Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh vowed Friday to stay on and defend his people "by all means" after the US insisted he agree to a transition plan "now" and end months of political violence.
"We will defend ourselves with all our forces and by all means," he told a large crowd of loyalists in the capital where tens of thousands of opposition activists also rallied to demand his ouster.
Saleh made no direct reference to the United States, but the remarks came a day after Washington, his long-time backer, asked the Yemeni president to sign "now" a Gulf-led initiative that would see him out of power within a month.
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