TIMELINE-Saleh's 33-year rule in Yemen
Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:48 GMT
People sit in a market beside a portrait of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in the southern port city of Aden May 13, 2010. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Feb 20 (Reuters) - Yemen's poll on Tuesday is set to confirm Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi - by consensus, the only candidate - as president of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country and formally end Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year-rule.
The election is the result of a deal signed in Saudi Arabia in November aimed at rescuing Yemen from the brink of civil war. Under the agreement, Saleh has already transferred power to Hadi.
Saleh, who is in the United States for medical treatment, has vowed to return after the election to lead his General People's Congress (GPC) party.
Below is a timeline of Saleh's 33-year rule.
July 1978 - Saleh takes power in then North Yemen.
February 1979 - Saleh crushes an attempt to overthrow him, ordering the execution of 30 officers accused of conspiring to remove him.
May 1990 - Pro-Western North Yemen and socialist South Yemen merge after 300 years of separation to form a new republic dominating the strategic entrance to the Red Sea.
July 1994 - North Yemen declares victory in an almost three-month Yemeni civil war after gaining control of Aden, its southern foe's last bastion.
October 2000 - A U.S. warship, the USS Cole, is attacked in Aden harbour by al Qaeda bombers, killing 17 sailors.
November 2001 - Saleh declares support for U.S. President George W. Bush's "war on terror".
February 2008 - A fragile truce is signed with North Yemen's Houthis, a Zaidi Shi'ite tribe, but the four-year revolt soon resumes in the northwest region of Saada. Saleh unilaterally declares the war over in July 2008. Full-scale fighting resumes a year later.
January 2009 - Al Qaeda's Yemeni and Saudi wings merge in a new group called al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), led by Nasser al-Wahayshi.
Jan. 29, 2011 - Yemen's ruling party calls for dialogue with the opposition in a bid to stem anti-government protests.
- Saleh supporters attack and disperse Yemenis who try to march to the Egyptian embassy in Sanaa to express solidarity with Egyptian anti-government demonstrators.
March 2 - The opposition presents Saleh with a plan for a smooth transition of power, offering him an exit route.
March 18 - Snipers kill 52 protesters among crowds that flock to a sit-in at Sanaa University after Friday prayers. Saleh declares a state of emergency.
March 20 - Saleh dismisses his government.
March 21 - Senior army commanders, including Saleh ally General Ali Mohsen, commander of the northwest military zone, say they have switched support to pro-democracy activists.
March 23 - Saleh offers to step down by the end of 2011. He also proposes holding a referendum on a new constitution followed by a parliamentary election and a presidential vote.
April 23 - Saleh agrees to step down in weeks in return for immunity from prosecution. The opposition agrees to the plan.
April 25 - The opposition agrees to take part in a transitional government under a Gulf-negotiated peace plan.
May 21 - Yemen's opposition signs the transition deal.
May 22 - Five members of the ruling party sign the deal, but Gulf Arab states suspend it after Saleh asks for additional conditions and diplomats fail to persuade him to sign it.
May 24 - Saleh's refusal to sign the power transfer deal sparks street battles in Sanaa between his security forces and the powerful Hashed tribal alliance, led by Sadeq al-Ahmar.
May 30 - A truce between loyalist forces and tribesmen breaks down, with militants loyal to Ahmar regaining control of Yemen's ruling party building in the Hasaba district of Sanaa.
June 3 - Shells strike Saleh's palace in Sanaa, killing seven people and wounding the president, the prime minister, his deputy and the parliament speaker. The attack is blamed by the government on tribesmen.
June 4 - Saleh flies to Saudi Arabia for treatment after the attack on his palace. Vice president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi becomes acting president.
July 31 - Saleh calls for dialogue with his opponents during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to help resolve the crisis.
Aug. 10 - Saleh has agreed to look at restarting a Gulf Arab initiative aimed at ending the violent political standoff with a peaceful transfer of power, a government official says.
Aug. 14 - Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a tribal leader in the main opposition party, the Islamist Islah, calls on Western countries to freeze Saleh's assets.
Aug. 16 - Saleh says he will soon return home from Saudi and reiterates that he will only hand over power "via elections, not via coups".
Sept. 23 - Saleh returns from Saudi Arabia, greeted by gunfire and explosions.
Sept. 24 - At least 17 people are killed in continuing fighting.
Sept. 30 - Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born Muslim preacher linked to al Qaeda's Yemen wing, is killed in an air strike.
Oct. 21 - The U.N. Security Council urges Saleh to sign a deal requiring him to step down in exchange for immunity.
Nov. 23 - Saleh signs a deal brokered by Gulf states in Saudi Arabia. Saleh hands over to his deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who forms a new government with the opposition.
Jan. 22, 2012 - Saleh apologises to Yemenis and leaves Yemen for Oman on his way to the United States for more treatment for his injuries.
Jan. 28 - Saleh leaves Oman for the United States and later says he will return home before the election.
Feb. 21 - Uncontested presidential election. (Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit: Editing by Sami Aboudi and Andrew Osborn)
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