Ex-Yemen president denies plans to return to power

By Murad al-Erifi

SANAA

Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh has denied plans to seek to assume power in the war-torn country.

Saleh "has affirmed that he was not seeking to return to power nor his son", a source in Saleh's office said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.

Last week, France's Intelligence Online website, said Saudi Arabia was now open to the return of Saleh and his family to power in Yemen.

Saleh's son, Ahmed, is currently based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Saleh had ruled Yemen for more than three decades before he was forced to step down in 2012 under popular protests that swept Yemen as part of the Arab Spring revolutions.

Earlier Tuesday, Abdullah al-Alimi, the head of the Yemeni presidential office, described reports about Saleh's return to power as “illusions”.

Impoverished Yemen fell into civil war in 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen’s embattled government.

According to UN officials, more than 10,000 people have been killed in the war, while more than 11 percent of the country’s population has been displaced as a direct result of the conflict.