President Saleh back in Yemen & calls for ceasefire, dialogue

Laaska News  Sept. 23,2011       
Saleh back in Yemen
“Saleh noted that the talks are the only way to solve the crisis”

Photo: EPA

The President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned from a three-month rehab in Saudi Arabia on Friday and called for a ceasefire, a statement by Yemen’s Defense Ministry says. Saleh noted that the talks are the only way to solve the crisis.

He’ll also address the nation on September, 26 on the 49th anniversary of Anti-Monarchy revolution.

VOR.

 Yemeni president calls for ceasefire, dialogue

SANAA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday called for a ceasefire and holding dialogue with the opposition to peacefully end deadly conflicts, his top aide told Xinhua.

Saleh’s proposal came a few hours after he returned home from Saudi Arabia, where he received treatment for injuries he sustained an assassination attack on his presidential compound on June 3.

“President Saleh is now in his office, resuming his presidential duties as he enjoys a good health condition after he finished treatment in Riyadh,” Saleh’s press secretary Ahmed al- Soufi told Xinhua.

“The president will not deliver a speech today, but he renewed his call for the opposition to sit down around a table to resolve the long-running stalemate for peacefully transferring power through an earlier presidential election,” al-Soufi said.

“The Presidential office is preparing to refer the case of the June attack to the public prosecution by the end of this month to sue the perpetrators and plotters behind the assassination attempt that killed at least 14 of Saleh’s bodyguards, high ranking government officials, including Speaker of the Parliament’s Upper House Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani,” al-Soufi added.

The Defence Ministry said on its website that Saleh will deliver a speech to the nation on the eve of Sept. 26, the country ‘s Independence Day.

The ministry carried a statement citing Saleh as saying “the solution will not be through the barrels of guns and cannons, but through the dialogue, understanding for halting bloodshed and preserving the security, stability and gains of the country.”

Al-Soufi also said that “President Saleh will not quit power by the force of the military coup, but through the presidential elections under the supervision of the international community.”

Six days of deadly clashes between Saleh’s troops and the defected army backed by opposition armed tribesmen across the country, especially in Sanaa, left at least 111 people killed and nearly 1,000 others injured, according to medics.

 

Yemeni president returns from Riyadh: state media

SANAA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) — Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned to his restive nation Friday morning from Saudi Arabia, the state-run TV and Saba news agency reported.

“President of the Republic, Ali Abdullah Saleh, returned this morning to the land of Yemen safely after a medical trip in Riyadh that lasted more than three months,” reads a caption aired by the state TV.

Saleh received medical treatment in Riyadh after being injured in a bomb attack early June.

Saleh’s return came after six straight days of deadly clashes between his supporters and defected army troops backed by opposition tribal rebels in the capital, which left at least 111 people dead and nearly 1,000 injured.

Despite continuing meditation efforts by the UN envoy to Yemen and chief of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Yemen is still in the grip of a political standoff and heavy clashes.

An official from the Interior Ministry told Xinhua that all roads linking the Sanaa airport and the presidential palace in the southern part of the capital were blocked by the Republican Guard troops and that Saleh had earlier arrived at his presidential compound.

“Sanaa and other major cities will witness this evening a fireworks celebration of Saleh’s safe return after the assassination attack on June 3,” he spoke on condition of anonymity.

Saleh’s supporters in Sanaa, Ibb, Thamar, Taiz and other provinces fired heavy gunshots to the air to celebrate the president’s return, eyewitnesses said.

“I heard the news of the president’s return from the Sanaa state Radio,and now I along with dozens of ruling party’s members are in our way to Sanaa to celebrate Saleh’s return,” tribal leader Sheikh Mohamed Kasim told Xinhua from the southern province of Ibb, some 150 km south of Sanaa.

Xinhua
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