SANA'A: The Yemeni Deputy Minister of Information, Abdu Al-Janadi, has said President Ali Abdullah Saleh will address the nation in a prerecorded television interview Friday, while other sources say Saleh could announce a transition of power during the broadcast. Al-Janadi told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the interview was recorded in Riyadh Monday. “The president will address the Yemeni people during the interview to reassure them of his health,” he said. Other Yemeni sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette the interview would be broadcast after Friday prayers when over one million Saleh supporters are expected to gather in Tahrir Square in Sana'a. The sources did not rule out an announcement from Saleh during the interview that he would grant his vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Al-Hadi, authority over the affairs of the country. They said Saleh would thereby assume the role of “honorary president” until the end of his official presidential term. They added that the president would speak on steps for political reform, his perspective of the crisis in Yemen, and the attack on the presidential palace that led to his hospitalization in Riyadh. “The president will speak on a number of issues,” the source said. “He will reassure the people of his health, name a date for his return (to Yemen), announce an initiative entailing measures for early elections and officially transfer the authority of the president to his vice president, remaining himself as honorary president.”
