也门总统萨利赫下台

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has stepped down after 33 years in power.

也门总统阿里·阿布杜拉·萨利赫结束了33年的统治，已经下台。

Ali Abdullah Saleh (R) is handing power to his deputy Abdrabbuh Hadi (L)
He formally handed power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who was sworn in as head of state on Saturday.

The transfer was part of a Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered agreement.

Under the deal, Mr Hadi will serve a two-year term and oversee（监督，审查） the drafting of a new constitution. Mr Saleh was also granted immunity from prosecution.

Aides to the former president have said that he plans to go into exile, although there have been problems finding any country that will accept him. The Associated Press quoted Yemeni officials on Monday, however, as saying that Ethiopia had agreed.

Mr Saleh becomes the fourth Arab leader to be removed from power after more than a year of mass protests in the region. He only returned to Yemen on Saturday after receiving medical treatment in the United States for injuries sustained in an assassination attempt last June.

After handing Mr Hadi the flag of Yemen at the ceremony, he said: "I hand over the banner of the revolution, of the republic, of freedom, of security and of stability... to safe hands."

He also called on the country to unite behind the new leader.

Opposition MPs boycotted the ceremony because of Mr Saleh's presence. Security forces controlled by him and his family, as well as armed loyalists, were blamed killing hundreds of people during the 11-month uprising that forced him to step aside in November.