Yemen's president said on Tuesday his country would descend into civil war if he were forced to quit and Washington voiced concern about instability in the Arabian state that has become an al Qaeda stronghold. Seven weeks of unrelenting anti-government protests and defections among the ruling elite have piled pressure on Saleh, a US ally against radical Islamist ambitions in the Arabian peninsula, to step down immediately after 32 years in power.
But an aide said he would leave office only after organising parliamentary polls and establishing democratic institutions, by January 2012 - a declaration the opposition promptly rejected. "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."
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 Defence Secretary Robert Gates said. His chief concern was to avoid "diversion of attention" from opposing al Qaeda there.
Opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabry, rejecting Saleh's offer to go by January 2012, said the coming hours would be decisive. In speeches to army officers and tribal leaders in Sanaa, Saleh said 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...(parts). A southern part, northern part and a middle part. This is what is being sought by defectors against...unity," he said, referring to northern Shi'ite rebels and al Qaeda militants. Presidential guards loyal to Saleh surrounded an air force battalion in the coastal city of Hudaida after its commander said he supported the protesters. A presidential guard and a soldier died in clashes between the two forces in the southern coastal city of Mukalla late on Monday, medical sources said.
In southern Abyan province, troops clashed with al Qaeda militants, killing 12 and wounding five, state media said. Liquefied natural gas producer Yemen LNG has told customers that unrest could lead to supply disruptions, leading stakeholder Total said.
Western countries fear the political crisis could hasten a slide into failed nation status for a country that borders the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and major shipping routes. One scenario could see the country split into separate zones along tribal, military or regional lines. Several generals and officials have abandoned Saleh this week after a massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators on Friday.
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