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| Arabia |
| Yemeni clerics call for presidential elections |
| 2011-06-20 |
| [Arab News] More than 100 influential religious holy mans and tribal leaders called for the Yemeni president's ouster and elections to choose a new leader, adding their weight to the opposition movement seeking to end nearly 33 years of autocratic rule by President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower.... The president, who has clung to power despite four months of protests, is undergoing treatment in neighboring Soddy Arabia for serious burns and other injuries from a June 3 attack on his palace in the capital, Sanaa. His allies insist he will return to the country within days and resume his duties. The holy mans' petition, obtained Saturday, demands elections within 60 days and says Saleh is unfit to return to his post. "President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... is unable to carry out his responsibilities. He must step down," the statement said. Among the petitioners is Sheik Abdul-Majid Al-Zindani, the spiritual leader of the country's fundamentalist Islamic opposition party, Islah, and Yemen's most influential holy man. He has backed the anti-Saleh protesters since early on in the unrest. Others who have abandoned the Yemeni leader include top military commanders, powerful tribal chiefs and members of Saleh's ruling party. Many defected to the opposition in outrage at the killing of protesters. Yemen's crisis began when demonstrators inspired by successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia erupted into the streets in early February. The largely peaceful movement gave way to heavy street fighting when tribal militias took up arms in late May. Emboldened Islamic beturbanned goons have also seized on the expanding disorder to take control of towns in southern Yemen, adding to fears that the Al-Qaeda offshoot in the country could end up with even more room to operate freely. |
| Posted by:Fred |