Yemenis urge ousting US, Saudi envoys

Yemen's Democratic Party calls for the expulsion of US, Saudi ambassadors, saying that a Transitional Council should be made up of non-foreign-linked elements (file photo).

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184766.html

The deputy head of Yemen's Democratic Party has called for the expulsion of American and Saudi Arabian ambassadors from his country.

In an interview with Al-Alam news channel on Tuesday, Abdul Salam Faqih warned that Washington and the members of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC), including Saudi Arabia, want to hijack the Yemeni people's uprising.

This will be done through the establishment of a proposed Transitional Council in Yemen, made up of officials loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime, Faqih said.

The revolutionary figure added that Saleh regime elements will not solve any of the problems facing Yemen, and urged Yemenis to stand up to such a proposition.

Yemeni youth must vouch for national figures that have no foreign links, in order to form the Transitional Council, Faqih stressed.

The remarks come amidst conflicting reports about Saleh's fate following the attack on his presidential palace earlier this month.

Some media outlets quoting Israeli and European sources claim Saleh is dead.

However, a Saudi source says the long-time Yemeni leader is still alive, but is in bad shape and not fit to re-take the helm as president.

Yemen's official news agency is meanwhile quoting Saleh as telling Saudi King Abdullah that his health is improving.

Saleh was flown to Saudi Arabia on June 4, a day after an explosion ripped through the Yemeni presidential compound in the capital, Sana'a. Since then Saleh has not been seen in public.

Opposition groups believe that with his departure, Saleh's 33-year rule has come to an abrupt end.

The protesters are now demanding the formation of a transitional presidential council in the country.

On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Yemeni capital Sana'a once again.

The demonstrators massed outside the home of acting president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, demanding the immediate formation of a transitional presidential council in the country. Otherwise they said they would act unilaterally.

The protesters also called for the total overhaul of Yemen's political system as well as the trial of Saleh and his aides.

They hold Saleh responsible for the killing of hundreds of people since anti-government rallies began in late January.