Reply #16: Yemen Countdown: "It’s hard to see how President Ali Abdullah Saleh can hold on"

[oberliner]

It’s hard to see how President Ali Abdullah Saleh can hold on. Only 45 minutes or so after Al Jazeera published the list below, Yemen’s Embassy in London, including its ambassador, flew the coop. Saleh dismissed his own cabinet on Sunday; three of his ministers had already resigned. Now senior military figures are turning on him.

List of defections:

8:41pm (Yemen time): An update of the rapidly growing list of defections and resignations in Yemen:

Army Officers:
Brigadier Ali Mohsen Saleh, head of the North Western Military Zone
Brigadier Hameed Al koshebi, head of brigade 310 in Omran area
Brigadier Mohammed Ali Mohsen, head of the Eastern Division
Brigadier Nasser Eljahori, head of brigade 121
General Ali Abdullaha Aliewa, adviser of the Yemeni supreme leader of the army
General Faisal Rajab, based in the southern province of Lahij
“Dozens of officers of various ranks” – AFP

Diplomats:
Abdel-Wahhab Tawaf, Ambassador to Syria
Mohammed Ali al-Ahwal, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Ambassador to Jordan
Ambassador to Egypt
Ambassador to Kuwait
Ambassador to China
Ambassador to Algeria
Ambassador to Indonesia
Ambassador to Iraq
Ambassador to Qatar
Ambassador to Belgium
Ambassador to Pakistan
Ambassador to Czech Republic
Ambassador to Spain
Ambassador to Germany
Ambassador to Oman
Ambassador to the UN
Charge d’affairs to Tunisia
Representative to the Arab League
All embassy staff in Washington except the ambassador

Local Officials:
Ahmed Qaatabi, Governor of Yemen’s southern province of Aden
Himyar al-Ahmar, Deputy Speaker of Parliament
Mayor of Aden
3 MPs
Advisor of Yemen’s premiership

http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/yemen-countdown/