SANAA: A Gulf Arab deal for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to cede power could be finalized next week, Gulf officials said on Tuesday. A senior opposition leader said Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdullatif Al-Zayani was expected to visit Sanaa within days to determine the time and venue for signing a deal requiring Saleh to step down within 30 days, according to Reuters.
“We expect an arrangement and signing of a deal to be completed — the sooner the better,” opposition leader Mohammed Basindwa, who is seen as a top candidate to lead a transitional government, said.
One opposition official said a Gulf-brokered deal might be signed on Thursday or Saturday in Riyadh, but that was not confirmed. Asked if a deal could be signed within the next few days, Basindwa said: “Hopefully. It’s possible.” But in a sign that a deal was not yet certain, a Gulf official said while the meeting in Riyadh could see a deal signed, it could also be a forum for direct talks between the sides to haggle out the final terms.
Meanwhile, police opened fire in Taiz on Tuesday leaving 10 people injured and two clinically dead, an eyewitness told Arab News.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the densely populated city to voice their disapproval of the GCC initiative and demand an end to Saleh’s regime when police officers fired at them with live ammunition. Taiz has become the hotbed for the deadliest clashes between the police and protesters.
Tawfiq Al-Shoaibi, a protester, told Arab News that a massive rally is being planned to say no to the GCC plan. “The initiative of the Gulf countries is intended to contain the revolution and depict the problem as a crisis between the government and the opposition, which is not true.” He criticized the opposition parties for accepting the deal. “The opposition is part of the political regime that the protesters want to overthrow. The grassroots of the opposition reject any deal with the regime.”
In Sanaa, protest leaders in the Change Square called on demonstrators to be prepared for the Day of Advance in which protesters plan to march to the presidential palace on a date to be decided later.
“We gave him the last chance to leave office, but he didn’t. Now we are ready now to advance toward his palace,” Ahmed Abduh, a member of Young Movement for Change, told Arab News.
“We know that there would be bloody clashes, but we have no choice. The protesters are frustrated and want their demands to be met urgently. We would like to say ‘enough’ to the elusive and tricky behavior of the regime. We hope that the GCC would support the Yemeni nation and not one person in the regime.”
In related news, the Arab League on Tuesday condemned the use of force against pro-democracy protesters in several Arab countries, saying they “deserve support, not bullets.” In a rare statement on the unrest, the 22-member Arab League said it would ask foreign ministers to discuss this “serious situation” during a meeting scheduled for next month.
“The people’s demands for freedom and democracy are demands that require support ... not bullets in the chests of demonstrators,” the Arab League said in the statement. “We call on Arab regimes and governments to commit to and speed up reforms, immediately stop using force against demonstrators and spare their citizens bloodshed.” The statement said Arab foreign ministers would meet in Cairo next month. Egypt’s state news agency MENA said the meeting would be held on May 8.
