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Yemen official warns opposition against forming National Council

RIA Novosti

15:17 12/08/2011 MOSCOW, August 12 (RIA Novosti) - The possible formation of the so-called National Council by the opposition in Yemen will be viewed as an attempt at a "constitutional coup," a Yemeni deputy information minister said on Friday.

The consequences of the establishment of the National Council will be grave and taken as a "call for war," Yemeni news agency SABA quoted Deputy Minister Abdu al-Janadi as saying.

Local media reported earlier that the country's opposition coalition Al-Lika al-Mushtarak announced its plans to hold a meeting in mid-August to set up a National Council. The opposition says the new council will unite and take charge of "all revolutionary forces in Yemen," carry out revolutionary reform and establish a new government.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule has been challenged by a nationwide popular uprising since February. Yemeni opposition leaders said in late July that they would not negotiate peace with the president unless he signs a deal brokered by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to leave office early.

Saleh was wounded in a bomb attack in his residence on June 4 in which he suffered burns on 40 percent of his body. He was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, where he underwent a series of operations. He was discharged last Sunday but remains in the country.