Yemeni envoys urge Saleh to resign

Mon Mar 21, 2011

Five Yemeni ambassadors to European states have called on embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, the country's envoy to France says.

The ambassadors to Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Berlin and London as well as the Yemeni consul in Frankfurt "sent a message to President Saleh urging him to respond to the demands of the people and resign to avert bloodshed," Khaled al-Akwaa said.

He added that the Yemeni ambassador to Cuba was also one of the signatories, AFP reported.

The envoys join a host of senior Yemeni officials who have either resigned from their posts or voiced support for protesters demanding Saleh's ouster.

Several military commanders have joined the opposition while Yemen's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mohammad Ali al-Ahwal has voiced support for protesters.

Yemeni deputy parliament speaker and the governor of the southern province of Aden along with the country's ambassadors to Syria, Japan and the UN have also stepped down.

More than 50 people have been killed and scores of others wounded during armed attacks by Saleh loyalists since the beginning of the popular revolution in January.

Top Yemeni tribal leader Sadiq al-Ahmar also joined a number of influential Yemeni clerics who have called on Saleh to meet the demands of protesters and end his decades-long rule to avoid further violence and bloodshed.

Late on Sunday, President Saleh sacked his entire government amid continued pressure from the oppression-weary public. He, however, did not show any sign that he would meet the protesters' demand and step down.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171069.html.