New York Times International Feed
Yemen’s Leader Pledges Not to Seek Re-election
ALAN COWELL Published: Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 5:10 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 5:10 a.m.
PARIS — In the latest shock wave from protests across the Arab world, President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen sought to forestall new displays of opposition, announcing on Wednesday that he would not stand for re-election when his term expires in 2013 or try to hand on power to his son, news reports said.
The announcement conjured yet one more spectacle — unthinkable only weeks ago — of an Arab leader seen as a bulkhead of American policy bowing to pressure from the streets. Since mid-January, the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan have all come under pressure from populations they had long held in thrall.
“No extension, no inheritance, no resetting the clock,” Mr. Saleh said in a speech to Parliament, Reuters reported, speaking a day before protesters planned a large rally in the capital, Sana, called a “day of rage.”
His remarks referred in part to proposals that would have permitted him to seek a further term and in part to widespread speculation that, like President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, he had planned to pass power to his son, establishing a kind of Middle Eastern dynasty that now seems improbable in the turmoil engulfing the region.
“I present these concessions in the interests of the country. The interests of the country come before our personal interests,” Mr. Saleh said.
“I call on the opposition to freeze all planned protests, rallies and sit-ins,” he added.
It was not clear whether the announcement would forestall renewed protests or, as has happened in Tunisia and Egypt, embolden those who seek political change and sense a weakness in their ruling elites.
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