Acting president warns opposition of dragging Yemen into anarchy

SANAA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's acting President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi warned the opposition on Saturday of dragging the country into anarchy, official Saba news agency reported.

"The serious consequences will affect all Yemenis if the opposition drags the country into anarchy or adopts any reckless and aggressive armed acts against government forces," the agency cited Hadi as saying during his meeting with Fiona Gibb, charge d' affaires of the British embassy to Yemen.

The impoverished Arab country has been gripped since February by opposition-backed protests pressing for immediate end to the 33- year rule of wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

During the meeting, Gibb valued Hadi's efforts to ensure the country's security and stability and said "the British government is closely following up the situation in Yemen," according to Saba.

The British diplomat also briefed Hadi, who was assigned as acting president following Saleh's departure to Riyadh for treatment, on the efforts made by the British government with the Yemeni opposition coalition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) to end the country's prolonged political standoff.

The JMP in a statement earlier last week said it's gearing up to declare a "national ruling council" on Aug. 17 to rule the country during the post-Saleh transitional period.

The government, however, warned the JMP of forming such council, pointing that it "will spark a civil war because the JMP's unilateral action means the establishment of a state within a state."

The Yemeni rivals have so far reached no declared compromise. But Saleh said from Riyadh that he would search for appropriate mechanism to implement an initiative brokered earlier by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with the opposition to ensure a peaceful power transition to his deputy Hadi, according to Saba.

The JMP's spokesman Mohamed Qahtan refused to comment, but said the JMP had signed the GCC initiative at the time that Saleh dodged the crucial deal on May 22.

The GCC initiative, which has been backed out by Saleh for three times, proposed him to resign in 30 days, as new presidential elections to be arranged by opposition-led national government within 60 days.