Finally, Saleh leaves Yemen
President Ali Abdullah Saleh left Yemen yesterday for neighbouring Oman from where he will go to the United States for treatment, hours after making a farewell speech asking the people to forgive him.
Saleh headed for Oman "where he will spend a few days before going to the United States," Abdulhafiz al-Nahari, spokesman for Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party, told reporters.
The trip "is for medical treatment and is not official," Nahari said.
In a televised farewell speech delivered just hours before he left, Saleh said he will head to the United States for medical treatment and asked Yemenis for forgiveness.
"I will go to the United States for treatment and will then return as head of the GPC party," Saleh said.
"I ask for forgiveness from all my people, men and women, for any shortcomings during my 33-year-long rule," he added.
A senior GPC official, Sultan al-Barakani, said last week that Saleh would travel abroad for treatment and return after that.
The White House and the US State Department declined to comment yesterday.
His departure came a day after parliament adopted a law giving Saleh "complete" immunity from prosecution in return for stepping down under a transition deal brokered by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.
The law, which also grants limited immunity to his aides, has drawn wide condemnation from young protesters, who have seen hundreds of their compatriots killed by Saleh's security forces and loyalists since the uprising began in January 2011.
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