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| Russia Expected To Host Yemen's Ex-Leader Saleh, paper |
| 2012-05-01 |
| [Yemen Post] A senior Yemeni diplomat said Russia has agreed to host Yemen's ex-president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , who relinquished power after mass protests in 2011, Akhbar al-Youm newspaper said on Sunday. "Russia accepted to host Saleh permanently amid expectations the United Arab Emirates, which initially agreed to host him earlier, may be reluctant or refuse to do," the diplomat said, according to the paper. Earlier, the UAE accepted to host Saleh during the two-year transitional period, but he set conditions including the Gulf country pay all expenses for his stay. The move came under US and Saudi pressure on this Gulf country within the efforts to ensure a positive implementation of the power-transfer deal. The diplomat said President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi met on Saturday with the Russian ambassador to Yemen Sergei Koslov and the matter of hosting the former president was expected to be discussed by the two, the paper added. Saleh will leave the country after he transfers all his authorities as head of the General People's Congress to Hadi and his second deputy Abdul Karim al-Eryani, the diplomat was quoted as saying. Saleh signed in November the power-transfer deal brokered by the GCC countries and backed by the UN, which saw him relinquish power to his deputy after 33 years in office. He is currently being seen as attempting to hinder the implementation of the deal, but the countries sponsoring the deal, including the US and E, has warned to sanction him and his loyalists. |
| Posted by:Fred |