President: Yemen unity was created to live forever

DOHA- President Ali Abdullah Saleh affirmed on Sunday that the unity of Yemen was achieved to exist permanently and it is protected by the will of the Yemeni people.

This was mentioned in an interview with Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel on the sidelines of the president visit to Qatar.

He undermined what some media exaggerate over the situation in the southern and eastern provinces, justifying the protest and demonstration marches in these provinces as an indication of the democracy in Yemen as is the case in all democracies.

"There is no worry about this and those who try to plot against the Yemeni unity are merely a small group of people and do not have a place among Yemenis while citizens of the southern provinces are all in favor of the Yemeni unity," he said.

As for federation system allegations, the president noted that this concept was supposed to be suggested before the unity in 1990 but now after two decades of an honorable unity, such calls are regarded as regression and unity is the first and will continue to exist.

Talking about Saada, Saleh made clear that Houthis rebelled against the law during the last six years and went into war but eventually they accepted the six points set by the government to end the rebellion and accordingly the military operations were halted, and the whole thing is over.

In response to a question over accusing Iran for supporting the rebellion in Saada, he emphasized that this rendering of the situation is fully incorrect as the Yemeni government does not accuse Iran officially.

He also asserted that the West does not condition its development assistance to hold a national conciliation and combat terrorism, noting that Yemen mostly depends on the GCC states for development process.

The president referred the cause of his visit to Qatar for its supportive stances for Yemen and within the framework of exchanging visits between the two sister countries..