President: It is impossible to reduce prices

HUDEIDAH, March 08 (Saba)- President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said that it is impossible to reduce prices of foodstuff as it is difficult to reduce dollar exchange rate against the Yemeni Riyal as it was in 1980, 1990, 2001 or 2002 and those who say other than this are foolish people. Attending the al-Hussainiah 4th Festival for Horsemanship and Camel Contest on Saturday, President Ali Abdullah Saleh disapproved what opposition parties circulate: “there are voices that do not serve the interest of national unity and social goodness and are even unable to solve their own problems. So how can they solve people’s problem?” Saleh wondered. “If these parties came to the office and the price of a sack of wheat is YR 7000, they will rise it to YR 20,000 because they do not have knowledge and experience of managing a country and policy,” he said, noting that danger of terrorism and its devastative effects on national economy. “Do you want to be like Taliban or became like Somalia or Iraq?” president asked the attendants. “Say to them (the opposition) no, thousands of noes, no return to the sectarian past, no return to regionalism.” He assured people that the country is unified, safe and nothing will happen to them and that what is going is turmoil and is the remaining of factionalism, adding that “the opposition must be the other face of government’s system, presenting views, suggestions, studies, programs and policies.” In the festival, which is participated by hundreds of contesters of different kinds of sports, president Saleh called GCC countries to participate in al-Hussainiah Festival from the forthcoming year and the rest of Arab countries would be invited later. He called on parents of youth to encourage their sons and daughters to get education and directed the government to take care of education and teachers and to make English language a basic subject in the university and basic education. He called on all the people to spread love between them and get rid of the past saying, “people are not built via hatred, spite and unrest rather than via love and intimacy.” “What is positive is that we enjoy democracy in our country and we must protect it, not to make it a tool for destruction and inciting but for building, “he said, urging the opposition to reach the office via “legislative, constitutional and legal means. ” MS/AM Saba