30 Jan 2012

President now in US for medical treatment

8:49 am on 30 January 2012

President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen is now in the United States for medical treatment there. Afterwards, he plans to return to Yemen.

Mr Saleh, 69, was wounded during in an attempted assassination last June and spent several months in Saudi Arabia.

However, he confounded his critics by returning to the country and resuming his leadership.

The BBC reports his departure from Yemen last week was the clearest sign yet that he's honouring a power transfer deal he signed last year, after months of mass protests and civil conflict.

He has repeatedly stepped back from a promise to relinquish power.

Elections are due to be held next month to choose a successor.