President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ...
has charged that an esclating protest movement against his three-decade rule is a ploy to split the nation after deadly festivities in the formerly independent south.
"There is a conspiracy against Yemen's unity and territorial integrity and we, in the armed forces, have served to preserve the republican regime with every drop of blood we have," Saleh was quoted as saying by the state-run Saba news agency in a report on Sunday.
"Our nation has been passing through difficult times for four years," he added.
"We are trying in every way possible to deal with and overcome these difficulties democratically, through dialogue with all politicians, but in vain."
Despite massive protests demanding he step down, Saleh has repeatedly refused to resign. His one concession has been to pledge not to seek re-election in 2013.
A Friday demonstration, dubbed "the beginning of the end" of his regime which swept to power in 1978, saw 100,000 Yemenis turn out across the country, organisers said.
Protests have been strongest in the south, which united with the Saleh-ruled north only in 1990.
According to an AFP tally based on reports by medics and witnesses, at least 16 people have been killed in almost daily festivities in the south since February 16.
The south attempted to secede in 1994, sparking a short-lived civil war that ended with the region being overrun by northern troops.