Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, his face burned and his hands covered with bandages, appeared on television Thursday for the first time since he was injured in a bomb attack inside his palace in Sanaa.
Saleh, who has been hospitalised in Saudi Arabia since the June 3 attack, was hardly recognisable and sat stiffly as he spoke in the pre-recorded statement aired on Yemeni television.
He stated he had undergone "more than eight successful surgeries from the burns sustained in the accident" and called for dialogue. "Where are the men who fear God? Why don't they stand with dialogue and with reaching satisfactory solutions" for all Yemenis, said the Yemeni leader.
Saleh thanked Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who has come under internal and international pressure to assume power during the president's absence, "for his attempts in bridging gaps between all political parties" in Yemen.
