SANAA, Yemen — Yemen's president says he would talk to his country's branch of the al-Qaida militant network if it were to give up its weapons and extremist ideas, and stop sheltering foreign fighters.

President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said in a speech aired on TV Tuesday that there was local pressure on him from mediators to accept dialogue with the militants.

Since he took office in February, Hadi has cracked down on the group, considered the world's most active al-Qaida branch.

The militant group has given little indication that it would want such a dialogue.