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After nine months of mass protests calling for his resignation, Ali Abdullah Saleh flew to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and signed an agreement to immediately transfer his powers to the vice-president in return for immunity from prosecution.
Saudi state television showed a smiling Saleh sitting next to Saudi King Abdullah in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Wednesday as he signed four copies of the proposal. He then clapped briefly.
With the economy on the verge of collapse and bloody clashes breaking out between armed factions of the military, Yemenis are hoping the deal will offer a way out of the 10-month-long turmoil that has left hundreds dead and the country teetering on the brink of civil war.
The deal, first drawn up by the Gulf monarchies back in April, involves Saleh retaining the honorary title of president while his deputy, 'Abd al-Rabb Mansour al-Hadi, forms and presides over a government of national unity until presidential elections in February. In return for signing, Saleh and his family are guaranteed immunity from prosecution.
Saleh has clung to power despite months of street protests, defections by top generals, ambassadors and senior members of his government and a June bomb attack on his palace that left him bed-ridden for three months in a Saudi Arabian hospital.
Saleh had previously backed out of signing on three previous occasions, but even before Wednesday's signing the UN envoy Jamal Benomar, who has spent the past week shuttling back and forth between the president and his various opponents in Sana'a, said he was confident that a deal would be struck.
"An agreement had been reached by all parties, the deal will be signed tonight," Benomar said in the marble lobby of a hotel in Sana'a, shortly before boarding a plane to Riyadh along with opposition officials and foreign ambassadors for the official signing ceremony.
But the agreement, which also involves many of Saleh's family retaining government and military positions, is unlikely to appease the thousands of youthful protesters camped out in city squares across the country Yemen demanding Saleh's prosecution.
As news of Saleh's departure for Riyadh spread, a spontaneous march broke out in Sana'a. Thousands of young men surged out of their tented encampment, dubbed Change Square, kicking up dust with their feet and banging car bonnets with their fists, shouting: "No to immunity, no to Saudi, no to Ahmed Ali."
Mohammed Abdullah al-Ghafari, a 24-year-old medical student holding up a poster of Saleh and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah engulfed in flames, said: "If Saleh comes back we'll put him in the court. How can we accept immunity when the blood of our martyrs still stains the ground?"
The youth activists claim the deal struck is between political elites, and does not address their more fundamental demands. A growing rift has emerged between the political opposition, headed by the Islamist Islah party, and the self-named "independent youth" who first took to the streets back in February.
Others are fearful that Saleh's sudden departure will reignite hostilities between his supporters and his opponents. Two of Saleh's key rivals, the renegade general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, and the tribal leader Hamid al-Ahmar, are not party to the accord, and may obstruct the deal.
Those fears appeared to be well-founded. On Wednesday afternoon, the chants of pro-democracy demonstrators in Change Square were drowned out by the thud of explosions from the Republican Guard – an elite force which will continue to be led by Saleh's son Ahmed – as it bombarded the nearby mansion of Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, Hamid's elder brother, and the head of the influential Hashed tribal confederation.
"We are finally entering a new political chapter, said Foad al-Salahi, a professor of Political Sociology of Sanaa University. "But, as Egypt shows, this marks the beginning of a long and painful process of reform, the formation of a government of national unity and the restructuring of Yemen's family-run military should be the main priorities."
Tom Finn in Sana'a, Wednesday 23 November 2011 16.51 GMT
Yemen president quits after deal in Saud Arabia | World news | The Guardian
Saudi state television showed a smiling Saleh sitting next to Saudi King Abdullah in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Wednesday as he signed four copies of the proposal. He then clapped briefly.
With the economy on the verge of collapse and bloody clashes breaking out between armed factions of the military, Yemenis are hoping the deal will offer a way out of the 10-month-long turmoil that has left hundreds dead and the country teetering on the brink of civil war.
The deal, first drawn up by the Gulf monarchies back in April, involves Saleh retaining the honorary title of president while his deputy, 'Abd al-Rabb Mansour al-Hadi, forms and presides over a government of national unity until presidential elections in February. In return for signing, Saleh and his family are guaranteed immunity from prosecution.
Saleh has clung to power despite months of street protests, defections by top generals, ambassadors and senior members of his government and a June bomb attack on his palace that left him bed-ridden for three months in a Saudi Arabian hospital.
Saleh had previously backed out of signing on three previous occasions, but even before Wednesday's signing the UN envoy Jamal Benomar, who has spent the past week shuttling back and forth between the president and his various opponents in Sana'a, said he was confident that a deal would be struck.
"An agreement had been reached by all parties, the deal will be signed tonight," Benomar said in the marble lobby of a hotel in Sana'a, shortly before boarding a plane to Riyadh along with opposition officials and foreign ambassadors for the official signing ceremony.
But the agreement, which also involves many of Saleh's family retaining government and military positions, is unlikely to appease the thousands of youthful protesters camped out in city squares across the country Yemen demanding Saleh's prosecution.
As news of Saleh's departure for Riyadh spread, a spontaneous march broke out in Sana'a. Thousands of young men surged out of their tented encampment, dubbed Change Square, kicking up dust with their feet and banging car bonnets with their fists, shouting: "No to immunity, no to Saudi, no to Ahmed Ali."
Mohammed Abdullah al-Ghafari, a 24-year-old medical student holding up a poster of Saleh and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah engulfed in flames, said: "If Saleh comes back we'll put him in the court. How can we accept immunity when the blood of our martyrs still stains the ground?"
The youth activists claim the deal struck is between political elites, and does not address their more fundamental demands. A growing rift has emerged between the political opposition, headed by the Islamist Islah party, and the self-named "independent youth" who first took to the streets back in February.
Others are fearful that Saleh's sudden departure will reignite hostilities between his supporters and his opponents. Two of Saleh's key rivals, the renegade general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, and the tribal leader Hamid al-Ahmar, are not party to the accord, and may obstruct the deal.
Those fears appeared to be well-founded. On Wednesday afternoon, the chants of pro-democracy demonstrators in Change Square were drowned out by the thud of explosions from the Republican Guard – an elite force which will continue to be led by Saleh's son Ahmed – as it bombarded the nearby mansion of Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, Hamid's elder brother, and the head of the influential Hashed tribal confederation.
"We are finally entering a new political chapter, said Foad al-Salahi, a professor of Political Sociology of Sanaa University. "But, as Egypt shows, this marks the beginning of a long and painful process of reform, the formation of a government of national unity and the restructuring of Yemen's family-run military should be the main priorities."
Tom Finn in Sana'a, Wednesday 23 November 2011 16.51 GMT
Yemen president quits after deal in Saud Arabia | World news | The Guardian
