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Summary Yemen's embattled president on Sunday sought a way out of the political crisis gripping his impoverished Arab nation, offering to oversee a dialogue between his ruling party and the opposition to defuse the ongoing standoff with protesters demanding his ouster.
The offer by the US-backed Ali Abdullah Saleh came as protests demanding his ouster continued for the 11th straight day, with 3,000 university students demonstrating Sunday at Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.The protests pose the most serious challenge to Salehs rule to date. He has already made a series of concessions, pledging that his son would not succeed him and that he would not seek another term in office. On Sunday, he repeated his offer for negotiations.Dialogue is the best means, not sabotage or cutting off roads, Saleh, in office for more than 30 years, told a news conference. I am ready to sit on the negotiating table and meet their demands if they are legitimate, said the Yemeni leader, who warned against infiltrators seeking to divide Yemenis and sabotage their country.Yemen is a tribal society where almost every adult male has a firearm. A decision by the countrys major tribes to take sides in the standoff between Saleh and his critics could decide the presidents fate.On Saturday, riot police fired on marchers in Sanaa, killing one and wounding five. A total of seven people have been killed since the unrest began.
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