Saleh Leaves Yemen to Saudi Arabia for Medical Treatment

Local Editor

Embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh left the country to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment for wounds suffered in a rocket attack on his compound.

A Saudi official, who asked not to be named, said: "He's just landed. He's here for medical treatment. We are the closest country and we have the capabilities."
Asked whether Saleh was stepping down, the official said only: "He's coming for medical treatment."

Saleh, 69, was wounded by a blast at a mosque inside his presidential compound on Friday.
In Sanaa, a presidential palace source confirmed the departure of Saleh, who under the constitution is to be replaced by Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in his absence.

Al-Manar TV correspondent reported that Saleh flew to Riyadh on a Saudi aircraft, adding that a second plane carried 24 of his family members.
His eldest son Ahmad, commander of the elite Republican Guard, remained in Yemen. The opposition says Ahmad was preparing to take over from his father before the popular uprising started.


The blast at the presidential palace's mosque killed 11 people and wounded 124 others, according to an official toll.
The embattled leader suffered "burns and scratches to the face and chest," an official said, after the ruling General People's Congress party had said he was only "lightly wounded in the back of the head."


PROTESTERS CELEBRATE

Few hours after Saleh has left Sanaa, young protesters celebrated what they said was the fall of the Yemeni regime
"Today, Yemen is newborn," sang dozens of youths in Sanaa's University Square -- dubbed "Change Square" -- the epicenter of anti-regime protests that have raged against Saleh's rule since January.
"This is it, the regime has fallen," others chanted.

In Yemen's second-largest city Taez, a flashpoint of anti-regime demonstrations south of Sanaa, hundreds also celebrated, chanting: "Freedom freedom, Ali has fled."
Sanaa, where battles since last month between Saleh's troops and opposition tribesmen loyal to powerful chieftain Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar have killed dozens of people, was calm on Sunday after sporadic overnight gunfire.

A source close to Sheikh Sadiq said the powerful tribal chief was "committed to a ceasefire based on mediation efforts led by Saudi King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz despite continuous shelling" by Saleh's forces.


SALEH’S GRIP APPERS TO BE SLIPPING

The reports of Saleh's journey to Saudi Arabia came amid speculation from Yemeni and western analysts that it was unlikely that he would be able to return to Yemen if he was forced to seek medical assistance abroad.

Saleh delivered an audio address on television to reassure supporters, but his voice sounded labored and the address was made accompanied by an old photograph of him on the screen.

Analysts fear that a sudden departure by Saleh, after 33 years in power, would leave a political vacuum and create even deeper chaos in Yemen, where the government has already lost control of some outlying provinces.

There are fears that without Saleh, whose regime has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of protesters and political opponents, the nascent civil war between rival factions could escalate further.

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