Sana’a: Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down after 33 years at the helm on Tuesday at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Sana’a, formally handing power over to his deputy, Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi.
"I hand over the banner of revolution… to safe hands," said Saleh, the fourth veteran Arab leader to fall in just over a year, standing beside Hadi.
Yemen’s new president will serve for an interim two-year period as stipulated by a Gulf-brokered power transition plan signed by Saleh last November.
Hadi, meanwhile, cautioned that the past year of political turmoil that has crippled the economy and unleashed nationwide insecurity was not over yet, and appealed to Yemenis to "cooperate with the new leadership" to help the country emerge from the crisis.
