Senior officers and troops side with protesters as envoys, editors, party chiefs and governors call on President Saleh to step down
Tom Finn in Sana'a
guardian.co.uk, Monday 21 March 2011
"After 32 years in power Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, looks destined to become the next Arab leader to be toppled as 11 military commanders, including a senior general, defected from the regime, promising to protect anti-government protesters in the capital.
General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a long-time confidant of the president and head of the Yemeni army in the country's north-west, announced he would support "the peaceful revolution" by sending soldiers under his command to protect the thousands gathered in the capital demanding for Saleh to step down.
"According to what I'm feeling, and according to the feelings of my partner commanders and soldiers … I announce our support and our peaceful backing to the youth revolution," Ali Mohsen said via a video statement released before noon.....
Within hours, seven Yemeni ambassadors – to Japan, Syria, the Czech Republic, Jordan, China, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait – announced they were standing down.
"The regime is crumbling, there is very little support left for the president now," said Mohammed al-Naqeeb, head of the ruling party in Aden who resigned this afternoon.
Minutes after Ali Mohsen's defection, tanks belonging to the republican guards, an elite force led by the president's son Ahmed Ali [Sounds familiar? Just like Gaddafi and his sons.], rolled into the streets of Sana'a, setting the stage for a standoff between defectors and loyalists.
Republican guard tanks took up a strategic location across the city at Saleh's residence, the ministry of defence and at the central bank. Meanwhile, tanks of Ali Mohsen's 1st armoured division took positions elsewhere in the city.....
"Unfortunately the president and his sons still have control over powerful sections of the military including the republican guard and the air force," said Yemeni political analyst Abdul Irayani.
"We are all praying that Saleh leaves quickly and quietly to prevent the situation deteriorating rapidly."....."
Tom Finn in Sana'a
guardian.co.uk, Monday 21 March 2011
"After 32 years in power Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, looks destined to become the next Arab leader to be toppled as 11 military commanders, including a senior general, defected from the regime, promising to protect anti-government protesters in the capital.
General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a long-time confidant of the president and head of the Yemeni army in the country's north-west, announced he would support "the peaceful revolution" by sending soldiers under his command to protect the thousands gathered in the capital demanding for Saleh to step down.
"According to what I'm feeling, and according to the feelings of my partner commanders and soldiers … I announce our support and our peaceful backing to the youth revolution," Ali Mohsen said via a video statement released before noon.....
Within hours, seven Yemeni ambassadors – to Japan, Syria, the Czech Republic, Jordan, China, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait – announced they were standing down.
"The regime is crumbling, there is very little support left for the president now," said Mohammed al-Naqeeb, head of the ruling party in Aden who resigned this afternoon.
Minutes after Ali Mohsen's defection, tanks belonging to the republican guards, an elite force led by the president's son Ahmed Ali [Sounds familiar? Just like Gaddafi and his sons.], rolled into the streets of Sana'a, setting the stage for a standoff between defectors and loyalists.
Republican guard tanks took up a strategic location across the city at Saleh's residence, the ministry of defence and at the central bank. Meanwhile, tanks of Ali Mohsen's 1st armoured division took positions elsewhere in the city.....
"Unfortunately the president and his sons still have control over powerful sections of the military including the republican guard and the air force," said Yemeni political analyst Abdul Irayani.
"We are all praying that Saleh leaves quickly and quietly to prevent the situation deteriorating rapidly."....."
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