A close-up video grab on Yemen state TV of Ali Abdullah Saleh Yemeni President Abdulah Saleh appeared Thursday evening on TV to give first speech since the June assassination. Severely wounded with his face blackened and hands covered with bandages , the embattled president said in his recorded TV speech that the Yemeni people were defiantly strong against terrorism.
“The Yemeni people will stand defiant against all challenges that target their security, stability, freedom and democracy,” Mr. Saleh said.
He also welcomed power sharing as long as it was within the country’s constitutional framework.
“We welcome the sharing within the framework of the constitution and in the framework of the law,” he said.
He also said that he underwent eight surgeries and hailed Saudi Arabia’s role and said that Yemen and the kingdom share a close and a strategic relationship.
“Where are the men who fear God? Why don’t they stand with dialogue and with reaching satisfactory solutions” for all Yemenis, asked the veteran president, who has been the target of anti-regime protests since January.
“We welcome participation within the constitution and law and based on democracy,” said the 69-year-old.
“We are with the participation of all political forces, whether from the opposition or from the regime, but in the light of a plan that would be agreed upon by all Yemenis.”
Mr. Saleh is recovering in Riyadh from a bomb attack at his presidential compound in the Yemeni capital of Sana’s last month.
He also thanked Saudi officials including King Abdullah who have “offered us full attention and care.”
The embattled president has refused to cede power despite four months of anti-regime protests that have left at least 200 people killed across Yemen, saying repeatedly that under the constitution he should serve out his current term of office which expires in 2013.
Some diplomats have said there is a slim chance Mr. Saleh could return to Yemen, facing a severe political impasse after months of protests demanding his ouster.
A source close to the presidency told AFP the speech, recorded on Thursday in Riyadh where Mr. Saleh has been receiving medical treatment since June 4, would be aired between 8:00 and 9:00 pm (1700 and 1800 GMT).
Another statement on Yemen television read: “The interior ministry warns Yemenis not to fire gunshots in the air to express their happiness at President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s health and his speech to the people this evening.”
Late last month, Deputy Information Minister Abdo al-Janadi told AFP a team from Yemeni television had headed to Riyadh to interview Saleh and that it would be broadcast after June 30.
“In this interview, Saleh will address the Yemeni people to reassure them about his health,” Mr. Janadi said.
Eleven people were killed and 124 others were wounded, among them senior officials in last month’s bomb explosion.
Meanwhile, Mr. Saleh accused “elements of terrorism” and elements “linked to the terrorists” of having targeted him in the attack, without sayying who he was referring to.
“We will face challenge with challenge,” Mr. Saleh said.
He did not say whether he will return to power or to Yemen.
“Some have misunderstood democracy, carrying out wrong acts such as blocking roads, cutting off fuel... and undermining security,” said Mr. Saleh.
The unrest in Yemen has led to shortages in electricity, water, food and fuel, amid charges that elite Republican Guard troops led by Saleh’s son Ahmed are preventing supplies from entering Sana’a.
A UN mission visiting the impoverished country said on Wednesday that Yemen needs urgent international aid to head off a humanitarian crisis.
Thursday’s speech comes on the anniversary of the invasion by his northern Yemeni troops of the formerly independent South Yemen, leading to unification.
Thousands of supporters of the separatist Southern Movement protested in the south’s regional capital Aden chanting anti-unity slogans, witnesses said.
“Revolt, revolt south!” they chanted. “My country is the south and its capital is Aden.”
Similar protests took place in the southern provinces of Lahij, Shabwa and Daleh.
Southerners complain of discrimination by Sana’a in distributing resources since north-south unification in 1990. The south broke away in 1994, sparking a brief civil war that ended with the region overrun by Saleh’s troops.