President Saleh says ready to leave power in safe hands

SANA’A, March 26 (Saba)- The text of a speech delivered by President Ali Abdullah Saleh during the ‘Friday of tolerance’ rally held in the capital Sana’a. Great people of Yemen, you have come here from all areas out of free will. No party has mobilized you, no chieftain has ordered you, and no governor or political force has asked you to come to al-Sabain Square. Out of free will and a sense of patriotic responsibility by our people, mass crowds have flocked from all governorates on this great day, the Friday of tolerance, peace, security, and stability. It is the Friday of security and stability. Yes, yes, yes, to security and stability. No to chaos and no to sabotage. No to chaos and no to sabotage. No to constructive chaos. No to looting properties. No to attacking government institutions. No to plundering state camps. Those people are creating chaos, committing banditry, and destroying and sabotaging everything, because they do not regret anything and will never wake up. They did not work with us in the fields of development and services to provide public services to citizens. They have bitter feelings against all beautiful things. They have bitter feelings against all beautiful things. They want to rise to power on the skulls of martyrs, babies, and the misguided. Those adventurers and conspirators do not care about anything. However, here is the practical response of the people to those targeting unity, freedom, democracy and legitimacy. This is a popular referendum in the capital Sana’a, in Taiz, Hodeidah, Hadramout, Ibb and all the governorates of the republic, in which the people are saying “no” to chaos, and “yes” to tolerance, security, stability, and development. I salute your kind feelings, your gathering here, and your support of the constitutional legitimacy. We, the political leadership, assure you that we stand firmly beside you. We went through incidents that are worse than these ones, thwarted all schemes and political and media lies in 1994, 1993, and in the past few years during the Saada war. Now, all the opponents have gathered, the Houthis, al-Qaeda, the Southern Mobility Movement, and the Joint Meeting Parties, and they only aim at tearing Yemen apart. You have to protect the unity, stability, and security of Yemen, and you have to confront whoever tries to tamper with the security and stability. You are the country’s army. You are the country’s security. There is no security but you. The security is the crowds who have the real interest in the revolution, unity, and freedom. I am ready to hold a dialogue with you, hear your demands, and form a political party from the youths. Do not be a mount for the people who have weak, spiteful, and sick souls who want to destroy everything in this life. The people are your responsibility. As for us in the leadership, we do not want the authority and we do not need it, but we need to hand it over to safe hands, not to hateful, sick, and corrupt ones. We are ready to leave power, but on sound basis, and hand it over to safe hands chosen by our people. Our people are the source responsible for choosing its leadership. The leadership is not chosen through sit-ins, chaos, or sniper killing of innocent people. The camps are full of snipers belonging to the Houthis, drug addicts, and those who were bought with ill-gotten money. I salute you our people, wherever you are, in the east, west, north and south of Yemen. Power cannot be handed over to a minority in the presence of this mass crowd. This crowd has the real interest in the state. The power should be handed over to this crowd. We will hand over the power to you. You are the ones who take over the power, not anyone else. The mob and anarchists are forbidden from taking power. We stand by you. We stand by you in the change for the better. We support the change towards chaos and coups. We are against chaos, coups, and gun shootings. We are keen on not shedding the blood of the Yemenis. When we make concessions, we make consecutive concessions in order to avoid bloodshed and killings. These are the concessions that we make. We are not holding on to power at all. But to whom should we hand it over? We will hand it over to safe hands. The hands of September and October and 22 May. I salute you our people, wherever you are. We will work hard and face all challenges. We will stand in the face of those who are challenging Yemen and tampering with its security. We will resist and face them with all our force. I salute you again on the Friday of tolerance and peace. The ones who understand the meaning of tolerance and peace should extend a helping hand to the hands [as heard] of tolerance and peace. We welcome all of your decisions that call for the extension of the constitutional legitimacy. We welcome you. Have a blessed Friday. Saba