Yemen government, opposition to meet in Saudi ArabiaSANA'A/RIYADH: Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh should hand over power to his vice president and allow the opposition to lead a transition government that would prepare new elections, Gulf Arab countries said Sunday. Saleh's government and the opposition will meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss Yemen's “unity, security and stability”, foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said in a statement after talks in the Saudi capital. “The formation of a national unity government under the leadership of the opposition which has the right to form committees...to draw up a constitution and hold elections,” was a key principle of the Gulf-sponsored meeting between the two sides, they said. The meeting between the opposition and Saleh would be based on the understanding that Saleh transfers power to his Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. No date was scheduled for such a meeting. The GCC, which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has been pushing Saleh over the past week to hold talks with opposition parties after two months of protests against his 32-year-long rule. But on Friday, Saleh reacted angrily to comments from Qatar's prime minister saying the mediation would lead to him standing down. “We don't get our legitimacy from Qatar or from anyone else ... We reject this belligerent intervention,” Saleh told tens of thousands of supporters in the capital. On Saturday Yemen said it would withdraw its ambassador from Doha. A Gulf diplomat said Yemen had sought assurances that the GCC would only mediate and not dictate any outcomes. “If there is a meeting it will be under the auspices of the GCC secretariat under one condition that the GCC will not get involved in the final decision,” he said. “The Yemenis won't agree to the talks in Saudi Arabia unless they get a promise from the GCC that they won't get involved.” Qatar hosts the leading pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, whose Yemen correspondents have had their credentials revoked for what Sana'a calls bias. Concerned about any deals under the Gulf mediation plan that would delay Saleh's departure, tens of thousands of protesters marched in Sana'a Sunday. “No, no to compromise,” chanted the crowd as they marched in the streets surrounding a weeks-long sit-in near Sana'a University. Youth groups leading the sit-in later called for a campaign of civil disobedience in Sana'a on Monday and Wednesday to protest against “the persistent committing of bloody massacres of peaceful protesters...by Saleh's regime.” Violent clashes have continued almost daily over the past week, with at least 27 people killed. Security forces have used live ammunition and tear gas to rout protesters. Diplomats and opposition sources say Saleh is maneuvering to ensure that he and his sons do not face prosecution, the fate of the deposed rulers of Tunisia and Egypt. Saleh, a veteran political survivor, has warned of civil war and the break-up of Yemen if he is forced to leave power before organizing new parliamentary and presidential elections over the next year. He has seen a succession of generals, diplomats and tribal leaders announce their opposition to him but also has organized large public displays of support in recent weeks. But the killing of more than 100 protesters by security forces has begun to convince countries of the region that Saleh is now an obstacle to stability in a country that overlooks a shipping lane where over three million barrels of oil pass daily. Some 40 percent of Yemen's 23 million people live on less than $2 a day and one-third face chronic hunger. Exasperation with state repression and rampant corruption have poured fuel on the fire of the pro-democracy movement. In continued unrest, seven civilians were wounded when they were caught in the crossfire as army units fought militants who have taken control of several areas in the restive southern province of Abyan, a local official said.
