SANAA: Yemen's political rivals have agreed to sign a Gulf-brokered plan Wednesday to end the country's bloody political crisis, the president's aid told Al-Arabiya television, but the opposition expressed doubts whether it would happen.
When asked if the agreement would be signed Wednesday, President Ali Abdullah Saleh's aide Ahmed al-Sufi said: “Yes, it will be today.” There has been ‘positive’ and ‘important progress.’ But parliamentary opposition Mohammed Qahtan said a break in the impasse between the two sides had been reached on Tuesday night, and then Saleh's sign backed away.
“If the initiative was unchanged” from its initial version, “we will sign,” Qahtan said.
“We came to an agreement late Tuesday but this morning they changed their minds,” Qahtan told AFP, adding that Saleh and his partisans ‘refuse’ to sign it this way.
“The disagreement is on who will sign from the opposition,” said Qahtan.
However, “there's an agreement on the time frame.” Yemen has been gripped by deadly protests since late January calling for the ouster of Saleh, who has been in power since 1978.
Besides an al Qaeda resurgence, the impoverished country is battling a secessionist movement in the south and a Shiite rebellion in the north.
Saleh has been insisting that, under the constitution, he should serve out his current term of office, which expires in 2013. Last Thursday, however, Washington called on him to sign the deal “now.” For weeks, the agreement has been held up by Saleh refusing to sign in his capacity as president. He has insisted on endorsing the deal only as leader of the ruling General People’s Congress, contrary to the demands of the opposition.
Talks are ongoing, said Qahtan, adding that the opposition will meet Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary General Abdullatif al Zayani later on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, GPC spokesman Tareq al-Shami told AFP: “We have discussed with .... al Zayani the mechanism to implement a plan to end the crisis.”
“This plan needs a time frame to implement it,” said Shami.
On Friday, Qahtan declared the GCC initiative was ‘dead’ following the pullout of Qatar, whose prime minister had angered Sanaa by saying Saleh should go.
But he returned to Sanaa on Saturday in an attempt to convince both sides to sign the initiative.
The six GCC states have proposed an exit plan that would see embattled Saleh out of office within 30 days.
Under it, a government of national unity would be formed, Saleh would transfer power to his vice president and there would be an end to protests. In exchange, Saleh and his top aides would be granted immunity from prosecution.
At least 180 people have been killed in clashes during protests against Saleh's regime that erupted in late January, according to a toll compiled from reports by activists and medics.
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