SANAA, Yemen, June 26 (UPI) -- Yemeni Gen.Tarek Mohammed Saleh is negotiating an arms deal refund with Ukraine after it failed to deliver a weapons shipment on time, al-Ahali newspaper said.
Gen. Saleh, formerly the commander of the presidential guards and nephew of deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh, arrived in Ukraine to demand a refund on an arms deal his uncle signed on before he left office, al-Ahali said on its Web site Tuesday.
Ukrainian arms broker Ukroboronprom denied there was ever a contract with Yemen. A spokesman told Kommersant daily, a local Ukrainian news outlet, "All arms deals with Yemen were completed in 2004. The Yemeni newspapers have most likely confused Ukraine with another former Soviet republic."
The United Nations register of conventional arms said Ukraine did not sell any arms to Yemen between 2007 and 2010.
Activists called on the government to intervene and prevent Gen. Saleh from "stealing Yemen's money," the Socialist Forum reported.
