Sana’a: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, his face burned and his hands covered with bandages, appeared on television yesterday for the first time since he was wounded in a bomb attack on his palace in Sana’a.
Saleh, who has been hospitalised in Saudi Arabia since the June 3 attack, was barely recognisable and sat stiffly as he spoke in the pre-recorded statement broadcast on Yemeni tele-vision.
He said he had undergone “more than eight successful operations from the burns sustained in the accident” and called for dialogue.
“Where are the men who fear God? Why don’t they stand with dialogue and with reaching satisfactory solutions” for all Yemenis, said the veteran president, who has been the target of anti-regime protests since January.
Saleh thanked vice-president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who has come under domestic and international pressure to assume power during the president’s absence, “for his efforts in bridging gaps between all political parties” in Yemen.
The speech lasted only a few minutes and was followed by footage of fireworks lighting up the sky in Yemen.
In the brief video statement, Saleh lashed at those who have sought to drive him from power, saying they have an “incorrect understanding of democracy.”
More than four months of popular uprising seeking to push the longtime ruler from power have shaken the impoverished corner of the Arabian Peninsula.
