Saleh exit would plunge Yemen into uncertainty

YEMENI President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule seems near collapse. His exit would spell uncertainty for his broken country and discomfiture for US and Saudi friends, still backing their “ally” against al-Qaida.

The killing of more than 50 protesters in Sanaa on Sunday has turned a trickle of defections into a torrent as Yemeni diplomats, military officers, tribal leaders and politicians hasten to declare support for the anti-Saleh opposition.

“Saleh is finished,” said Philip McCrum, an independent analyst. “He is only clinging on because the Saudis and Americans are loathe, even at this late hour, to give him up.”