Yemeni embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh set on Thursday a new condition to quit, saying he wouldn’t step down if his former allies, who have defected his army to the opposition, were allowed to run in elections.

Yemeni embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh set on Thursday a new condition to quit, saying he wouldn’t step down if his former allies, who have defected his army to the opposition, were allowed to run in elections.

Saleh said that a power transfer deal crafted by his Gulf neighbors calls for "all the elements" causing tension in Yemen to be removed, warning of a civil war if that did not occur.

He was referring to dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who has joined ranks with a populist uprising that began early this year, and the powerful al-Ahmar tribe, not related to the general.

In an interview with Time magazine and The Washington Post, Saleh said:” If we transfer power and they are there, this will mean that we have given in to a coup”.
 "If we transfer power, and they are in their positions, and they are still decision makers, this will be very dangerous. This will lead to civil war”, the embattled leader said in his first interview since returning home on Friday from a stay in Saudi Arabia to recover from injuries sustained during a June attack on his palace.

Saleh, who is under international pressure to relinquish power and allow new elections, sparked a fresh wave of violence with his return as scores have been killed.

However, he insisted he was still committed to the deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) under which he would hand over to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in return for immunity from prosecution.
"This is a misunderstanding. We are willing within the next hours and next days to sign it, if the JMP [Joint Meetings Party] comes closer" to reaching an agreement, Saleh said about the Joint Meetings Party opposition coalition.

"We don't want to prolong it. And we don't want this crisis to continue. We want this country to get out of this crisis... The transfer of power is a given, whether sooner or later."