Yemen leader accepts Saudi offer

Yemen’s embattled president accepted an offer from the Saudi monarch to seek treatment in his kingdom after being wounded in a rocket attack, raising the possibility today that he could leave the country after nearly four months of mass protests seeking to end his 33-year rule.

A flurry of conflicting reports about President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s whereabouts and condition spread through the Middle East after Yemeni government officials and opposition tribal leaders said Saudi King Abdullah had mediated a cease-fire to end two weeks of deadly street battles and invited Yemen’s ruler to seek treatment for burns and other wounds from the Friday attack.

Aides to Saleh said the president remained in the capital, which grew calm today for the first time after days of fighting, apparently because of the cease-fire.

For months, Saleh has defied intense pressure from his powerful Gulf neighbours and long-time ally Washington to step down. He agreed to transfer power several times, only to step back at the last moment. Should he leave the country now, he might never return, given that large segments of the population and a powerful tribal alliance could engineer his ousting while he’s gone.

The extent of Saleh’s injuries has been a matter of intense speculation. When the rocket struck the mosque in his presidential compound and splintered the pulpit, he was surrounded by top government officials and bodyguards. Eleven guards died, and five officials standing nearby were seriously wounded and taken to Saudi Arabia.

The president delivered an audio address afterward, his voice laboured, with only an old photo shown.

The Saudi king waded into the conflict after nearly four months of largely peaceful protests seeking to depose Saleh morphed into an increasingly bloody civil conflict. Past cease-fires have not held, and international diplomacy has so far failed.

Opposition tribesmen directly attacked Saleh for the first time when they landed the rockets on the mosque.

A secretary in Saleh’s office and a ruling party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to reporters, said Saleh spoke to the Saudi monarch afterward.

While Saleh accepted the offer of treatment, the officials said, the president’s plane had not left Sanaa airport tonight.

Sheik Mohammed Nagi al-Shayef, a tribal ally, said he met the president tonight at the Defence Ministry compound in the capital.

“He suffered burns, but they were not serious. He was burned on both hands, his face and head,” al-Shayef said.

He said Saleh also was hit by jagged pieces of wood that splintered from the mosque pulpit. About 200 people were in the mosque when the rocket landed.

Deputy information minister Abdu al-Janadi also said: “The president is still in Sanaa. He is in good condition. There is no reason to transfer him outside the country.”

He told Al-Jazeera TV that bandages on Saleh’s head for burns and scrapes prevented him from appearing on television as government officials had promised.

“He was targeted but God gave him a new life,” al-Janadi said.

Through the pre-dawn hours today, government and opposition forces exchanged rocket fire, damaging a contested police station. The rockets rained down on streets housing government buildings that had been taken over by tribesmen.

Since violence erupted in the city on May 23, residents have been hiding in basements as the two sides fight for control of government ministries and hammer one another in artillery duels and gunbattles, rattling neighbourhoods and sending smoke billowing into the air.