Inside story: Saleh visits Saudi: More of the same?
Inside Story

New chapter in Yemen’s politics?

Will President Saleh finally honour a power-transfer deal and offer Yemen a fresh start, or will it be more of the same?

Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, has made a surprise visit to the Saudi capital to sign a long-awaited power transfer deal.

It was brokered by the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council. But Saleh has backed out of stepping down three times before.

Ordinary Yemenis say they are willing to endure hardship until they achieve their political goal.

What does Saleh’s trip mean for those struggling to make ends meet? Will it be a new chapter in Yemen’s political deadlock, or more of the same?

Inside Story, with presenter Hazem Sika, discusses with guests: Mohamed Qubaty, a Yemeni opposition activist, a former advisor to Yemen’s prime minister and the former head of foreign relations and international co-operation department; and Clive Jones, a professor of Middle East Studies and International Politics at the University of Leeds, and the author of Britain and the Yemen Civil War 1962-1965.

“We’re dealing here with a man who’s quite known to be deceitful, evasive, erratic, disreputable….the signing itself is not a sign of a step forward.”

Mohamed Qubaty, Yemeni opposition activist