Ali Abdullah Saleh Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh gave a televised address on state televivion on late Tuesday night, accusing his opponents of being corrupt and arms dealers who are exploiting youth protesters demanding his ouster. Saleh was wearing gloves and a headgear as he did in all his appearances since the recent attack on his presidential palace, during which he suffered severe burns.
It has been assumed that the coverings could be for his unhealed wounds or scars.
Read below for excerpts from his TV address:
Those who went to the University Square to support the youth revolution that demands the ouster of the regime ... have fed on corruption, and are dealers of arms and land.
Our people know them well. They were a burden on the political system which was always blamed for protecting those corrupt  ... who are now [demonstrating] at the University Square.
Let them go away ... corrupt, liars and deceivers. We do not mention names, but our people know them very well.
Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has clung to power despite a wave of protests against his 33-year rule, said on Monday he was committed to holding elections for a new president, the statenews agency reported.
Saleh issued his statement from Saudi Arabia, where he has been for medical treatment since an assassination attempt in June, saying the vote should be held as soon as possible.
A political source told Reuters that Saleh had reached an agreement with the opposition to hold the elections within three months, with power transferred to Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the meantime.
“We have committed to the previous initiatives including the Gulf initiative and the efforts and statement of the (United Nations) Security Council and to moving towards achieving ... as soon as possible arrangements to hold general and free and direct elections for the new president of the republic,” Saleh said in the statement posted on the SABA news agency’s website.
Saudi Arabia had led a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plan to end Yemen’s political deadlock by easing Saleh out of office, but he backed out of signing the deal three times at the last minute, leaving Yemen in political limbo.
Last month the Security Council called for “an inclusive, orderly and Yemeni-led process of political transition.”
The impoverished Arabian Peninsula country of 23 million people has been in turmoil since January when protesters took to the streets demanding Saleh leave office.
Saleh issued his statement to mark the Eid al-Fitr holiday which ends the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and starts in Yemen on Tuesday, without saying when he would return.
On August 16, Saleh said he would “soon” go back to Yemen from Saudi Arabia where he is recovering from the assassination attempt at his palace, reiterating he would hand over power “via elections, not via coups.”
“In the shortest time possible we will find many constitutional ways which will help us to overcome this dangerous phase of the history of our people and which has come to threaten our unity and our freedom and our democracy,” SABA quoted Saleh as saying in Monday’s statement.
The opposition had previously refused to talk to the government until Saleh signed the transition plan.