Yemen: Saleh 'now in Saudi Arabia' - officials

BBC News, 4 June 2011

Yemen uprising 

• Saleh battles for better deal
• Elites struggle for power
• Key players
• Dangerous mix of problems

Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh has flown to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment, a day after he was wounded when his palace was shelled, Saudi officials say.

President Saleh has promised to step down
but has failed to sign a deal to do so

Uncertainty surrounded Mr Saleh's whereabouts for much of Saturday.

Sources in Yemen told the BBC that Mr Saleh had a piece of shrapnel below his heart and second-degree burns.

An uprising demanding that the president leave power has brought Yemen close to civil war.

Mr Saleh arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh aboard a Saudi medical plane.

A Gulf nation diplomatic source told BBC Arabic that the decision to transfer Mr Saleh to Riyadh was taken after Saudi doctors consulted with a German medical team.

A second plane carried members of the president's family, AFP news agency said, quoting an unnamed Saudi official.

Ceasefire reported

The president broadcast an audio message on Friday after he was wounded, but he has not appeared in public.

In the broadcast, he blamed the attack on an "outlaw gang" of his tribal foes - an accusation denied by Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, the head of the Hashid tribal federation, whose fighters have been clashing with security forces.

More than 160 people have been killed in the fighting that began on 23 May and has brought Yemen to the brink of civil war.

But the BBC's Lina Sinjab in Sanaa says the city has been calm throughout Saturday.

Reports say a week-long ceasefire has been brokered by Saudi Arabia.

The Ahmar family has been financing the opposition and helping sustain protesters, who have been demanding Mr Saleh's resignation since January despite a crackdown that has left at least 350 people dead.

Western and regional powers have been urging Mr Saleh to sign a Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered deal that would see him hand over power to his deputy in return for an amnesty from prosecution.

He has agreed to sign on several occasions, but then backed out.