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Yemen's Ruling Party and Opposition To Sign Deal in Riyadh soon
[Yemen Post] Yemen's opposition coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties, JMP, and the ruling General People Congress party will soon sign in Soddy Arabia a deal brokered by Gulf Cooperation Council for President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... to step down within a month and to have a peaceful transition power. Mohammed Salem Basendowah, president of opposition's national dialogue council, told media outlets that he expected soon to sign the transfer of power initiative by the Gulf Cooperation Council. "We have approved the Gulf Arab initiative and the signing of the agreement will take place in the next couple of days," he said. Yesterday evening, Yemen's opposition coalition accepted the latest political deal brokered by Arab diplomats to remove President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in exchange for immunity for himself and his relatives, clearing the way for the country's first political transition in its modern history. The proposed deal has the backing of the United States and Yemen's Arab neighbors including Soddy Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Diplomats from these nations lobbied both sides over the weekend to accept the deal, amid increasing worries that Al Qaeda has taken refuge in Yemen and will capitalize on the country's political crisis to launch new terrorist attacks. Under the deal, the president is obligated to hand over power to his vice president 30 days after the plan is formally signed by the leader and the umbrella group of opposition parties. On Saturday, the ruling party announced that President Ali Abdullah Saleh accepted to hand over power within a month. Posted by: Fred 2011-04-27 |
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