Yemen President Gives Farewell Speech, Apologizes

[Sunni Man]

Outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is getting ready to leave the country after delivering a farewell speech on Sunday, apologizing for mistakes and saying it is time to hand over power, Yemeni officials said.

Aides to the president told The Associated Press that Saleh gathered top political, military and security officials and announced promotion of Yemeni Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to the rank of marshal. He is set to replace Saleh.

"I appeal to you to forgive my past mistakes," one top ruling party official quoted Saleh as saying. "Today, I leave the country in your hands," he said, according to the official, who was among those attended the event early in the morning. In November Saleh signed a power transfer deal but has balked at actually leaving.

Another aide who attended the meeting quoted Saleh as saying, "I am leaving this good country, today. I want to bid you farewell from this place. I thank each one of you and offer my apology to the people and ask for forgiveness."

On Saturday, Yemeni officials said that Saleh intends to leave soon to Oman, en route to medical treatment in the United States, part of an American effort to get the embattled strongman out of the country to allow a peaceful transition from his rule.

Washington has been trying for weeks to find a country where Saleh can live in exile, since it does not want him to settle permanently in the United States. The mercurial president, who has ruled for more than 33 years, has repeatedly vacillated over whether he would leave.

Yemen President Gives Farewell Speech, Apologizes - ABC News

 

[High_Gravity]

Oh wow, well hopefully the Yemeni people can start to rebuild their country.

 

[waltky]

Yemen food crisis getting worse...

Yemen food crisis reaching 'catastrophic proportions'
Tuesday 22 May 2012 - With nearly 500,000 people displaced, aid agencies warn that Yemen's instability will worsen unless donors increase funding

Yemen is facing a food crisis of "catastrophic proportions", with almost half the population going hungry and a third of children in some areas severely malnourished, aid agencies have warned. A coalition of seven humanitarian organisations – Care International, International Medical Corps, Islamic Relief, Mercy Corps, Merlin, Oxfam and Save the Children – is urging the international community to step up aid before Yemen slides further into poverty and political instability.

The Middle Eastern country's already precarious state was highlighted on Monday when a suicide bomber attacked a military parade, killing more than 90 people and wounding at least 220. The bombing, one of the deadliest in recent years, was a setback in Yemen's battle against al-Qaida-affiliated Islamists and has heightened concerns over a country in the frontline of the US global war on militants. The aid agencies – which point out that the UN's humanitarian appeal has received only 43% of the funding it needs – are urging delegates at Wednesday's international Friends of Yemen conference to do more to tackle the food crisis.

The agencies say hunger in Yemen has doubled since 2009 and was exacerbated by last year's political upheaval, which saw the dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh ousted from power after 33 years and replaced by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Penny Lawrence, Oxfam's international director, said that although donors were concentrating on politics and security, they had to focus on more basic and pressing issues. "Yemeni families are at the brink and have exhausted their ways of coping with the crisis," she said.

"Failure to respond adequately to the humanitarian needs now will put more lives at risk, further entrench poverty and could undermine political transition in the country." Her fears were echoed by Jerry Farrell, Save the Children's director in Yemen. "Political instability, conflict and high prices have left families across the country going hungry," he said. "We know that children always suffer the most when food is in short supply, and unless urgent humanitarian action is taken, Yemen will be plunged into a hunger crisis of catastrophic proportions."

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