Yemeni leader in pledge to step aside

YEMEN’S controversial president Ali Abdullah Saleh said yesterday in a televised address to his Gulf nation that he would leave power in the coming days.

The statement is the closest that the veteran leader has come to announcing he plans to step down after nine months of mass protests against his 33-year rule, in which hundreds of people have died.

Saleh himself was almost killed by a rocket attack on his presidential palace in June, a suspected assassination attempt, and only recently returned from Saudi Arabia after months of hospital treatment for his injuries.

“I reject power and I will continue to reject it, and I will be leaving power in the coming days,” he said.

The president has been clinging on to power while opposition and ruling party representatives cast about for a formula to see through a deal on a handover.

“I call on my supporters to persevere and to confront any challenge,” he said.

Protests against Saleh’s rule have paralysed Yemen, weakening government control over swathes of the country and fanning fears that al-Qaeda’s regional wing may use the upheaval to expand its foothold near shipping routes through the Red Sea.

Saleh has backed out of signing a Gulf-mediated deal three times now.

The opposition claims that the government is holding up negotiations because of Saleh’s return.

Yesterday, a Yemeni military official said that a blast at a police station in the country’s south had killed one soldier and wounded seven others.

The official said al-Qaeda militants were suspected to be behind the attack in the town of al-Qalouaa in Aden province.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants have seized several towns in southern Yemen, exploiting a growing security vacuum since the start of mass protests against Saleh’s rule almost nine months ago.