Yemeni president warns of civil war

Yemeni president warns of civil war

2011-03-23 05:30:35 GMT+7 (ICT)

SANAA (BNO NEWS) -- Yemen's embattled president warned on Tuesday that any attempt to take power through a coup will lead to a civil war, the state-run news agency SABA reported.

At a meeting with the armed forces' leaders, President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the nation has been in a crisis for more than two years and blamed the unrest on a foreign agenda. He said some hostile media outlets exaggerated about the situation in Yemen and played a major role in influencing people and security officers to hurt Yemen's stability.

"Unfortunately a bad message was delivered by some media and that affected the military and security institutions," President Saleh said, urging military commanders who joined the opposition to return to their positions and stop inciting other commanders.

"There are a constitution, laws, regulations and people's will, and a minority cannot control the fate of the nation," he added.

President Saleh said that young people who talk about a youth revolution are victims of obsolete political forces.

Meanwhile, Yemen's opposition rejected an offer by Saleh to step down after a parliamentary election in January 2012.

Some military commanders on Monday announced that they joined the popular and peaceful uprisings demanding the ouster of Saleh. Also, several Yemeni ambassadors to foreign countries announced their support to the uprising. Yemen's Foreign Ministry, however, dismissed on Tuesday the media reports and only confirmed that the Yemeni envoys to Egypt, Japan, Jordan, Syria, the Arab League and the United Nations have resigned.

On Sunday, Saleh fired his government and then designated it as caretaker until a new government is formed. The announcement came after 52 protesters were killed by security forces on Friday.

Yemeni protesters have been demanding the resignation of Saleh for the past two months. Yemeni protesters, mostly young, are fighting against soaring unemployment rates, poverty, widespread corruption and patronage.

The demonstrations were initially inspired by the Tunisian revolt, but they gathered momentum with the success of Egypt's revolution. President Saleh has pledged not to seek his reelection in 2013 or hand over power to his son.

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