Yemen denies US persuaded president not to return
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh suffered severe injuries in a bomb attack on his compound on June 5, 2011 after which he left for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. Protests against Saleh’s 33-year long rule erupted in January amid a worsening economy. Saleh met the protests with brutal force and has so far refused to give up power despite being out of the country. Saleh came into power in 1978.
Yemen’s official news agency denied a report published in Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based pan-Arab daily, that US officials had convinced injured Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh not to return to Yemen.
SABA news said Tuesday there was “no truth” to the report. Itsaid the president, who was injured during a June attack on his presidential compound, would return to Yemen after a period of recuperation determined by his doctors.
On Monday, Asharq al-Awsat said Saleh had decided not to return home partly “as a result of U.S. pressure.”
Saleh was discharged from a Saudi hospital late Saturday and moved to a Saudi government residence. He suffered severe burns in the June assassination attempt when a bomb went off inside a mosque in the presidential palace, while he and other senior officials were praying. The blast killed 11 people and seriously wounded a number of the officials.
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