The time and venue for the signing of a Gulf Arab deal that would see Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh finally resign could be announced by a Gulf envoy in the coming days, an opposition official said today.
Mohammed Basindwa told Reuters the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Abdullatif al-Zayani, is expected to visit Sanaa within a few days to finalise a power transfer plan that requires Mr Saleh to step down 30 days after signing the deal. "We expect an arrangement and signing of a deal to be completed - the sooner the better," he said.
Asked if the GCC-brokered agreement could be signed within the next few days, he said, "Hopefully. It's possible." An opposition coalition of Islamists, leftists and Arab nationalists removed a key obstacle to implementing the deal when they agreed yesterday to participate in a transitional national unity government, reversing their initial refusal.
Yemen's Western and Gulf Arab allies have tried for weeks to mediate a solution to a three-month crisis in which protesters, inspired by the toppling of leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, have taken to the street demanding an end to Mr Saleh's 32-year rule.
Washington and neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia fear that a descent into further chaos or bloodshed in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, long on the brink of collapse, would offer more room for al-Qaeda's Yemen-based wing to operate in the country. It has used Yemen as a launchpad for attempted attacks on US and Saudi targets in the last two years.
In the wake of daily mass protests and the defection of many army, tribal and political leaders, Mr Saleh agreed in principle to the proposal by GCC foreign ministers to resign in exchange for immunity from prosecution for himself, his family and aides.
Opposition officials told Reuters they finally agreed to the plan yesterday after receiving assurances from US diplomats in Sanaa that the 69-year-old leader would indeed step down in a month, once the deal is signed.
The opposition coalition originally had concerns that Mr Saleh, a shrewd political survivor, could foil the plan if parliament did not accept his resignation it is currently packed with members of his ruling party.
Protesters vowed to continue marches until the resignation and trial of the president, who has backed out of previous promises in past years not to run for president. They also worry that some opposition parties, many of them former allies of Mr Saleh, are only co-operating in order to gain a greater share of power and not to ensure real change.
Reuters