Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh's government vowed today that the wounded leader would return to his country within days, as thousands of demonstrators in the capital demanded he step down for good.
The fate of Mr Saleh, forced to undergo surgery in Saudi Arabia after an attack on his palace, is at the centre of a political crisis that has paralysed the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state and threatened to tip it into civil war.
Months of protests against the president culminated in open warfare in the capital Sanaa last month, after he ducked out of the last of a series of deals that his wealthier Gulf neighbours crafted to ease the Yemeni leader from power.
He has not been seen in public since the attack on June 3rd, which left him with burns and shrapnel wounds.
"The presidency has confirmed to me that the president will return within coming days," Abdu al-Janadi, Yemen's deputy information minister said, without specifying a date. "The president's health is improving continuously.”
In Sanaa, tens of thousands of protesters demanded Mr Saleh give up power and be replaced by a transitional government. "The people continue to bring down the regime," some chanted.
Prominent figures from the al-Ahmar family, head of the powerful al-Hashed tribal confederation, have backed the protesters and joined the call for a transitional government. Mr Saleh's other opponents include a general who turned on him.
The deadlock over Mr Saleh's future coincides with a spike in violence between central government forces, separatists and Islamists, which has fed Western and Gulf fears the country could descend into chaos and give its al-Qaeda wing a foothold next to vital oil shipping routes.
Saudi Arabia sent 600,000 barrels of oil to the southern port of Aden yesterday, as part of a grant of 3 million barrels aimed at easing crippling fuel shortages. Water and electricity are also in short supply.
Nearly six months after protesters inspired by the toppling of Western-backed autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia took to the street in hopes of ending Mr Saleh's 33-year rule, several of Yemen's multiple conflicts are flaring anew.
Opponents of Mr Saleh say he has let his forces hand over power to Islamist militants, who seized Zinjibar - the capital of the flashpoint southern province of Abyan - last month, in order to stoke fears that only his rule prevents an Islamist takeover.
The fall of Zinjibar and subsequent clashes put nearly all its population to flight, and more than 10,000 people have taken refuge in Aden. The government, itself nearly paralysed by the crisis, struggles to feed and house them.
Reuters