Yemen President reiterates to stay in power until 2013

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

SANAA/ADEN | Sat Mar 5, 2011 8:03am EST

SANAA/ADEN (Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh Saturday reiterated that he would remain in power until his term ends in 2013, rejecting an opposition plan for him to step aside this year.

"The peaceful and smooth transition of power is not carried out through chaos but through the will of the people expressed through elections," an official source at the presidential office said in a statement.

The opposition Friday said Saleh was sticking to an earlier plan to step down in 2013 but had agreed to a proposal by religious leaders to revamp elections, parliament and the judicial system.

Saleh, an ally of the United States in its battle against an al Qaeda wing based in his country, has struggled to cement a truce with Shi'ite rebels in the north and quell a budding secessionist rebellion in the south.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/05/us-yemen-idUSTRE72338020110305