Fonte? Arab News/ WikipédiaRIYADH/SANAA: Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh will return from medical treatment in Saudi Arabia in days, the acting leader said on Monday as thousands celebrated what they hope will be a new era without him.
Vice President Abu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is now the acting leader, was quoted as saying on the Saba state news agency that Saleh’s health was improving and he “would return to the homeland in the coming days.”
Saleh, 69, was flown to Riyadh on Saturday night for treatment for injuries he suffered when a rocket struck his Sanaa palace on Friday. Five other high officials were injured and several guards were killed in the attack.
Word that surgery on Saleh for shrapnel wounds was successful sparked celebrations by his supporters on Monday in the provinces of Ibb and Dhamar with song, dance and shooting into the air.
Youthful protesters, interpreting Saleh’s absence as potentially permanent, also continued to celebrate in Sanaa where they have staged anti-government demonstrations since January.
“It’s impossible for us to let (Saleh) come back. And those of his people who are still here had better follow him to Saudi,” one of those attending a Sanaa rally.
An opposition party coalition, which joined months of street protests to end Saleh’s three-decade rule, said it backed transferring power to Vice President Hadi.
Diplomats and analysts feel Saleh’s stay in Riyadh might be prolonged as Saudi officials try to broker a power transition deal to prevent the implosion of its neighbor.
“I don’t think the Saudis or his people want him back. He doesn’t have regional support,” said a diplomat in the region.
International pressure has mounted on all parties to find a way to end clashes bringing Yemen to the brink of civil war due to worries it could become a failed state home to an Al-Qaeda wing.
A Saudi-brokered truce was holding in Sanaa after two weeks of fighting between Saleh’s forces and a powerful tribal group in which more than 200 people were killed and thousands fled.
But there was fresh fighting in the flashpoint southern city of Taiz, where the United Nations said it was investigating reports that as many as 50 have been killed in the past week.
Yemenis have awaited word on whether Saleh would sign a Gulf-brokered transition deal he has so far rejected.
In a joint statement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the Prime Ministers of Britain, Spain and Italy, thanked Saudi Arabia for receiving Saleh for treatment, and called on all parties in Yemen to “find a means of reconciliation on the basis of the GCC initiative.”
Saudi influence
The Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council urged all parties to work to end violence and said it was continuing its efforts to negotiate a power-transfer deal.
Yemen , which relies on oil for 60 percent of its economy, has been dealt a heavy blow by the closure of an oil pipeline that trade sources said have caused fuel shortages.
But the future of Yemen, riven by complex rivalries among tribal leaders, generals and politicians, remains uncertain.
“Saleh’s departure to Saudi Arabia isn’t just courtesy from the Saudi ruling family,” said Egyptian political analyst Nabil Abdel-Fattah. “The security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf is linked to security in Yemen.”
Saleh’s departure could make it hard for the veteran president to retain control, although his close relatives still command key military units and security forces.
Other contenders in a possible power struggle include the well-armed Hashed tribal federation, breakaway military leaders, Islamists, leftists and an angry public seeking relief from crippling poverty, corruption and failing public services.
Saleh, a political survivor, has defied global calls to step down and survived the defection of top generals, ministers and ambassadors who left the government after troops killed many demonstrators in March. More than 450 people have been killed in the unrest shaking the nation of 23 million since late January.
Saleh has exasperated his former US and Saudi allies, who once saw him as a key counter-terrorism partner, by repeatedly reneging on the transition plan, even though it offered him immunity from prosecution — something opposed by protesters.
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