Head of Yemen's top tribe tells president to go

SANAA, Yemen: The head of the largest tribe in Yemen Thursday against opponents of embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh called for immediate withdrawal and refrain from violence against protesters.
The decision by the highly respected sheikh Abu Sinan Lohoum, 80, was announced in a statement issued by the United States, where he received medical treatment. It was read to the demonstrators gathered on a central square in Sana'a, which has become the epicenter of the protest.
The members of the immediate family of Abu Lohoum confirmed the authenticity of the statement.
tribe of Abu Lohoum Baqeel is the greater of the following Zaidi offshoot of Shiite Islam. The other - Saleh Hashid tribe - has already supported the opposition.
Several senior military officials, legislators, ministers, diplomats and provincial governors have also defected to the opposition last week.
Saleh asked several times to appease the protesters, but in vain.
In the past month, he proposed not to run when his current term ends in 2013, then offered this week to step by the end of the year and open a dialogue with leaders of demonstrators.
At the same time, it has intensified the use of violence. Its security forces have killed more than 40 protesters in Sanaa on Friday, but the bloodshed that the escalation of defections and the rejection of hardened protesters something, but his immediate departure.
Yemeni legislator Saleh granted the request for a 30-day state of emergency Wednesday in a vote the opposition called illegal.
The declaration of emergency has suggested that Saleh intends to dig and try to crush his opponents. The decree allows media censorship, gives broad powers to censor mail, listen to telephone conversations, research houses and to arrest and detain suspects without judicial process.
The opposition parties allied with youth groups in the demonstrations said Saleh wanted in part a state of emergency as a legal cover to further suppress the demonstrations.
Legislators from the opposition and independent stayed away from the parliamentary session on Wednesday with dozens of members of the party of Saleh's decision.