Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh to go to US
Middle East country's leader announces departure plan hours after his forces opened fire on demonstators
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said he will go to the US and give way to a successor, hours after his forces killed nine people demanding he be tried for killings over nearly a year of protests aimed at his ouster.
But Saleh, who agreed to step down last month under a deal cut by his wealthier neighbours who fear civil war in Yemen will affect them, did not say when he would depart and vowed to play a political role again, this time opposed to a new government.
Troops from units led by Saleh's son and nephew opened fire with guns, tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators who approached his compound in the capital Sana'a after marching for days from the southern city of Taiz, chanting "No to immunity!"
Saleh, speaking to reporters after attacks by forces loyal to him fired at protesters demanding he face trial for killing demonstrators over 11 months of protests, said he had no designs on staying in power.
"I will go to the United States. Not for treatment, because I'm fine, but to get away from attention, cameras, and allow the unity government to prepare properly for elections," he said.
"I'll be there for several days, but I'll return because I won't leave my people and comrades who have been steadfast for 11 months," he said.
"I'll withdraw from political work and go into the street as part of the opposition.
In southern Yemen, gunmen killed a Briton of Yemeni origin and wounded a soldier accompanying him in an attack on an oil company vehicle that a local official blamed on highway robbers.
In Sana'a, residents said shots rang out when riot police and troops blocked activists who had reached the capital chanting "No to immunity", at the climax of a mass march that began days earlier in the city of Taiz, 200 km (125 miles) to the south.
Mohammed al-Qubati, a doctor at a field hospital that has treated proteste! rs durin g 11 months of mass demonstrations against Saleh, said some 90 people suffered gunshot wounds in addition to the nine killed. About 150 other people were wounded by tear gas canisters or incapacited by gas, he said.
The marchers denounced the deal Saleh agreed last month giving him immunity from prosecution in exchange for handing power to his deputy, who is to work with an interim government including opposition parties before a February presidential election.
That plan, crafted by the Gulf Cooperation Council and mirrored in the terms of a UN Security Council resolution, has been bitterly denounced by youth protesters who demand Saleh face trial and his inner circle be banned from holding power.
"The blood of the martyrs has been sold for dollars," shouted protesters, before forces from the Republican Guard and Central Security Forces attacked on roads leading to Saleh's compound, which was surrounded by tanks and armoured vehicles.
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