Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh called yesterday for dialogue with his opponents during Ramadan to help resolve a crisis over demands for his removal which has paralysed Yemen and confounded efforts at mediation. The opposition has previously rejected invitations to negotiate, saying talks can only take place after Saleh signs a Gulf Arab plan to ease him out of power after 33 years in office. “There is no alternative to dialogue which sets out from national and constitutional principles,” said Saleh in a statement issued for Ramadan and carried by the state news agency Saba. He is still convalescing in Saudi Arabia after undergoing eight operations following an assassination attempt in June. “We reiterate on this occasion the need for commitment by all sides to the Gulf initiative,” Saleh said, referring to the plan which he has three times appeared to accept and then backed out of signing at the last minute. “The political state which Yemen has reached ... makes it incumbent upon us to work together to get past it.”
A man walks past a sign with the words “He will not leave” scrawled below a picture of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa yesterday
