Qatar Urges Saleh to Tender Resignation
Qatar pressed Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a power transfer deal “without delay” after prolonged protests against his rule. ”We call on the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to immediately sign the Gulf initiative without delay,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said in Rabat, according to Qatar’s QNA news agency. Additionally, protesters in Sana’a and Taiz urged the Arab League to impose sanctions on President Saleh’s government and suspend the country’s membership. They chanted slogans demanding the prosecution of Saleh and his relatives, and called on the United Nations to take a firmer stand against Yemen.
Meanwhile, reports emerged that Mohamed Sudam, the Reuters reporter covering Yemen, has been removed from his assignment due to outrage from opposition activists over his employment by the government as a personal translator to Ali Abdullah Saleh. Additionally, Abdel-Moneim Said writes that Saleh’s and Bashar Al-Assad‘s reaction to international pressure is a “mission of tyranny” in its purest form.
November 17, 2011
Category: Arab League, Featured, Journalism, Political transition, Protests, Qatar, Yemen