President Obama backs Yemen’s charge for peaceful transition of power
Monday, February 20th, 2012 7:10:32 by Hamza Jahangir
President Obama offered support on Sunday for Yemen’s vice president, who is expected to soon become president, and said that Yemen could be an example of peaceful political transition for other Arab nations.
The message was conveyed by the American counterterrorism chief, John O. Brennan, who presented a letter from Mr. Obama to Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi during a meeting here in the capital, Sana.
“I know you face challenges ahead, but I am optimistic that Yemen can emerge as a model for how peaceful transition in the Middle East can occur when people resist violence and unite under a common cause,” the letter said, according
to The Associated Press.
Mr. Obama’s support for the political transition here came as no surprise. The United States has been working to remove the current president, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, from office since last April.
Mr. Brennan was completing a two-day trip to Yemen, aimed at making sure that the government’s cooperation in fighting the regional branch of Al Qaeda will continue under the country’s new leadership.
Yemenis will cast votes for a new president in a one-candidate election on Tuesday, the culmination of an American-backed plan to end the 33-year rule of Mr. Saleh, a former American ally who was driven from power by a yearlong
protest movement and ultimately by pressure from his former allies. Mr. Hadi was selected as the consensus candidate for president by Mr. Saleh’s governing party and the opposition coalition. His name will be the only one on the ballot.
Yemenis realize that the election is more of a mechanism to remove Mr. Saleh from office than an exercise in democracy. Still, after a year of demonstrations and urban warfare, many Yemenis are desperate for normalcy, and they
welcome the vote.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=13354
Posted by Hamza Jahangir
on Feb 20 2012. Filed under Latest News, USA, World.
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