Yemen president warns of civil war, US concerned

Ali Abdullah Saleh

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen’s president said yesterday his country would descend into civil war if he were forced to quit and Washington voiced concern about instability in the Arab state that has become an al Qaeda stronghold.

Seven weeks of unrelenting anti-government protests and defections among the ruling elite have piled pressure on Ali Abdullah Saleh, a US ally against radical Islamist ambitions in the Arabian peninsula, to step down immediately after 32 years in power.

But an aide said he would leave office only