Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh promised to hand over power, but only to a “safe pair of hands,” in a defiant speech to massed supporters yesterday, after talks with a top defector failed to defuse Yemen’s crisis.
“We will stand firm with you ... steadfast in the face of all challenges,” Saleh, wearing a suit and sunglasses and confidently waving his right hand, told vast crowds in the Yemeni capital. “We don’t need power. We need to hand it over to a safe pair of hands, not to corrupt and hateful hands ... You are the ones who will be handed power.”
Saleh, whose concessions and offers to stand down early have been snubbed by the opposition, renewed his invitation for youths at the forefront of the protests to join a dialogue.
Photo: Reuters
“I am ready to talk to you and to form a political party for the youths,” said the strongman, who has ruled Yemen for more than 30 years.
In behind-the-scenes talks aimed at averting more bloodshed, Saleh and top dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, considered the second strongest man in Yemen, failed to strike a deal on Thursday night, the two sides said.
Al-Ahmar, a regional army commander who has sided with and vowed to defend the protesters, is leading efforts to form a transitional council grouping all sides, according to sources close to the secret negotiations.
With hundreds of thousands of rival demonstrators on the streets of Sana’a, soldiers fired warning shots to prevent loyalists whipped up by Saleh’s speech attacking anti-regime protesters yesterday, the Muslim day of prayers and rest.
There were no immediate reports of casualties at the demonstrations.
The rallies came one week after a bloodbath in which 52 protesters were gunned down by Saleh loyalists, drawing widespread international condemnation and a spate of defections from within his ruling circle.
The anti-Saleh protesters were gathered at a square near Sana’a University, where they have been camped since Feb. 21, while regime loyalists crowded a nearby square in response to calls from the president.
“The people want Ali Abdullah Saleh,” his supporters shouted.
The army and opposition activists set up separate checkpoints at entrances to the square near the university, searching people entering and leaving the epicenter of the revolt against Saleh’s rule.
Police also set up checkpoints leading to the venue of the loyalist protest, about 4km away, but with rival military units, also split by the two-month-old political crisis, Salah late on Thursday vowed to defend himself by “all possible means” and urged army officers who defected to return to the fold.
“We are determined to preserve the security, independence and stability of Yemen by all possible means,” he told army and police officers at a meeting broadcast on state television.
Deserted by long-time military, political, tribal and clerical backers, Saleh has dubbed the show of solidarity a “Friday of Tolerance,” countering the pro-change slogans of protests around the Arab world.
The opposition has said it will hold off until Friday next week before marching on the presidential palace in what many fear could prove a bloody final showdown.
Saleh has offered his foes a deal on forming a unity government, drawing up a new electoral law, holding a legislative poll and to step down in favor of a successor to be chosen by newly-elected lawmakers by the end of the year.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of