By AHMED AL-HAJ | AP

SANAA, Yemen: The head of Yemen’s most powerful tribal confederation warned Tuesday that Yemen could plunge into civil war if President Ali Abdullah Saleh is allowed to return home.

Saleh is currently in Saudi Arabia, where he is receiving treatment for serious injuries from a blast early this month at his palace in the Yemeni capital that left him with severe burns and chunks of wood in his chest.

In a letter to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Sadeq Al-Ahmar, the influential tribal chief who was an ally of Saleh before switching sides to join the opposition, appealed to the kingdom to prevent Saleh from returning to Yemen.

“His return will lead to sedition and civil war,” Al-Ahmar said, according to an aid to Al-Ahmar. Saudi Arabia is a key player in Yemen, and has pressed Saleh in the past to negotiate a settlement to Yemen’s political turmoil.