Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Tuesday he would return home “soon” from Saudi Arabia where he is recovering from wounds he sustained in an assassination attempt and attacked his opponents of exploiting protesters demanding his departure.
In a speech broadcast live to a gathering of tribesmen loyal to him, President Saleh said, “See you soon in the capital Sanaa.”
He lambasted the parliamentary opposition as figures of “narrow interests and lack of thinking,” and accused them of “stealing” the slogans of young protesters who have been calling for his ouster since January.
“There is a political party in the opposition whose slogan claims it is the party of Islam. What Islam? They have distorted Islam,” he said in reference to leading opposition party, the Islamist Islah party.
President Saleh, who appeared in good shape, was addressing thousands of loyalist tribesmen at a meeting to “help resolve the crisis” in Yemen, according to state news agency Saba.
He was flown to Saudi Arabia in early June for treatment after being wounded in a bomb attack on his Sanaa presidential compound
A member of President Saleh’s ruling General People’s Congress party said this week that senior Islah member Hamid Al Ahmar, who owns Yemen’s Sabafon mobile network, was the “prime suspect” in the assassination attempt. Mr. Ahmar has denied involvement.
Sitting at a desk, President Saleh stopped short of accusing Islah of being behind the attempt on his life.
In a markedly stronger voice than the last time Yemenis saw him, President Saleh said he was prepared to hand over power “via elections, not via coups.”
“We have no objection to a peaceful and smooth transition of power; we have no problem to transfer power to Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. It would make no difference for us to transfer power, but will you remove gunmen from the streets...will you stop blocking roads and will you become good citizens who respect the law and order like others.?"
His tenacity has frustrated thousands of Yemenis who thought they had seen the last of him when he flew to Riyadh for medical treatment following the bomb blast at his palace mosque in June.
While long-time leaders in Tunisia and Egypt have bowed to popular demands they quit, Mr. Saleh has proved a shrewd political survivor, defying international pressure and thrice backing out of a Gulf-brokered deal to ease him out of office.