Hamid on al Jazeera: The Saleh Era Must End
because he’s destroying Yemen… Hamid has a reasonable plan, the VP steps in until early elections, but the issue of the electoral reform is still unresolved. But Hamid is right that the continuation of Saleh’s dictatorship is a failed strategy and progress requires some change, if not an administrative purge.
Hameed Al-Ahmar (the Son of Abdullah Al-Ahmar), who is a member of the Yemen Parliament as well as of the Islah party, gave an interview on 05/08/09 with Al-Jazeera.
He openly and honestly spoke of the condition and events in Yemen, and pointed the blame directly to the Yemeni president Ali Saleh for the country’s failure.
He also gave a direct message to the president to step down from the Presidency and and hand it over to his vice president Al-Ariani, while carrying out immediate elections for a new president.
He also accused the Yemeni President of defying the constitution by giving all the governmental and military posts to his sons and relatives, and not giving the Southerners a chance, thus accusing the president of being a traitor.Hameed condemned what is happening in the South of Yemen and what is being done to the Southerners from oppression and ill-treatment.
Hameed spoke very boldly about the situation, and when asked by the t.v presenter whether or not he was going to return to Yemen, he replied with a bold “Yes”! Explaining that his tribe is going to protect him, and will not let anything happen to him.Reported: Rasha Rashed
His tribe is also Saleh’s tribe.
Update: Abdelmalik al Houthi is taking it as a Saleh-enduced call to dialog and responding with a bit of bluster.
Update: Al Sahwa has a write up:
Sahwa Net – Yemen’s opposition senior leader and Member of Parliament Hamid al-Ahmer has urged Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, hand over power to his vice-president Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi and set an appointment to elect a new president.
In an interview with alJazeera Satellite Channel, he emphasized that Yemen’s opposition seeks to create a fair democratic rule that could achieve the ambitions of Yemenis.He pointed out that the agreement of Yemen’s unification signed in 1990 included the principles of democracy and the peaceful transfer of power, stressing that all Yemenis would stand against oppression and secession calls.
He criticized the appointments of the president’s relatives in military positions, considering that a high treason for which the president might be accounted. He further praised the Saudi and Qatari efforts to solve the Saada issue, accusing the authorities of failing the Qatari mediation.
