Sanaa/Aden – Supporters of injured Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired shots into the air on Thursday to celebrate reports he would soon return to Yemen, which is torn by fighting between his backers and opponents.
"He has overcome the health difficulties after successful surgery to remove shrapnel…Sources expected him to return soon after completing his recovery and treating some light surface burns," the government website 26 September said.
Wounded on Friday when what US and Arab officials say was a bomb in his palace rather than rockets as first thought, Saleh is being treated in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
The Yemeni government website said preparations were being made around the country to welcome back Saleh, who has rejected international calls for him to step down to end fighting that has grown out of months of pro-democracy protests.
Army units and supporters were heard in many areas of the capital Sanaa firing shots in the air overnight in celebration.
The site described statements from US and Yemeni officials that Saleh's health was in a dire state as fabrications, saying he was treated for burns to his face and had shrapnel removed from his chest. The officials said on Tuesday Saleh had burns over roughly 40 percent of his body.
In Riyadh, a Yemeni diplomat said Saleh would meet members of the Yemeni community in Saudi Arabia within days before heading back to Sanaa. He said he had had a second operation.
"There was a small piece of shrapnel removed yesterday and he is now out of intensive care," said Taha al-Hemyari, head of Yemeni community affairs at the Yemeni embassy in Riyadh.
The volatile situation in a country that lies on oil shipping lanes alarms Western nations and neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia, who fear the chaos could give Al-Qaeda freer rein to establish itself in the impoverished mountain state.
A ceasefire has held in Sanaa since Saleh left, after more than 200 people were killed and thousands fled over two weeks in clashes between Saleh loyalists and forces of tribal leader Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, who backs the protesters.
Many government ministries are not functioning as staff stay away and the city suffers from cuts in electricity, fuel and water supplies, while fighting continues in the southern town of Zinjibar where Islamist militants have taken over.
Some of Saleh's opponents have accused the president of deliberately allowing Al-Qaeda militants to take over Zinjibar to demonstrate the security risks if he were to lose power.
A government statement said on Thursday 12 members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had died in clashes, including men described as leading figures, named Ammar al-Waely, Abu Ali al-Harthy and Ayman al-Masri.
A local official told Reuters eight militants and four soldiers died in the town of al-Kod, an entry point to Zinjibar.
Health officials and residents described dire scenes in Zinjibar this week, as dead bodies were left on the streets and wild dogs roamed. Once home to more than 50,000 people, now it is a ghost town without power or running water.
CHANCE TO REMOVE SALEH?
There has been no word from Western powers, regional allies and Yemeni opposition parties on any efforts to take advantage of Saleh's absence to move toward implementing a Gulf Arab peace initiative that would see him transfer power – something Saleh avoided doing in recent weeks despite apparent promises.
Thousands of protesters, who have been in the streets since February demanding Saleh quit, gathered at vice president Abd-Rabbu Mansour's residence on Tuesday.
They want him formally to assume power in order to effect Saleh's final removal from office. Yemen says Mansour is heading a caretaker government until Saleh's return.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said Yemenis are going hungry as the fighting disrupts food supplies and pushes up the price of gas, water, fuel and other basic commodities.
"There is a sharp deterioration of the food security situation in Yemen," WFP's representative in Yemen Gian Carlo Cirri said on Wednesday. "We are close to food prices having doubled on average since last year when it comes to key commodities such as wheat flour, vegetable oil and sugar."
