SEPTEMBER 26, 2011
Yemen President Vows to Stay in Office Until Elections
By HAKIM ALMASMARI in San'a, Yemen, and MARGARET COKER in Abu Dhabi
President Ali Abdullah Saleh warned Yemeni citizens that they wouldn't succeed in removing him from power with their nearly eight-month-old nationwide protests against his regime, and he reiterated his stance that he wouldn't leave office until new elections were held.
Speaking in public for the first time since returning to Yemen from Saudi Arabia where he has been recuperating since a failed assassination attempt in June, the embattled leader offered no new timeline for fresh polls or incentives to keep the tense nation from tipping into civil war.
"This bloodbath will not get you power," Mr. Saleh said, addressing the wide swaths of society who have taken to the streets to demonstrate against his 33-year rule. "Let's all go towards dialogue, understanding and peaceful exchange of power through [parliamentary] elections and early presidential elections."
The president's taped address, broadcast over Yemeni state television, did little to calm the tensions that simmer dangerously across the country. During the past week, troops under the command of Mr. Saleh's son and nephew have repeatedly attacked the crowds of pro-democracy demonstrators and military troops who defected from the president earlier this year and are deployed across the capital to protect the street protests. More than 135 people have died in the past week, and several thousand more have been killed since the start of protests in February.
Yemeni officials say that the troop offensive was launched to clear the streets of the capital of gunmen and terrorists. In his address, Mr. Saleh accused his political opponents of supporting al Qaeda. The United Nations' top human-rights official last week accused the government of excessive force against protesters.
Western and regional officials fear Mr. Saleh's return from Saudi Arabia could dangerously tip Yemen's battle for power. Desperation is growing in the Arab world's most impoverished country. Inflation is rampant, fuel and electricity are scarce and the deep political vacuum has spurred frustration. At the same time, al Qaeda's local branch is expanding the havens from which it operates and plans terror attacks, say regional intelligence officials.
Over the summer, U.S. and Saudi officials lobbied Mr. Saleh not to return to Yemen until a handover of power is complete. U.S. officials appeared caught off guard by Mr. Saleh's arrival in San'a Friday, while Saudi officials didn't comment on his return until Sunday. In a brief statement, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud urged Mr. Saleh to accept the deal negotiated by the Gulf Cooperation Council in the late spring.
The deal obligates the president to relinquish power in favor of a transitional authority that would include many of his deputies as well as Yemen's opposition parties until fresh elections could be held. Controversially, it also grants immunity to him, his close relatives and some regime officials for acts committed during his 33-year tenure.
Violence erupted in Yemen in late May when Mr. Saleh refused to sign the accord, and in the months since, opposition officials and street protesters have denounced the plan as too lenient for the Saleh family, whom they blame for ordering the country's special forces to attack them repeatedly. In addition, they say the deal reached under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council is critically flawed because it doesn't address what should happen with Mr. Saleh's son and nephews who control the nation's best equipped and trained armed forces.
In his taped address Sunday, Mr. Saleh said he respected the internationally brokered peace deal despite the fact that it has been effectively dead since the June 3 assassination attempt at his presidential palace seriously wounded the president and several of his key aides.
The Yemeni leader told his nation that he had given the authority to his vice president to sign the deal, raising the question as to why the official hadn't done so last week, when U.N. and Arab negotiators were in Yemen to again try to close a deal. They left without any breakthroughs.
Write to Margaret Coker at margaret.coker@wsj.com