Dubai, March 19: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in an interview to be aired Friday that six years of war with Shiite rebels that drove 250,000 people from their homes in the northern mountains are now over.
Saleh told Dubai-based satellite channel Al-Arabiya that the successful implementation of a February 12 ceasefire with the rebels was a “sign that the war has ended and that this is not just a passing truce.”
After the Zaidi Shiite rebels first launched their uprising in 2004, there were five lulls in the fighting before the government launched a major offensive in August that ended with last month’s truce.
In the interview, extracts of which were posted on the channel’s website, Saleh also spoke about disturbances in recent months in the formerly independent south, where separatist protestors have sparked clashes with the security forces.
Saleh said he stood ready to “hold a dialogue with southern leaders but only within a political framework.”
The veteran president also vowed to stand down in 2013 as the constitution requires.
—Agencies