YEMEN:HUNDREDS OF thousands of Yemenis took to the streets yesterday in two rival demonstrations in the capital, as President Ali Abdullah Saleh addressed a large loyalist crowd declaring power would be transferred, but only into "safe hands" and via elections.
Thousands of pro-Saleh men gathered outside the €57 million Al-Saleh (president’s) mosque after Friday prayers, as the embattled Mr Saleh said he “will transfer power to safe hands and not to malicious forces who conspire against the homeland”.
He renewed an offer for dialogue with the youth movement leading the anti-government protests during his third public speech this week.
Demonstrators have maintained their demand for his immediate resignation.
Anti-government protest committee member Yahyir Ahmadi said: “He [Mr Saleh] has his demands. I have my own demands.
“If he removes his son Ahmed . . . then we may start to take him at his word,” he added, referring to Mr Saleh’s son who heads the elite Republican Guard.
Friday prayers again drew thousands calling for an end to Mr Saleh’s 32-year rule to the six-week-old expanding encampment outside Sana’a University. Yesterday was the first mass gathering of worshippers since last week’s attack by snipers that left 52 dead and hundreds injured.
Following the attack, more than a dozen senior military commanders defected on Monday to pledge their support for the “peaceful revolution”.
Amid reports of deals being made during negotiations in a bid to avoid military clashes between the divided army, how and when the ailing president will leave remains a persistent obstacle.
The political opposition, who deny any negotiations have taken place since the killings, have rejected all offers by Mr Saleh, including proposals for a unity government, transfer to a parliamentary system and this week’s offer to hold elections by the end of the year.
Any agreement has yet to be finalised, either between the coalition of opposition, the Joint Meeting Parties, or Maj Gen Ali Mohsen Saleh Al-Ahmer, the most senior of the defected commanders who sent his troops from the 1st Armoured Division to protect the Sana’a University tented sit-in earlier this week.
Some reports suggested that both men [Mr Saleh and the major general] may step down in a matter of days or weeks, to allow for a transitional government and the creation of a new constitution, but a government official denied the claims. “This is not a deal that has been agreed at the negotiating table,” said the senior Yemeni official. “but there are many options that are still being discussed.”
After many accused Maj Gen Al- Ahmer of attempting a coup, the senior army leader rebuffed the claims saying: “Military rule in the Arab world is outdated.”
Security measures were heightened in the city after a state of emergency law approved by parliament on Wednesday.
As troops defending protesters surrounded the mile-long campsite, loyalist units gathered half a mile away, blocking the route to the president’s palace fearing protesters would march on Mr Saleh’s residence.