The President of Yemen vowed not to extend his presidency, which ends in 2013, or pass power to his son. This promise comes in advance of protests against his rule scheduled for Thursday, Yemen's Day of Anger. See BBC article
The unrest in Tunisia and Egypt and thinning of the Arab autocrat club clearly got his attention. The King of Jordan, similarly making concessions before crowds and demands grew to be unmanageable, dismissed his cabinet and promised more democratic processes. While superficially the Yemeni president has made a big promise, he already made that promise to his people twice and well, he's still president.
Will the opposition or the people trust him this time? Are they satisfied waiting until 2013? The 2013 elections are two years away giving him plenty of time to entrench himself in power further. Saleh is a survivor and I believe his present actions must be viewed through that lens. The opposition welcomed his statement but said they await more concrete steps to that end and that the protests will go forward tomorrow as planned, peaceful and orderly.
No comments:
Post a Comment