Yemenis don't buy President Ali Abdullah Saleh's promise to leave

BY Matthew Lysiak and Larry Mcshane

March 23rd 2011

Skeptical Yemeni immigrants say an offer from their homeland's besieged president to leave next January is just another scam to keep the job he's held for 32 years.

"I don't believe anything the man says," said Sam Offafa, 39, who moved from Yemen in 1995. "He is trying to play a game."

Offafa, who still has a large family in Yemen, said the time was right for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to depart - but he's not expecting it to happen anytime soon.

"People are looking for freedom," said Offafa, manager at a Brooklyn business. "It's time for him to go and take his whole government with him."

Abdul Alzindani, manager of a Court St. travel agency, echoed Offafa's beliefs.

"He won't ever step down," Alzindani said. "He will fight. Power is in his blood. It's not easy to give up. I take his word for nothing."

Another transplanted Yemeni who came to the U.S. seven years ago said the president will only depart if he can install his cronies as replacements.

"We don't believe anything that man says," said Saleh, 34, who declined to give his last name because he has family living in Yemen.

"Everyone know he is going to try to give power to his friends," Saleh said. "That's how these people operate."

Source: NY Daily News