President attends symposium over constitutional amendments initiative

ADEN, Nov. 27 (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh attended here on Tuesday the opening session of a two-day symposium over constitutional amendments organized by Aden University. In the session, president Saleh delivered a speech in which he expressed happiness to talk to professors and students of the university about the initiative of making amendments to the constitution of the nation. He said that the initiative will be enriched with discussions and opinions before being cast to the public’s vote, noting that the amendments were among his electoral platform. “We are always calling for dialogue as a base for resolving problems without using other alternatives that may be tough,” president Saleh said. President Saleh pointed out to the stages of reunifying the nation since 1972, addressing the participants by saying “you are the elite, who defends unification. You, the generation armed with science and knowledge, are the real wealth of the country”. Thanks to security and stability settled in the country, many universities, technical institutes and development projects have been established throughout Yemen, he said. He said that the amendments would give further powers for the local ruling, saying that governors and directors of districts will be elected in order to reduce suffering from decentralization. President Saleh considered the local ruling as a basis of the political system, calling for going ahead to shift the local authority to local ruling. On the other hand, president Saleh pointed out to the faults in the judiciary in spite of its independence, saying that universities should do their role in spreading out awareness of the independence of judicial system among youths. He also indicated to a draft of setting up two-chamber system, Parliament and Shura Council in addition to the Nation Council. He concluded his speech by saying that only the people who can say Yes or No for this initiative. AH/AF Saba