Yemen's Saleh plans to return home before vote

Yemen's outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Tuesday he would return home from the United States before an election later this month designed to choose his successor. Saleh has repeatedly voiced plans to return to Yemen, but his intention to do so before the vote will raise doubts about his commitment to leave office in line with a Gulf-brokered deal to end a year of political upheaval in the impoverished state. Saleh, who formally transferred power to his deputy Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in November, flew to the United States last month to undergo medical treatment for wounds inflicted during an assassination attempt last year. "I will return to the land of the nation after the end of my treatment to be present during the election," Saleh said in a statement posted on the defence ministry's website. The election, scheduled for Feb. 21, has already run into problems. Both southern separatists and rebels in the north have said they will boycott it. Hadi, the only candidate for the position of president, said on Tuesday he would open dialogue with both groups. They said the separatists, part of a movement demanding a revival of the southern Yemeni state that Saleh united with the north in 1990, were taking part in a demonstration and a general strike against elections in Hadramout province. Washington fears that a low voter turnout could dent the legitimacy of Hadi, the man it is counting on to steer Yemen away from civil war during a critical two-year interim period. Washington - World Bulletin