposition figures said they believed Mr. Saleh might defer formalizing the proposal, which calls for him to step down 30 days after it is signed. He might then use terrorist attacks or other pretexts for staying on, the opposition members say.
One advantage of the proposed deal for Mr. Saleh is the immunity clause. He has insisted on such protection from prosecution for him and his relatives, apparently fearing the anger generated by recent shootings in Yemen and the precedent set in Egypt, where former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons have been detained.
Mr. Saleh has outlasted numerous crises in Yemen’s treacherous political landscape, where the central government has long struggled to assert its authority against powerful tribes and insurgent movements. In recent years, the challenges to his government have grown. Yemen, on the arid southern corner of the Arabian peninsula, is the Arab world’s poorest country, rapidly running out of oil and water. The government has faced an intermittent uprising by rebels in the north, who have taken advantage of the political crisis in recent months and now appear to control large swaths of the country. In the south, a secessionist movement has fostered chaos, allowing jihadists to find sanctuary.
Yemen’s branch of Al Qaeda has become an increasingly global concern, especially after it launched two terrorist attacks at the United States: a plot against a Detroit-bound jetliner in late 2009 and a plot to explode parcels bound for Chicago last year. Anwar al Awlaki, an American-born jihadist who has been linked to several recent attacks, has become a concern for American counterterrorism authorities and is hiding with his powerful tribe in southern Yemen.
Mr. Saleh’s skill at duping and dividing his enemies may account for the opposition’s deep concern about the terms of any deal to remove him from power. On Saturday, even as he agreed to the proposal for his exit, he delivered a speech at a military academy in which he accused the Yemeni opposition of “dragging the country into civil war.” That added to the impression among his critics that Mr. Saleh never expected or intended for the transition offer to be accepted.
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