Obama voices support for Yemen VP days before vote

Sunday, February 19, 2012

SANAA, Yemen (AP) --President Barack Obama has voiced his support for Yemen's vice president days before an election expected to make Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi the country's new leader.

Obama says in the letter that he looks forward to deeper relations between the two countries and vows that the U.S. will be "a strong and reliable partner."

The letter was delivered by Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, who read it to reporters in Yemen Sunday.

Obama also said he hoped Yemen would become a symbol of political transformation "when people resist violence and unite under a common cause."

Yemen has been torn apart by a year-old uprising seeking to end the rule of autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is to be succeeded by Hadi in an uncontested election Tuesday.