Yemen s president Ali Abdullah Saleh warned in a TV interview on Saturday of a destructive civil war which will affect the entire region and which will lead to a Yemen split into four parts unless dialogue can bring political parties together. Allies of Saleh and his political opponents have failed to make progress in talks on a possible exit for the man who has led the nation through 32 years of growing poverty and conflict and whose rule is now deeply imperiled by a popular uprising. Saleh told Al Arabiya television that the opposition cannot solve the problems facing the country even if he were to stand down in two hours. Yemen is like a time bomb. If we don t don t work together with Arab and friendly countries to heal the wounds and to bring all political parties to dialogue there will be a destructive civil war which will affect the entire region he said. As the political turmoil deepened there were signs that Islamic militants in remote regions were seeking to make gains on the situation. Residents and witnesses in the small town of Jaar in the south said suspected al-Qaida militants had moved down from surrounding mountains on Saturday to seize control after police fled setting up checkpoints and occupying vacant government buildings. Officials on both sides of Saturday s talks which were attended by the US ambassador said the parties refused to give any ground. After six weeks of unprecedented protests in Yemen Saleh says he is willing to step aside in a peaceful transition of power saying he wants to leave the country in safe hands. But the protesters - whose ranks have been bolstered by defecting military commanders lawmakers Cabinet ministers diplomats and even Saleh s own tribe - are insisting he go immediately. The demands and defections have only grown since government security forces - including snipers on rooftops - shot dead more than 40 demonstrators in the capital of Sanaa a week ago. In Saturday s talks Saleh s vice president and political adviser met with the US ambassador and tribal and military leaders who joined the opposition said presidential spokesman Ahmed al-Sufi. Among the military leaders was Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar who has deployed his tanks in central downtown Sanaa to protect protesters. Al-Ahmar is the most powerful man to emerge as a likely successor to Saleh and he began efforts to negotiate with the president on Thursday. The US Embassy in Sanaa has declined to comment but Washington considers Saleh a key ally against an active al-Qaida branch that calls Yemen home and funds his security forces to fight it. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula s 300 or so fighters have repeatedly attacked Saleh s security forces. They have also staged nearly successful attacks on targets beyond Yemen s borders including putting bombs hidden in computer printer cartridges on cargo flights last Autumn and getting a would-be suicide bomber on a Detroit-bound commercial flight in December 2009. Saleh

• published: 04 Nov 2013
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