SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said he is intent on leaving office in line with a Gulf-brokered power transfer plan and lashed out at his "deluded, malicious" opponents, in a speech on Saturday to mark the eve of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.
Nine months of anti-government protests have paralysed impoverished Yemen, pushing it to the brink of civil war, but failing to dislodge Saleh, who has ruled Yemen for 33 years.
The veteran leader has three times agreed to sign a power transition deal mediated by a group of wealthy Gulf Arab neighbours only to back out at the very last minute.
"We stress our intention to continue to support the efforts that Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi is undertaking in light of his mandate to complete a dialogue with the opposition and sign the Gulf initiative and its operational mechanism ... to achieve a legitimate, peaceful and democratic transition and conduct early presidential elections," said Saleh in a speech carried by state news agency Saba.
Saleh, 69, in September empowered his deputy, Hadi, to hold a dialogue with the opposition and sign the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plan in his stead. That deal would see him stand down and trigger early presidential elections.
In a scathing attack on his opponents, Saleh accused them of using women and children as human shields and creating "baths of blood" on Yemeni soil by blindly copying popular uprisings in other Arab countries this year.
"Our country is living through exceptional conditions of extreme difficulty and serious danger ... due to the suffocating political crisis that some forces hungry for the seat of power have illegitimately concocted," he said.
Neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia and the international community fear growing lawlessness in Yemen is giving al Qaeda's regional wing room to firm its foothold near oil shipping lanes through the Gulf of Aden.
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Nine months of anti-government protests have paralysed impoverished Yemen, pushing it to the brink of civil war, but failing to dislodge Saleh, who has ruled Yemen for 33 years.
The veteran leader has three times agreed to sign a power transition deal mediated by a group of wealthy Gulf Arab neighbours only to back out at the very last minute.
"We stress our intention to continue to support the efforts that Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi is undertaking in light of his mandate to complete a dialogue with the opposition and sign the Gulf initiative and its operational mechanism ... to achieve a legitimate, peaceful and democratic transition and conduct early presidential elections," said Saleh in a speech carried by state news agency Saba.
Saleh, 69, in September empowered his deputy, Hadi, to hold a dialogue with the opposition and sign the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plan in his stead. That deal would see him stand down and trigger early presidential elections.
In a scathing attack on his opponents, Saleh accused them of using women and children as human shields and creating "baths of blood" on Yemeni soil by blindly copying popular uprisings in other Arab countries this year.
"Our country is living through exceptional conditions of extreme difficulty and serious danger ... due to the suffocating political crisis that some forces hungry for the seat of power have illegitimately concocted," he said.
Neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia and the international community fear growing lawlessness in Yemen is giving al Qaeda's regional wing room to firm its foothold near oil shipping lanes through the Gulf of Aden.
Source
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