The statement, relayed by the Yemeni press attache in Washington on Thursday, said Saleh had "demanded security services to offer full protection for the demonstrators".
Nine members of parliament have resigned from Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh`s ruling party to protest against what they described as government violence against demonstrators, parliamentarians said on Wednesday.
The resignations, including some major allies of Saleh, are a political blow to a president facing popular demands for an end to his 32-year rule, though he still has the support of around 80 percent of parliamentarians.
"The people must have the right to demonstrate peacefully," Abdulaziz Jubari, a leading parliamentarian who has resigned, told Reuters.
Jubari said the parliamentarians had sent a 10-point letter to Saleh with demands for immediate reform and restructuring of the army to make it more representative of Yemen`s complex society, and to aid a transition to democracy.
He said a call by Salah for dialogue fell short of a genuine desire to consider opposing views, pointing to the president`s refusal to meet the parliamentarians before they resigned.
"Everyone must be included in a national dialogue, including the Houthis," Jubairi said, referring to insurgents belonging to a sect of Shi`ite Islam who mounted a violent challenge to the central government last year.
Other parliamentarians who resigned are Ali Abdallah Qadi, an influential relative of the president, tribal leader Abdo Bisher from the Sanaa region and two well-known figures from southern Yemen.
Bisher told Reuters that Saleh "must take quick steps on the ground" to avert more violent challenges to his rule and rising separatist sentiment in southern Yemen, which was united with the north in the 1990s.
(SYS/H-AK/S026)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
