Yemen’s Saleh leaves for US, opponents protest

SANAA, (Reuters) – Outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh apologised for “any shortcoming” in his 33-year rule before leaving Yemen for the United States yesterday, paving the way for a transfer of power after a year of unrest.

“God willing, I will leave for (medical) treatment in the United States and I will return to Sanaa as head of the General People’s Congress party,” outgoing president Saleh told senior party and government officis in a televised speech. The U.S. State Department confirmed it had given him a visa.

“The sole purpose of this travel is for medical treatment and we expect that he will stay for a limited time that corresponds to the duration of this treatment,” it said.

Saleh tried to sound a conciliatory note in a farewell speech that came a day after he was granted immunity from prosecution under a law passed by parliament. “I ask for pardon from all Yemeni men and women for any shortcoming that occurred during my 33-year rule and I ask forgiveness and offer my apologies to all Yemeni men and women,” he said. “Now we must concentrate on our martyrs and injured.”

An aide to Saleh said he would spend two or three days in neighbouring Oman but an Omani official told Reuters the veteran ruler would be in transit for only a few hours. Thousands of Yemenis protested on Sunday against Saleh’s immunity and demanded he be put on trial for the killing of hundreds of demonstrators during a year of unrest that brought the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country to the verge of civil war. Saleh was granted the immunity as part of a plan hammered out by neighbouring Gulf states to ease him from power. Gulf Arab and Western allies fear instability has given al Qaeda militants room to further entrench themselves in remote areas outside central government control. He leaves behind a divided country.

An opposition-led government formed as part of the deal to get him out of office is preparing for a presidential election on Feb. 21 expected to replace Saleh with his ally and vice-president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in a power-sharing arrangement.