SANAA: Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh is open to negotiations with Saudi Arabia, two years into a deadly war between Saleh’s allies and the Arab coalition. “We have no choice but dialogue,” Saleh said at a meeting of his General People’s Congress party in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday.
“We are ready to go to Riyadh, Khamis Mushit or elsewhere to start dialogue and to reach an understanding,” Saleh said. Saleh however reiterated his rejection of the government of internationally recognised President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and said Saudi Arabia would have to find “new leadership”. Members of Saleh’s circle have been meeting unofficially with Saudi delegates for weeks in Berlin, a Yemeni government official said on Wednesday. Saleh has repeatedly said he was open to talks with Saudi Arabia. But he ruled out mediation by UN special envoy Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed, who aims to resume stalled peace talks by the end of May, accusing him of bias. — AFP
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