Yemen's Saleh Accepts Deal to Step Down
The leader of Yemen, one of the Arab Spring countries, has apparently listened to reason and his own people and agreed to transfer power to his vice president in return for immunity from prosecution, according to Yemeni state television.
Yemen Leader Ali Abdullah Saleh was in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss the United States backed power transfer agreement that was mediated by Gulf Arab states.
"The president ... arrived this morning in Riyadh on a visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, following an invitation from the Saudi leadership, to attend the signing of the Gulf initiative and its operational mechanism," said state news agency Saba.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The agreement did not announce the date of the actual signing but both European and American personnel are rumored to be attending the signing.
According to the state news outlet Saba, Secretary General for the U.N. Ban ki-Moon called President Saleh and thanked him for his decision to shift the power to his vice president and for his efforts to “extract Yemen out of the crisis in a peaceful way."
Saleh tightly held on to power for the past eight months in the midst of massive protest and demonstrations calling for his removal.
He was even able to survive an assassination attempt in June. Although, it left him severely injured and required him to receive special medical attention in Saudi Arabia that lasted several months.
Saleh saw militant groups control entire towns while security in the country has become ineffective.
"It seems like President Saleh finally found himself forced to sign. He will sign and I don't think there will be any surprises," said Mohammed Qahtan, spokesperson for their Common Forum parliamentary bloc, to AFP.
The U.S. would be wise to pay close attention to Yemen during the power transfer due to the geographic location the country has with interest in oil fields as well as shipping lanes throughout the waterways of the gulf.
