Yemeni president apologises for armed demonstration at UAE embassy

A day after armed demonstrators attacked the UAE embassy in Sana'a, the Yemeni president apologised for the attack.

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A day after armed demonstrators besieged the UAE embassy in Sana'a, the Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh offered an apology to the Emirates, according to Wam, the state news agency.

Men armed with machine guns, pistols and knives surrounded the embassy yesterday as a 4pm deadline passed for Mr Saleh to sign a GCC-brokered peace deal. Six senior ambassadors and the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council were rescued by helicopter.

No one was injured.

Sheikh Khalifa, the President of the UAE, received a phone call from the Yemeni president "in which he apologised for what the country's embassy in Sana'a was exposed to yesterday," the news agency said.

The demonstrators besieged the UAE Embassy in Sana'a at a time when UAE, GCC and western diplomats as well as the secretary-general of the GCC, Abdul Latif Al Zayani, were inside. 

The ambassadors and other diplomats were unable to leave the embassy during the demonstration.

A source told Yemeni News Agency that "what happened was irresponsible and unacceptable," Wam reported.

He underscored that Yemen respects the UAE’s leadership, government and people.

The source also indicated that the incident would not in any way affect the strong relations between the two countries, according to Wam.

econroy@thenational.ae