SANAA // Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh claims he is open to negotiations with Saudi Arabia, two years into a deadly war between a Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels allied to him.
“We have no choice but dialogue,” Mr Saleh said at a meeting of his General People’s Congress party in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Tuesday.
“We are ready to go to Riyadh, Khamis Mushit, Muscat or elsewhere to start dialogue and to reach an understanding,” Mr Saleh added, referring to cities in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Mr Saleh however reiterated his rejection of the government of internationally recognised Yemeni president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi.
Mr Saleh was forced from power in February 2012 after vast Arab Spring protests against more than 20 years of his autocratic rule. But he returned to Yemen and sided with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who launched a coup against the government of Mr Hadi.
Mr Saleh, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, ruled out mediation by UN special envoy Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed, accusing him of bias. The UN envoy is aiming to resume stalled peace talks by the end of May.
Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said Mr Ould Sheikh Ahmed is currently in Riyadh for talks on the Yemeni crisis, which the UN estimates has killed more than 7,700 people in since March 2015.
After Mr Saleh lost power, parts of the army remained loyal to him and have provided military muscle for the former president’s alliance with the Houthis.
The rebels currently control Yemen’s capital, the northern region bordering Saudi Arabia and Hodeidah port on the Red Sea coast.
The Hadi’s government is based in Aden.
* Agence France-Presse