SANA'A: A senior Yemeni official in the Saudi capital says President Ali Abdullah Saleh has developed a problem with his throat but that his overall condition is stable. Saleh is being treated in Riyadh along with several to government officials wounded in a rocket attack on the mosque where they were praying in the presidential compound on June 3. In a telephone conversation with The Associated Press Tuesday, the official said he could not identify the nature of the throat problem, and would not be named. The prime minster was badly burned. His condition is “tragic,” the official said. The Shura Council speaker is critical, lost his left eye and will be treat further in London. One deputy prime minister lost his left leg. The other deputy was stable. Meanwhile, a member of the opposition coalition that met vice president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said he declined to discuss the president's fate with them. “Security, food and electricity issues were discussed,” said Sultan Al Atwani, referring to shortages that have almost paralyzed the capital. “The political side was not discussed, because the other side said it still needed time and was preoccupied with those matters, as well as the ceasefire,” he said. The collapse last month of a Gulf-brokered deal to nudge Saleh from power led to two weeks of fighting between his forces and those of General Ali Al-Mohsen al-Ahmar that engulfed the capital, killed at least 200 people and forced thousands to flee. The office of tribal leader Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ahmar put the death toll at 100 and the number of wounded at 325 between May 23 and June 4. A ceasefire has held in Sana'a since Saleh left the country after the June 3 attack on his palace. A security source in Zinjibar said the army killed two Al-Qaeda militants and wounded several Monday, while one soldier was killed and seven wounded. Saleh's opponents have accused him of handing Zinjibar to Islamists to foment unrest and reinforce his threat that the end of his three-decade rule would amount to ceding the region to Al-Qaeda. Yemen's government is struggling to provide medicine and other essentials to people who have fled Zinjibar. At least 10,000 have taken refuge in Aden, many of them now housed in schools. The UN children's agency UNICEF warned last week that the number of displaced might hit 40,000.
