Yemen gets Libyan backing in fight against rebels

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2007

SANAA (AFP) — Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Saturday received a message from Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi supporting Sanaa's fierce fight against anti-government rebels, a Yemeni official told AFP.

Libyan special envoy Suleiman Shuhumi delivered the message just days after Sanaa said it was recalling its ambassador to Tripoli.

Kadhafi's message stressed "Libyan support for the Yemeni government in facing the revolt in Saada province in northern Yemen," the source said.

Shuhumi's trip to Yemen came after Sanaa on May 11 recalled its ambassadors to Libya and Iran for consultations in protest at what it claimed was their support for a deadly rebellion among the country's Zaidi minority.

Hundreds of people have died in the three-year-old...