A key opponent of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is hospitalised in Saudi Arabia for injuries sustained in an attack, has said that that Saleh's political career is over but his regime remains.
'Saleh, as a person' is no longer a political player in Yemen, Yassin Saeed Noman, who heads the Common Forum grouping of parliamentary opposition parties.
President Saleh has not appeared in public since he was flown to Riyadh for treatment to be treated for wounds sustained on 3 June when a bomb exploded as he prayed at a mosque in his palace in Sanaa, raising doubts over the possibility of his return.
His absence has hiked up internal and international pressures on Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi to assume power.
Youth protesters, who have protested against Saleh's rule since January, have demanded that Hadi form an interim ruling council to crush any hopes of the president's return.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has voiced its 'grave concern' at the situation in Yemen, ending months of disagreement that had prevented the 15-nation body from speaking unanimously on the unrest there.
They urged all parties to show maximum restraint and to engage in an inclusive political dialogue.
Council members also welcomed the ongoing mediation efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council to help the parties find agreement on a way forward.
He added that the Council backed the Geneva-based UN human rights office's plan to send a team of investigators to Yemen next week to assess the situation there.
The Council first attempted to agree on a public statement to the press in April, but Russia and China blocked the agreement.
Security Council statements are agreed unanimously which means any Council member can veto them.
Western diplomats said Russia and China initially raised some concerns about the language on Yemen but ultimately accepted what the diplomats said was a strongly worded, albeit non-binding, statement.
The US and Saudi Arabia are pushing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over power to his deputy under a Gulf Arab proposal aimed at ending unrest that has pushed Yemen close to a civil war.
