Saleh Warns of Civil War as Opposition Rejects Early Poll Offer

Local Editor

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh warned on Tuesday civil war could erupt in case he were forced to quit as the Yemeni opposition reportedly rejected an offer to organize early polls before his departure.

COMING HOURS WILL BE DECISIVE

Reuters said that the coalition of Yemeni opposition groups rejected an offer on Tuesday by Saleh, facing protester demands to resign, to leave office after organizing parliamentary elections by January 2012. "The opposition rejects the offer as the coming hours will be decisive," Mohammed al-Sabry, spokesman for the main umbrella opposition group, told Reuters.

Earlier, Saleh's aide said the President would leave office only after organizing parliamentary polls and establishing democratic institutions, by January 2012.

"Ali Abdullah Saleh does not seek power," Saleh's media secretary Ahmed al-Sufi told Reuters. "Ali Abdullah Saleh will not leave without knowing who he is handing over to."

SALEH WARNS OF CIVIL WAR

In speeches to army officers and tribal leaders in Sanaa, Saleh warned Yemen faced a danger of civil war and disintegration because of efforts to stage a "coup" against his rule.

"You have an agenda to tear down the country. The country will be divided into three instead of two halves: a southern part, northern part and a middle part. This is what is being sought by defectors against...unity," he claimed. "Those who want to climb up to power through coups should know that this is out of the question. The homeland will not be stable. There will be a civil war, a bloody war. They should carefully consider this," Saleh told army commanders.

US CONCERNED

Meanwhile, the United States, grappling with the diplomatic fallout of uprisings and uncertainty across the Arab world, voiced rare public alarm about the situation in Yemen. "We are obviously concerned about the instability in Yemen," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. His chief concern was to avoid "diversion of attention" from opposing al Qaeda there.
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