Yemen’s opposition in power-transfer talks

There have been four months of protests in Yemen demanding an end to Saleh’s regime [AFP]

Opposition sources in Yemen say that they have met Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the vice-president, to discuss a transfer of power within a transitional period.

The sources said they were worried that President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s son and relatives retained too much power.

In Monday’s meeting, they discussed the transfer of power and the need to expand the truce negotiated by Saudi Arabia in Sanaa to the rest of Yemen.

They also discussed ways to ensure that people continue to receive food supplies and basic services.

But ruling party members and Saleh’s relatives dismissed any deal on the future of the country in the absence of the president.

It was the first meeting between the vice president and the opposition since Saleh left the country for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, after an attack on his compound earlier this month.

Saleh, who had faced four months of protests calling for his ousting, flew to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, for treatment a day after the attack.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s defence ministry’s website has reported on Monday that the president is to address his people “very soon”.

Abdul Karim Rasei, Yemen’s health minister, who visited Saleh on Saturday, said the president would “very soon speak directly through the media to the Yemeni people,” the website 26sep.net reported.

The president is “improving each day and is in good health,” said the minister.

The 26sep.net website said that Saleh and other senior officials wounded in the attack were all out of danger.

On Saturday, an informed Yemeni source in Riyadh said that the 69-year-old leader was in poor condition and suffering breathing problems.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera has received reports that there have been fresh clashes between pro-Saleh forces and anti-government protesters, in the city of Taiz.

A number of people have been killed and others injured in Monday’s clashes.