Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced to relinquish power, has moved to the opposition criticizing the national coalition government on Saturday as “weak” and “politically unsavvy.”
Saleh accused his political rivals, including army General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar who supported the uprising, of treason and corruption.
“We will disclose the files and show the facts for us to see to see who are the protectors of the revolution and its leaders from September 1962 until today and who are those who run forward to survive…symbols of corruption…traitors and agents of the dollar and the Ryal,” Saleh told a crowd of his supporters in Sanna.
He also criticized the uprising against him and described his opponents as “thugs.”
“What kind of revolution they are talking about? A revolution of thugs? The revolution of backwardness? The real revolutions happened in September 1962 in the north and in October 14, 1963 in the south and on day of the Yemeni Unity on May 22, 1990,” he said.
Mohammad Anaam, member of Saleh’s General People Congress party’s central committee and the editor in Chief of al-Mithaq Newspaper, told Al Arabiya that Saleh’s latest comments inaugurates a new phase of “quasi-opposition” to expose the failures of the coalition government.
“Saleh’s speech shows that he was keen to implement the Gulf initiative (for power transfer) because the security and economic conditions were becoming more and more dangerous. This government has not done anything and it will disappoint people if it continues with this performance. It does not have programs to re-build the country,” Anaam said.
Saleh formally handed over power to his successor Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi last month and urged the new government to carry on the fight against al-Qaeda and called on “friends and brothers” to back efforts to rebuild the country after the destruction that was caused by the uprising that led to his ouster.
Yemen’s new president will serve for an interim two-year period as stipulated by a Gulf-brokered power transition plan signed by Saleh last November.
