Middle East::Yemen

Middle East::Yemen

Yemen president agrees Gulf plan to resign

Aide to Ali Abdullah Saleh says leader has agreed to step down under a 30-day transition plan after weeks of protests.

 

Yemen's embattled president Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to a deal by Gulf Arab mediators that would lead to a transition of power in the country after weeks of anti-government protests.
Tariq Shami, a presidential aide, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the president had agreed in principle to a proposal from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) for him to step down.
The GCC plan would see Saleh submit his resignation to parliament within 30 days, with a presidential vote to be held within two months.

Shami said the opposition must first agree to the deal in order for Saleh to accept the plan.
"The president has agreed and accepted the initiative of the GCC," he said.
"The transition of power in Yemen will take some time. It needs an agreement between the national powers and the opposition at the same time. This thing will happen within 60 days if we have an agreement."
The White House welcomed Saturday a plan for Yemen's longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, urging all sides to "swiftly" implement a peaceful transfer of power.
"We applaud the announcements by the Yemeni Government and the opposition that they have accepted the GCC-brokered agreement to resolve the political crisis in a peaceful and orderly manner," said Jay Carney, White House spokesman.
Mohammed Qahtan, an opposition spokesman, told Al Jazeera that the opposition parties also welcome the deal. He said a basis of trust is lacking for the opposition to join a national unity government, but he said the opposition would start a conversation regardless.
"The vice-president will take over for a certain period and then we will see what happens," he said.
'Civil war'
Saleh, who has ruled the country for more than three decades, has been under pressure to step down ever since anti-government protests began several weeks ago.

On Saturday, the president accused the opposition of dragging the country into a civil war, as Yemenis boarded up their shops and businesses across the country in protest against his rule.

In a speech in Sanaa, the capital, he called on Yemen's young people to form a political party according to
the constitution and said the Arab state would not accept any tutelage "whatsoever", without giving further details.

"They [the opposition] want to drag the area to civil war and we refuse to be dragged to civil war," Saleh said.

"Security, safety and stability are in Yemen's interests and the interests of the region."

The developments came a day after opponents and supporters of the Yemeni president flooded the streets of Sanaa, the capital, and the southern city of Taiz to stage rival demonstrations.

Protesters demanding that Saleh resign dubbed the day "Last Chance Friday", while pro-government demonstrators called it "Reconciliation Friday".

The weekly day of communal prayers for Muslims has in recent weeks become an occasion for rival political rallies.

Framework of constitution

Amen al-Basha, the chairperson of the Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights and a pro-democracy activist, told Al Jazeera that Saleh's "regime has lost the trust [of Yemenis]".

"It is the desire of the people, it is the will of the people, for Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down immediately," she said.

Pro-democracy protesters would not accept any plan that did not include this provision, she said.

Parliamentary opposition groups and Saleh's government had been mulling over the GCC plan under which Saleh would step down 30 days after the formation of a national unity government, but some protesters in Sanaa have said they reject such a plan.

"Neighbouring countries; no negotiations, no dialogue," read posters carried by anti-government demonstrators, apparently referring to the GCC plan, under which Saleh would transfer powers to Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, the country's vice-president.

The Peaceful Youth Revolt, a group that has helped organise protests against Saleh's government, issued a statement rejecting the GCC initiative, saying "it does not include Saleh's immediate ouster", and "provides safeguards to him, his family and aides who are all killers".

The plan formulated by Gulf Arab mediators calling for a three-month transition that would end with a presidential election was made public on Thursday by a government official.

According to the plan, a unity government led by the opposition would work to organise presidential elections within two months of Saleh's resignation. Saleh's term runs until 2013.

Saleh, who has been in power since 1978, has faced protests since late January calling for his departure that have cost more than 130 lives.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies